CIAO DATE: 10/2013
December 2011
EGMONT – The Royal Institute for International Relations
The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction (BTWC) opened for signature on 10 April 1972 and entered into force on 26 March 1975. As of 15 November 2011, there are 165 states parties, 12 signatory states, and 19 states that have neither signed nor acceded to the BTWC. Previous review conferences were held in 1980, 1986, 1991, 1996, 2001-2002, and 2006. The States party to the BTWC will convene in Geneva for the 7th Review Conference between 5-22 December 2011. The meeting comes at an important junction for the prevention of biological weapons (BW) in general and the BTWC in particular. The BTWC lacks verifi- cation provisions and an intergovernmental implementation organisation to oversee and enforce compliance. Most policy makers, disarmament experts and commentators therefore regard the agreement as weak. The entry into force of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in April 1997 added to this perception: the CWC is the most complete di sarmament treaty to date. It includes extensive verification measures and created an international body, the Organi- sation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), headquartered in The Hague. Notwithstanding the many efforts almost from the day the negotiations ended in 1971, states have attempted to equip the BTWC with verification tools. The most recent attempt, an Ad Hoc Gro up of States Parties (AHG) negotiating a legally binding protocol to the convention that, among other things, would have added verification procedures and an international treaty implementation organisation, failed in the summer of 2001. Its fallout at the 5th Review Conference in December almost brough t the entire BTWC edifice down.
Resource link: Setting a Standard for stakeholdership. Industry Contribution to a strengthened Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention [PDF] - 799K