GENEVA, 13 March (UN Information Service) -- The Ad Hoc Group of the States Parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction (Biological Weapons Convention) will convene its nineteenth session from 13 to 31 March at the Palais des Nations to continue negotiations on a draft protocol on compliance and transparency measures.
It is fitting that the nineteenth session of the Ad Hoc Group is being held in a period during which the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Convention is to be observed, on 26 March.
Concluded in 1972, the Biological Weapons Convention was the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning an entire category of weapons of mass destruction. The Convention entered into force on 26 March 1975 and, together with the 1925 Geneva Protocol on the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare, has greatly contributed to efforts aimed at eliminating the threat of such weapons of mass destruction.
The Ad Hoc Group, which is open to all States parties, was established by a Special Conference of the States parties to the Convention held in September 1994 to consider appropriate measures, including possible verification measures, and draft proposals to strengthen the Convention, to be included in a legally-binding instrument.
In accordance with its mandate, the Ad Hoc Group is required to consider four specific areas: definitions of terms and objective criteria; to incorporate existing and further enhanced confidence-building and transparency measures, as appropriate, into the regime; a system of measures to promote compliance with the Convention; and specific measures designed to ensure the effective and full implementation of Article X of the Convention, which provides for scientific and technological exchange for peaceful purposes and technical cooperation. Further to a decision by the Fourth Review Conference of the States Parties held in 1996, the Ad Hoc Group is mandated to conclude its work at the latest by the Fifth Review Conference to be held in 2001.
During the nineteenth session, the Ad Hoc Group will continue to negotiate on all aspects of the draft protocol, namely: preamble, general provisions, definition of terms and objective criteria, measures to promote compliance, investigations, confidentiality issues, legal issues, national implementation and assistance, measures related to Article X, seat of the organization and
organization/implementational arrangements. Much progress has been achieved in the Ad Hoc Group. The general framework and elements needed to establish a protocol as mandated by the States Parties are reflected in the current text under consideration. The reduction in alternative language and the deletion of repetitions in the draft protocol have been bringing the number of brackets in the text steadily down, resulting in a more coherent text.
Some fundamental differences remain, however, particularly in areas relating to the definition of terms and objective criteria, the scope of declarations and visits, the decision-making process for investigation procedures and the question of transfer control arrangements, all of which will be given close consideration by the Ad Hoc Group at its upcoming session.
The Ad Hoc Group is scheduled to meet for additional sessions in the year 2000, when States parties will continue to employ their efforts with a view to reaching consensus on outstanding issues, the resolution of which would enable the Group to complete negotiations on a timely basis, in accordance with its mandate.
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