Convention on some traditional weapons

Convention on some weapons traditional (CCAC), whose complete name is Convention on the prohibition or the limitation of the use of some traditional weapons which can be regarded as producing excessive effects traumatic or striking without discrimination, was signed on October 10th, 1980 with Geneva and is coming into effect on December 2nd, 1983.

Its objective is to prohibit or limit the use of some conventional Armes considered as being able to cause excessive or useless damage with the combatants or like being able to strike in a indiscrimée way the people implied in the armed conflicts and those which are not it.

Convention takes again only general provisions. Prohibitions or limitations are registered in its Additional protocols:

Protocol I relating to the glares not localisables
Protocol II on the prohibition or the limitation of the use of the mines, traps and other devices
Protocol III on the prohibition or the limitation of the use of the weapons flamers (Bombs with phosphorus, etc)
Protocol IV relating to the plugging Weapons with laser signed on October 13rd, 1995 and come into effect on July 30th, 1998
the Protocol V relating to the explosive Remainders of war signed on November 28th, 2003 and not come yet into effect.

Recent evolutions

Protocol II was amended in 1996 (coming into effect on December 3rd, 1998) in particular in order to extend the restrictions concerning the use of anti-personnel mines, traps and devices with all the conflicts which they are international or not and in order to prohibit the use of nondetectable fragments in these same mines. Impossibility of completely prohibiting the anti-personnel mines by means of this Protocol pushed many States to set up such a prohibition in a new text: the Treated of Ottawa.

Convention was also amended in 2001 in order to extend its provisions and those of its Protocols) to the whole of the armed conflicts which they are international or not. In 2006,44 States ratified this modification whereas 100 States ratified the initial version of the CCAC.

It also should be announced that many States left to the CCAC ratified only two Additional protocols since it is a question of the necessary minimum to be regarded as State left with Convention.

Although it is about the first international convention of control of the armament which takes into account the humane concerns, the CCAC is generally regarded as a weak text in particular because no instrument of checking of its application exists at present.

External references

the text of 1980
the text of the third protocol
Arms Control Association Fact Sheet

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