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Stockpile Destruction: Summary and Statements

Thursday 12 February

1. Opening of the meeting by the Co-Chairs

The meeting was opened by its Co-Chairs, Mr. Luigi Scotto of Italy and Mr. Carlos Arroyave-Prera of Guatemala, with the support of its Co-Rapporteurs Ms. Rabab Fatima of Bangladesh and Mr. John MacBride of Canada.

  • Opening statement by Mr. Carlos Arroyave-Prera of Guatemala, Co-Chair

2. An overview of the status of stockpile destruction

The Co-Chairs provided an overview of the general status of implementation of Article 4 of the Convention, noting that the States Parties have destroyed over 30,700,000 mines. In addition, the Co-Chairs introduced a overview document prepared by the Implementation Support Unit. As well, the ICBL presented its views on progress made in destroying stockpiles.

  • Timelines for the Implementation of Article 4 PDF 57KB 
  • Presentation of the ICBL on the state of implementation PDF 178KB 

3. Updates from relevant States Parties on the status of implementation

The Co-Chairs informed the Standing Committee that in December 2003, a letter was sent to a group of States Parties to invite them to present relevant information on their national stockpile destruction programmes.

Presentations by States Parties with deadlines prior to the First Review Conference

In addition, the representative of the OAS took the floor to give an update on efforts by the OAS to encourage Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to submit their initial Article 7 report

  • Statement by the OAS

Presentations by States Parties with deadlines following the First Review Conference

  • Afghanistan
  • Bangladesh
  • Algeria
  • Belarus PDF 1.6MB
  • Burundi
  • Cyprus
  • Lithuania
  • Colombia Spanish PDF 1MB 
  • Romania Text PDF 10KB | Slides PDF 379KB
  • Sierra Leone
  • Serbia and Montenegro PDF 405KB 
  • Tanzania
  • Turkey
  • Uruguay
  • Namibia
  • Cameroon
  • Mauritania
  • Zambia

Presentations by States not Parties in destroying stockpiled AP mines

4. Update on assistance and cooperation

The Co-Chairs indicated that the Standing Committee prepared a Food-for-thought paper entitled "Getting the Job Done" based on Article 6 of the Ottawa Convention. This paper provides an overview of the range of opportunities to request and provide assistance for stockpile destruction. The Co-Chairs encouraged the States Parties to study the paper and invited them to discuss it at the next meeting in June.

NAMSA presented an overview of the PfP Trust Fund Process and PfP projects linked to stockpile destruction in Europe.

Opportunity for interventions by State Parties and others pertaining to assistance and cooperation regarding stockpile destruction

5. Matters of a thematic nature related to stockpile destruction

The Co-Chairs recalled that a food-for-thought paper on post stockpile destruction measures was presented last year and invited Canada to intervene on this matter.

  • Statement of Canada

6. Closing remarks by the Co-Chairs

Co Chair Mr. Luigi Scotto of Italy closed the meeting by stressing the importance of the Review Conference as an opportunity to review the status of implementation, and assess the challenges that remain in key areas, in particular in stockpile destruction, including destruction technologies, environmental aspects and economics of destruction.

7. Other matters

The Co-Chairs permitted statements on matters other than stockpile destruction from the following States: