Experts meet at UN headquarters in Geneva to strengthen biological arms ban

Experts from 150 States Parties to the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning biological weapons and representatives of United Nations agencies have begun a two-week meeting in Geneva to reinforce legal and security measures buttressing its implementation.

The Meeting of Experts, which began yesterday at UN headquarters in Geneva, is the first stage of a new process established by the Fifth Review Conference of the treaty, the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction.

In the face of serious disagreements on how to proceed after the collapse of negotiations on a legally-binding protocol to strengthen the Convention, the conference decided last November that States Parties would meet annually until the next Review Conference in 2006 to “discuss, and promote common understanding and effective action on” specific topics related to better implementation.

Each of these annual meetings is to be preceded by a meeting of experts, with the current session preparing the way for a meeting from 10 to 14 November.

The current session, joined by experts from the UN World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), is addressing two topics: the adoption of necessary national measures to implement the prohibitions set forth in the Convention, including the enactment of penal legislation; and national mechanisms to establish and maintain the security and oversight of pathogenic micro-organisms and toxins.

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 150 States Parties, with a further 16 having signed but not yet ratified.