Disarmament in Review
On 22 and 23 April 2025 in Yaoundé, Cameroon, the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) and the Ministry of External Relations of Cameroon organized a national workshop on strengthening the implementation of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC).
Since it joined the BWC in January 2013, Cameroon has been at the forefront of promoting the Convention in Central Africa, including its universalization and effective implementation. In May 2023 in Douala, Cameroon hosted a Sub-regional Workshop for Central Africa on the Universalization and Effective Implementation of the BWC, which had gathered representatives from all central African States and several relevant international organizations.
The recent national workshop had three objectives: (i) raising awareness about the Convention among national stakeholders to support the role of the BWC national contact point (NCP) in inter-institutional coordination; (ii) training participants on the preparation and submission of the annual confidence-building measures (CBM) reports with the aim of reinforcing the process of CBM submission; (iii) sharing UNODA’s assessment of the national legal and regulatory framework for BWC implementation at the request of Cameroon and identifying with national stakeholders the next steps to amend relevant legislation.
The workshop was opened by Ebénézer Mouandjo Mouandjo, Director of the Department of United Nations and Centralized Cooperation of the Ministry of External Relations and was attended by 30 representatives from key national stakeholders involved in BWC implementation. During the first day of the workshop, participants had the opportunity to raise their awareness of the BWC, including the rights and obligations of States Parties thereunder, and the many opportunities for international cooperation under the Convention. Regional cooperation was also an important part of the programme with an expert from the National Authority of Radiation Protection, Safety and Nuclear Security (ARSN) of Mauritania sharing his national experience on implementing the BWC as NCP, including the process of preparing and submitting CBMs.
The second day of the workshop was focused on CBM training with the conduct of interactive group exercises enabling participants to identify the various stakeholders having key information to be provided in CBMs. This exercise was followed by discussions on identifying processes to facilitate the preparation and submission of CBMs.
The workshop ended with an open discussion of concrete national steps to strengthen the BWC in Cameroon, including follow-up actions based on UNODA’s assessment of the comprehensiveness and effectiveness of the national legal and regulatory framework for BWC implementation. UNODA is looking forward to continuing working with the NCP and other national authorities to strengthen BWC implementation in Cameroon and promote dialogue among States Parties in identifying good practices.
The event was organized by UNODA in the framework of its programme to support the universalization and effective implementation of the BWC in Africa, funded by Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States, as part of the Signature Initiative to Mitigate Biological Threats in Africa (SIMBA) of the Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Material of Mass Destruction. Since the end of 2022, UNODA has organized 39 capacity-building workshops across Africa, training more than 1,200 individuals on the BWC and its impact on international peace and security.
