Paragraph 38 still requires States to conduct legal reviews in the study, development, acquisition or adoption of laws, language drawn directly from Article 36 of Additional Protocol I. As we’re not party to that protocol, we cannot accept treaty-specific language in a set of elements reflecting common understanding among all States. We reiterate our request that this phrase be deleted. This request carries additional weight today because the chapeau of paragraph 38 has also lost the qualifier “as appropriate”, which previously preceded “States must”. It was precisely that qualifier that allowed my delegation to work with “must” in this paragraph at all. Without it, we’re left with an unconditional obligation, phrased in language drawn from an instrument we have not joined. So, we ask at a minimum that “as appropriate” be restored and that phrase drawn from Article 36 be deleted. The phrase “as appropriate” could be reinserted in sub-paragraph 38 after “conduct legal reviews”. So, the beginning of the sub-paragraph would read as “conduct legal reviews as appropriate”.
Statement by Türkiye (GGE LAWS, 3 September 2026) 1:32:14
