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The Eig ighth Review Conference: Process overv rview EU Regional Workshop on Preparations for the Eighth BWC Review Conference New Delhi, India, 29-30 August 2016 Daniel Feakes Chief, BWC Implementation Support Unit United Nations Office

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The Eig ighth Review Conference: Process

  • verv

rview

EU Regional Workshop on Preparations for the Eighth BWC Review Conference New Delhi, India, 29-30 August 2016

Daniel Feakes Chief, BWC Implementation Support Unit United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (Geneva Branch)

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SLIDE 2

Overview

  • BWC in a nutshell
  • Mandate of the Review Conference
  • History of past Review Conferences
  • Procedural and administrative issues
  • 2016 Preparatory Process
  • BWC Sponsorship Programme
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SLIDE 3

Biological Weapons Convention

prohibits development, production, stockpiling, acquisition, retention or transfer of BWs

175 States Parties 8 Signatories 13 States not party

  • opened for signature on 10

April 1972

  • EiF on 26 March 1975
  • First multilateral

disarmament treaty banning an entire category

  • f WMD
  • Non-discriminatory in

nature

  • Unlimited duration
  • Open to any state
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Role of the RevCon

“Five years after the entry into force of this Convention … a conference of States Parties to the Convention shall be held at Geneva, Switzerland, to review the operation of the Convention, with a view to assuring that the purposes of the preamble and the provisions of the Convention… are being

  • realized. Such review shall take into account any

new scientific and technological developments relevant to the Convention.”

BWC Article XII

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SLIDE 5

RevCon frequency

  • BWC – “Five years after the entry into force of this

Convention … a conference of States Parties to the Convention shall be held …”

  • RC1 – “not earlier than 1985 … not later than 1990”
  • RC2, 3, 4 and 5 – “not later than xxxx”
  • RC6 – “recommends that Review Conferences

should continue to be held at least every five years.”

  • RC7 – “decides that Review Conferences be held at

least every five years.”

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SLIDE 6

Previous RevCons

87 102 118 132 146 155 165 175 40 58 69 65 68 78 93 114 53 63 78 77 94 103 103 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 RC1 1980 RC2 1986 RC3 1991 RC4 1996 RC5 2001/02 RC6 2006 RC7 2011 RC8 2016 SPs Participating SPs PrepCom Participating SPs RevCon

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RevCon presidents

RC President State Party

  • Reg. Group

1 Oscar Vaerno Norway Western 2 Winfried Lang Austria NAM 3 Roberto Moritan Argentina NAM* 4 Michael Weston UK Western 5 Tibor Toth Hungary Eastern 6 Masood Khan Pakistan NAM 7 Paul van den IJssel Netherlands Western 8 György Molnár Hungary Eastern * In 1991, the Eastern European Group ceded the Presidency of the Third RevCon to the NAM

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Procedural and admin issues

  • Duration – generally of three weeks duration
  • Timing – usually at the end of the year
  • Budget – until 2011, funded by States participating,

now funded by all States Parties

  • Preparatory Committee – usually a few days on

procedural matters in the Spring (until 2016)

  • Bureau – Chairman and two Vice-Chairs elected by

PrepCom, authorized to handle “technical and other matters in the period before the Review Conference”

  • Venue – All meetings take place in the United Nations

Office at Geneva

  • Rules of procedure – unchanged for many years
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Financing the RevCon

  • MSP 2015 approved cost estimates for the BWC

meetings this year contained in BWC/MSP/2015/5*

  • Costs are shared by all States Parties:
  • April PrepCom – $170,000
  • August PrepCom - $218,700
  • RevCon – $816,700
  • ISU – $760,700
  • Total cost in 2016 of $1,966,700
  • Over 100 States Parties pay less than $1,000 per

year and 52 pay less than $100

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SLIDE 10

Financing the RevCon

Banglade sh Bhutan Cambodi a China India Iran Japan Lao PDR Malaysia Philippin es Republic

  • f Korea

Sri Lanka Thailand Viet Nam Assessed Contributions (US$) 198 19 80 156,836 14,593 9,326 191,664 60 6,376 3,267 40,372 614 5,762 1,149

50000 100000 150000 200000 250000 US$

SCALE OF ASSESSMENTS FOR BWC IN 2016

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Outcome of the RevCon

  • Every Review Conference except 2001 has resulted

in a final document reviewing the operation of the BWC

  • Since 2006, final documents have also included a

“decisions and recommendations” section

  • Three-part final document:
  • Part I – organization of the Review Conference
  • Part II – final declaration
  • Part III – decisions and recommendations
  • Part II is retrospective article-by-article review, Part

III is future-oriented roadmap for next five years

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Eighth RevCon – mandate

“The Conference decides that the Eighth Review Conference shall be held in Geneva not later than 2016 and should review the operation

  • f the Convention, taking into account, inter alia:

a) new scientific and technological developments relevant to the Convention, taking into account the relevant decision of this Conference regarding the review of developments in the field of science and technology related to the Convention; b) the progress made by States Parties on the implementation of the Convention; c) progress

  • f

the implementation

  • f

decisions and recommendations agreed upon at the Seventh Review Conference, taking into account, as appropriate, decisions and recommendations reached at previous review conferences.” BWC/CONF.VII/7, para 66

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Eighth RevCon - preparatory process

Report of the 2015 MSP General Assembly resolution 70/74

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2016 PrepCom Process

April PrepCom

  • Organizational aspects
  • General exchange of views
  • 1.5 days

August PrepCom

  • Remaining procedural matters
  • Continuation of the General

exchange of views

  • Comprehensive consideration of

all Convention provisions

  • Cross cutting issues (S&T, possible

future ISP, ISU etc)

  • 4.5 days
  • Preparatory Committee agenda BWC/CONF.VIII/PC/1
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SLIDE 15
  • Election of office-holders:

– Chairman - György Molnár (Hungary) EEG – Vice-Chairman - Michael Biontino (Germany) WG – Vice-Chairman - Boudjemâa Delmi (Algeria) NAM

  • General exchange of views:

– 27 States Parties – 8 States Parties presented specific proposals

  • Decision on background papers from ISU
  • Endorsed dates (7-25 Nov), duration and financial

arrangements already agreed by 2015 MSP

  • Interim report: BWC/CONF.VIII/PC/2

April 2016 PrepCom

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Background documents (by ISU)

  • The ISU prepared five background documents on:

1. BWC/CONF.VIII/PC/3: History and operation of the confidence building measures 2. BWC/CONF.VIII/PC/4: Additional understandings and agreements reached by previous Review Conferences relating to each article of the Convention 3. BWC/CONF.VIII/PC/5: Common understandings reached by the MSPs during the intersessional programme 2012-15 4. BWC/CONF.VIII/PC/6: Financial implications of proposals for follow-on action after the Eighth Review Conference 5. BWC/CONF.VIII/PC/8: Status of universalization of the Convention BWC/CONF.VIII/PC7 Report of the ISU on its activities to implement its mandate, 2012-2016

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Background documents (by SPs)

  • The PrepCom decided that the ISU would compile,

from national inputs, three background documents

  • n:
  • 1. Compliance by States Parties with all their obligations

under the Convention

  • 2. Implementation of Article VII
  • 3. Implementation of Article X
  • The ISU wrote to States Parties on 23 May

requesting inputs to be submitted by 19 August 2016

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SLIDE 18
  • Organization of RevCon - Agreement to recommend to the

RevCon:

– Provisional agenda for RevCon – Draft Rules of Procedure – Composition of the General Committee

  • General Exchange of views:

– 41 States Parties, Iran on behalf of NAM, statements by EU, ICRC

  • Comprehensive consideration of the BWC:

– 30 States Parties took the floor

  • Final report of the PrepCom – BWC/CONF.VIII/PC/9

– Includes Chairman’s “summary report” under his own responsibility

August 2016 PrepCom

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BWC Review Conference

2016 – György Molnár (EEG) 2011 – Paul van den IJssel (WG) 2006 – Masood Khan (NAM) PRESIDENT 2016 – Boudjemâa Delmi (NAM) 2011 – Judit Körömi (EEG) 2006 – Knut Langeland (WG)

DRAFTING COMMITTEE

2016 – Michael Biontino (WG) 2011 – Desra Percaya (NAM) 2006 – Doru Costea (EEG) COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE 2016 – Tudor Ulianovschi (EEG) 2011 – Mário Duarte (WG) 2006 – Philip R Owade (NAM) CREDENTIALS COMMITTEE

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General Committee

PRESIDENT

EEG (X4) NAM (X10) WG (X6) CHAIR & 2 VICE-CHAIRS CHAIR & 2 VICE-CHAIRS CHAIR & 1 VICE-CHAIR EEG NAM WG RUSSIA UK USA

Vice-presidents Committee of the Whole Drafting Committee Credential Committee Regional Coordinators Depositaries

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BWC Sponsorship programme

  • To enable participation in BWC meetings in Geneva
  • Supported by voluntary contributions
  • Aimed at developing States Parties, who have not

previously/regularly attended BWC meetings

  • Also available for States not party to the BWC
  • Covers cost of flights to and from Geneva and DSA for

attendance at BWC meetings

  • Deadline for applications for 2016 PrepCom and Review

Conference was 30 May 2016

  • Application form and selection criteria on BWC website
  • www.unog.ch/bwc/sponsorship
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BWC Sponsorship programme

  • 34 participants from 25

SPs (incl. Iraq, Jordan, Thailand & Yemen)

  • 5 States Parties and EU

sponsored programme

  • Participation in 1 week

PrepCom, 1 week RevCon

  • Eligibility
  • Nomination
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SLIDE 23

2016 PrepCom

  • Record participation:

– 114 States Parties – 2 Signatory States – 3 States not party – UNODA, UNICRI – EU, ICRC – 22 NGOs and research institutes

  • 39 Working Papers
  • All necessary procedural decisions
  • Comprehensive exchange and interactive discussions

among SPs

  • BWC/CONF.VIII/PC/9: Final Report of the PrepCom

Chairman’s Summary Report under his own authority

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SLIDE 24

www.unog.ch/bwc/meeting

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For more information …

ww www. w.un unog

  • g.ch/b

.ch/bwc wc

Or contact:

BWC Implementation Support Unit United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs Palais des Nations Geneva fax: +41 (0)22 917 0483 e-mail: bwc@unog.ch @BWCISU www.facebook.com/1972BWC