News from 2007

• From Adjacency to Synergy – outcome of the 2007 BWC MSP. The Report of the 2007 Meeting of States Parties of the Biological Weapons Convention detailed a number of common understandings by States Parties on what is needed to move from adjacency to synergy (as the Chairman had subtitled the meeting), including: improved interactions with international organisations; new mechanisms for engaging with academics, scientists and civil society; enhanced outreach to industry; a renewed interest and participation in side events; an historical endorsement of the Implementation Support Unit; significant progress in expanding the membership of the treaty; and practical tools for improving implementation.
• BWC 2007 Meeting of States Parties reaches successful conclusion. The meeting adopted its Report by consensus on the morning of Friday 14 December 2007. In his closing remarks, the Chairman, Ambassador Masood Khan of Pakistan, concluded “we have had a very productive meeting, and have at least made a good start on our goal of moving from adjacency to synergy in our efforts to strengthen the effectiveness of the Convention, in the areas we have been looking at of enhancing national implementation and regional and sub-regional cooperation”.
• List of speakers for Meeting of States Parties now open: Delegations wishing to inscribe fo the General Debate are requested to do so by e-mail to rlennane@unog.ch. The Chairman would like to request delegations to keep their statements to a maximum of 5-7 minutes in length (10-12 minutes for statements on behalf of groups).
• Preparing for the Second Intersessional Process: On Thursday, 22 November the Chairman made the opening remarks at the inaugural seminar of a training course for diplomats dedicated to enhancing the BWC. The course is being organised by the Diplomatic Studies Programme of the Institut Universitaire de Hautes Etudes Internationales in Geneva and the BioWeapons Prevention Project. At the same event, the ISU made presentations on the “ISU and 2007 – 2010 Intersessional Programme” and “Online Tools provided by the ISU“.
• Regional Group Meetings: The Chairman of the Meeting of States Parties, Ambassador Masood Khan, addressed the three BWC regional groups on Wednesday, 14 November 2007. His remarks developed the approach he plans to take, and the expected outcome for the meeting, due to be held in Geneva from 10-14 December. Distributed at this meeting was a document detailing the current universality status of the BWC.
• Biosafety and Biosecurity Regional Conference in Middle East: Ambassador Khan addressed the Biosafety and Biosecurity International Conference 2007, held in Abu Dhabi, 12-14 November 2007. The event was organised by the International Council for Life Sciences and supported by the Government of the United Arab Emirates. In his remarks, Ambassador Khan outlined the important role played by the BWC in evolving biosecurity discussions.
• Chairman’s Universalization Lunch: On 6 November 2007 the Chairman of the Meeting of States Parties, Ambassador Masood Khan, hosted a lunch for members of the Geneva missions of States not party to, and Signatory States of, the Convention. During the lunch, Ambassador Khan made spoke about the importance of joining the BWC.
• Biosafety, Biosecurity and Coping with the Revolution in Biotechnology: Ambassador Khan made the keynote address at a meeting on these issues, held in Como, Italy on 25 October 2007.
• BWC issues discussed at First Committee: the Chairman of the Meeting of States Parties addressed the First Committee of the UN General Assembly on 22 October 2007. In his remarks, Ambassador Khan detailed progress made in obtaining universality for the BWC, the importance of reinforcing cooperation and coordination amongst international organisations, as well as reporting on progress made in the 2007 – 2010 intersessional process.
• Transparency and Biosecurity: The Chairman of the 2007 Meeting of States Parties, Ambassador Khan addressed the Conference on Transparency in Current and Emerging Approaches to Biosecurity, held on 19 October 2007, at George Mason University, Arlington VA Campus.
• Chairman outlines plans for Meeting of States Parties: the Chairman of the Meeting of States Parties, Ambassador Masood Khan, wrote to all States Parties on 18 October outlining his plans for the meeting. A provisional agenda and a synthesis paper were attached to the letter. The Meeting of States Parties will be held in Geneva from 10-14 December, and registration will open on 5 November.
• Wilton Park meeting on “The BWC: Looking Ahead”: Ambassador Khan addressed this meeting in his capacity as Chairman of the 2007 Meeting of States Parties. His remarks focused on the importance of collective action across the various sectors and interests.
• National Implementation Database (NID) updated: 71 additional national measures have been added to the NID as a result of the presentations, statements and interventions made at the 2007 Meeting of Experts in August. This brings the total number of measures in the database up to 2009 from 130 States and 1 regional organization.
• Successful outcome to 2007 Meeting of Experts: the meeting concluded on 24 August by adopting its report by consensus. It was made up of a Procedural Report (as adopted) and two annexes. One annex listed the official documents of the meeting. The other Draft Annex listed lessons, proposals, recommendations, etc. made during the meeting (as adopted). During the same session, the Chairman made Closing Remarks and presented an Interim Universalization Report. More information can be found on the 2007 Meeting of Experts page.
• Gabon ratifes the BWC: the Depositaries have announced that Gabon (a signatory) has ratified the BWC, bringing the number of States Parties to 159. Gabon is the fourth state to join this year, following Kazakhstan, Montenegro, and Trinidad and Tobago.
• Launch of the Implementation Support Unit: all States Parties are invited to a reception to launch the ISU, to be held from 17:30 on Monday 20 August 2007 at the Bar Escargot (3rd floor, E Building, two floors directly above Room XVIII where the Meeting of Experts is being held). The reception is jointly hosted by the Chairman of the Meeting of Experts, the Director-General of UNOG, and the United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affairs.
• Highest ever level of participation in CBMs: The recent submission of a CBM by Nigeria makes a total of 57 so far this year. That is more than has ever been submitted before. The ISU is aware of several more still in the pipeline, so numbers are likely to increase further. For more information on who has submitted so far this year, see the BWC CBM Returns page, or alternatively for copies of the submissions, see the restricted access area.
• Chairman addresses Conference on Disarmament. In a session of the CD devoted to chemical and biological weapons, Amb. Khan made a Statement to the Conference on Disarmament in his capacity as Chairman of the 2007 meetings of the Convention. Kazakhstan also made a Statement on its accession to the Convention.
• CBMs published on secure website: 2007 CBM submissions received to date are now available for download in the eCBM Platform, with the exception of those from States Parties who have requested their CBMs not be published online.
• Agenda for Meeting of Experts: the provisional agenda for the 2007 Meeting of Experts (BWC/MSP/2007/MX/1) is now available in all languages and can be downloaded from the Meeting of Experts 2007 page. Further information is provided in this letter from the Chairman (10 July 2007).
• Secure website operational: The Head of the ISU, Richard Lennane, wrote to each State Party on 27 June to announce the opening of the restricted area of the BWC website, as mandated by the Sixth Review Conference, and to issue each State Party with its username and password for accessing the restricted area. If you have not received this letter, which contains important information, please contact the ISU. A generic form of the letter (with passwords and other State Party-specific details removed) can be viewed here.
• Implementation Support Unit operational: on 26 June the Director of the Geneva Branch of the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs wrote to BWC States Parties to inform them that the three staff members of the ISU have been appointed and the Unit is operational. An event to formally lauch the ISU will be held shortly.
• OECD launches Best Practice Guidelines on Biosecurity for BRCs – designed to secure all types of biological materials (e.g. plant-, animal-, micro-organism- and human-derived) in proportion to the risk they present, the Guidelines on Biosecurity direct facilities within their purview to perform a risk assessment of the various biological materials they hold, assign a biosecurity risk level to each type of material and implement risk management practices to reduce the chance of their loss or theft.
• CBM Reminder: the annual Confidence-building Measures (CBM) submissions are due on 15 April 2007. Please see the CBM page for details, or contact us for assistance.