VERTIC endorses joint NGO position paper to Biological Weapons Convention Meetings of Experts encouraging state parties to take action on, amongst other things, cooperation and assistance, national implementation, and institutional strengthening.

VERTIC endorses joint NGO position paper to Biological Weapons Convention Meetings of Experts encouraging state parties to take action on, amongst other things, cooperation and assistance, national implementation, and institutional strengthening.

The position paper gives 31 recommendations on a wide range of issues, including cooperation with non-governmental organisations, and the need to further examine a ‘core standing coordinating capacity within the UN to conduct independent investigations of any alleged use of biological weapons.’ The paper also calls on states to examine and develop a framework that ensures a coordinated international response following the use of biological weapons. Of particular importance to VERTIC is the call on states to ‘adopt and enforce the necessary legal measures’ to bring the convention into effect on a national level. VERTIC’s National Implementation Measures Programme has been active in supplying legal services to more than 100 states for more than a decade. While there have been improvements in worldwide adherence to the norms enshrined in the convention, much more work remains to be done.

Alongside VERTIC, the document has been endorsed by eleven non-governmental organisations and several individual experts on biological arms control.

  • Find the full text of the NGO paper on the UN Geneva website here.
  • Find more information on the 2018 BWC Meetings of Experts here.