CCW Convention 81-83
Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons
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 as amended on 21 December 2001(CCW) is usually referred to as the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. The Convention was opened for signature on April 10, 1981 and entered into force on December 2, 1983. The aim of the Convention is to restrict the use of specific weapons that are considered to cause unnecessary suffering to combatants or to affect civilians indiscriminately. The Convention contains generic provisions and protocols on specific weapons and their use and has been built upon certain rules that regulate the conduct of hostilities. These include: the rules of distinction, proportionality and precautions in attacks; and the prohibition of weapons which inflict gratuitous injury or suffering on combatants. The provisions of the CCW are contained in several protocols annexed to the Convention. Currently, five protocols are in force. All parties must agree to the addition of a new protocol and it is only binding on those parties that ratified it. At the beginning, the Convention only covered international armed conflicts. Nowadays, states-parties can and must specify whether new protocols they ratify cover intrastate conflicts in addition to interstate wars. The convention lacks verification and enforcement mechanisms and there is no formal process for resolving compliance concerns.