BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION EXPERTS TO MEET IN GENEVA FROM 23 TO 27 AUGUST

The 2010 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) Meeting of Experts will be held at the United Nations Office at Geneva from 23 to 27 August. This year's Meeting of Experts is the last in a four-year programme mandated by the 2006 Sixth Review Conference of the BWC, aimed at strengthening the implementation of the Convention and improving its effectiveness as a practical barrier against the development or use of biological weapons. The BWC prohibits the development, production and stockpiling of biological and toxin weapons.

This year the Meeting of Experts will discuss, and promote common understanding and effective action on:

"Provision of assistance and coordination with relevant organizations upon request by any State Party in the case of alleged use of biological or toxin weapons, including improving national capabilities for disease surveillance, detection and diagnosis and public health systems."

The Meeting of Experts will be chaired by Ambassador Pedro Oyarce of Chile. Referring to the topic of the meeting, the Chairman said that it went to the heart of key obligations in Article VII of the BWC to provide assistance to States Parties which are exposed to danger as a result of violations of the Convention. He said that in addressing the topic, the Meeting of Experts would need to focus on the fundamental question: "if a biological weapon were to be used tomorrow, how would we, the States Parties to the BWC, individually and collectively respond?" The Chairman added that answering this question would involve a wide range of actors and considerations at the national, regional and international levels, as "we need to understand what is already being done in the field of emergency assistance nationally and internationally, and to identify areas requiring further development and coordination".

Consequently, a variety of international organizations will participate in the Meeting of Experts, including the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), INTERPOL, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). A range of non-governmental organizations and academic experts will also attend the meeting.

Welcoming this broad range of expert participation, the Chairman noted that effective national and international responses to the alleged use of biological weapons involved two main facets:


(1) Responding to the effects of the alleged use: the public health/veterinary and humanitarian response, including emergency response, controlling the spread of disease, caring for victims, decontamination, etc; and

(2) Finding the cause of the alleged use: the technical and/or criminal investigation to identify the source of the outbreak or incident.


The Chairman expressed his hope that the Meeting of Experts would thoroughly explore and discuss both these facets, and would focus on practical ways of providing assistance and coordination and improving the relevant national capabilities.

Following the success of the poster sessions in 2008 and 2009, the 2010 Meeting of Experts will again feature a poster session, to be held on Tuesday 24 August at 16:30. The poster session represents an opportunity for experts to meet their counterparts and maximize the chance offered for networking; it will enhance the technical information available to delegations by allowing experts to present a poster on the details of their work. The Chairman said that the poster session would be "an important opportunity for sharing information on national and international aspects of the provision of assistance in the case of alleged use of biological weapons, including on specific activities aimed at building national capabilities".

The results of the Meeting of Experts will be considered by the Meeting of States Parties, to be held in Geneva from 6-10 December 2010. The Meeting of States Parties will review the ideas and proposals presented at the Meeting of Experts, and produce a report aimed at promoting effective action to strengthen the operation of the Convention in the areas covered by the topic.

The Biological Weapons Convention, more formally referred to as the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction, opened for signature in 1972 and entered into force in 1975. It currently has 163 States Parties, with a further 13 States having signed but not yet ratified.


For further information, please contact:

Mr. Richard Lennane
Head, BWC Implementation Support Unit
Tel: +41 (0)22 917 22 30 or +41 (0)22 917 73 37
Fax: +41 (0)22 917 04 83
E-mail: rlennane@unog.ch
URL : www.unog.ch/bwc


For use of the information media; not an official record

DC10/034E