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THURSDAY 19 MAY AND FRIDAY 20 MAY1. Opening of the meetingThe intersessional meetings were opened by the Presidency of the Fifteenth Meeting of the States Parties (15MSP), Ambassador Marta Maurás of Chile, and the Director of the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining, Ambassador Stefano Toscano. 2. Matters related to the mandate of the Committee on Victim AssistanceThe Chair of the Committee on Victim Assistance, Thailand, presented the Committee's activities and preliminary observations.
The following States Parties that have indicated that they are responsible for significant numbers of landmine survivors responded to the Committee’s preliminary observations and/or provided updates on their efforts: Croatia, Tajikistan, Iraq, Thailand, Colombia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The following State Party provided a written submission on matters related to victim assistance: Sudan. The following other delegations shared views and information on matters related to victim assistance: Australia, Chile, Belgium, Turkey, ICBL and UNMAS. 3. Matters related to the mandate of the Committee on Article 5 ImplementationThe Chair of the Committee on Article 5 Implementation, Ireland, presented the Committee’s activities and preliminary observations.
Two States Parties with Article 5 obligations in 2017 were invited to provide updates on progress towards completion of their Article 5 obligations: Ecuador and Algeria. Three States Parties which had indicated they would submit a request for extension for formal consideration by the Fifteenth Meeting of the States Parties were invited to provide an update on the status of their request or present highlights of their requests for extension: Niger, Peru and Ukraine. Niger and Peru’s presentations were followed by comments by the ICBL and Ukraine’s presentation was followed by comments by the ICBL and the ICRC. The following States Parties which had been requested to submit updated work plans in accordance with decisions on their extension requests presented an overview of their updated work plans: Serbia, Sudan and Yemen. The following States Parties that are in the process of implementing Article 5 responded to the Committee’s preliminary observations and/or provided updates on their efforts: Thailand, Tajikistan, Croatia, Cambodia, United Kingdom, Argentina, Afghanistan, Angola, Mauritania, Iraq, Turkey and Zimbabwe. The following other delegations shared views on matters related to Article 5 implementation: Switzerland, Canada, Norway and UNMAS. 4. Matters related to the mandate of the Committee on the Enhancement of Cooperation and AssistanceThe Chair of the Committee on the Enhancement of Cooperation and Assistance, Switzerland, presented the Committee’s activities and preliminary observations.
The following delegations shared views on matters related to cooperation and assistance: Croatia, Austria, Cambodia, Finland, Japan, United Kingdom, Italy, Turkey, Thailand, Australia, Ireland, UNMAS, Iraq, GICHD, Sweden, and the ICBL. 5. Matters related to the mandate of the Committee on Cooperative ComplianceThe Chair of the Committee on Cooperative Compliance, the 15MSP Presidency, presented the Committee’s activities and preliminary observations.
The following delegations responded to the Committee’s preliminary observation and or shared views on matters related to cooperative compliance: Yemen, Sudan, ICBL, Canada, Austria, Ireland Costa Rica, Sweden, Peru, Zambia, Switzerland, Ukraine and Croatia. 6. Thematic Panel on achieving completion: a mine-free world by 2025: the last stretchAmbassador Rosemary McCarney of Canada chaired a thematic panel on the commitments made by the States Parties at their Third Review Conference in 2014 to meet the goals of the Convention to the fullest extent possible by 2025. The panel discussion sought to better understand the process of building political will to address anti-personnel mines, both nationally in order to carry out States Parties’ obligations and commitments under the Convention, and collectively to achieve the Convention’s vision of a mine-free world by 2025. The panel drew from the expertise of donor and mine-affected states as well as from civil society. Panellists included the following: Ambassador Suraya Dalil of Afghanistan, Ms. Katy Donnelly, Deputy Permanent Representative of New Zealand, Mr. Jaime Chissano, Minister Plenipotentiary, Permanent Mission of Mozambique and Mr. Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan, Research Coordinator on Ban Policy for the Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor, ICBL. The following delegations shared views on the topic of the thematic panel: Switzerland, Colombia, Chile, GICHD and MAG. 7. Matters related to the mandate of the President7a. UniversalizationThe 15MSP Presidency presented its activities on universalization and invited interested delegations to offer their views on this matter. The following delegations shared views and information on matters related to the universalization of the Convention: Sri Lanka, Croatia, ICBL, Turkey, UNMAS and the ICRC. 7b. Stockpile destructionThe 15MSP Presidency presented its activities and preliminary observations on stockpile destruction.
The following States Parties which have missed their Article 4 deadlines responded to the President’s observations and/or provided updates on the status of their stockpile destruction programmes: Belarus, Greece, Bulgaria and Ukraine. The following State Party which is in the process of destroying stockpiled anti-personnel mines in accordance with Article 4 responded to the President’s observations and/or provided updates on their stockpile destruction programmes: Poland. The following delegations shared views on matters related to stockpile destruction: ICBL and Australia. In addition, the 15MSP President invited States Parties which have discovered previously unknown stockpiled anti-personnel mines to provide updates but no State Party took the floor on this issue. 7c. ReportingThe 15MSP Presidency took stock of the situation concerning transparency reporting and in this regard highlighted two specific challenges: the rate of reporting and the quality of the reports. The following delegations shared views on matters related to reporting: Switzerland and the ICBL. 7d. Preparations for the Fifteenth Meeting of the States PartiesThe Presidency presented a draft agenda for the Fifteenth Meeting of the States Parties.
The 15MSP Presidency provided an update on preparations for the 15MSP.
The Presidency recalled that eight new Committee Members will need to be elected at the 15MSP and reminded delegations to notify the Presidency of their interest. The 15MSP Presidency recalled that at the Fourteenth Meeting of the States Parties, States Parties noted with appreciation the offer made by Austria to preside over the Sixteenth Meeting of the States Parties in 2017. Austria took the floor and indicated that the proposed location and dates for the Sixteenth Meeting of the States Parties would be as follows: Vienna, Austria from 18 to 22 December 2017. Australia, in its capacity as the Coordinator of the Convention’s informal Sponsorship Programme, provided an update on the programme. 8. Implementation Support UnitThe ISU Acting Director presented an update on the ISU’s activities and financing.
The following delegations shared views on matters related to the Implementation Support Unit: Thailand, Italy, Brazil, France, Algeria, Canada, Turkey, Poland and Greece. 9. Closing remarksThe intersessional meetings were closed by the 15MSP Presidency. |