U.S. concludes ratification of convention on conventional weapons

Source: Xinhua | 01-24-2009 07:57

WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The United States has finished its ratification of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), following the Obama administration ratified three protocols and an amendment of the convention.

The three protocols ratified on Wednesday cover incendiary weapons, blinding laser weapons, and explosive remnants of war, and the amendment expands the CCW's scope to non-international armed conflicts, the State Department said on Friday in a statement.

"The United States took a leading role in negotiating these protocols and the amendment, has long complied with the norms contained in them, and is pleased to become a party to each of them," the department said.

"The CCW and its protocols are part of a legal regime that regulates the use of particular types of conventional weapons that may be deemed to pose special risks of having indiscriminate effects or causing unnecessary suffering," it said.

The ratification means the United States has adopted all the CCW, which has five protocols and an amendment. The previous administrations had ratified other two protocols covering non-detectable fragments, landmines and booby traps.

As an annexe of the Geneva Convention, the CCW, which was concluded at Geneva on October 10, 1980 and entered into force in December 1983, seeks to prohibit or restrict the use of certain conventional weapons which are considered excessively injurious or whose effects are indiscriminate.

Editor:Zhang Pengfei