Biological Weapons Convention
Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction
Recognizing the need to strengthen the BWC, a group of governmental experts (VEREX) was established at the Third Review Conference of the BWC in 1991 to identify and examine potential verification measures from a scientific and technical standpoint. At a Special Conference held in September 1994 in Geneva, the States parties agreed to establish the Ad Hoc Group of the States parties to the BWC in order to negotiate and develop a legally-binding verification regime for the Convention. To this end, the Ad Hoc Group was mandated to consider four specific areas, namely: definitions of terms and objective criteria; incorporation of existing and further enhanced confidence-building and transparency measures, as appropriate, into the regime; a system of measures to promote compliance with the Convention; and specific measures designed to ensure the effective and full implementation of Article X on international cooperation and exchange in the field of peaceful bacteriological (biological) activities.
At the Fourth Review Conference of the States parties to the BWC in 1996, the work of the Ad Hoc Group was discussed and the progress made thus far was welcomed. It also mandated the Ad Hoc Group to conclude its work on the future protocol at the latest by the Fifth BWC Review Conference to be held in 2001.
On 23 September 1998, an Informal Ministerial Meeting of the States parties to the BWC was held in New York at the initiative of Australia in order to demonstrate high-level political support for the negotiations.
At its 24th session (23 July –17 August 2002), which was the last scheduled session before the Fifth Review Conference, the Ad Hoc Group was unable to conclude the negotiations on the draft protocol.
The Fifth Review Conference was convened from 19 November to 7 December 2001 in Geneva. Due to persisting divergent views and positions on certain key issues, however, the Conference decided to adjourn its proceedings and resume its work from 11 to 22 November 2002 in Geneva.
In pursuant to the decision taken at the Fifth Review Conference in 2001, the Conference was reconvened from 11 to 15 November 2002 in Geneva. States parties adopted a Final Report that included a decision to hold annual meetings of States parties and experts meetings in the next three years leading up to the Review Conference in 2006.
The Sixth Review Conference of the Biological Weapons Convention was held in Geneva from 20 November to 8 December 2006. The Review Conference succeeded in comprehensively reviewing the Convention, adopting a final document by consensus. It also decided on specific and concrete measures to strengthen the implementation of the Convention. The States parties adopted a detailed plan for promoting universal adherence, and decided to update and streamline the procedures for submission and distribution of the Confidence-Building Measures (CBMs). They also adopted a comprehensive intersessional programme spanning from 2007 to 2010. In a significant development, the Conference agreed to establish an Implementation Support Unit (ISU) to assist States parties in implementing the Convention.
