Governance Wuxi, China September 5-7, 2016 Member States of the - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Submission by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Wuxi, China September 5-7, 2016

International Workshop on The Eighth BWC Review Conference: Promoting BWC Implementation, Enhancing Global Biosecurity Governance

Member States of the Caribbean Community

Member States of the Caribbean Community

(CARICOM)

Member States of the Caribbean Community

(CARICOM) CARICOM comprises 12 islands and 3 continental states within a geographical zone that lies directly in the path of one of the most active global trafficking

• routes. In addition,

CARICOM Member States have extensive coastlines and vast vast territorial waters and lack adequate law enforcement

• capabilities. The 12 island states are spread over

approximately 60,000 square kilometers of the Caribbean Sea which has an area of 2.75 million square kilometres. Just over 2 percent of CARICOM’s area is land, within an

• verall area that is three quarters the size of the 27

Member States of the European Union combined. This makes it extremely challenging for each state to monitor its coastlines and territorial waters which are, on average, 15 times larger than their land mass. Four member states share land borders with other sovereign territories.

Preventing the proliferation of CBRN materials

Issue of importance to Caribbean Regional Security CARICOM Small states in the Caribbean face significant on-going challenges in:

• Controlling strategic

items and related materials transiting or being trans-shipped through the region’s waters, airspace and across its borders – inclusive of the transfers of dual-use items and technology.

• Controlling foreign-origin items re-exported from

CARICOM member states

• Controlling items temporarily transferred to another

state – including commercial material and equipment transfers to foreign-owned holdings. The recent 2016 Caribbean Nations Security Conference in Kingston, Jamaica focused on the vulnerability of the region and attendant capacity deficits experienced by CARICOM Member States.

• Inclusive of biological

agents/materials, UNSCR 1540 seeks to prevent the development, acquisition, trafficking,

• r use of weapons of

mass destruction (WMD), their means

• f delivery, and

related materials equipment and technology

• By, or to, Non-State

actors

• By, or to, State actors

UNSCR1540 and the BWC

Effective Controls Fundamental to Meeting Non-Proliferation Aims

• Para 1: general commitment to not support non-state

actors re WMDs

• Para 2: criminalize all activities of non-state actors

(unauthorized entities) with regard to WMD-relevant items

• Para 3a: appropriate effective measures for nuclear

materials control and accounting

• Para 3b: appropriate and effective measures for nuclear

material protection (physical security)

• Para 3c: effective border controls
• Para 3d: comprehensive national export controls
• Para 6: appropriate control lists
• Para 8b: international obligations incorporated into

domestic laws/regulations

• Para 8d: develop appropriate ways to work with industry

and public

• Para 9: engage in dialogue and cooperation on

nonproliferation

• Para 10: take cooperative action to prevent illicit

trafficking in WMD items

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540

BWC-relevant Tenets and Operational Paragraphs

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540

UNSCR 1540 and the BWC

• The CARICOM 1540 Implementation Programme has

always regarded Operative Paragraph 2 of Resolution 1540 as a major rationale for its continued focus on supporting the full implementation of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC)

• UNSCR 1540 implementation activities have always been

regarded as a corollary to ongoing efforts in CARICOM Member States to implement the CWC

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540

UNSCR 1540 and the BWC

Operative Paragraph 8 of Resolution 1540 is very clear about Member States responsibilities in fully meeting their

• bligations under the key multilateral nonproliferation

treaties, effectively making the case that any progress in assuming mandates under the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC), for example, also furthers the assumption of responsibilities with respect to UNSCR 1540

Our working premise is simply this: UNSCR 1540 should be visualized as a stool, with the implementation of each leg in this construct not only representing a set of activities that directly relate to the successful assumption

• f responsibilities under the Resolution, but indeed three

different sets of complementary activities that together serve to advance nonproliferation objectives.

Building Effective Non-proliferation capacity

UNSCR 1540 and its underpinnings: the NPT, CWC and BWC

UNSCR 1540 NPT CWC BWC

Confronting Common Administrative Challenges

Leveraging UNSCR 1540 Implementation Approaches to focus the BWC

Given capacity challenges, small States, like CARICOM Members, face similar difficulties in establishing appropriate mechanisms to effectively meet obligations, whether under the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) or the International Health Regulations (IHR). The challenges relating to compliance activities and procedures are fundamentally the same in dealing with the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention.

BWC National Authority Ministry of Health Ministry of Agriculture Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ministry of National Security Ministry of Legal Affairs

• Bilateral and international cooperation is indispensable to

realizing the full implementation of the BWC in the Caribbean and allowing CARICOM Member States to effectively meet their obligations under the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, as well as attendant frameworks such as UNSCR 1540 In the overwhelming majority of CARICOM Member States there is a clear need to support National Authorities to:

• Act as a national focal point of contact for the BWC-ISU
• Provide data and information relevant to the fulfilment of its

international obligations to other States parties and international organizations; and

• Share experiences and extend assistance to other States

pertaining to the implementation of the BWC

• Collect any necessary information and prepare Confidence-

Building Measure returns for submission to the BWC-ISU

• Propose and support the adoption of legislative and other

measures to implement the BWC

• Supervise and monitor the enforcement of legislation and

regulations

Confronting Common Administrative Challenges

Leveraging UNSCR 1540 Implementation Approaches to focus the BWC

There is also a significant need for other regulatory and licensing support attendant to BWC mandates including the:

• Granting licenses for the handling of biological agents for

peaceful purposes

• Establishing a national system to monitor and verify

activities involving the handling and use of biological materials

• Authorization and monitoring of domestic and international

transfers of biological agents, toxins and dual-use equipment and technology CARICOM States also need support in:

• Creating and maintaining national protocols to respond to

biological emergencies

• Developing mechanisms to report to parliament on BWC-

National Authority activities

• Advising the Office of the Prime Minister on any BWC-

related issues

• Conducting or facilitate awareness-raising, education,
• utreach and training on the BWC, biosafety and

biosecurity, national implementing legislation and other measures and codes of conduct for scientists

Confronting Common Administrative Challenges

Leveraging UNSCR 1540 Implementation Approaches to focus the BWC

Implementing UNSCR 1540

Meeting core requirements in concert with BWC obligations

Operative paragraph 2: Prohibitions

• Adoption of laws or amendments of existing ones to

prohibit non-State actors from manufacturing, acquiring, possessing, developing, using, transporting and transferring nuclear, chemical

• r biological weapons and

their means of delivery

• Adoption of laws or

amendments of existing ones to prohibit any attempt by non-State actors to participate in them as an accomplice, and to assist or finance them

Regional UNSCR 1540 Implementation

Summary of Key Benefits The benefits of engaging the UNSCR 1540 process cooperatively has enabled CARICOM states to:

• Develop a unitary process to enact domestic export

control legislation through the development of a regional Reference Legal Framework, or model legislation, to ensure that CARICOM members meet their obligations to prevent any illicit trade in strategic goods, including biological agents/materials within the region

• Approach the issues of improving maritime and port

security cooperatively within the region, with the view to harmonizing customs control procedures and systems

• Provide needed training to operational personnel to

enable these security practitioners to effectively utilize techniques and approaches, including automated risk profiling, databases and watch lists to identify suspect transfers and end-users

• The use of databases and watch-lists for evaluating

parties involved in transfers is a major focus of the 1540

• programme. In addition, a key area of emphasis will be to

ensure that technical experts, intelligence personnel, and policy officials from all legally entitled government agencies have the knowledge and opportunity to evaluate license applications for proliferation concerns.

• A central component of the CARICOM-UNSCR 1540

Implementation Programme also involves providing training and resources necessary to detect, identify, and prevent transfers that violate export control laws and regulations, and include: (a) Training in effective risk analysis and in targeting strategies to prevent the export, re-export, import, transit or transshipment of strategic goods, including biological agents/materials (b) Training in the utilization of trade information and intelligence to detect suspect transfers and to minimize impediments to legitimate trade; the implementation of measures to account for, as well as to secure and maintain, the appropriate physical protection of strategic goods

Building Effective Non-proliferation capacity

Aiding detection, interdiction and prevention

O’Neil Hamilton Regional Implementation Coordinator CARICOM-UNSCR 1540 Implementation Programme Caribbean Community Secretariat 246-241-4531 (Barbados) 202-329-4110 (US)

• neil.hamilton@caricom.org