"Sri Lanka attaches great importance to the CCW, as one of the key instruments advancing humanitarian disarmament, addressing the concerns on maintaining the balance on military necessity and mitigating humanitarian concerns arising from the use of certain conventional weapons or weapons systems".
Minister Counsellor of the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka Ms. Shashika Somaratne remarked while delivering Sri Lanka's Statement during the general exchange of views at the Meeting of High Contracting Parties of the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects (CCW), on 21 November 2018 at Palais des Nations in Geneva.
Highlighting Sri Lanka's experience on the consequences of the use of landmines, it was noted Sri Lanka is on a firm path towards becoming landmine free by 2020, with the active support of stakeholders. While observing that Sri Lanka has made "considerable headway in determining the extent of contaminated area" as well as the mine risk education programme involving the affected community resulting in a drastic reduction of mine related casualty, Sri Lanka indicated that it will be in a position to share its experience in relation to mine action endeavours with interested parties.
Commending the progress achieved by the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) resulting in identifying possible guiding principles and recommendations for further discussions it was recommended to continue with the Programme of Work to achieve concrete outcomes next year, including seeking agreement on a possible international regulatory framework on LAWS.
Speaking on Mines other Than Anti–Personnel Mines (MOTAPM), Sri Lanka welcomed the objectives of the current discussion on reducing the indiscriminate and injurious impact of these weapons. Sri Lanka emphasized the need for further discussions on exchanging best practices on managing MOTAPM enabling developing countries to actively contribute towards this process.
The Meeting of the High Contracting Parties, which meets annually will continue from 21-23 November under Presidency of Latvia.
Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka
Geneva
21 November 2018
Important Links