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Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention

Volume 688: debated on Monday 8 January 2007

My honourable friend the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Dr Kim Howells) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

Members will wish to be aware of the outcome of the Sixth Review Conference of States Parties to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention held in Geneva from 20 November to 8 December 2006.

On 8 December, states party agreed a three-part final document which included a final declaration where states declared their continued commitment to the convention and their determination to exclude completely the possibility of the use of biological weapons. States party reviewed the operation of the convention and expressed their views on all its articles in some detail. Importantly, states party agreed that the prohibitions in Article I, which defines the scope of the convention, apply to all scientific and technological developments in the life sciences and in other fields of science relevant to the convention that have no peaceful purpose.

The conference also:

endorsed the work done between 2003 and 2005 by states party on five specific topics relevant to the convention;

established a three-person implementation support unit based in the UN in Geneva, to perform specific tasks in support of states party and to serve as a focal point;

agreed that where possible states should submit their confidence-building measure (CBM) returns electronically and that they should be circulated between states party electronically;

agreed to a concerted effort by states party to persuade other states to join the convention; and

agreed a further inter-sessional work programme for 2007-10 to discuss:

in 2007

ways and means to enhance national implementation, including enforcement of national legislation, strengthening of national institutions and co-ordination among national law enforcement institutions; and

regional and sub-regional co-operation on BTWC implementation;

in 2008

national, regional and international measures to improve bio-safety and bio-security, including laboratory safety and security of pathogens and toxins; and

oversight, education, awareness-raising, and adoption and/or development of codes of conduct with the aim to prevent misuse in the context of advances in bio-science and technology research with the potential of use for purposes prohibited by the convention;

in 2009

with a view to enhancing international co-operation, assistance and exchange in biological sciences and technology for peaceful purposes, promoting capacity building in the fields of disease surveillance, detection, diagnosis and containment of infectious diseases: first, forstates parties in need of assistance, identifying requirements and requests for capacity enhancement, and, secondly, from states partiesin a position to do so, and international organisations, opportunities for providing assistance related to these fields; and

in 2010

provision of assistance and co-ordination with relevant organisations upon request by any state party in the case of alleged use of biological or toxin weapons, including improving national capabilities for disease surveillance, detection, and diagnosis and public health systems.

The above agreement provides a good basis for future collaboration and co-ordination between states party to the convention. The United Kingdom worked closely with European Union partners and with a wide range of other states in the preparatory phase and at the conference itself to build agreement on the middle ground, which ultimately provided the basis for the final consensus.

The Government are grateful to the president of the conference, Ambassador Masood Khan of Pakistan, for his tireless efforts to achieve such a positive outcome, which we believe represents a significant success for multilateralism in the non-proliferation and disarmament field.