Disarmament in Review
On 10 and 11 February, the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) welcomed parliamentary delegations from Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt and Somalia, five of the six African States not yet party to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), to Geneva for a high-level seminar in support of universalisation. The seminar focussed on raising awareness about the importance of BWC universalisation and sought to encourage broad regional and international cooperation to that end.
The first day of the seminar consisted of a series of briefings aimed at familiarising delegates with the Convention, the rights and obligations of States Parties, the links between disarmament, non-proliferation and sustainable development and the role of the IPU in supporting disarmament and non-proliferation globally. In opening remarks, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Ms. Izumi Nakamitsu, highlighted that, while the threat of biological weapons may seem a distant issue for many, “every State stands to benefit from prohibiting the use of disease as a weapon of war or terror, every State benefits from safeguarding peaceful biological research and innovation, [and] every State strengthens its resilience by enhancing detection, surveillance, and response systems for biological risks.” The Under-Secretary-General added that it is in this context that “every State has much to gain from joining the Biological Weapons Convention.” The seminar was also addressed by His Excellency Ambassador Frederico S. Duque Estrada Meyer, Permanent Representative of Brazil to the Conference on Disarmament and Chairperson of the Working Group on the Strengthening of the Biological Weapons Convention. Ambassador Meyer emphasised the importance of universalisation of the Convention and highlighted the range of benefits that membership of the Convention confers on States.
During the seminar, delegates received briefings from representatives of the Convention’s three depository governments, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America. These briefings focussed on the importance of universalisation of the Convention and the technical assistance and capacity-building support available to support States’ post-accession implementation of the Convention.
Presentations by experts from the World Health Organization and the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research provided participants with an overview of the current global bio-risk landscape and the importance of robust biosafety and biosecurity frameworks. While the Deputy Permanent Representative of Morocco to the United Nations in Geneva, Mr. Abdellah Boutadghart, also shared perpsectives on the importance of the BWC in Africa and on the assistance offered by Morocco to regional partners to support Convention implementation.
At the beginning of the second day of the seminar, the delegation of the Comoros, led by the Honourable Mr. Ahamada Baco Mohamed, First Vice-President of the Assembly of the Union, presented its instrument of accession to the Convention to Acting United States Permanent Representative, Ms. Alison Storsve. Following the instrument’s formal receipt by the United States in its capacity as a depository government, Comoros has become the 188th State party to the Biological Weapons Convention. UNODA’s long-term engagement with the Comoros within the context of its programme to support universalisation and effective implementation of the BWC began with the participation of a Comorian delegation during a UNODA-organised regional forum in Mombasa, Kenya in 2022. With a view to promoting the Comoros’s accession to the Convention, UNODA also supported the participation of Comorian delegates in a subregional workshop in Rabat, Morocco in 2023 and organised a high-level visit of Comorian parliamentarians to the United Nations Office at Geneva in the same year. The accession of the Comoros to the BWC is the culmination of consistent outreach and longstanding engagement at the international and regional levels and the dedication of Comorian national partners.
The second day of the seminar also included a briefing by the Honourable Dr. Alma Yak, member of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly of the Republic of South Sudan. Dr. Yak was instrumental in South Sudan’s 2023 accession to the BWC and, in the interests of regional cooperation and engagement, shared her experiences, challenges and good practices with counterparts from the region. Dr. Yak highlighted the importance of tailored outreach and persistence as key to making progress towards accession or ratification.
At the conclusion of the seminar, delegates met with the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, Ms. Tatiana Valovaya, who highlighted the important contribution the BWC makes to international peace and security and noted that disarmament and non-proliferation generally are critical elements of sustainable peace and human development and necessary for the achievement of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Background
The Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) was the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning an entire category of weapon of mass destruction (WMD) and prohibits the development, production, acquisition, transfer, stockpiling and use of biological and toxin weapons. The Convention is a fundamental pillar of the global peace and security architecture and is a cornerstone of the international disarmament and non-proliferation regime. While the Convention is approaching universal membership, nine States, including five in Africa, have neither ratified nor acceded to the Convention.
The seminar took place within the framework of UNODA’s programme, funded by the Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction, to promote universalisation and strengthen national implementation of the BWC in Africa. More information is available here.
