Ambassador Yuri Sterk, Bulgaria’s Permanent Representative to the UN and other International Organizations in Geneva, chaired the 2024 Meeting of the High Contracting Parties to the 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), which took place at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland from 13 to 15 November 2024.

Ninety-one High Contracting Parties, two observer States, four International organizations and twelve Non-governmental organizations participated in the 2024 Meeting of the High Contracting Parties.

For more than forty-four years, the CCW has served as a key instrument of international humanitarian law. Its dynamic and flexible nature has allowed it to continuously codify and develop the rules and norms of international humanitarian law by placing concrete limits on the means and methods of warfare through the prohibition and regulation of specific weapon systems, in a manner that balances military necessity and humanitarian considerations.

Due to obstructions from one delegation (Russian Federation), which did not confirm the existing Rules of Procedures, the Meeting held its substantial discussions in an informal mode and focussed on a range of issues related to the operation of the Convention and its protocols. The High Contracting Parties adopted a Final document that paved the way to continuing the work under the CCW and its protocols in 2025.