Biological weapons
The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction (BWC or BTWC).
BWC entered into force after the ratification of 22 states on 26 March 1975. Czechoslovakia became a party to this Convention on 30 April 1973 and subsequently the Czech Republic on 24 March 1993. Today there are 175 state parties and 8 signatories to the Convention.
This Convention is a key instrument in the field of non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. It was the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning an entire category of weapons. Every year meetings of state parties and meetings of experts take place in Geneva in order to assess the implementation and universalization of the Convention. Once every 5 years a Review Conference is convened. The last (7th) Review Conference was held from 5 to 22 December 2011 and approved a plan for the next intersessional period 2012-2015 covering areas including:
- International cooperation and assistance (under Article X)
- Advancement of research and development in the field of BWC
- Strengthening national implementation of BWC
In order to promote the full implementation of Article X, the Review Conference also decided to establish a database to facilitate the exchange of requests for and offers of assistance and cooperation between the State Parties. Furthermore, the Conference amended the scheme for annual reporting on confidence building measures. A specific objective set by the Conference for the period of 2014-2015 is strenghtening of the implementation of Article VII of the Convention.
The next (8th) Review Conference is going to be held in Geneva between the 7 and 25 November 2016.
Neither in Czechoslovakia nor in the Czech Republic were bacteriological biological or toxin weapons developed or produced.
priorities
The Czech Republic is involved in efforts to control, limit and prohibit use of such weapons in order to achieve global security. We strive to bolster the implementation of the BWC and to create a robust verification mechanism. In this regard we have joined forces with Canada and Switzerland and created a program focusing on assessment of national implementation of the Convention (Compliance Assessment). This cooperation included a submission of a document (BWC/MSP/2012/WP.6) comparing national implementation in several countries. In 2011 the Czech Republic carried out the duties of one of the Vice-Presidents of the Review Conference. Additionally, we have a standing offer of cooperation in Article X database. In 2015, the Czech Republic cosponsored the US working document on implementation of Article III of the Convention (BWC/MSP/2015/MX/WP.18) as well as the Canadian working document on modern biological threats (BWC/MSP/2015/WP.6/rev.1 - Addressing modern threats in the Biological Weapons Convention: Follow-up and recommendations).
projects
In the years 2011-2015 was Czech Republic a part of project EDENext. The main aim of this project was to bring together 46 international partners dedicated to investigating the biological, ecological and epidemiological components
of vector-borne disease (VBD) introduction, emergence, spread, and the creation of new tools to control them. This new knowledge in turn should help to predict the emergence and spread of new VBDs and to assess the efficiency of
different interventions and develop new interventions to interrupt or limit the spread of VBDs with the goal of protecting European citizens from these threats. A major impact is also expected on strengthening European research capacity in this field.
Another project the Czech Republic participated in was the creation of European Network for Diagnostics of "Imported" Viral Diseases (ENIVD). It is a network of laboratories providing monitoring and fast response to emerging outbreaks of new and reocurring disieases. ENVID laboratories work on a national and international level.