New York, Dec 5 2011 5:10PM
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged States Parties to the international convention on biological weapons to boost cooperation on the peaceful use of biological science and technology to ensure that the knowledge is used for the benefit of humanity and not exploited to undermine global security.
In a video <"http://www.un.org/apps/sg/sgstats.asp?nid=5731">message to the seventh review conference of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction, which opened today in Geneva, Mr. Ban said the treaty is central to the global disarmament and weapons non-proliferation framework.
"Over the past five years, States parties have developed common understandings aimed at better implementation of this critical instrument," said the Secretary-General. "The parties have also built a vibrant network of concerned groups and individuals.
"It helps to ensure that biological science and technology can be developed safely and securely – so that they bring benefits, not danger."
Jarmo Sareva, Director of the Geneva Branch of the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, described the treaty as the legal embodiment of the international community's determination to eliminate the possibility of disease being used as a weapon. It formed one of the fundamental pillars of the collective struggle against weapons of mass destruction, he said.
The Biological Weapons Convention opened for signature in 1972 and entered into force in 1975. It prohibits the development, production, acquisition, transfer, retention, stockpiling and use of biological and toxin weapons and is a key element, along with the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and the Chemical Weapons Convention, in the international community's efforts to address the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
It was also the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning an entire category of weapons. Some 165 States are parties to the Convention, with another 12 having signed but not yet ratified.
Dec 5 2011 5:10PM
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