ABSTRACT
Regarding the involvement of civil society in the process toward the adoption of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), it can be recalled that Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have actively supported the negotiations that finally led to the adoption of this instrument in 1993. It is obvious that the key driving force behind the Ottawa Process was civil society. The Ottawa Process, which led to the adoption of a treaty on a total ban of anti-personnel mines in record time, served later as a template for an instrument prohibiting cluster munitions. Negotiations formally started at the Oslo Conference on Cluster Munitions and were opened to all States that would agree to the immediate signature of a treaty banning cluster munitions, as well as to representatives of civil society. Therefore, the influence of considerations of humanity and the contribution of civil society are perhaps less conspicuous than in the case of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) or the Ottawa and Oslo Conventions.
