Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention

UN BTWC Meeting of Experts, 24 - 28 August 2009, Geneva

The Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention prohibits the development, production and stockpiling of biological and toxin weapons and requires their destruction or their diversion to peaceful purposes. In implementing these provisions all necessary (bio)safety precautions shall be observed to protect populations and the environment.

To promote the national implementation of the BTWC of State Parties a Meeting of Experts was held in Geneva. The main topics discussed were Capacity Building in the Field of Disease Surveillance, Detection, Diagnosis and Containment .
http://www.unog.ch/80256EE600585943/(httpPages)/F1CD974A1FDE4794C125731A0037D96D?OpenDocument

Ursula Jenal represented EBSA at the Expert Meeting, here is her report:

Referring to the extensive discussions held during the week, the Chairman said that "our topic could hardly be more timely and relevant. The H1N1 influenza pandemic is highlighting the crucial importance of building international and national capacities for disease surveillance and response". Participants discussed how best to promote capacity building in the areas of disease surveillance, detection, diagnosis and containment, at the national, regional and international levels. Many delegations high-lighted the global dimension of the topic, noting that, as the delegation of Georgia put it, "infectious diseases know no geographic boundaries; neither should we in combating them ." By the Russian Federation, it was stated that "Separate states can no longer adequately prevent the spread of infectious diseases, even if they possess the capabilities to diagnose and control infectious diseases. We believe it important to develop and strengthen the Convention's potential for international cooperation in the peaceful uses of advances in bioscience." In summary, as was stated by the chair to the meeting, Ambassador Marius Grinius of Canada, 'perhaps the most commonly emphasised theme this week was the need to coordinate assistance, cooperation and capacity building activities - nationally, regionally and internationally. There is clearly a lot of very positive activity across the world, undertaken by a wide range of actors, aimed at building capacity in disease surveillance, detection, diagnosis and containment. But there is evidently great scope for better coordination of these activi-ties, greater sharing of information, and improved integration in planning, implementation and follow-up'.

EBSA was asked by the Implementation Support Unit, ISU, to present a poster on EBSA's activities. The poster featured the activities related to the BSO competency and Biosafety Europe projects (see references below). Copies of the poster were also available in the form of flyers during the poster session. In addition, EBSA was also asked to give a formal statement on these topics (see references below). EBSA's activities were very much appreciated by several delegates.
A series of interesting presentations on capacity building in disease surveillance were given by differ-ent organisations active in the field. For instance,

ECDC reported on its networking activities and disease surveillances services: http://www.unog.ch/80256EDD006B8954/(httpAssets)/CFD044FC3C72A3D9C12576240043E1B5/$file/BWC_MSP_2009_MX-Statement-090824-PM-EU-ECDC.pdf

WHO and OIE reported in their laboratory twinning initiatives, the cooperation between diagnostics laboratories for reasons of capacity building: http://www.unog.ch/80256EDD006B8954/(httpAssets)/B7EFC71B50EB539FC125762400521AA8/$file/BWC_MSP_2009_MX-Statement-090825-AM-WHO-Labs.pdf

FAO reported on plant health capacity building:
http://www.unog.ch/80256EDD006B8954/(httpAssets)/8DE5C534B5A75CBAC125762400522D70/$file/BWC_MSP_2009_MX-Statement-090825-AM-FAO-IPPC.pdf

Questions or request for additional information can be directed to Ursula Jenal

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