The Conference of Government Experts on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons, Lucerne, 24 September - 18 October, 1974

Abstract

In the meantime of Diplomatic Conference, attention may usefully be paid to another conference which, while taking its place in the series of conferences on reaffirmation and development of international humanitarian law applicable in armed conflict, is sufficiently important as well as distinct from the rest of the series to deserve separate treatment: the Conference of Government Experts on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons, held at Lucerne (Switzerland) from 24 September to 18 October 1974. This Conference was convened by the ICRC at the request of the XXIInd International Conference of the Red Cross, held at Teheran in November 1973. A survey of the discussions at the Lucerne Conference concerning the various categories on the agenda could easily assume a highly technical character. The agenda included the following items: incendiary weapons, small-calibre projectiles, blast and fragmentation weapons, delayed action and treacherous weapons, and future weapons.Keywords: armed conflict; conventional weapons; diplomatic conference; government experts; ICRC; international humanitarian law; Lucerne