DYB2011-Part-II-web

United Nations Disarmament Yearbook 2011: Part II
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to the storage and transport of munitions, and munitions management and
testing. 82
National reporting. The Coordinator emphasized that national reports
provided assurance that the provisions of the Protocol V were being
implemented. Compliance with the reporting requirements was regarded as an
indication of the level of commitment to the principles and rules incorporated
in the Protocol. The Coordinator’s main objective was to encourage the High
Contracting Parties to meet their reporting obligations in both quantity and
quality. The High Contracting Parties had submitted national reports.
Victim assistance. The session focused on the following three topics:
(a) analysis of the 31 responses to the questionnaire on victim assistance;
(b) consideration of the mechanism of reporting and possible elements to
amend the template for reporting victim assistance; and (c) relevance of the
Victim Assistance Plan of Action for the wider CCW community. The panel of
experts on victim assistance shared their experience on key challenges faced
by the survivors of ERW incidents. 83
Web-based Information System for Protocol V. The Coordinator made a
brief presentation to update the experts on progress in testing the system. 84
The Implementation Support Unit and the United Nations will continue their
work to set up and test the system.
Fifth Conference of the High Contracting Parties to Protocol V on
Explosive Remnants of War
The Fifth Conference took place in Geneva from 9 to 10 November. Two
Vice-Presidents85 assisted the President of the Conference. 86 Coordinators of
the deliberations on substantive issues in the Meeting of Experts presented
their reports. A total of 45 States parties subsequently presented their reports. 87
An additional six States88 joined Protocol V since the Fourth Conference,
held in 2010, bringing the number of High Contracting Parties to 76. The
82 “Fail safe design” by Lee Springer (United States).
83 “Victim Assistance” by Zeljko Volas (Landmine Survivor Initiative, Bosnia and
Herzegovina); “Victim assistance” by Jesus Martinez (Red de Sobrevivientes, El
Salvador); and “Victim assistance” by Firoz Ali Alizada (ICBL).
84 “Testing” by Gyula Somogyi (Hungary).
85 Gerard Corr (Ireland) and Zamir Akram (Pakistan).
86 Mikhail Khvostov (Belarus).
87 Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada,
China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany,
Guatemala, Holy See, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania,
Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Portugal, Qatar,
Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates and United States.
88 Argentina, Brazil, Cameroon, Panama, Poland and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.