This section provides a brief look at issues that may affect national implementation measures, such as bio-security codes, bio-criminalization and codes of conduct. It also offers links to international and regional organizations working on such matters, such as Interpol and United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UN-LiREC).
VERTIC will add to this section as additional material comes to our attention. Please contact jane.awford@vertic.org if you would like your organization to be listed.
UN-LiREC was created by a General Assembly resolution in 1986 with its headquarters in Lima, Peru. The Centre’s mandate is to provide "...on request, substantive support for the initiatives and other activities of the Member States of the Latin American [and the Caribbean (A/43/76H)] region for the implementation of measures for peace and disarmament and for the promotion of economic and social development" (A/41/60). The Centre functions as a platform for outreach activities of the United Nations Department for Disarmament Affairs (DDA) in Latin America and the Caribbean.
This covers: support for adhesion to WMD agreements; assessment of norms and legislation; UNSCR 1540; nuclear weapon free-zones; chemical weapons regional assistance and protection network; and counter-terrorism.
Contact details
information@unlirec.org
For many years the INMM has conducted professional development workshops that have identified, developed and shared global best practices in nuclear materials management.
The INMM has developed a forum to systematically disseminate and promote these best practices to those who did not attend the workshops: The Best Practices section of the INMM Web site. This site describes global best practices in:
What are Best Practices?
The concept of "best practices" began in the business world to encourage reflection on lessons learned and increase effectiveness and efficiency. When applied to nuclear materials management, best practices should be consistent with fundamental principles and objectives for nuclear material protection, control, and accountability. See the site for more information on Global Best Practices.
The Interpol, Biocriminalization Project, launched in September 2006, is an initiative in Interpol’s Bioterrorism Prevention Program. It has the objectives of:
Interpol members are encouraged to submit the texts of any relevant legislation which has the objective of preventing and prohibiting the misuse of biological agents and toxins to the General Secretariat. Provisions of these texts will be incorporated into a country-specific database on the Interpol web site. The purpose of the database is to gather all such legislation into one user-friendly place, to encourage Interpol members to see how other states have developed laws preventing and prohibiting the misuse of biological agents and toxins, and to promote best practices in legislative drafting and enforcement.
The Interpol Bioterrorism Prevention Resource Centre has been created to provide member countries with a central point to find links to valid and useful bioterrorism-related websites on areas such as:
Member countries are encouraged to submit plans, procedures and assessments for use as models or resources by other member countries to the Bioterrorism Unit at webbioterrorism@interpol.int.
This website is coordinated by the International Futures Program of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. It has been developed to provide an active resource of global information on oversight mechanisms – particularly codes-of-conduct for the biosciences research community – to help advance these efforts and promote responsible oversight of the biosciences. It resources include:
The National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) was established by the US Government to provide advice, guidance, and leadership on dual use research oversight. Three NSABB Working Groups focused on:
A new NSABB Working Group is drafting principles for, and the features and characteristics of, a proposed oversight framework. The three work documents contained in the NSABB Draft Guidance Documents below will be integrated into the proposed oversight framework.
The NSABB Draft Guidance defines its objective as follows: 'The goal of identifying dual use research of concern is to initiate a process aimed at reducing the potential that knowledge, products or technology derived from certain biological research could be misapplied to threaten public health or other aspects of national security, while minimizing any deleterious impact to the progress of science and the important benefits that it yields.'
See Reference: background documents: general background information for fact sheets, links to web pages and other material to provide a basic introduction to the history, objectives and key provisions of treaties and also to how some of the treaty bodies operate.
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