Chairs Statement

(Monday 18 June 2001 Warsaw) Seminar on understanding the Ottawa convention
Warsaw 18-19 june 2001

Recognising that:

The majority of the world's nations are states party to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Antipersonnel Mines and On Their Destruction,

Security concerns underlie the position of the countries of Northeastern and Eastern Europe on this convention,

The existence of several multilateral fora in Europe such as the EU, NATO/EAPC, OSCE and the movement towards their enlargement provides opportunities for addressing these security concerns in peaceful and cooperative ways,

The right of parties to an armed conflict to choose methods and means of warfare is limited under international humanitarian law, and that it is prohibited to use weapons which are of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering,

Most countries of this region continue to live with the effects of landmines, unexploded ordnance and other explosive remnants of conflicts in the last century,

Poland in particular has made great progress in cleaning up these remains and dealing with the impact of explosive remnants of war,

The support of the international donor community will be required to assist the countries of this region in the implementation of the convention,

International support is most likely to transpire with the full accession or ratification of the countries of the region to the convention,

The participants in this seminar recognized the need to:

Accede to the convention, or ratify it, with the shortest possible delay,

Hold discussions between neighbouring countries on ratification or accession to the convention, and invite the views of any country concerned on steps taken to the Third Meeting of States Parties to the Convention in Managua, September 2001.

Uphold the principles of the convention pending their full accession/ratification of the convention,

Work with the international donor community on a plan for the destruction of stockpiles, complementary with efforts already underway on an approach for the destruction of PFM mines,

Work with UNMAS and GICHD to gather expert opinion, particularly from designers of mines, for input to the International Mine Action Standards (IMAS) and to encourage the translation of IMAS into all six UN languages.

Cooperate further on the issue of explosive remnants of war, particularly as the Review Conference of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons approaches.