Amendment to
Article 1 of the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of
Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have
Indiscriminate Effects
The following
decision to amend Article 1 of the
Convention in order to expand the scope of its application to non-international
armed conflicts was made by the States Parties at the Second Review Conference
held from 11 to 21 December 2001. This decision appears in the Final
Declaration of the Second Review Conference, as contained in document
CCW/CONF.II/2.
“Decide to
amend Article 1 of the Convention to read as follows:
1. This
Convention and its annexed Protocols shall apply in the situations referred to
in Article 2 common to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 for the
Protection of War Victims, including any situation described in paragraph 4 of
Article I of Additional Protocol I to these Conventions.
2. This
Convention and its annexed Protocols shall also apply, in addition to
situations referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, to situations referred
to in Article 3 common to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949.
This Convention and its annexed Protocols shall not apply to situations of internal
disturbances and tensions, such as riots, isolated and sporadic acts of
violence and other acts of a similar nature, as not being armed conflicts.
3. In case of
armed conflicts not of an international character occurring in the territory of
one of the High Contracting Parties, each party in the conflict shall be bound
to apply the prohibitions and restrictions of this Convention and its annexed
Protocols.
4. Nothing in
this Convention or its annexed Protocols shall be invoked for the purpose of
affecting the sovereignty of a State or the responsibility of the Government,
by all legitimate means, to maintain or re-establish law and order in the State
or to defend the national unity and territorial integrity of the State.
5. Nothing in
this Convention or its annexed Protocols shall be invoked as a justification
for intervening, directly or indirectly, for any reason whatever, in the armed
conflict or in the internal or external affairs of the High Contracting Party
in the territory of which that conflict occurs.
6. The
application of the provisions of this Convention and its annexed Protocols to
parties to a conflict, which are not High Contracting Parties that have
accepted this Convention or its annexed Protocols, shall not change their legal
status or the legal status of a disputed territory, either explicitly or
implicitly.
7. The
provisions of Paragraphs 2-6 of this Article shall not prejudice additional
Protocols adopted after 1 January 2002, which may apply, exclude or modify the
scope of their application in relation to this Article.”