Disarmament in Review
Welcoming Afghanistan to the CCW and photographed here are:
Left to right: Mr. Sameer Bedrud, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Afghanistan to the UN (Geneva); Mr. Nazifullah Salarzai, Deputy Permanent Representative of Afghanistan to the UN (New York); H. E. Dr. Suraya Dalil, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Afghanistan to the UN (Geneva); H. E. Ms. Beatriz Londoño Soto, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Colombia to the UN (Geneva), President-designate of CCW Amended Protocol II Nineteenth Annual Conference; H. E. Ms. Alice Guitton, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of France to the Conference on Disarmament (Geneva); H. E. Mr. Andre Pung, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Estonia to the UN (Geneva), President-designate of CCW Protocol V Eleventh Conference.
Between 1 January and 30 June 2017, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) documented 3,489 civilian casualties, comprising 1,141 deaths and 2,348 injured, caused by anti-government elements, as reported in its July 2017 Midyear Report. The Deputy Permanent Representative of Afghanistan to the UN in New York, Mr. N. Salarzai, stated at an informal meeting on improvised explosive devices (IED) in Geneva on 31 August 2017, that IEDs have proven to be ten times deadlier to civilians than landmines.
Afghanistan joined the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) and all of its five Protocols on 9 August 2017. This decision reflects the country’s commitment to tackle the issues addressed within the CCW forum, notably the use of mines, booby-traps and other explosive devices.
Ambassador Alice Guitton of France, whose delegation is coordinating the IED issue in the CCW, and Ambassador Beatriz Londoño Soto of Colombia, President-designate of the 2017 Nineteenth Annual Conference of the High Contracting Parties to Amended Protocol II, warmly welcomed the news of Afghanistan’s accession to the CCW as the 125th State Party.
