This week most of the disarmament action is taking place outside of Geneva.

The Fourth Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty opens today in Oslo. The meeting will mark 20 years since the convention entered into force. During the week, states, civil society members, landmine survivors and mine action operators will take stock of outstanding issues ans challenges, measure progress towards a mine-free world, and come up with an action plan for the next five years. The Opening Ceremony will take place at the Oslo City Hall, where the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and Jody Williams received the Nobel Peace Prize for their work ” for the banning and clearing of anti-personnel mines” 22 years ago. In addition to the official programme – that will look at clearance, stockpile destruction, transparency, victim assistance, cooperation and assistance, universalization and compliance issues – many side events are scheduled. For those of you following the meeting on social media, here are some useful accounts and hashtags to follow: @MineBanTreaty, @minefreeworld, @MineMonitor, #OsloRevCon, #4RevCon.

Meanwhile in the Hague, the Twenty-Fourth Conference of States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention will review the status of implementation of the convention, discuss ways to foster international cooperation and engagement with the chemical industry and scientific community, universalization efforts as well as other administrative and financial matters. You can watch the public sessions of the conference online at: www.opcw.org/calendar/csp-24/webcast.  The award ceremony of the 2019 OPCW-The Hague Award, which recognizes individuals and institutions that have made an outstanding contribution towards the goal of a world permanently free of chemical weapons, will take place on Monday evening.

In Vienna, the  CTBTO Preparatory Commission will meet to discuss programme and budget proposals.