Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons

The Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), is a key international humanitarian law instrument. Its purpose is to ban or restrict the use of specific types of weapons that are considered to cause unnecessary or unjustifiable suffering to combatants or to affect civilians indiscriminately [1].

The unique structure of the CCW aims to ensure flexibility in dealing with new developments in armed conflicts and weapon technologies.

Framework Convention – contains general provisions on the operation, including rules on joining the regime and the possibility to negotiate and adopt new protocols;
Protocols annexed to the Convention – contain the substantive prohibitions and restrictions on certain types of weapons.

This regime makes it possible to negotiate and adopt new protocols. Currently, five Protocols set out specific prohibitions, restrictions and other provisions on certain types of weapons.

The full title of the treaty is “Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects.”

CCW entered into force on December 2, 1983. As of the end of July 2024, there were 128 state parties to the convention [2].

CCW includes five protocols dealing with specific weapons:

Protocol I restricts weapons with non-detectable fragments
Protocol II restricts landmines, booby traps
Protocol III restricts incendiary weapons
Protocol IV restricts blinding laser weapons
Protocol V sets out obligations and best practice for the clearance of explosive remnants of war.

CCW is managed by the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs [3].

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Autonomous Weapons Systems Treaty?

From 16-20 November 2026, states will meet at the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) Review Conference in Geneva to decide whether to launch negotiations on the first autonomous weapons systems treaty [4]. Years of work has built towards this moment, with 130 states now supporting the call for a treaty—but the UK is not among them [5].