Context: Recently,45th anniversary of the entry into force of the Biological Weapons Convention was marked by 26th March 2020. The anniversary comes as the world is grappling with the Coronavirus pandemic.

About Biological Weapons Convention

• It is a convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction is usually referred to as the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) or Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC).
• It is a legally binding treaty that outlaws biological arms.
• It is the first multilateral disarmament treaty to ban an entire category of weapons of mass destruction.
• It opened for signature in 1972, and entered into force in 1975.
• India has ratified the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) and pledges to abide by its obligations.

Members: It currently has 183 states-parties, including Palestine, and four signatories. Ten states have neither signed nor ratified the BWC.
The BWC bans the development, stockpiling, acquisition, retention, and production of:

• Biological agents and toxins "of types and in quantities that have no justification for prophylactic, protective or other peaceful purposes;"
• Weapons, equipment, and delivery vehicles "designed to use such agents or toxins for hostile purposes or in armed conflict."
• The transfer of or assistance with acquiring the agents, toxins, weapons, equipment, and delivery vehicles described above.

Exception: The BWC does not ban the use of biological and toxin weapons but reaffirms the 1925 Geneva Protocol, which prohibits such use. It also does not ban bio-defense programs.
Next Conference

• The Ninth BWC Review Conference will be held in Geneva in late 2021. On December 9, 2019, Sri Lanka was elected chairman of the 2020 Meeting of State Parties, an inter-sessional which will meet in December 2020 and discuss the agenda for the Ninth Review Conference.