What measures have been taken by your State to implement those existing principles of international humanitarian law that are considered by your State as relevant to the use of munitions, including submunitions, that may become ERW?
In answering this question, States may like to address, among other issues, the following specific questions: …
(v) Does your State have a mechanism to review the legality of new weapons, methods of warfare and military doctrine? (If yes, what is the legal basis for those systems?)
16. The action of designing a weapon for a specific purpose is indeed an action in application of the principle of discrimination. It is complemented, within an overall legal approach, by the fulfilment of the obligations stemming from article 36 of the first additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, which France has ratified. The Protocol makes it obligatory to check the lawfulness of new weapons, i.e. to verify whether a particular weapon is authorized, prohibited or subject to use restrictions under the relevant international instruments which have already been ratified.
Explosive Remnants of War and International Humanitarian Law: Submitted by France (11 August 2005) CCW/GGE/XI/WG.1/WP.17
