DYB2011-Part-II-web

United Nations Disarmament Yearbook 2011: Part II
92
also acknowledged the importance of the implementation of the provisions
of Amended Protocol II and Protocol V on Explosive Remnants of War to
address humanitarian concerns posed by IED. The Group also heard a number
of substantive presentations by experts. 61
On technical approaches to deal with explosives, two national
presentations62 highlighted various efforts to mark explosives for the purposes
of identification and detection, including in the framework of the Convention
on the Marking of Plastic Explosives for the Purpose of Detection. 63 During
the discussions, a representative of UNODA delivered a presentation on
the ongoing work related to the development of technical guidelines for
the stockpile management of ammunition within the United Nations. 64 She
underlined that the development of the International Ammunition Technical
Guidelines (IATG) and their implementation by States could constitute an
important contribution towards the prevention of IED incidents. Reference
was made to the possible benefit of an interaction between representatives of
the IATG process and the Group of Experts.
Thirteenth Annual Conference of the High Contracting Parties to
Amended Protocol II
The Thirteenth Annual Conference was held in Geneva on 11 November.
The Conference was presided by Hellmut Hoffmann (Germany) and
considered the work of the Group of Experts. The Conference adopted an
appeal by the States parties to promote universal adherence to Amended
Protocol II and recommended that the United Nations Secretary-General and
the President of the Conference exercise their authority towards this end. As
of the Conference, Amended Protocol II had 97 High Contracting Parties. 65
A total of 53 States parties66 submitted their national annual reports on the
61 “Improvised explosive devices” by Adrian King (Hazard Management Solutions Ltd.,
United Kingdom); “Improvised explosive devices (IEDs): problems and prospects” by
Joseph Almog (Casali Institute of Applied Chemistry, Hebrew University of Jerusalem,
Israel); “Rehabilitation and care of the disabled in Iraq” by Chasib Ali (Ministry of
Health, Iraq).
62 “Marking of explosives in Switzerland for the purpose of identification” and “Marking of
plastic explosives” (Convention on the Marking of Explosive Material for the Purpose of
Detection) by Urs F. Hilfiker (Federal Police, Switzerland).
63 Available from http://treaties.un.org/doc/db/Terrorism/Conv10-english.pdf (accessed 2 June
2012).
64 “International Ammunition Technical Guidelines: securing ammunition stockpiles to
prevent IED manufacture” by Gillian Goh (Conventional Arms Branch, UNODA).
65 Recent accessions were Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (6 December 2010) and Serbia
(14 February 2011).
66 Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil,
Bulgaria, Canada, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan,
Jordan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Morocco, Netherlands,
New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Republic of