BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION EXPERT MEETING CONCLUDES

BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION EXPERT MEETING CONCLUDES

Experts Exchange Ideas for Strengthening National

And International Measures against Infectious and Deliberate Diseases

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 2 August (UN Information Service) -- The second Meeting of Experts from States Parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction, was held in Geneva from 19 to 30 July 2004.  The Convention, generally known as the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), prohibits the development, production and stockpiling of biological and toxin weapons.

Around 450 experts and officials from 87 BWC member countries, as well as from the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) participated in the Meeting of Experts, which was convened to discuss two topics:  (1) strengthening and broadening national and international institutional efforts and existing mechanisms for the surveillance, detection, diagnosis and combating of infectious diseases affecting humans, animals and plants; and (2) enhancing international capabilities for responding to, investigating and mitigating the effects of cases of alleged use of biological or toxin weapons or suspicious outbreaks of disease.

Under the chairmanship of Peter Goosen of South Africa, the participants in the Meeting made a range of technical presentations and produced a wealth of ideas and proposals on various aspects of each of the two topics.  Many presentations and working papers emphasised the importance of strengthening national infectious disease surveillance in order to improve global surveillance and capabilities for rapidly responding to naturally occurring or deliberate diseases.  The potential for new, emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases to disrupt essential services, trade and travel underscored the fundamental role of disease surveillance and preparedness in responding to, controlling and mitigating naturally occurring outbreaks of infectious diseases affecting humans, animals or plants.  Presentations made by the WHO, OIE and FAO showed ways in which existing international infectious disease response mechanisms could be enhanced.

Other presentations and working papers addressed the need for strong national co-ordination and for regional and international organizational management, including disaster planning, to include provision for infectious disease outbreaks (natural or deliberate); the importance of electronic reporting and information management and connectivity in general; the role of research and development in improving rapid laboratory and field detection and diagnosis of infectious diseases; the need for continuing education and infectious disease disaster training; mechanisms for bilateral and multilateral assistance and co-operation; and various international investigative mechanisms for responding to allegations of deliberate use.

The Chairman produced a paper listing the considerations, lessons, perspectives, recommendations, conclusions and proposals drawn from the presentations and working papers, saying that in his view the paper could assist delegations in their preparations for the Meeting of States Parties to be held in Geneva from 6 to 10 December 2004.  The paper was annexed to the report of the Meeting of Experts.

The Meeting of Experts is part of a three-year programme mandated by the Fifth Review Conference of the BWC.  The Review Conference, which concluded in 2002, decided that States Parties would meet twice yearly until the next Review Conference in 2006 to “to discuss, and promote common understanding and effective action on” specific topics related to better implementation of the BWC.

In 2005 the focus of the process will shift to the content, promulgation, and adoption of codes of conduct for scientists.  States Parties to the BWC are due to meet in 2006 for the Sixth Review Conference to review the operation of the Convention, with a view to assuring that the provisions of the Convention are being properly and effectively implemented.

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

For further information, please contact:  Richard Lennane, Secretariat of the BWC Meeting of Experts, tel.: +41 (0)22 917 1376 or +41 (0)22 917 7304, fax: +41 (0)22 917 0034, e-mail: rlennane@unog.ch.

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