European Parliament resolution on negotiations within the framework of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention following the recent anthrax attacks
Date: 2001-11-15
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: EU control, biological weapon, common foreign and security policy, genetically modified organism, international human rights law, international security, non-proliferation of arms, weapon of mass destruction

13.6.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 140 E/579

Thursday 15 November 2001

(b)

the need for an undertaking by the Government of the Lao PDR that it will guarantee respect for the
civil and political rights recognised by the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and will accept the
demands of the abovementioned resolution, including the repeal of Article 59 of the Laotian penal
code, which lays down a prison sentence of one to five years for ‘anti-government propaganda’;

5.
Calls on the Commission, the Council and the Member States to take all possible steps to ensure that
the trial of the five Laotian leaders against whom charges have been lodged takes place as soon as possible
and on a basis of full respect for international law and for the Constitution of the Lao PDR itself;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the govern-

6.
ments and parliaments of the Member States, of Russia and of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.

13. Negotiations within the framework of the Biological and Toxin Weapons

Convention following the recent anthrax attacks

B5-0708, 0709, 0716, 0717, 0719 and 0736/2001

European Parliament resolution on negotiations within the framework of the Biological and Toxin
Weapons Convention following the recent anthrax attacks

The European Parliament,

. having regard to its previous resolutions on arms control, non-proliferation and disarmament, and in
particular to its resolution of 14 June 2001 on the compliance protocol for the Biological and Toxin
Weapons Convention (BTWC) (1),

. having regard to the 1972 UN Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC),

. having regard to the Common Position of 17 May 1999 (1999/346/CFSP) (2) adopted by the Council
on the basis of Article 15 of the Treaty on European Union relating to progress towards a legally
binding Protocol to strengthen compliance with the BTWC,

. having regard to the upcoming fifth review conference of the Convention to be held in Geneva from

19 November to 7 December 2001,

. having regard to the fact that, since 11 September 2001, the US government, in order to strengthen
the BTWC, has presented a number of new proposals to the international community, and to the EU
in particular, to be negotiated at the Review Conference,

A.

extremely concerned by the realistic threat posed by the deliberate use, by state as well as by non-state
actors, of biological and toxin weapons on a massive scale against humans, plants and animals,

B.

regretting that there is currently no legally binding mechanism to verify compliance with the BTWC,

C.

regretting the failure of the States Parties to the BTWC to agree on a compliance protocol before the
Fifth Review Conference, following the US withdrawal in July 2001 from negotiations to conclude
such a protocol,

(1)
‘Texts Adopted’, Item 16.
(2) OJ L 133, 28.5.1999, p. 3.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

13.6.2002

Thursday 15 November 2001

D. whereas a compliance protocol would greatly increase confidence in the international community
concerning prohibition of the development, production and stockpiling of biological and toxin
weapons,

E. whereas the Commission was given a clear mandate by the Ghent European Council of 21 October
2001 to prepare a programme for improved cooperation in the field of biological warfare and public
health,

1.

Is greatly concerned by the recent terrorist use of anthrax in the US and elsewhere;

2. Welcomes the change in the US position, as expressed by the US President on 1 November 2001,
including the search for effective procedures for addressing BTWC compliance concerns;

3.
Urges the States Parties to the BTWC to increase their efforts to negotiate a protocol that addresses
the urgent need to add an effective verification regime to the BTWC, capable of adjusting to changing
technical capabilities, and calls in particular on the USA to contribute positively to the Ad Hoc Group
which was created to contribute to these negotiations and to develop its new proposals in this multilateral
framework;

4.
Recommends that the States Parties to the BTWC confirm their commitment to ensure, by adopting
national measures, the effective fulfilment of their obligations under the Convention, and to take any
necessary measures to prohibit and prevent the development, production, stockpiling, acquisition or reten-
tion of such weapons within their territory, under their jurisdiction or under their control anywhere;

Urges the EU to ensure the fullest coordination of its action against the possible use of biological

5.
weapons within the EU;

6.
Calls in this respect on the Commission and the Member States to consider the establishment of an
EU agency under Commission control, along the lines of the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, USA,
to coordinate the work of the relevant national agencies in the field of communicable diseases;

Urges the Commission and the Member States to re-examine existing legislation and laboratory prac-
7.
tices in the field of genetically modified micro-organisms and chemical and biological agents with a view
to strengthening precautionary measures aimed at protecting human health and the environment;

Underlines the need for the States Parties to the Convention to draw up a set of rules which would
8.
require pharmaceutical, chemical, biotechnological and other industries with biotechnological installations
which could be misused for the production of biological weapons to establish and apply efficient controls
to avoid such misuse;

Calls on the UN to intervene quickly whenever there are reports of possible breaches of the 1925

9.
Geneva Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention;

10.
Calls on the USA and the countries of the former USSR to provide to all States Parties to the
Convention a list and a description of the biological and toxin weapons known to them, with a view to
reaching agreement on appropriate prevention and defence measures at a global level;

11.
Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Chairman of
the BTWC Ad Hoc Group, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the President of the USA and the
governments of the Member States and of the candidate countries.