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MONDAY 21 MAY & FRIDAY 25 MAY1. Opening of the meetingThe meeting was opened by its Co-Chairs, Kjersti Nordskog of Norway and Giancarlo Leon of Peru. The Co-Chairs were supported by their Rapporteurs, Dragomir Zakov of Bulgaria. In opening the meeting, the Co-Chairs reminded delegations that they are proceeding, in keeping with past practice, in undertaking the task of consulting with a view to identifying a list of nominees to serve as new Co-Chairs to be elected at the Twelfth Meeting of the States Parties (12MSP). 2. Overview of the general status of implementationThe President of the Eleventh Meeting of the States Parties (11MSP), H.E. Prak Sokhonn of Cambodia, provided an overview of the general status of implementation of the Convention. The President noted that the States Parties find themselves at the half-way point in the application of the Cartagena Action Plan and that they therefore have the opportunity to conduct a mid-term assessment of their efforts. 3. Overview of the status of universalizationThe Coordinator of the Universalization Contact Group, Belgium, delivered a statement on the status of universalization. An update was then provided by the Special Envoy, His Royal Highness Prince Mired Raad Al Hussein of Jordan. In addition, Finland, which acceded to the Convention in January 2012 delivered a statement. The following States not parties provided updates on effort to proceed with accession of the Convention: Somalia, the Lao PDR and Morocco The following other States Parties and organizations provided updates or shared views on universalization: ICBL, ICRC, Colombia, Australia, UN Mine Action Team, Palau, France, New Zealand, Chile, Mexico, Turkey, South Africa and Ecuador. 4. Transparency and the exchange of informationThe Coordinator of the Article 7 Contact Group, Belgium, delivered a statement on the status of reporting under Article 7 of the Convention. The following other States Parties and organizations provided updates or shared views on transparency reporting: ICBL, ICRC, the UN Mine Action Team, Mexico, Algeria and Ecuador. 5. Article 3: Updates on plans for and use of mines retained for the development of and training in mine detection, mine clearance, or mine destruction techniquesThe ICBL provided an overview of status of anti-personnel mines retained for permitted purposes. The following delegations provided updates or shared views on mines retained for permitted purposes: Spain, Germany, Mozambique, Thailand, Eritrea, Argentina, Sweden, Portugal, the Netherlands, Venezuela, Czech Republic, Turkey, Cambodia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Brazil, Senegal, Zambia, Australia, Belarus and the ICRC. The following delegation provided a written statement : Norway. 6. ComplianceThe Co-Chairs recalled that at the Cartagena Summit, it was agreed that cases of non-compliance with the Convention’s obligations should be addressed in a cooperative manner with all States Parties working together with the States Parties concerned to resolve the matter expeditiously. The following delegations shared views on matters concerning compliance: Norway, the ICBL, Austria, the ICRC, Turkey, Canada, Sudan and Croatia. 7. Implementation Support Unit: UpdateThe Co-Chairs recalled that the States Parties’ “Directive” to the ISU indicates inter alia that the ISU shall “report in written form as well as orally on the activities, functioning and finances of the ISU to each Meeting of the States Parties or Review Conference and to informal meetings under the Convention as appropriate”. The Director of the ISU presented a report:
The following delegation took the floor on this matter: Algeria 8. Implementation Support Unit: FinancingThe Co-Chairs recalled that at the 11MSP, the President of the 10MSP reported on the work of the open-ended working group tasked to examine new models for the financing of the ISU. The Co-Chairs further recalled that the 11MSP encouraged action on the recommendations made by the 10MSP President to preserve the results of the work undertaken by the open-ended working group in 2011 and work to improve the ISU’s current funding model and to ensure that sufficient contributions are provided to the ISU as long as the financing model remains unchanged. The following delegations shared ideas and exchanged views on improving the ISU’s current funding model: Switzerland and Mexico. 9. Article 9: The development and adoption of legislative, administrative and other measuresThe Co-Chairs recalled that at the Second Review Conference, the States Parties recorded that while there had been some progress since the Nairobi Summit in implementing Article 9, over 40 percent of the States Parties had not yet reported that they have legislation in place to give effect to the Convention. The ICRC provided an update on this matter. 10. Preparations for the Twelfth Meeting of the States PartiesThe President-Designate of the 12MSP, H.E. Matjaž Kovačič, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Slovenia to the United Nations in Geneva, presented his initial ideas and draft programme for the 12MSP.
The following delegation then took the floor on this matter. The Co-Chairs concluded that the ideas proposed by the President-Designate, including the agenda and programme, were generally acceptable to the States Parties and could be considered for adoption by the States Parties at the beginning of the 12MSP. The Secretary-General-Designate of the 12MSP, H.E. Ambassador Alexandre Fasel of Switzerland, made a presentation on organizational aspects related to the meeting. UNMAS, on behalf of 12MSP Executive Secretary Peter Kolarov of the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs, also made a presentation on organizational matters. The following delegation took the floor on this matter: Algeria. 11. Meetings of the States Parties: organization and functioningThe Co-Chairs recalled that the 11MSP took note of suggestions to consider whether the interactive character of the annual Meeting of the States Parties could not be enhanced and its duration shortened while improving its overall effectiveness, and decided that the Coordinating Committee brainstorm on this theme in the first half of 2012 and that the May 2012 intersessional meetings discuss and submit, through the President, recommendations to the 12MSP in this regard.The 11MSP Presidency presented a discussion paper on this matter:
The following delegations shared views on this matter: France, the ICBL and Algeria. 12. Updates on other implementation mechanismsAustralia, in its capacity as the Coordinator of the Sponsorship Programme, provided an update. The following delegation responded: UNMAS. Belgium, in its capacity as the Coordinator of the Universalization Contact Group and the Article 7 Contact Group, provided updates 13. The practical implementation of the various other implementation mechanismsThe Co-Chairs provided an opportunity for delegations to take the floor on matters concerning the practical implementation of provisions of the Convention not otherwise covered by this Standing Committee or other Standing Committees.No delegation took the floor. 14. Any other businessThe following delegation took the floor under “any other business”: Nigeria. 15. Closing remarksThe Co-Chairs closed the meeting by noting that the Standing Committee, with its wide-ranging responsibilities and full agenda, had been useful in moving the implementation process forward, but that the meeting also has highlighted that there are some challenges to overcome. |