Context:  India has emphasized on following the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) at the UNSC meeting on Ukraine.

About Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC)

• Came into force in 1975 and the Convention was negotiated by the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament in Geneva, Switzerland.

Aim

• Treaty prohibits the development, production, acquisition, transfer, stockpiling and use of biological weapons.

Signatories

• It has 183 signatories, including the United States, Russia, and Ukraine.
• India has signed and ratified this convention.
• Ten states have neither signed nor ratified the BWC: Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Israel, Kiribati, Micronesia, Namibia, South Sudan, and Tuvalu.

Significance

• It was the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning an entire category of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
• The BWC is a key element in the international community’s efforts to address WMD proliferation and it has established a strong norm against biological weapons.
• A total of eight Review Conferences have taken place since the first one in 1980.

Obligations of the treaty

• The treaty prohibits the development, stockpile, production, or transfer of biological agents and toxins of “types and quantities” that have no justification for protective or peaceful use.
• Furthermore, the treaty bans the development of weapons, equipment, or delivery systems to disseminate such agents or toxins.
• Should a state possess any agent, toxin, or delivery system for them, they have nine months from entry into force of the treaty to destroy their stockpiles, or divert them for peaceful use.
• The convention stipulates that states shall cooperate bilaterally or multilaterally to solve compliance issues.
• States may also submit complaints to the UNSCR should they believe another state is violating the treaty.

Issues

• There is no implementation body of the BTWC, allowing for blatant violations as seen in the past.
• This conference takes place every five years to assess and try to improve upon the convention’s implementation, however, it has no provisions to make sure countries are abiding by its terms.