Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons
Quick Summary
The Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) is an international treaty that aims to prohibit or restrict the use of certain conventional weapons that are considered excessively injurious or indiscriminate. It is a framework convention, meaning it sets out general principles and allows for additional protocols to address specific types of weapons.
The CCW has been instrumental in limiting the impact of weapons such as:
* Landmines and booby-traps: Protocol I restricts their use and requires humanitarian considerations.
* Incendiary weapons: Protocol III prohibits their use against civilian populations and restricts their use against military targets in populated areas.
* Blinding laser weapons: Protocol IV bans the use of lasers designed to cause permanent blindness.
* Explosive remnants of war (ERW): Protocol V requires parties to clear and destroy explosive ordnance left behind after a conflict.
The CCW does not ban specific weapons outright but rather regulates their use, development, and transfer, emphasizing the importance of humanitarian concerns in warfare.12
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