INEW ~ Week 1 Report on First Committee

Work begins at First Committee this year as explosive weapons continue to be used frequently in populated areas around the world, from Ukraine to Sudan, Myanmar, Syria, and other states experiencing their devastating effects.

The use of explosive weapons in populated areas is a leading cause of harm to civilians in armed conflict. The bombing and shelling of towns and cities kills and injures tens of thousands of civilians each year. It destroys critical civilian infrastructure such as hospitals, schools and power and water systems, which impacts the provision of essential services and leads to long-term civilian suffering. Estonia, Greece, Aotearoa New Zealand, Norway, Poland, San Marino, and Slovenia all made references this week to these impacts on civilians from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas.

For more than a decade, civil society and international organisations have documented the patterns of harm from the use of explosive weapons, in which civilians overwhelmingly bear the brunt of their use in populated areas. When explosive weapons are used in populated areas, 90 per cent of the victims are civilians.

The Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from the Humanitarian Consequences Arising from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas, endorsed by 83 states on 18 November 2022, is the first formal international recognition that the use of explosive weapons in populated areas has severe humanitarian consequences that must be urgently addressed.

The political declaration commits states to avoid civilian harm by restricting or refraining from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas and to assist victims and address the long-term impacts that stem from damage and destruction to civilian infrastructure. States that sign the political declaration are committing to work together, along with the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and civil society to strengthen the protection of civilians from explosive weapons.

UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Ms. Izumi Nakamitsu, again referred to the adoption of the political declaration as “a bright spot” of the last year in her opening remarks to the First Committee this past week. She reiterated the UN Secretary-General’s call on states to endorse the declaration and implement its commitments, including to restrict or refrain from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. The European Union also highlighted the adoption of the political declaration as an important achievement and an opportunity for the international community to continue work on this issue at the Oslo Conference next year.

Austria, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Aotearoa New Zealand, Norway, and San Marino also highlighted the importance of the adoption of the political declaration and, in some cases, ongoing implementation of its commitments. For Austria, the declaration is a “concrete example on how we can collectively uphold our humanitarian goals,” and signalled that it looked forward to working jointly with all stakeholders on implementation of its commitments.

Austria, Ireland, Aotearoa New Zealand, Norway, and San Marino called on all states that have not yet done so to endorse the political declaration and highlighted the work ahead for implementing the declaration’s commitments, including at the Oslo Conference next year. Greece also recognised the importance of continued work on the declaration ahead of the Oslo Conference.

While inviting all states to support and implement the political declaration, San Marino also called for all parties to armed conflict to avoid the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects in populated areas, echoing a call by the International Network on Explosive Weapons (INEW) to endorse, and embed in national policy and practice, this recommendation of the UN Secretary-General and ICRC.

In the coming weeks of First Committee discussions, INEW encourages states to call for action to address the severe harm to individuals and communities from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, endorse the political declaration or encourage endorsement by others, start to assess the steps required at the national level to implement the declaration’s commitments, and, like San Marino, endorse the recommendation that parties to conflict should avoid the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects in populated areas.