§ Mr. Frank CookTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent steps his Department has taken to promote 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, with particular reference to the ratification of Protocol V. [165848]
§ Mr. MacShaneA legally binding Protocol V on Explosive Remnants of War was agreed at the meeting of States Panics to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons on 27/28 November 2003. The UK, along with EU partners, had long pushed for the adoption of a legally binding protocol and we are delighted that a consensus was reached. We received our certified true copy of the instrument from the United Nations in March 2004 and are currently looking at the necessary measures needed to implement the new Protocol. We hope to ratify in the near future. We would also encourage all states to ratify as soon as they are able and to keep to the spirit of the new Protocol in the interim period.