Geneva (ICRC) – States party to the Biological Weapons Convention will meet in Geneva, from 20 November to 8 December 2006, for the
sixth regular review of the treaty.
The Convention, adopted in 1972, prohibits the development, production and stockpiling of biological weapons and reaffirms the ban on their use
contained in the 1925 Geneva Protocol.
Both these treaties codify the norm of customary humanitarian law that forbids the use of poisons, toxins and gases in warfare.
They are
underpinned by ancient taboos against the use of "plague and poison" in war.
Faced with rapid advances in life sciences and biotechnology, the International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) considers it vital for the safety of mankind that States take vigorous steps to ensure that such advances are not put to hostile use.
New breakthroughs in the life sciences, and in
related technology, have promising applications with enormous potential to benefit humanity.
But they also have the potential to be put to hostile use and to make poisoning and the
deliberate spread of disease easier, more lethal, and perhaps more difficult to detect.
In September 2002 the ICRC issued its Appeal on Biotechnology, Weapons and Humanity, which called on
States, the scientific community, the biotechnology industry and civil society in general to "ensure that potentially dangerous biological knowledge and agents" are subjected to effective control.
At the Review Conference in Geneva, the ICRC will call on States to reaffirm the ultimate objective of the Convention – "to exclude completely the possibility of bacteriological
(biological) agents and toxins being used as weapons” – and to take additional measures to ensure that this objective is met.
In addition to its other recommendations, the ICRC
will urge States to engage in dialogue with all those concerned and to foster a cooperative approach to preventing the hostile use of biological agents and toxins.
Such an effort would
involve not only members of the public health sector, law-enforcement agencies, and other government officials, but also life scientists and those in the defence and security community and in
industry.
Science and industry have a critical role in preventing the hostile use of their research, but steps must be taken by all those concerned to minimize the risks.
The
ICRC is convinced that this approach will contribute to building an effective “web of prevention” that can help protect humanity from poisoning and the deliberate spread of disease in the
future.
For further information, please contact: Claudia McGoldrick, ICRC Geneva, tel.
