EARLY RESULTS FOR BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION UNIVERSALIZATION EFFORTS

Current efforts to expand the membership of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), described as a cornerstone of international peace and security, have provided early dividends with three recent additions. Kazakhstan acceded on 28 June 2007, Trinidad and Tobago on 19 July 2007, and Montenegro announced earlier this year that it succeeded to the Convention with effect from 3 June 2006 (the date of its independence from the former Serbia and Montenegro). The three new members bring the number of States Parties to 158, with a further 16 states having signed but not yet ratified. Twenty-one states remain completely outside the regime.

International attention has been focused on the membership of this treaty since States Parties met at the end of last year to review the operation of the BWC and agreed to a number of measures to encourage the remaining non-members to join. The successful conclusion of the Sixth Review Conference on 8 December 2006 included an agreement to undertake a concerted effort to promote universal adherence to the Convention. States Parties were requested to promote membership through bilateral contacts and through regional and multilateral activities, and to report to the newly-established Implementation Support Unit in order to coordinate their efforts. The Chairman of the annual meetings of States Parties was charged with overseeing the membership drive, lobbying non-members to join, and reporting to States Parties on progress.

This year's Chairman, Ambassador Masood Khan of Pakistan, today welcomed the news of the accessions. "This is a promising start", he said, "which demonstrates that coordinated action can indeed deliver results. We are on track to meet our target of universal adherence by the Seventh Review Conference in 2011. I urge States Parties to continue their efforts to persuade others to join the Convention, and make the ban on these terrible weapons truly universal."

Ambassador Khan will chair the BWC Meeting of Experts, to be held in Geneva from 20 to 24 August 2006. The Meeting of Experts will discuss, and promote common understanding and effective action on improving national and regional implementation of the BWC. States Parties will then hold their annual meeting in December.

The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction, commonly known as the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), effectively prohibits the development, production, acquisition, transfer, stockpiling and use of biological and toxin weapons, and is a key element in the international community’s efforts to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The BWC opened for signature in 1972, entered into force in 1975, and is the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning an entire category of weapons.

For further information, please contact:

Richard Lennane
Head, BWC Implementation Support Unit
Tel: +41 (0)22 917 2230
Fax: +41 (0)22 917 0483
E-mail: bwc@unog.ch
URL: www.unog.ch/bwc


For use of the information media; not an official record


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