Mr. President,

The Indian delegation would like to warmly congratulate you on your assumption of chairmanship of the 15th Annual Conference of Amended Protocol II of CCW. We also congratulate other officers of the bureau on their election. Let me assure you of the full cooperation and support of the Indian delegation in discharging your important responsibilities.

Mr. President,

India supports the approach enshrined in Amended Protocol II of striking a balance between humanitarian concerns on landmines and legitimate defence requirements, particularly of States with long borders. We support the vision of a world free of the threat of landmines with mine survivors fully integrated into their society and with individuals and communities free to pursue development in a safe and secure environment. We believe that the availability of militarily effective alternative technologies that can perform cost effectively the defensive function of anti-personnel landmines will facilitate the achievement of this goal.

We attach importance to the full implementation of Amended Protocol II and have fulfilled our obligations under the Protocol related inter alia to non-production of non-detectable mines as well as rendering all our anti-personnel mines detectable. India is observing a moratorium on the export and transfer of landmines. Information regarding our obligations under Amended Protocol II is regularly disseminated to the armed forces. Whenever and wherever the army has used mines for defensive military operations, they have been laid within fenced perimeters and marked, in accordance with the requirements specified in Amended Protocol II. Post operations these mines have been cleared by trained troops.

An integral part of the government’s efforts to avoid civilian casualties is to enhance public awareness on landmines. Further, mine victims are assisted in rehabilitation inter alia by providing financial compensation, employment and health assistance. India's ratification of the Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities underscores the importance we attach to victim assistance. We would also like to stress the importance of development and sharing of technology to protect civilians against the indiscriminate use of mines as well as for mine clearance.

India has extended assistance to international demining and rehabilitation efforts including as part of UN peacekeeping operations to which India is a leading contributor. Indian mine clearance professionals have contributed to both clearance and clearance training globally, including in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Angola, Benin and Afghanistan. We have also provided support for mine clearance in the erstwhile conflict affected areas in SriLanka.

Mr. President,

CCW’s Amended Protocol – II serves as perhaps the only UN framework which addresses the issue of Improvised Explosive Devices which is today the weapon of choice for terrorists and NSAs. We believe that the international community has much to learn from exchange of experience in dealing with the threat of IEDs. India’s Centre of Excellence for training on IEDs has organized several training courses in which a number of service personnel from foreign countries have participated alongside Indian participants. Our experts have also made regular contributions to the discussions on IEDs under the CCW framework. We made a presentation on India’s contribution to international cooperation on IEDs at the Meeting of Experts in April 2013.

We commend the efforts of the Coordinators on IEDs, Mr. Laurent Masmejean of Switzerland and Ms. Namdi Payne of Australia, in taking forward our discussions on the issue this year. We also appreciate their efforts to keep the delegations informed of the compilation of existing guidelines, best practices and other recommendations aimed at addressing the diversion or illicit use of materials which can be used for IEDs. The recommendations proposed by the Coordinators provide a good basis for discussions in 2014. We believe that while there is scope for enhancing cooperation among States in exchange of expertise and information sharing on countermeasures, this should be done keeping in mind confidentiality of information so as to prevent terrorists and NSAs from creating new IEDs and defeating existing measures.

As the report of the Coordinators on IEDs mentions, there has been substantive engagement on the issue of IEDs in the CCW framework for the past five years, but these weapons continue to pose considerable humanitarian problem and cause a significant number of casualties among military personnel and civilians. We therefore support continuing the useful work on IEDs under the CCW framework. In this context, we also want to note that the focus of the efforts of the international community to deal with the threat of IEDs or other issues related to AP-II should not be diluted with attempts to bring in politically charged agendas. In particular, we would like to underline that the primary and exclusive responsibility for enforcing rule of law, including respect for international law applicable to a state, lies with the legitimate government authority of that state.

Arising from that we would like to emphasize that while India values the work and contribution of a variety of entities in the implementation of the CCW and AP II, in the view of our delegation, one of the participants present here has no basis to be so seated in any specific category. There are specific relevant and competent entities whose participation has been mandated by the Rules. Others are covered in Rule 41 and in that context the touchstone is special competence. This was the basis of specific arrangements in past sessions. We have engaged constructively in informal consultations held pursuant to the decision of the 14th Annual Conference of High Contracting Parties to AP-II to resolve this issue. We look forward to further consultations to bring this matter to a close ahead of the future meetings of AP-II so that unnecessary controversy over marginal issues is avoided and we can focus on our important work.

Mr. President,

We support the draft Appeal which emphasizes the importance of achieving the widest possible adherence to AP-II. We also welcome Kuwait and Zambia for consenting to be bound by AP-II this year.

India continues to believe that Amended Protocol II is a unique instrument in view of its scope as well as its membership. We support all efforts to carry forward the process of its more effective implementation. We look forward to working with you, the Coordinators and the ISU in this regard.

Thank you.