INEW ~ The Political Declaration on Explosive Weapons: We Need More from States

Originally published on the Humanitarian Disarmament blog.

The Political Declaration on Explosive Weapons: We Need More from States

By Kaya Nadesan, International Network on Explosive Weapons

“When a war happens, you are erased–from your city, from your home. All of a sudden you don’t belong and it’s not your home anymore.” —Reem Abbas, from “To rebuild what has been lost, we need decades”

Two years ago this month, 83 states endorsed a landmark political declaration committing states and militaries to adopt policies that better protect civilians from explosive weapons in populated areas—one of the greatest threats of harm to civilians in armed conflict.

Children walking through an old marketplace destroyed by the use of explosive weapons in Shingal, Iraq, in May 2019. Credit: Levi Meir Clancy on Unsplash, 2019.

The current use of explosive weapons in populated areas—in Gaza, Lebanon, Myanmar, Sudan, and Ukraine, and several other contexts—shows that the Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from the Humanitarian Consequences Arising from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas is highly relevant and more important than ever. The harm to civilians from these weapons is at an alarmingly high level. While these weapons aren’t new, the last century has seen warfare shift away from battlefields into cities, towns, and refugee camps causing widespread harm to civilians and the infrastructure they depend on.

If the Declaration’s commitments are to be realized on the ground, states must intensify work to deliver on them. Meaningful change demands more robust implementation efforts than have been made since the Declaration’s adoption and the first international follow-up conference in Oslo in April 2024. The rate of universalization of the Declaration must also be increased. With the second anniversary of the Declaration on November 18, 2024, and the second international follow-up conference scheduled for July 2025 in San José, Costa Rica, the time for states to act in these areas is now.

Meaningful Implementation in Good Faith
A key focus for endorsing states should be the Declaration’s full and meaningful implementation. When states join the Declaration, they should be prepared to thoroughly evaluate and enact necessary changes to their military policies, operational procedures, and humanitarian response frameworks to ensure compliance with the commitments outlined. At the signing ceremony in 2022, the Irish Foreign Minister at the time, Simon Coveney, saw the potential of the Declaration when he said that “the implementation of this declaration will change how militaries operate in populated areas, including when the use of explosive weapons is expected to cause civilian harm.”

The Declaration calls for not only changes in the use of explosive weapons but also education, norm shifts, and the implementation of policies, procedures, and practices that transform both military and state conduct. A central precautionary provision commits endorsing states to restrict or refrain from the use of explosive weapons, especially those with wide-area effects, in populated areas. Under the Declaration, states also pledged to strengthen their data collection on civilian harm and establish mechanisms for victim assistance. To further reduce the humanitarian impacts of explosive weapons, the instrument emphasizes transparency in military operations by calling on states to make data publicly available, promotes collaboration with civil society and international organizations, and encourages the exchange of best practices.

Implementation of these commitments has been limited to date. In February 2024, a survey by the International Network on Explosive Weapons (INEW) and Explosive Weapons Monitor received responses about implementation actions from 17 endorsing states out of 84, representing only 20 percent of endorsing states at the time. Almost all state respondents had disseminated the Declaration and assigned a point person responsible for implementation activities. However, states reported few activities directly relating to the Declaration’s commitments. Many states instead highlighted existing military policies for international humanitarian law compliance. Even if endorser states have prior measures to protect civilians in their military operations, they should not automatically consider them sufficient for meeting their commitments under the Declaration to avoid civilian harm from the use of explosive weapons.

The first international follow-up conference in Oslo, Norway, which took place in April 2024, further confirmed that efforts in advancing implementation have been slower than anticipated. The meeting was a formal opportunity for endorsing states to share their progress on implementation of commitments thus far. Only a few states spoke directly to the progress they had made towards fulfilling their commitments under the Declaration. The lack of interventions related to such efforts suggests that states have not yet taken the actions hoped for.

States can achieve more by setting clear goals and milestones to reach before the next international follow-up conference in July 2025. For example, endorsing states should assess how to implement the Declaration at the national level. They should not only assign a national focal point responsible for working on implementation and disseminate the Declaration to relevant parties, but also identify areas of work outlined in the Declaration that require further development. States should follow recommendations from the Troika Outcome Statement from Oslo, in addition to referring to other resources such as INEW’s Implementation Framework and Implementation Question and Answer paper.

Bringing New States Onboard
More work also needs to be done on universalization of the Declaration. Since its endorsement ceremony in Dublin, four new states have joined the Political Declaration—Jordan, Kosovo, Montenegro, and North Macedonia—bringing the total number of endorsements to 87. Some of these states did so around the period of the Oslo Conference, using it as an opportunity to vocalize their commitment.

For countries that have not joined the Declaration yet, aiming to do so before or around the second international conference in Costa Rica would be a timely objective. The addition of new states signing the Declaration generates continued momentum for the issue, reinforcing the collective capacity of the community of states and organizations already engaged in these efforts.

Furthermore, the conference provides a chance for more Caribbean and Latin American states in the region to endorse the Declaration—a region already rich with a history of actively supporting the issue and previously working towards drafting the Political Declaration. Within INEW, we look forward to working around the Costa Rica meeting to highlight the ongoing harm and opportunities for action.

The Second International Conference
The second international conference, to be held in July 2025, provides an opportunity for states to demonstrate a stronger commitment to the Declaration. They should step beyond mere attendance and be prepared to contribute information about national developments to the discussions, demonstrating a spirit of collaboration and genuine engagement with the Declaration and the meeting. At INEW’s side event during the UN General Assembly’s 2024 First Committee on Disarmament and International Security, Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the UN, Ambassador Maritza Chan Valverde, highlighted the need for national implementation, stating that she expected states to report on their progress during the Costa Rica conference.

To push themselves to achieve concrete results, states should set clear national goals before the conference. At the Protection Forum in Oslo, Laura Boillot, director of Article 36, said, “It is crucial in reviewing implementation of this agreement that it is not undertaken in the abstract, but rather in a mode of honest reflection and with sharp critique of the scale of bombing and shelling we’re seeing today.”

Recommendations
In order to implement and universalize the Declaration as they prepare for the Costa Rica conference, states should heed the following recommendations:

Publicly acknowledge and call for action to address the direct and indirect harm from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas;
Endorse—if they have not already—the Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from the Humanitarian Consequences Arising from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas;
Assess national steps needed to implement the Declaration, including in military policy, victim assistance, humanitarian access, and data collection;
Encourage and conduct outreach to states, particularly those from underrepresented regions, to endorse the Declaration and promote its widespread adoption and implementation;
Support and contribute to an active intersessional program to advance the Declaration’s implementation and universalization, including through multistakeholder participation in thematic and regional meetings, intergovernmental and military exchanges;
Use diplomatic means and influence to call on parties to conflict to stop the use of explosive weapons with wide-area effects in populated areas, taking into account both the direct and indirect effects on civilians from this use, and facilitate rapid and unhindered humanitarian assistance and victim assistance.

Ensuring the success of the Political Declaration is a significant undertaking. As UN disarmament chief Izumi Nakamitsu said, “The declaration will make a difference only if it is endorsed widely and its commitments implemented fully and in good faith.” If meaningful impact is to take shape on the ground, it is essential to act now and demonstrate a true commitment rooted in genuine political will to prioritize civilian protection from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas.