Background
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 (generally known as the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons or CCW) is a key international humanitarian law and arms control treaty. The treaty regime consists of a framework convention (1980) and five protocols. The protocols address:
- non-detectable fragments (Protocol I, 1980);
- mines, booby-traps and other devices (Protocol II, 1980; Amended Protocol II, 1996);
- incendiary weapons (Protocol III, 1980);
- blinding laser weapons (Protocol IV, 1995); and
- explosive remnants of war (Protocol V, 2003).
The CCW is the only treaty that specifically regulates the use of incendiary weapons, laser weapons and mines other than anti-personnel mines. It is also the only treaty enjoying the support of all major military powers that places specific restrictions on the use of some anti-personnel landmines.
As of February 2025, CCW has 128 High Contracting Parties (HCPs). Leaving aside original Protocol II (which largely has been superseded by Amended Protocol II), adherence to specific protocols ranges from 99 States (Protocol V) to 121 States (Protocol I).
Participation in the CCW regime is thus extensive but not universal. Notably, many ASEAN Member States and States in the Pacific region are not HCPs at all or are not bound by some protocols. Reasons for this vary. Contributing factors may include:
- the complexity of the treaty regime,
- uncertainties about the relevance and effect of some protocols in light of the adoption of other instruments, and
- scarcity of guidance on interpretation and implementation.
CCW’s Implementation Support Unit (ISU) has been addressing some of these difficulties by producing a series of information notes and by commissioning a comprehensive Implementation Guide (drafted by Lauren Sanders, Penny Saultry and Rain Liivoja).
Proposed
Commentary
The guidance notes and the forthcoming Implementation Guide are not intended to provide detailed interpretative guidance on specific parts of the CCW regime. To address this gap, APILS is facilitating the drafting of a comprehensive article-by-article Commentary of the convention and its protocols.
In terms of its approach, structure and style, this publication would be similar to those on other arms control treaties published in the Oxford Commentaries on International Law series, which currently includes commentaries on the 1992 Chemical Weapons Convention, the 1997 Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty, the 2008 Cluster Munitions Convention, the 2013 Arms Trade Treaty, and the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Thus, the CCW Commentary would consist of:
- introductions to the convention and each of the protocols,
- analyses of the articles structured broadly as follows:
- background and purpose;
- relationship to other provisions and treaties (where applicable);
- preparatory discussions and negotiations (broken down by paragraph, if required);
- interpretation and application (broken down by paragraph, if required).
Contributors
Authors of the Commentary are drawn from among practitioners and academics who have expertise on the CCW, either through participation in the drafting of the instruments, the meetings of HCPs or national implementation, or through published scholarly works.
The authors are invited to contribute in their individual capacities. They are asked to apply their best professional judgment in providing a mainstream, good faith interpretation of the articles. The contributions should reflect competing understandings of the text of the conventions and protocols insofar as such understandings are known and reasonable. In other words, the commentaries are not expected to conform to the institutional viewpoint of any government or organisation.
Editors and
Advisory Board
The commentaries are edited by Professor Rain Liivoja and Adjunct Associate Professor Lauren Sanders (University of Queensland and APILS).
A small Editorial Advisory Board with legal, technical, operational and humanitarian expertise provides guidance and advice to the editors and contributors.
Any queries may be sent to the editors by email (info@apils.org) or by using the contact form.
