General Assembly General Assembly
 

 

 

 

Mr Chairman,
 
 
1. India associates itself with the statement made by Indonesia on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement.
 
 
2. The CCW is a significant instrument of International Humanitarian Law within the UN Framework. The Convention and its Annexed Protocols, while stipulating measures to mitigate humanitarian concerns arising from the use of specific weapons and weapons systems also take into account the military necessity of such weapons, thus striving to strike a balance between the two concepts. Over the years, the Convention has evolved dynamically and demonstrated its continued relevance through the successive adoption of its five Protocols.
 
 
3. India remains fully committed to the Convention and its Annexed Protocols as well as the humanitarian principles that they embody. We have ratified all the five Protocols annexed to the Convention and Amended Article I of the Convention.
 
 
4. India firmly believes that the universality of the CCW remains critical for the success of the Convention and its Annexed Protocols. We note with satisfaction that steady progress has been made towards this goal, taking the number of High Contracting Parties up to 125, with the accession by Lebanon and Afghanistan this year. 
 
 
5. India welcomes the outcome of the Fifth Review Conference of the CCW held in 2016, including the decision to establish an open-ended Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) related to emerging technologies in the area of Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) in the context of the objectives and purposes of the Convention. We look forward to a good discussion at the GGE in November, which should lay the ground for further progress. A continued substantive mandate, adequate financial resources and the participation of all stakeholders are essential in this regard.
 
 
6. The illicit transfer of conventional weapons, including small arms and light weapons, to terrorists and non-State actors, remains a major threat to international peace and security and an impediment to the full realization of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Though there is no global and comprehensive instrument to address this challenge, the UN Programme of Action outlines a realistic approach to address this problem, through cooperative efforts at the national, regional and global levels. We look forward to actively participating in the Third Review Conference to be held in New York in June next year, to review progress made in the implementation of the Programme of Action and its International Tracing Instrument (ITI). 
 
 
7. India supports the vision of a world free of the threat of landmines and is committed to the eventual elimination of anti-personnel landmines. India participated as an Observer at the Fifteenth Meeting of the States Parties to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention in Santiago in 2016.
 
 
8. We support the approach enshrined in Amended Protocol II of the CCW on anti-personnel land mines which addresses the legitimate defence requirements of States with long borders. India has discontinued the production of non-detectable anti-personnel landmines and observes a moratorium on their transfer. We are also contributing to international demining and rehabilitation efforts.
 
 
9. Amended Protocol II is a useful framework for addressing the issue of Improvised Explosive Devices or IEDs which are increasingly being used by terrorists and illegal armed groups. We welcome the adoption of the Declaration on IEDs at the Fifth Review Conference of the CCW, as recommended by the 18th Annual Conference of AP II. We also commend Afghanistan for having taken the initiative in 2015 to table a resolution on 'Countering the threat posed by improvised explosive devices' in the First Committee. 
 
 
10. India supports the UN Register on Conventional Arms and the UN Report on Military Expenditures and has submitted its national reports regularly. India has strong and effective national export controls governing the transfer of conventional weapons which conform to the highest international standards.
 
 
11. India continues to keep under review the ATT from the perspective of our defence, security and foreign policy interests. During the negotiations, India had raised concerns, including on the imbalance in the obligations of exporting and importing states as well as its shortcomings in stemming the flow of arms to terrorist and non-state armed groups. Nevertheless, India subscribes fully to the objective of the Treaty and our export control system is broadly aligned to the requirements of the ATT. As part of its commitment to international transparency measures, India submits an annual report under the United Nations Register on Conventional Arms for the same categories of conventional arms that are regulated under the ATT.
 
 
Thank you, Mr Chairman.