It will be recalled that
the Fifth Review Conference of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention
(BWC) resumed in Geneva on 11 to 22 November 2002 agreed the decision
recorded in its Final Document (BWC/CONF.V/17) that
18. At its eighth plenary meeting
on 14 November 2002, the Conference decided by consensus, as follows:
(a) To hold three
annual meetings of the States parties of one week duration each year
commencing in 2003 until the Sixth Review Conference, to be held not
later than the end of 2006, to discuss, and promote common understanding
and effective action on:
i. The adoption of necessary, national
measures to implement the prohibitions set forth in the Convention,
including the enactment of penal legislation;
ii. National mechanisms to establish
and maintain the security and oversight of pathogenic microorganisms
and toxins;
iii. 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;
iv. 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;
v. The content, promulgation, and
adoption of codes of conduct for scientists.
(b) All meetings,
both of experts and of States Parties, will reach any conclusions
or results by consensus.
(c) Each meeting of the States Parties
will be prepared by a two week meeting of experts. The topics for
consideration at each annual meeting of the States Parties will be
as follows: items i and ii will be considered in 2003, items iii
and iv in 2004 , item v in 2005. The first meeting will be chaired
by a representative of the Eastern Group, the second by a representative
of the Group of Non-Aligned and Other States, and the third by a
representative of the Western Group.
(d) The meetings of experts will prepare
factual reports describing their work.
(e) The Sixth Review
Conference will consider the work of these meetings and decide on
further work.
The Meeting of Experts
18 to 29 August 2003
83 States Parties participated together
with two Signatory States and one State (Israel) was granted observer
status. Over 400 individuals, including over 100 legal and scientific
experts, participated.
During the first week,
the Meeting of Experts heard national overview statements from 16
States Parties on Monday 18 August and in subsequent sessions heard
a total of 37 thematic presentations and held a structured general
discussion on, inter alia, the subtopics of Legal, Regulatory
and Administrative (including civil legislation; penal legislation;
regulations; and guidelines); Prohibitions (including direct implementation;
war materials; development, production, possession and use; and complementary
legislation); Restrictions (including classification; operational
frameworks; intangible technologies; and sanctions); Practical Implementation
and Enforcement (including national infrastructure; international
cooperation; education and training; and experts); and Criminalization
and Law Enforcement (including information sharing; enforcement; and
international agreements).
In the second week, the Meeting of Experts
heard national overview statements from 14 States Parties on Monday
25 August and in subsequent sessions heard a total of about 30 thematic
presentations by States Parties and held a structured general discussion
on, inter alia, the subtopics of Legal, Regulatory and Administrative
(including national and international models and standards; and risk
assessment, programme design and consequence management); Facilities
(including facility planning and management; and storage, containment,
custody and disposal of dangerous pathogens); Personnel (including
personnel issues for pathogen management; and training and continued
education in pathogen security); Transport and Transfer (including
issues of transport and transfer of dangerous pathogens; and type
of recipient facility); and Oversight and Enforcement (including issues
of licensing, accreditation and authorization).
66 Working Papers were submitted by States
Parties: Argentina (23), Australia (38, 39, 48, 49, 50, 56), Austria
(53), Brazil (20), Bulgaria (58), Canada (26, 27, 28, 29), China
(9, 25), Finland (57), France (17, 18, 19), Germany (12, 13, 21,
22, 24, 35, 36, 37, 59), Iran (51, 54, 55), Japan (10, 11), Korea,
Republic of (16), Malaysia (52), Mexico (60), Netherlands (14), Poland
(33, 44), Russian Federation (1, 31, 32), South Africa (30), Sweden
(15), Thailand (61), Ukraine (40, 41, 42, 43), United Kingdom (7,
8, 34, 45, 63, 64, 65, 66), USA (2, 3, 4, 5, 6) and one 130 page long
Working Paper (62) by 12 of the EU states (Austria, Belgium, Finland,
France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain,
Sweden and the United Kingdom).
The Report of the Meeting of Experts in
August 2003 is in two parts. Part I [1] provides
a four page procedural report of the meeting to which is attached
Annex I providing a list of the documents. Part II [2] is a 172 page document
prepared to meet the decision of the Meeting of Experts that "all
the statements, presentations and contributions made available to
the Chairman by the States Parties would be attached to this Report,
in the language of submission, as Annex II". However, Annex
II in Part II is preceded by a note from the Secretariat that:
"the statements, presentations
and contributions included in this part of the report are presented
in the languages of submission. In cases where the language of submission
is not English, the text as submitted is followed by an informal transcript
of the English interpretation, made from the tape recording of the
meeting. These transcripts are not an official record, and are provided
solely as a convenience to delegations. They may differ from the
texts submitted. Statements, presentations and contributions which
were submitted as working papers are not included in this Annex; please
refer to the Annex I for the list of working papers."
It is not easy to analyse
the information provided in Annex II as no indication is provided
as to where statements, presentations and contributions which were
submitted as working papers -- and thus are not included in Annex
II -- were made during the Meeting of Experts, nor is there any indication
in Annex II as to where the statements, presentations and contributions
fit into the agreed detailed programme of work which broke down the
two topics into subtopics and further detailed subelements.
The Meeting of the States
Parties has thus a challenging task in the coming week to develop
language for its report which will promote common understanding
and effective action on the two topics considered at the Meeting
of Experts.
