The Permanent Representative of Iraq to the United Nations Office in Geneva, Ambassador Abdul Karim Hashim Mustafa, chaired the meeting of experts of the States Parties to the Fifth Protocol 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 was held at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva. A statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the Permanent Representative of Iraq chaired this meeting in his capacity as President of the Eighteenth Conference of the High Contracting Parties to the Fifth Protocol to the Convention. It added: "This role reflects the Iraqi government's firm belief in the humanitarian goals that the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) seeks to achieve, and the importance of implementing the Fifth Protocol as one of the binding international instruments to reduce the human suffering caused by these weapons, which have led to the ki lling and wounding of thousands of civilians." Source: National Iraqi News Agency