Biological and Toxins Weapons Convention Update

Last week the U.S. State Department Released an unclassified version of the report "Adherence to and Compliance with Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament Agreements and Committees". The report can be viewed here.

The compliance of certain countries with the Biological and Toxins Weapons Convention (BTWC) is covered in a section of this report. This report addresses the activity of nine state parties of the BTWC, China, Cuba, India, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Pakistan, and Russia. Also, biological weapon activity of Egypt, Syria, and Taiwan was evaluated. Egypt and Syria are signed but not ratified members of the treaty.

In this report, Egypt, India, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, and Taiwan were all found to be in full compliance with the BTWC, although not all of the countries being evaluated were found to be in full compliance. If Syria was ratified, it would be in violation of the treaty as it maintains the stance that Syria is "entitled to defend itself by acquiring its own chemical and biological deterrent". Available information leads to the belief that North Korea may still consider the use of chemical and biological weapon. In previous reports, the U.S. has expressed the worry that North Korea may have biological weapons agents weaponized in violation of the treaty.

China, Cuba, Iran, and Russia were not in violation of the convention, but were found to be engaging in dual-use research initiatives. Although the activities engaged in by these countries are not prohibited by the BTWC, dual-use research by China included "identifying factors that enhance the virulence, toxicity, or antibiotic resistance of pathogens, including through the use of genetic engineering." Iran has failed to address or resolve issues regarding it's compliance with the BTWC, and, according to this report, is "conducting research involving BW-related pathogens and genetic engineering, and developing mechanisms that could be used to deliver biological agents". It is unclear whether Russia has made efforts to change inherited weapons programs from it's time as the Soviet Union, although it recognizes the offensive nature of those programs.