The Fifth Session of the Group of Governmental Experts to the Convention on certain Conventional Wea

The Group will continue to "negotiate a proposal to address urgently the humanitarian impact of cluster munitions, striking a balance between military and humanitarian considerations". The consolidated Chair’s text, which contains different positions expressed so far by delegations during the previous sessions and bilateral consultations, will serve as the basis for the negotiations, even though the final legal status of this document is still to be agreed upon. The Chair’s text was presented at the end of the last session of the Group (1 to 5 September) by the Chairperson of the Group, Ambassador Bent Wigotski of Denmark.

The Fifth session is considered to be of high importance to reach an agreement on the core issues under all Articles of the Chair's text. The outcome of this session could be a new version of the Chair’s text, which will be considered during the Meeting of High Contracting Parties to the CCW that would be held from 13-14 November 2008.