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Office of the

Permanent Representative to the


Conference on Disarmament
58 Avenue Louis Casa
1216 Cointrin
Switzerland

Tel: +41 (0) 22 918 2328


Mobile: +44 (0) 79 819 9686
Fax: +41 (0) 22 918 2344
matthew.rowland@fco.gov.uk

6 June 2017

CONVENTION ON CERTAIN CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS (CCW)

Cancellation of CCW meetings in August 2017

Excellency,

I am writing in my capacity as 2017 Chair of Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons


and on behalf of the President-designate of the Nineteenth Conference of Amended Protocol
II, Ambassador Beatriz Londoo Soto of Colombia, President-designate of the Eleventh
Conference of Protocol V, Ambassador Andre Pung of Estonia, and Chairperson of the
Group of Governmental Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (GGE on LAWS),
Ambassador Amandeep Singh Gill of India.

We thank those High Contracting Parties who were able to attend the informal meeting
convened on Tuesday 30 May 2017. At that meeting, I informed High Contracting Parties
that on 22 May and 90 days before the start of the meetings scheduled for August (the GGE
on LAWS, the Meeting of Experts on Protocol V and the Group of Experts on Amended
Protocol II) I had reviewed with the UN the status of the contributions as published at the
beginning of May, the most accurate figures available at the time. The figures showed that
we had some $360,000 in the bank, significantly short of the $519,000 needed to hold the
three decision-making meetings that High Contracting Parties had agreed to prioritise. I was
therefore left with no choice but to cancel the meetings scheduled for August.

Several delegations present at the meeting on 30 May stated their intention to go ahead with
the informal activities that they had planned to take place in the margins of the August
meetings. On 31 August France and Colombia will convene an open-ended, informal
consultation on IEDs, and Germany, in partnership with the ICRC, will hold an event on
Explosive weapons in populated areas. I also understand that other events are likely to take
place during this week, for example Protocol V consultations on Article 4 and National
Reporting. Further details to follow.

Since the April figures were published, a further $110,000 has been contributed. This takes
us closer to the estimated sum needed to hold the three decision-making meetings. It is my
hope that by the end of July we will have sufficient funds to hold those three meetings and
the GGE on LAWS scheduled for November. A decision will need to be taken in August. We
will continue to review the status of contributions, and I have asked the ISU to take a hard
look at the estimates for all the meetings. As promised at the meeting on 30 May, I will
circulate before the beginning of July some proposals aimed at addressing the poor financial
situation.
OFFICIAL SENSITIVE

We appeal again to all High Contracting Parties who have yet to pay their contributions this
year and any unpaid arrears to do so as a matter of urgency.

Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Matt Rowland

Dr Matthew Rowland
Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament

OFFICIAL SENSITIVE

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