18th September, 2001
Senator Mary Henry, MD: The Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention was negotiated in Geneva by the United Nations Conference on Disarmament in 1972. By 1975 the requisite number of states had signed the Convention and it entered into force. Ireland was one of the early signatories to the Convention and has ratified it.
Unfortunately at the time of negotiation of the Convention no verification protocols were included in the text. To remedy this omission a special conference of the states party to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention decided in September 1994 to establish an ad hoc group to address the issue of verification protocols. It was hoped to bring in verification protocols similar to those provided in the Chemical Weapons Convention which came into force in 1996. Ireland has been a useful and enthusiastic member of this ad hoc group and we should all take pride in the work done in the group over the last five years.
The fifth review Conference on the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention is due to take place this December. Unfortunately, during the summer the United States Government decided to withdraw its representatives from the ad hoc Group, deciding that the proceedings were not in the interest of the United States of America.
The appalling tragedy which took place in New York and Washington last week shows how vulnerable even as powerful a nation as the United States of America is to terrorists. Since it happened both President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair spoke of the possibility of biological weapons being used by terrorists. No planes would be needed to spread some kilogrammes of anthrax spores over a city, killing tens of thousands of people. A plywood glider and a fair wind would be sufficient.
To stop the proliferation and use of biological weapons and have a verification process agreed should be one of our priorities now that Ireland chairs the Security Council. Without verification the whole Convention is useless. We in Ireland have strong social and cultural links with the United States. We should do all we can to encourage that government to rejoin the ad hoc group. It can only increase their moral and political authority.
