Intervention by Norway on Article 4, Clearance and destruction

Thank you mr Co-Chair

The new cluster munition convention must facilitate and ensure the effective clearance of cluster munition remnants from all contaminated areas within clearly set deadlines. This will be a daunting task, and in some of the worst affected areas, probably not possible within the five year deadline indicated in the present discussion text.

We need to acknowledge the magnitude and the seriousness of the contamination in the worst affected countries, and must ensure that the deadlines we define for clearance does not present these countries with obligations that may create obstacles for them joining the new convention.

This is why the provisions for extension and international cooperation assistance are crucial. But it is important that the deadline for clearance is solid and clear, and that the extension provision does not open for a circumvention of the treaty obligations, but only allowing for effective implementation of the treaty, based on specific national plans.

Article 4 in the present text outlines an adequate approach to the clearance challenge, but we believe that in could benefit from taking in more experiences from the operative end of explosive ordnance clearance gained over the past decade.

While we must ensure that surveying, marking, fencing, risk education and clearance is done according to high standards for safety and security, we must ensure that implementation of these provisions are based on field realities, rather than being restricted by meeting all possible requirements of new international protocols.

In this respect we welcome some of the comments made by the Cluster Munition Coalition on paragraph 2, and look forward to continued discussions to ensure that this paragraph facilitate the effective implementation of the provisions in a way rapidly improve the situation on the ground in affected areas.

This article, together with the suggested articles on stockpile destruction and cooperation and assistance form the basis for making the future cluster munition convention an effective vehicle for removing the present and future humanitarian problem caused by cluster munitions use, and thereby preventing new cluster-munitions victims.

Thank you