STATES PARTIES TO BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION TO MEET IN GENEVA FROM 10 TO 14 DECEMBER

The Meeting of States Parties to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) will be held in Geneva from 10 to 14 December 2007. The Meeting will develop and consolidate the work of the Meeting of Experts (20-24 August) to promote common understandings and effective action on two specific topics:

· Ways and means to enhance national implementation, including enforcement of national legislation, strengthening of national institutions and coordination among national law enforcement institutions; and

· Regional and sub-regional cooperation on implementation of the Convention.

The Meeting of States Parties will be chaired by Ambassador Masood Khan of Pakistan, who also chaired the Meeting of Experts, and the Sixth Review Conference in 2006. Describing the results of the Meeting of Experts, the Chairman said experts from a total of 90 States Parties to the Convention had discussed "a wide range of perspectives, from States Parties of different sizes, different situations, and varying systems of government and administration. We have had broad overviews of approaches to national implementation, and highly detailed technical expositions of particular aspects of enforcement, interagency coordination, regional cooperation, and export controls".

The Chairman said he expected the Meeting of States Parties would consolidate and distil the material presented at the Meeting of Experts, and produce a report which he hoped would be "a practical and focused resource which will genuinely help governments around the world improve their implementation of the Convention, and thus help strengthen barriers against the development, transfer or use of biological weapons".

High-level representatives from a number of relevant international organisations will participate in the Meeting of States Parties, including the Director-General of the World Organisation for Animal Health, Dr. Bernard Vallat, the Secretary General of Interpol, Mr. Ronald Noble, and the Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Mr. Rogelio Pfirter. Ambassador Khan welcomed the interest of these organisations, noting that "a particularly consistent message to emerge from the Meeting of Experts was that effective national implementation of the BWC requires coordinated action from a variety of actors, across different sectors, including security, public health, law enforcement, agriculture, and others". The Meeting will also feature special sessions devoted to dialogue with representatives of civil society and commercial industry.

As well as working on the topics of national implementation and regional coordination, the Meeting of States Parties will review the work of the new Implementation Support Unit, which was established by the Sixth Review Conference to assist States Parties in their efforts to strengthen the implementation of the Convention and reduce the threat posed by biological weapons. The Unit became fully operational in August 2007, and will report to States Parties on its activities to implement its mandate. The Meeting will also review activities mandated by the Sixth Review Conference to secure universal adherence to the Convention, which currently has 159 States Parties.

Background

The Meeting of States Parties takes place amid renewed interest in and activity surrounding the BWC following the highly successful Sixth Review Conference in December 2006. The Meeting is part of a four-year programme mandated by the Sixth Review Conference 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 programme builds on the success of a similar work programme held from 2003 to 2005. In coming years, the work programme will deal with biosafety and biosecurity; oversight, education, awareness-raising and codes of conduct; capacity building for disease surveillance, detection and diagnosis; and responses in the case of alleged use of biological weapons.

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. The BWC was the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning an entire category of weapons. It currently has 159 States Parties, with a further 15 states having signed but not yet ratified.

For further information, please contact:

Richard Lennane
Head, BWC Implementation Support Unit
Tel: +41 (0)22 917 22 30
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

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