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International Collaboration International Collaboration and Partnership in and Partnership in Countering Biological Countering Biological Threats Threats

Presentation by Georgia Presentation by Georgia

Biological Weapons Convention Meeting of Experts Biological Weapons Convention Meeting of Experts Geneva, Switzerland, 16 Geneva, Switzerland, 16-

• 20 July 2012

20 July 2012

Countering Biological Threats: National Implementation of Countering Biological Threats: National Implementation of the Biological Weapons Convention and Multinational the Biological Weapons Convention and Multinational Outbreak Response and Bioterrorism Investigation Outbreak Response and Bioterrorism Investigation Demonstration Demonstration

• Workshop held in Tbilisi, Georgia, 17-19 May 2011
• These events were a joint effort of:

– Georgia: National Center for Disease Control and Public Health of Georgia (NCDC), the Emergency Management Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Georgian Biosafety Association – U.S. : Department of Defense (US European Command, Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center, Center for Disaster and Humanitarian Assistance Medicine, and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency) and the Department of Health and Human Services (Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response )

• This event built off the success of a previous workshop, the 2010

Southern Caucasus Bioshield Workshop and Tabletop Exercise

Workshop organization Workshop organization

• About 100 participants were in attendance, from:

– Inter-governmental organizations (WHO, UNODA, NATO, and ECDC); – Non-governmental organizations and universities (VERTIC, American Association for Laboratory Accreditation , MJ Lawrence Consulting, International Security and Biopolicy Institute, Virginia Tech University, Battelle, Technology Management Company, University of Nairobi); – Public health, security, or law enforcement

• rganizations from Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan,

Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Turkey, Poland, Kenya, and U.S.

• The workshop consisted of several activities:

– Plenary presentations – Tabletop exercise – Site visit to the U.S.-Georgia Central Public Health Reference Laboratory – Demonstration of consequence management capabilities of Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs CBRN Rapid Response Team

Strength is in Unity Strength is in Unity Strength is in Unity Strength is in Unity

Plenary presentations Plenary presentations

• National implementation of the BWC

– legislative, administrative and other measures to ensure domestic compliance systems; education, awareness raising and outreach measures; disease surveillance, detection, and containment; biosafety and biosecurity provisions; – synergies and convergence between the BWC and other international public health and security regimes such as the WHO IHRs and the UNSCR 1540

• International Coordination and Multi-

Sectoral Response to Public Health Emergencies

– the role of public health, law enforcement, and civil-military cooperation in preparedness and response to biological threats

• Integrating Health Surveillance with

Biothreat Notification and Law Enforcement- Forensics and Attribution

– the role of microbial forensics in deterring biological threats, as well as national capabilities for disease surveillance, and biothreat investigation and response

Tabletop Exercise: UN Secretary Tabletop Exercise: UN Secretary-

• General

General’ ’s s Mechanism for Investigation of Alleged Use of Mechanism for Investigation of Alleged Use of Chemical and Biological Weapons (UNSGM) Chemical and Biological Weapons (UNSGM)

• Fictional scenario starting with a letter to the UN Secretary General from a UN

Member State alleging BW use. The UNSGM is intended to ascertain in an

• bjective manner facts of alleged violations of the 1925 Geneva Protocol,

which bans the use of chemical and biological weapons

• For the tabletop exercise, the workshop participants reviewed and employed the

UNSGM Technical Guidelines and Procedures

• The tabletop exercise was a first of its kind at the international level for raising

awareness and review of the updated UNSGM Technical Guidelines and Procedures and was built on the foundation of the first training course for UN experts which was organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sweden in 2009 in Umea, Sweden.

Tabletop Exercise (cont Tabletop Exercise (cont’ ’d) d)

The exercise promoted discussions on:

• Preliminary plan and sources of information (official channel or ‘open

source’, including requests for information to inter-governmental and other UN bodies);

• Mission plan and scope of in-country mission activities;
• Fact-finding activities at the site(s) of alleged use;
• Sampling, chain of custody, sample transportation, interviewing witnesses,

record keeping, confidentiality, coordination with the host country, and

• ther technical, logistical, and legal aspects related to the UNSGM;
• Reporting to the UN Secretary General;
• Potential follow-up actions.

Key Lessons Learned Key Lessons Learned

• There is a need for additional training events of this kind to familiarize the

international community and a wide range of stakeholders with the mandate, scope, and nature of the UNSGM

• Such training could be organized at the national level with all relevant

stakeholders since it may take a ‘whole of government’ approach to facilitate the UNSGM’s fact-finding mission in a respective country, and each country should identify any potential legal, administrative, and policy issues in advance and address them with UNODA;

• The 240+ experts nominated by UN Member States on the UNODA rosters

for the UNSGM should be trained (an initial and refresher training plan should be considered); and the 40+ laboratories currently on the UN roster should also be involved in training

• Collaborations, partnerships, and synergies of the UN expert team with

inter-governmental and other UN bodies should be well understood and considered during future training events.

• The Emergency Management

Department (EMD) of Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs (MoIA) demonstrated its capabilities for the workshop participants

• The EMD is responsible for the

coordination of activities for the prevention and consequence management of emergency situations

• MoIA’s EMD functions in the context of

Georgia’s “Unified system of prevention of emergencies and liquidation of results of such emergencies”.

Consequence Management Consequence Management Demonstration Demonstration

Site Visit to the U.S. Site Visit to the U.S.-

• Georgia Central

Georgia Central Public Health Reference Laboratory Public Health Reference Laboratory (CPHRL) (CPHRL)

• Workshop participants toured the CPHRL, which officially opened on 18

March 2011

• U.S. technical staff with expertise in public and animal health and

epidemiology work together with their colleagues from Georgia in this facility

• n joint research projects to promote public and animal health through

infectious disease detection, epidemiological surveillance, and research for the benefit of Georgia, the Caucasus region, and the global community

Contact information: Contact information:

Lela Lela Bakanidze Bakanidze, Ph.D., RBP , Ph.D., RBP

Nonproliferation Programs Manager, Agrarian University of Georgia President, Georgian Biosafety Association (GeBSA) `8, S. Metreveli St., Tbilisi, 0112, Georgia E-mail: lbakanidze@agruni.edu.ge