BIOLOGICAL AND TOXIN WEAPONS CONVENTION

FIFTH REVIEW CONFERENCE 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

Original: ENGLISH

BWC/CONF.V/15, 18 November 2002

Resumed Session

Geneva , 11 – 22 November 2002

STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF THE GROUP OF THE NON-ALIGNED MOVEMENT AND OTHER STATES

Note by the President
The statement annexed to this note was delivered on behalf of the Group of the Non-Aligned Movement and Other States by Mr. Peter Goosen ( South Africa ) at the eighth plenary meeting on 14 November 2002, in the context of the adoption of the draft report of the Conference (BWC/CONF.V/L.1). Mr. Goosen requested that the statement be circulated as an official document of the Conference.

Mr President,

The members of the Non-Aligned Movement and Other States have been deeply disappointed at the inability that has been demonstrated in the endeavours of the States Parties to the Biological Weapons Convention to successfully undertake initiatives to strengthen the implementation of the Convention. While standing at the verge of success, the draft Protocol that was negotiated over so many years was snatched away from us. While standing at the verge of success, we were prevented from achieving a successful conclusion of the BWC Review Conference at our meeting in 2001. The NAM and Other States are disappointed at the limited nature of the decision that we have just taken. We are disappointed that we have again foregone the opportunity to strengthen the Convention and that limited work, which at best only has the potential of enhancing the implementation of the Convention, is all that could be achieved despite our best endeavours.

The NAM and Other States, together with other like-minded States Parties, have, however, succeeded in preventing any attempt to foreclose the option of more meaningful work in the future. The NAM and Other States, together with other like-minded States Parties, have also succeeded in preserving multilateralism as the only vehicle for preventing the reprehensible use of disease as instruments of terror and war in a sustainable way.

In this context the NAM and Other States would recall that at the Ministerial Meeting of the Co-Ordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement, which was held in Durban, South Africa during April 2002, the Ministers of the NAM, “…as a matter of principle, expressed their strong concern at the growing resort to unilateralism and unilaterally imposed prescriptions and … strongly underlined and affirmed that multilateralism and multilaterally agreed solutions, in accordance with the UN Charter, provided the only sustainable method of addressing disarmament and international security issues.”

With regard to the BWC, the Ministers reaffirmed their conviction that the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction is essential for the maintenance of international and regional peace and security. They reaffirmed the Movement's continued determination, for the sake of humankind, that the possibility of any use of bacteriological (biological) agents and toxins as weapons should be completely excluded, and the conviction that such use would be repugnant to the conscience of humankind.

The Ministers believed that the threat of biological weapons as instruments of war and terror have reinforced the necessity and urgency to strengthen the effectiveness and improve the implementation of the Convention. They stressed the importance for all States Parties to pursue the objectives that were set forth by the Fourth Review Conference and underlined that the only sustainable method of strengthening the Convention is through multilateral negotiations aimed at concluding a non-discriminatory legally-binding agreement. They furthermore regretted the inability of the Fifth Review Conference to conclude its work in the allocated period of time during 2001, and called on the States Parties to show the necessary flexibility for the Conference to successfully conclude when it reconvenes in November 2002.

Turning now to the decision that the Conference has just adopted, the NAM and Other States would like to underline that we have gone along with it on the basis of our understanding that:

The language of the decision has many ambiguities, but that we believe that as we move away from the climate and pressures of this Conference the need for the States Parties to be practical will ensure that the required work is done and that the ambiguities are clarified.
The States Parties are sovereign and that as masters of their own fate they can together and at any time decide on further work that may be required.
The time that has been set aside for this decision is extremely limited and that the States Parties will in 2006, after they have considered the work that has been undertaken, decide on further action.
The BWC forms a composite whole and that while it is possible to address related issues separately, it will be necessary for all of the inter-linked elements of the Convention – whether they relate to regulation, compliance or promotion – to be dealt with.

Finally, the NAM and Other States will, as in the past, work constructively to achieve the limited goals of the decision that we have just taken. The NAM and Other States would consequently call on all of the other participants to also approach the work that needs to be done in the same constructive fashion. The time for division and the pursuit of singular objectives should now be past and we should unite around our Convention.

Mr President,

I would request that this statement be circulated as an official document of this Conference.

I thank you.