It called for closing all means for its development and use
UN warns of 'biological weapons catastrophe'
The danger of using biological weapons has been increasing recently.
From the British Daily Telegraph.
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Antonio Guterres: “The world generously supports global systems against chemical weapons and nuclear proliferation.
We must do the same for biological weapons.”
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The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, called, the night before last, for measures to be taken to prevent the disaster of biological weapons, indicating that the time has come to close all avenues for the development and use of these weapons.
This came in his remarks in a video message during the Ninth Review Conference of the Biological Weapons Convention.
Guterres called for focusing efforts on three areas, the first of which is strengthening the provisions of accountability in the agreement, to ensure that scientific progress is not exploited for hostile purposes, in addition to updating thinking about verification and compliance, to suit today's threats, and finally giving the agreement the increased financial and human resources it needs to carry out this work. the important.
He said that the world “generously supports global systems against chemical weapons and nuclear proliferation.
We must do the same for biological weapons.”
The signatories to the Biological Weapons Convention expressed their desire to start new negotiations on oversight, during the Ninth Review Conference of the Biological Weapons Convention.
The President of the Conference, Leonardo Pincini, said in Geneva the day before yesterday that the Corona pandemic, which showed how a disease could partially paralyze the entire world, had awakened governments and made them realize that something had to be done to make the treaty more solid.
He added that 20 years ago, discussions on the oversight mechanism did not result in anything.
Benchney opened the three-week conference, which includes the 184 signatories to the agreement, on Monday, saying that the conference would be considered a success "if we break the deadlock."
The conference is about the “Agreement on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction”.
The United Nations adopted the convention in 1971, and it entered into force in 1975.
Israel and eight small countries in Africa and Asia do not participate in the agreement, and it is the first agreement to ban all types of weapons.
The signatories usually meet every five years.
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