[E-rundbrief] Info 581 - UNO - Biological Weapons Convention

[Matthias Reichl]

E-Rundbrief - Info 581 - UNO: Biological Weapons 
Convention Implementation Support Unit, based in 
the Geneva Branch of the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs.

Bad Ischl, 23.8.2007

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NEW UNIT CREATED TO Help world’s effort against BIOLOGICAL WEAPON threat

Press Release DC/3079

Department of Public Information • News and Media Division • New York

20 August 2007

http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2007/dc3079.doc.htm

GENEVA, 20 August (Office for Disarmament 
Affairs) -- The international community’s efforts 
against the threat of weapons of mass destruction 
receive a boost with the inauguration today of 
the Biological Weapons Convention Implementation 
Support Unit, based in the Geneva Branch of the 
United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs.

The Sixth Review Conference of the Biological 
Weapons Convention in December 2006 decided to 
establish an Implementation Support Unit to 
assist States parties in their efforts to 
strengthen the implementation of the Convention 
and reduce the threat posed by biological 
weapons.  The decision was a landmark in the 
history of the international community’s efforts 
against biological weapons, as the Convention 
itself has no provision for institutional support.

The Implementation Support Unit was officially 
inaugurated at a ceremony held today in the 
Palais des Nations.  This launch coincided with 
the opening of the 2007 Biological Weapons 
Convention Meeting of Experts, the first part of 
a work programme commissioned by the Sixth Review 
Conference to further strengthen the implementation of the treaty.

The Implementation Support Unit, which is funded 
by the States parties to the Biological Weapons 
Convention and has a staff of three professional 
officers, is based in the Geneva Branch of the 
Office for Disarmament Affairs.  The recently 
appointed United Nations High Representative for 
Disarmament Affairs, Sergio Duarte, invited 
States parties to supportthis initiative:  ”Much 
of the mandate of the Unit is concerned with 
facilitating communication among States parties 
and, upon request, facilitating contacts with 
scientific and academic institutions, as well as 
non-governmental organizations.  The Unit will 
also serve as a central clearinghouse for 
information relating to confidence-building 
measures.  Clearly, the more States parties make 
use of such services, the better they will work.”

The Unit is also mandated to provide 
administrative support to the State Parties and 
to promote universal adherence to the ban on 
biological weapons and to persuade the remaining 
States not party to join the Convention.

Ambassador Masood Khan of Pakistan, who is 
chairing this year’s meetings of the Biological 
Weapons Convention, emphasized the key role to be 
played by the Unit:  ”The Unit will harness 
resources, forge connections, develop networks 
and identify opportunities.  It will make an 
important and innovative contribution to our 
collective effort to reduce the terrible threat posed by biological weapons.”

Also at the ceremony, the Director-General of the 
United Nations Office at Geneva, Sergei A. 
Ordzhonikidze, welcomed the establishment of the 
Unit in Geneva which ”has long been an important 
centre for disarmament diplomacy” and the 
Biological Weapons Convention’s ”spiritual home.”

Richard Lennane was appointed earlier this year 
as Head of the Unit, which became fully operational on 2 August 2007.

Background

The international regimes dealing with nuclear 
and chemical weapons have well-established 
international organizations to oversee their 
operation:  the International Atomic Energy 
Agency (IAEA) and the Organization for the 
Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).  No such 
institution exists for biological 
weapons.  Although the need for institutional 
support for the Convention has often been 
highlighted, until recently a common 
understanding on a path forward could not be reached.

In the 1990s, Biological Weapons Convention 
States parties worked on creating a regime 
parallel to those found in the chemical and 
nuclear spheres.  But given the sharp differences 
in perspective, the changing security environment 
of the third millennium, and the unique 
challenges posed by biological weapons, the 
States parties decided in 2001 to take a new 
approach.  They established a new process, 
focused on achieving more effective 
implementation of the existing obligations of the 
Convention.  As this process developed, it became 
clear that it would be useful to have a small 
unit to assist States parties in taking such 
action, and this evolved into the consensus 
decision of the Sixth Review Conference to 
establish the Implementation Support Unit.

The Convention on the Prohibition of the 
Development, Production and Stockpiling of 
Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons 
and on Their Destruction, commonly known as the 
Biological Weapons Convention, prohibits the 
development, production, acquisition, transfer, 
stockpiling and use of biological and toxin 
weapons, and is a key element in the 
international community’s efforts to prevent the 
proliferation of weapons of mass 
destruction.  The Convention opened for signature 
in 1972, entered into force in 1975, and was the 
first multilateral disarmament treaty banning an entire category of weapons.

For further information, please contact:  Richard 
Lennane, Head, Biological Weapons Convention 
Implementation Support Unit, tel.:  +41 0 22 917 
22 30; e-mail:  rlennane at unog.ch.

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Matthias Reichl, Pressesprecher/ press speaker,
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