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Biological Weapons Convention (BWC)

The use of chemical and biological weapons in war was prohibited in 1925 as a result of universal abhorrence at their effects on First World War soldiers. The 1972 Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their destruction (BWC), which entered into force in 1975, prohibited the development, production, stockpiling or acquisition of biological and toxin weapons and required the destruction or conversion of such weapons or delivery means. At time of writing, the BWC has 153 states parties. A further 16 have signed but not ratified, while 25 remain outside the treaty.

The BWC broke new ground in establishing a non-discriminatory prohibition regime, making no distinction between states with existing BW programmes and those without, and explicitly building on the 1925 prohibition on use. However, it contained no provisions for the monitoring or verification of compliance or implementation.

The end of the cold war provided the opportunity to negotiate a verification protocol, but in 2001, after six years of painstaking technical and diplomatic work, negotiations collapsed without agreement after the United States first weakened the verification provisions and then scuppered agreement on the Protocol, arguing that verification would be inadequate and overly intrusive.

Coverage in Disarmament Diplomacy

BWC Statements and Documents

Biological Weapons Convention Review Conference, November 19 - December 7, 2001

For background to the 2001 Review Conference and the negotiations on a protocol to the BWC, please see our BWC archive page.

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