Inherited obstruction: the complaint procedure under the Biological Weapons Convention and the UN Charter rule on obligatory abstention in the Security Council
Journal: Journal of Conflict and Security Law
Year: 2025

Abstract In November 2022, the UN Security Council rejected a draft resolution, tabled by Russia, which sought to initiate an investigation into allegations of purported non-compliance by the US and Ukraine with their obligations under the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC). Using this episode as a point of departure, the present article takes a closer look at the BWC’s complaint procedure and the role allocated therein to the Security Council. The piece commences with a detailed account of Rus