2008 Disarmament Calendar

Our last few posts have previewed in general terms some of the main negotiations and discussions on disarmament and arms control that will take place during 2008. The Geneva Forum has just made it easier to follow all of this year's goings on by publishing online its 2008 Disarmament Calendar (click on "Calendar" in the menu bar on the left of the Geneva Forum's homepage). The Geneva Forum will keep this calendar updated throughout the year so why not put it in your bookmarks and refer back every now and again to get the full picture? Also, if you would like to suggest additions, please feel free to use the link at the top of the calendar to do so.

The 2008 disarmament year officially starts today with the opening of a one-week meeting of the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). The GGE is scheduled to meet for up to 7 weeks this year to "negotiate a proposal to address urgently the humanitarian impact of cluster munitions, while striking a balance between military and humanitarian considerations" (for background, see our earlier posting, "Cluster Munitions: a CCW Mandate").

Disarmament Insight is observing this meeting and will report back later in the week on how things are proceeding.

Patrick Mc Carthy