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Biological Weapons Convention Update
Last year, two meetings were held in Geneva concerning the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction (BWC). A Meeting of Experts was held from 20 to 24 August 2007, and a Meeting of States Parties to the BWC took place from 10 to 14 December, both concerning the topics of national implementation and regional cooperation for implementation. These meetings completed the first segment of the four-year intersessional work program agreed upon by States Parties at the Sixth BWC Review Conference in 2006.
Representatives from 90 States Parties, as well as Interpol, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and several non-governmental organizations, participated in the Meeting of Experts, presenting their experiences and ideas on national and regional implementation measures to address the threat of biological weapons. Chairman Masood Khan of Pakistan commended the wide range of perspectives presented at the meeting. He identified several common themes that emerged during the meeting, including:- the recognition that there is no "one-size-fits-all" solution for national implementation; rather, approaches should be tailored to the individual circumstances and needs of each State Party;
- the need to make use of the new BWC Implementation Support Unit (ISU) to assist States Parties in coordinating and managing BWC-related activities; and
- the need to help States Parties increase their capacity to enforce and manage enacted implementation measures.
A number of delegations, including those from the United States, the European Union, India, and Pakistan, offered to provide assistance to other States Parties working to implement Convention obligations.
The proceedings of the Meeting of Experts served as the basis for the subsequent Meeting of States Parties. In addition to the presentations and discussion on enhancing national and regional implementation, the Meeting of States Parties also included special sessions led by representatives from relevant sectors of civil society and commercial industry, including professional biosecurity and biosafety experts.
The Meeting of States Parties also reviewed the first report of the BWC Implementation Support Unit (ISU). The ISU was established at the Sixth Review Conference, held in 2006, in response to the acknowledged need for a small support staff to provide administrative support and to assist States Parties with BWC implementation and compliance measures. The Unit helps to prepare for BWC-related meetings; facilitates communications among States Parties, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations; distributes information to States Parties; and coordinates the confidence-building measures (CBM) submission process. The three-person ISU staff is based at the Geneva Branch of the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, and is funded by the BWC States Parties. The inaugural ISU report, as well as other online tools and information, can be found on the ISU website at: http://www.unog.ch/80256EE600585943/(httpPages)/16C37624830EDAE5C12572BC0044DFC1?OpenDocument
Increasing BWC membership was another focus of the Meeting of States Parties. The participants at the Sixth BWC Review Conference had agreed to endeavor to promote universal adherence to the Convention by the Seventh Review Conference in 2011. To achieve this goal, participants agreed to focus on bilateral and regional contacts, and to report their progress to the ISU. The Chairman of the annual Meeting of States Parties was charged with overseeing the membership drive. The Chairman's duties included lobbying non-member states to join the Convention and reporting to the States Parties on overall progress. To date, since the Sixth Review Conference, four new states have acceded to the BWC bringing the total number of States Parties to 159.
The last order of business for the Meeting of States Parties was to approve the nomination of Ambassador Georgi Avramchev, from Macedonia, as the new Chair for the upcoming meetings in 2008, and to set the meeting dates. The 2008 Meeting of Experts will be held in Geneva from 18 to 22 August, and the Meeting of States Parties from 1 to 5 December. Topics for 2008 will include biosafety, biosecurity, and codes of conduct.
Leading up to the Seventh Review Conference in 2011, the remainder of the intersessional period will address the following topics:
- 2009: capacity building in disease surveillance
- 2010: assistance and coordination on cases of alleged use of biological or toxin weapons.
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