BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION PREPARATORY MEETING
RE-OPENS IN GENEVA

States Parties to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) resumed the Preparatory Committee of the Eighth Review Conference in Geneva today. The Preparatory Committee began its work from 26 to 27 April and now resumes for a further five days. The Review Conference itself will take place in Geneva from 7 to 25 November.

The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction, as the BWC is formally known, effectively prohibits the development, production, acquisition, transfer, retention, stockpiling of biological and toxin weapons and is a key element in the international community’s efforts to address the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. According to its 175 States Parties, biological weapons are “repugnant to the conscience of mankind”.

The Preparatory Committee makes the procedural arrangements necessary for a successful outcome of the Eighth Review Conference in November. Ambassador György Molnár of Hungary chairs the Preparatory Committee and has been nominated as President of the Review Conference in November. Re-opening the Preparatory Committee today, Ambassador Molnár welcomed Angola, which became the newest State Party to the Convention on 26 July. He said “Together with the ratification earlier this year by Côte d’Ivoire I hope that this signifies a new momentum towards the universalization of the Convention in the run-up to the Review Conference in November.”

At its meeting in April, the Preparatory Committee took a number of procedural decisions, while others remaining to be taken by this meeting. This meeting will also see a resumption of the “general exchange of views” in which States Parties will share and discuss proposals for the Review Conference. The meeting will also consider comprehensively all provisions of the Convention before concluding on 12 August. At the end of the meeting, the Chairman will produce a summary report under his own authority.

At the Eighth Review Conference States Parties will comprehensively examine the operation of the Convention. The review process provides the opportunity for States Parties to reconfirm their commitment to the complete prohibition of biological weapons and to address the effective operation of the Convention. The Review Conference is expected to:

· Review the operation of the Convention, with a view to assuring that its provisions are
being properly and effectively implemented;
· Take into account any relevant scientific and technological developments;
· Consider the work of the 2012 to 2015 intersessional meetings; and
· Decide on any future action necessary to strengthen the implementation of the BWC.


The Biological Weapons Convention, which opened for signature in 1972 and entered into force in 1975, was the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning an entire category of weapons. It currently has 175 States Parties, with a further eight having signed but not yet ratified.



For further information, please contact:

Daniel Feakes
Secretary of the Preparatory Committee for the
Eighth Review Conference of the
Biological Weapons Convention
tel: +41 (0)22 917 2230
fax: +41 (0)22 917 0483
e-mail: dfeakes@unog.ch
web: http://www.unog.ch/bwc/meeting
twitter: @BWCISU




For use of the information media; not an official record

DC16/033E