The third preparatory meeting in support of the universalisation of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) was held in New York on 30 May 2006.


Participation

• Fourteen representatives from 14 States not yet party to the BTWC: Cameroon; Côte d'Ivoire; Eritrea; Guinea; Haiti; Israel; Kazakhstan; Marshall Islands; Myanmar; Samoa; Syrian Arab Republic; Trinidad and Tobago; United Arab Emirates; and Zambia.
• Six representatives from 4 International and Regional Organisations: UN Department for Disarmament Affairs, International Committee of the Red Cross; League of Arab States; Organisation of Islamic Conferences;.
• Representatives from the Member States of the European Union and from the Council Secretariat.

   
Meeting proceedings
   
A.    Introductions  

• Ambassador Gerhard Pfanzelter (Austria; Presidency of the European Union) welcomed the participants and introduced the goals of the European Union (EU) with regard to the disarmament and non-proliferation of biological weapons (BW).
• Ms Annalisa Giannella, Personal Representative of the High Representative on Non-proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, sketched the background to the information meeting and explained why the States not party to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) were invited.The EU Joint Action in support of the BTWC has a double objective. First, it aims at raising awareness about the importance of BTWC universality and to encourage States that have signed BTWC to ratify it and non-signatory States to accede to Convention. Second, the EU is prepared to offer to 12 States Party to the BTWC that request such assistance legal or legislative implementation assistance in order to assist them to adopt the national measures necessary to comply with the Convention. She then turned to the regional seminars that will be held in support of the universalisation objective. The purpose of the regional seminars is to offer States not-Party to the BTWC an opportunity to discuss in detail and in small groups the obligations under the BTWC, the importance of the BTWC for regional security, and the experience of neighbouring States with the implementation of the BTWC.
• Mr Nobuaki Tanaka, UN Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, emphasized that in the light of current threats, including terrorism, States could no longer be complacent about the BTWC, and welcomed the EU Joint Action as a demonstration of concrete action. There is an urgent need to strengthen the norm against BW. He mentioned the fact that despite the 80th anniversary of the 1925 Geneva Protocol prohibiting the use of chemical and biological weapons in armed conflict there are more than 20 countries that still reserve the right to resort to such weapons in retaliation for chemical or biological attacks. The BTWC celebrated the 30th anniversary of its entry into force also in 2005, but Mr Tanaka pointed out that the convention still needs to go a long way before it achieves universality.
• Dr Jean Pascal Zanders, Director of the BioWeapons Prevention Project and entrusted with the technical implementation of the EU Joint Action, offered a brief summary of the BTWC and presented a regional breakdown of the States Parties, Signatory States and Non-Signatory States to the convention. He explained the threat form deliberate infectious disease, the consequences a society might suffer from such an event, and highlighted the potential security benefits that non-States Parties might gain by joining the BTWC. 
• Ms Angela Woodward, Legal Coordinator at the BioWeapons Prevention Project for possible assistance programmes under the EU Joint Action, summarized the obligations States Parties to the BTWC assume in order to translate the obligations under the convention into national legislation. She also explained which sort of legal and legislative implementation assistance the EU can make available to States Party to the BTWC that request such assistance.
  

B.    Discussion

    The following points summarize the principal issues raised by the participants.
   
    The cost of the BTWC

• Several participants queried about the costs involved in the participation of the BTWC. As the convention has no supporting infrastructure like an international implementation organisation, ratification of or accession to the BTWC does not entail any immediate costs.
• If a Party to the BTWC decides to participate in a meeting of the States Parties or in an expert meeting, then it will contribute its share to the costs of organising that particular meeting.
• The BTWC also requires that parties implement the treaty on a national level. This involves, among other things, the adoption of national legislation (laws, regulations, etc.) that makes the prohibitions of the convention applicable to individuals and companies, and criminalizes violations of the prohibition (penal legislation). Furthermore, States Parties are required to participate in annual information exchanges (Confidence Building Measures). To this end they must collect information and prepare reports. Both the enactment and execution of national legislation as well as the participation in the Confidence Building Measures entails a cost and commitment of people to prepare and execute those tasks.
• However, as the representative from an EU Member State argued, preparing for a biological incident is about helping one's own citizens. This is an objective that cannot be expressed in terms of monetary cost.
• In addition, Ms Annalisa Giannella underlined that the assistance projects that the EU is ready to offer are aimed precisely at facilitating the adoption of national legislation.

    The relevance of the BTWC to national and regional security

• Representatives from States not yet party to the BTWC recognized the importance of the convention as a security instrument. There were, however, some questions and comments about the relative priority to be accorded to the BTWC in the light of other pressing issues and limited resources available to the governments (particularly of small countries).
• In reply, it was argued that today the threat posed by biological weapons was not so much an issue of states using pathogens in warfare. Rather the threat should be viewed in the light of the spread of extremely violent terrorist and criminal activities to many parts of the world in combination with the natural diffusion of knowledge, skills, and equipment related to advanced biology and biotechnology. There have already been cases of biological terrorism. Consequently, no state can afford to be complacent about this threat.
• The BTWC can play a significant role in mitigating this threat. The convention can be viewed as a net with the States Parties sitting at the knots (which will be stronger if they have fulfilled their national implementation obligations). A State not party to the convention represents a hole. It creates a security risk not only to itself, but also to neighbouring States and States farther away. The key point is that terrorists or criminals may use the territory of a State not party to the BTWC to prepare for a biological attack at home or in another country, exploiting the weak or non-existent laws to minimize the risk of detection and criminal prosecution. Being part of the BTWC not only closes the hole, it also creates opportunities for assistance by other States Parties and learning from their experiences.
• It should also be noted that within the framework of the BTWC meetings, topics such as disease surveillance, reinforcement of the public health infrastructure, pathogen safety, etc. are discussed. Many measures taken to defend and protect against deliberate disease have benefits for the public health system. In the light of the threats to all societies posed by emerging and re-emerging diseases (such as avian flu), States Parties can request and do receive assistance from other States Parties.

    The contribution of the EU Joint Action in support of the BTWC

• The EU Joint Action seeks to promote the universality of the BTWC by actively engaging those States that are not yet party to the convention and to offer legal and legislative assistance to States already party to the convention. The universalisation component will be realized through the organisation of five regional seminars (see below). Under the national implementation assistance component, up to twelve visits involving a small team of legal experts to requesting countries are envisaged.
• In reply to some questions about assistance in preparation of ratification to the BTWC, it was replied that the present EU Joint Action does not envisage this type of assistance. States not yet party to the convention are nonetheless encouraged to request such assistance, as the possibility exists for a follow-on Joint Action (next year), in which resources to help States to join the BTWC can be envisaged.

    Regional seminars in support of the universalisation of the BTWC

• In the course of the discussion several participants requested further information on the practical organisation of the regional seminars. The EU Joint Action envisages the organisation of five regional seminars for Southern and East Africa, West and Central Africa, Asia and Pacific, Middle East, and South America and Carribean.
• The first regional meeting is planned for Southern and East Africa and will be held in Nairobi, Kenya on 21-22 June. Two other regional meetings for Asia/Pacific and South America/Caribbean are planned for the second half of 2006. The exact dates and location still need to be determined, and will be communicated to the representatives of all countries concerned as soon as they have been decided. The two remaining regional seminars for West and Central Africa and Middle East will take place during the first half of 2007.
• The regional seminars involve two days of in-depth discussion with experts. The participants are primarily high-level representatives from the States not yet party to the BTWC. A high-level representative from a State Party in the region will also be invited to share his / her country's experience with regard to the implementation of the BTWC requirements. The experts may come from international organisations (United Nations, World Health Organisation, etc.) or the European Union. The discussions will focus on the contribution the BTWC may make to security from the perspective of the region where the meeting will be held. In addition, the States not yet party to the convention will be encouraged to discuss the reasons for which they have not yet ratified or acceded to the BTWC. This information will be very important to the development of follow-on actions (including possible assistance) by the EU in support of the universalisation goal.
• Under the terms of the EU Joint Action, the cost of travel and hotel for one representative for each state not yet party to the BTWC will be covered. He or she will also receive a per diem allowance related to the duration of the regional seminar.
• In reply to the question why the EU requests the details of a national contact point in non-States Parties, it was explained that the person to be invited to the regional seminar should ideally be a high-level official responsible for arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation matters. Through the completion of the form (which was included in the meeting documentation) the organisers of the regional seminar will know who to invite.

D. Conclusion