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Authors: Artur Balaov, Attaché, Department for Nonproliferation and Arms Control (DNAC), Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation;
Vladimir Yermakov, Deputy Director of DNAC, Candidate of Science (Political Science)
ON DECEMBER 12-16, 2016, Geneva will host a
review conference of what is commonly referred to
as the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons
(CCW) or the Inhumane Weapons Convention. With
its five protocols, the convention has been adopted
as a key international mechanism of conventional ar-
maments control and one of the pillars of interna-
tional humanitarian law.
One important feature of the CCW is its balanced
nature - the convention takes account both of the imperatives of international humanitarian law
and of the legitimate defense interests of nations.
It is important that the first ban imposed by the CCW outlawed weapons that most nations
avoided using anyway as an unwritten rule, and probably also because they had no military need
to do so. This reflects a fundamental feature of the convention and all its protocols - their bal-
anced nature.
It is worth stressing once again that the CCW and its protocols are an efficient international law
mechanism that can harmonize international humanitarian concerns with the legitimate defense
interests of nations. The CCW has proven to be an effective means of dealing with humanitarian
threats and protecting non-combatants, to be adaptable to changing forms of warfare, and to
be able to efficiently diversify its practical rules. Obviously, it represents a comprehensive ap-
proach to international relations that responds to their entire diversity and should be adopted
universally.
As no other international armaments control instrument, the CCW strictly follows two funda-
mental principles of international humanitarian law - proportionality of the use of force and
distinction between combatants and military objectives, on the one hand, and civilians and civilian
property, on the other. The provisions of the CCW are acceptable to the majority of nations
and lay the basis for more humane use of warfare methods that are made possible by rapid tech-
nological progress. The CCW offers nations a non-discriminatory opportunity for warfare reg-
ulation. There is every reason to expect the entire international community to make use of all
these advantages for an indefinite time.
But more importantly, "humaneness" is a moral concept. Weapons can't be humane. It's people
who must decide whether the use of any weapon by an individual or by a nation would comply
with international humanitarian law. "Inhumane weapons" is an arbitrarily coined phrase for any
weapon that can cause exceptional or unnecessary suffering if used indiscriminately. Essentially,
any weapon is deadly in purpose and nature, and hence its indiscriminate use is impermissible.
"Inhumane Weapons": What Are They?