BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION EXPERT MEETING CONCLUDES

The third Meeting of Experts from States Parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction was held in Geneva from 13 to 24 June 2005. The Convention, generally known as the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), prohibits the development, production and stockpiling of biological and toxin weapons.

The Meeting of Experts convened to discuss, and promote common understanding and effective action on ‘the content, promulgation, and adoption of codes of conduct for scientists.’ Experts discussed ways in which the development and implementation of codes of conduct for scientists could help prevent the use of science, particularly the life sciences and biotechnology, in ways that might lead to contravention of the BWC. The Meeting further addressed how raising awareness and educating scientists on the BWC’s prohibitions can strengthen barriers against the development and proliferation of pathogenic micro-organisms and toxins, and related materials and technology, for hostile use.

As well as national delegations, participants in the Meeting included government scientists, experts from international organizations, representatives of international and regional academies of science, professional associations, academic institutions, individual scientific researchers, scientific publishers, research funders, and biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry associations.

Participants debated the overall benefit of codes of conduct, and generated a variety of approaches to developing them. Experts discussed the relative merits of a universal code versus multiple codes, and the relationship of voluntary or contract-based codes of conduct to enforceable legislation and regulations that govern the handling, transfer, transport and use of pathogenic micro-organisms and toxins for peaceful purposes.

There was general agreement among the experts that codes of conduct should uphold the central tenets of the BWC, and should strike a balance between the need to maintain scientific freedom and the need to prevent the deliberate or inadvertent misuse of science for purposes contrary to the BWC. Additionally, there was a high degree of overlap in the common elements and themes that States Parties and expert participants considered to be necessary content of any code of conduct for scientists working in the life sciences and related areas.

While many experts agreed on the general need to raise awareness and increase education amongst the scientific community and the public at large on biological weapons issues, participants varied in their opinion of who should be responsible for promulgating codes of conduct and on whether a ‘top-down’ or ‘bottom-up’ strategy should be pursued. Moreover, participants discussed how limiting the scope of a code or codes to scientists alone would exclude decision makers, facility managers, technicians, transport staff and other relevant actors.

Several participants emphasised the need to avoid ‘re-inventing the wheel’ and recommended building upon existing codes and practices. Other issues raised included the protection of whistleblowers, the integration of research ethics into scientific education, and expanding laboratory education and standard operating biosafety and biosecurity practices.

The Chairman of the Meeting of Experts, Ambassador John Freeman of the United Kingdom, produced a paper listing the considerations, lessons, perspectives, recommendations, conclusions and proposals drawn from presentations and working papers, to assist delegations in their preparations for the Meeting of States Parties to be held in Geneva from 5 to 9 December 2005. The paper was annexed to the report of the Meeting.

The Meeting of Experts was part of a three-year programme mandated by the Fifth Review Conference of the BWC. The Review Conference, which concluded in 2002, decided that States Parties would meet twice yearly until the next Review Conference in 2006 “to discuss, and promote common understanding and effective action on” specific topics related to better implementation of the BWC. This Meeting of Experts followed the successful conclusion of similar sessions held in 2003 and 2004, which saw a wide range of technical experts assemble to discuss:

-- Practical ways of strengthening national measures against biological weapons through national legislation and biosecurity measures;

-- Measures to strengthen and broaden national and international institutional efforts and existing mechanisms for the surveillance, detection, diagnosis and combating of infectious diseases affecting humans, animals, and plants; and

-- Measures to enhance international capabilities for responding to, investigating and mitigating the effects of cases of alleged use of biological or toxin weapons or suspicious outbreaks of disease.

The Meeting of States Parties to be held in December 2005 will conclude this three-year programme. In 2006, the Sixth Review Conference will consider the work of the programme and decide on any further action.

The Biological Weapons Convention, which opened for signature in 1972 and entered into force in 1975, is the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning an entire category of weapons. It currently has 155 States Parties, with a further 16 having signed but not yet ratified.


For further information, please contact:

Richard Lennane
Secretariat of the BWC Meeting of Experts
tel.: +41 (0)22 917 2230 or +41 (0)22 917 7144
fax: +41 (0)22 917 0034
e-mail: rlennane@unog.ch

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For use of information media; not an official record

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