Remarks at the CWCC webinar on ‘Reinforcing the Norm Against Chemical Weapons’
Remarks at the webinar Reinforcing the Norm Against Chemical Weapons: The April 20-22 Conference of States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention, organised by the Chemical Weapons Convention Coalition and the Arms Control Association, 10 May 2021 Director-General Arias, Ambassador Helfand, Ambassador Lingner, Participants, I am pleased to join this webinar of the global non-governmental platform, the Chemical Weapons Convention Coalition (CWCC). As a CWCC member from the start, I wish to express my gratitude to Paul Walker, who has been the engine behind the initiative for as long as it has existed, and to the states parties to …
Innocence Slaughtered: Introduction
Innocence Slaughtered will be published in December 2015 In November 2005 In Flanders Fields Museum organised and hosted an international conference in Ypres, entitled 1915: Innocence Slaughtered. The first major attack with chemical weapons, launched by Imperial German forces from their positions near Langemarck on the northern flank of the Ypres Salient on 22 April 1915, featured prominently among the presentations. I was also one of the speakers, but my address focussed on how to prevent a similar event with biological weapons. Indeed, it was one of the strengths of the conference not to remain stuck in a past of—at …
Enhancing BTWC Compliance – Workshop Report
Jean Pascal ZANDERS Senior Research Associate Fondation pour la recherche stratégique WORKSHOP REPORT Enhancing compliance of the BTWC through national implementation and other means Brussels, 24 April 2014 (PDF version) I. Participation The workshop, organised by the EU Non-Proliferation Consortium in cooperation with the European External Action Service (EEAS), was held in Brussels on 24 April 2014. Its purpose was to have an in-depth brainstorming session on the future of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) with officials from EU Member States. The event was the 1st Ad Hoc Seminar to be organised under the new Council Decision 014/129/CFSP …
The future of confidence building in biological arms control
[Presentation at the civil society event commemorating the 40th anniversary of the entry into force of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, 30 March 2015.] Distinguished representatives, colleagues, let me first stress that I am very honoured to be invited to contribute to this event. May I thank the organisers and sponsors very much, In the next 15 minutes I would like to draw a picture of possible developments of confidence building in the BWC. To that end I will briefly introduce the term confidence and its sources, and will then mainly concentrate on transparency as one of these sources. …
Statement to the UNGA 1st Committee by the Global Civil Society Coalition for the Biological Weapons Convention
[Endosed by The Trench] Statement to the UN General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament and International Security, New York, 12 October 2016 Delivered by Kathryn Millett on behalf of the Global Civil Society Coalition for the Biological Weapons Convention Mr. Chair, Disease, especially deliberate disease, poses a major risk to international security, whether directed at humans, animals, or plants. Public health emergencies connected to Ebola and Zika virus have illustrated how far we have to go before we are sufficiently prepared to overcome challenges in global health security. The human, economic, social and political costs of natural, accidental, and deliberate …
Allegation of chemical warfare in Darfur
Warning: contains extreme graphic images of injuries and infection Last September Amnesty International (AI) issued a 105-page report entitled Scorched Earth, Poisoned Air alleging the use of chemical weapons (CW) among other atrocities committed by Sudanese forces in the Darfur region. The chemical warfare section contains numerous images of civilian victims with horrifying skin lesions. It suggests that these are the consequence of exposure to a vesicant, possibly a mustard agent. The report is accompanied by a 4-minute video on YouTube. Several press articles and contributions to on-line media after the report’s publication have reinforced the allegation of mustard agent …
Pay up in the name of BW disarmament (2) – Civil society gets involved
On 2 April I described how non-payments by states parties were defunding the implementation of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) and risking to shut down the 3-person Implementation Support Unit (ISU) and the convening of meetings. A couple of weeks earlier the Ambassadors of the three Depository States – the Russian Federation, United Kingdom and United States – had written an urgent letter to the BTWC States Parties to immediately comply with their financial obligations. Since then, the situation has ameliorated somewhat. The contracts of the ISU staff have now been extended until the end of the year. …
BTWC Meeting 2017: NGO statement
Joint NGO Statement to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) Meeting of States Parties Geneva, 5 December 2017 Mr Chair, Distinguished Representatives: Thank you for the opportunity to speak before you today. I am pleased to have taken over the role as NGO Coordinator from Graham Pearson who so ably carried out this task for 20 years. This year, the NGO community offers a joint statement, to more powerfully focus our key messages to you. I am speaking on behalf of 19 organizations and 40 individuals, the full list of which is attached to the written copy of this statement. The …
Talking disarmament for the Middle East
Last month Noha Tarek from Egypt commented on my reflection that neither members of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), with the exception of India, nor Arab League members have contributed financially or in kind to the elimination of Syria’s chemical weapons (CW). Syria participates in both groupings. She linked disarmament elements to a host of intra-regional and external politics and considered the relationship between Syria’s (read: Arab) CW and Israel’s nuclear arsenal. It has taken me a while to reply. I could have easily registered my disagreement with several elements, but that does not open new perspectives for disarmament in the …
Public Outreach in Destruction of Syrian CW
Open letter to Secretaries John Kerry and Chuck Hagel February 3, 2014 Secretary of State John Kerry US Department of State 2201 C Street, NW Washington DC 20520 Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel US Department of Defense 1400 Defense Pentagon Washington DC 20301-1400 RE: Public Outreach and Stakeholder Involvement in Destruction of Syrian Chemical Weapons Dear Secretary Kerry and Secretary Hagel: We the undersigned environmental, public health, nonproliferation, and arms control experts have been closely following all aspects of the Syrian chemical disarmament process. We believe that the most urgent issue today is to make sure that …