Draft protocol on “explosive remnants of war” adopted at UN in Geneva

A new draft protocol designed to ensure that the unexploded weapons left behind at the end of an armed conflict are cleared away was adopted by 92 countries today at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, the spokesman for United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said.

The text obliges a country taking part in the protocol to “mark and clear, remove or destroy exploded remnants of war in affected territories under its control,” spokesman Fred Eckhard told journalists at the daily briefing.

The legally binding instrument will be known as “Protocol V on Explosive Remnants of War” and will be annexed to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW).