Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 110 Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction, published in 2020.

What other versions does this mandate have?

32 versions · 1972–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/80/71

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2025	A/RES/80/71	Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction	2,489	95%Compare
2024	A/RES/79/78	Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction	2,530	94%Compare
2023	A/RES/78/67	Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction	2,390	42%Compare
2022	A/RES/77/95	Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction	1,733	90%Compare
2021	A/RES/76/67	Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction	1,599	100%Compare

What subjects does this mandate have?

4 subjects

Biological Weapons Confidence-Building Measures Treaty Compliance Weapons Destruction

What’s in this document?

14 operative paragraphs

Notes the consensus outcome of and the decisions on all provisions of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction reached at the Eighth Review Conference of the Parties to the Convention, and calls upon States parties to the Convention to participate and actively engage in their continued implementation;

Notes with appreciation that the meeting of States parties to the Convention, held in Geneva from 4 to 8 December 2017, was able to reach consensus on reaffirming previous intersessional programmes carried out during the period 2003–2015, on retaining the previous structure of annual meetings of States parties preceded by annual meetings of experts, and on reaffirming that the purpose of the intersessional programme was to discuss, and promote common understanding and effective action on, those issues identified for inclusion in the intersessional programme, and that the work of the intersessional period would be guided by the aim of strengthening the implementation of all articles of the Convention in order to better respond to current challenges;³

³See BWC/MSP/2017/6.

Also notes with appreciation that, in the light of the need to balance an ambition to improve the intersessional programme within the financial and human resources constraints facing States parties, 12 days were allocated to the intersessional programme each year from 2018 to 2020, that the meetings of experts for eight days would be held back to back and at least three months before the annual meetings of States parties of four days each, and that the meetings of experts would be open-ended and would consider the following topics: cooperation and assistance, with a particular focus on strengthening cooperation and assistance under article X (two days); review of developments in the field of science and technology related to the Convention (two days); strengthening national implementation (one day); assistance, response and preparedness (two days); and institutional strengthening of the Convention (one day);

Appreciates the information and data on confidence-building measures provided by States parties to the Convention to date, and calls upon all States parties to participate in the exchange of information and data on confidence-building measures called for in the relevant decisions of the review conferences, and invites them to make use of the new platform for electronic submission, on a voluntary basis, without prejudice to their choice of methods for submission;

Notes the decision of the Eighth Review Conference to continue and improve the database established by the Seventh Review Conference to facilitate requests for and offers of exchange of assistance and cooperation, and urges States parties to submit to the Implementation Support Unit, on a voluntary basis, requests for and offers of cooperation and assistance, including in terms of equipment, materials and scientific and technological information regarding the use of biological and toxin agents for peaceful purposes;

Encourages States parties to provide, at least biannually, appropriate information on their implementation of article X of the Convention and to collaborate to offer assistance or training, upon request, as contained in specific proposals, in support of the legislative and other implementation measures of States parties needed to ensure their compliance with the Convention;

Notes the decision of the Eighth Review Conference to renew the sponsorship programme established by the Seventh Review Conference in order to support and increase the participation of developing States parties in the annual meetings, welcomes the continued willingness among States parties to provide voluntary contributions, and calls upon States parties in a position to do so to offer voluntary contributions for the programme;

Also notes the decision of the Eighth Review Conference to renew the mandate of the Implementation Support Unit agreed to at the Seventh Review Conference, mutatis mutandis, for the period from 2017 to 2021, and notes with appreciation the work of the Unit;

Notes with appreciation the events organized by some States parties, regional organizations and the Office for Disarmament Affairs of the Secretariat for exchanges of views on the implementation of the Convention, and encourages States parties to continue to participate in such informal exchanges and discussions;

Requests the Secretary-General to continue to render the necessary assistance to the depositary Governments of the Convention and to continue to provide such services as may be required for the conduct and the implementation of the decisions and recommendations of the review conferences;

Recalls that the meeting of States parties in Geneva in December 2018 agreed that the financial difficulties of the Convention stemmed from three principal sources, namely the non-payment of contributions by some States parties, delays in the receipt of contributions from other States parties and the financial requirements of the United Nations with respect to activities not funded from its regular budget, and calls upon States parties to consider ways of addressing these serious issues as a matter of urgency;

Notes that the meeting of States parties in Geneva in December 2019 welcomed the improvement of the financial situation for that year, following the measures endorsed by the meeting of States parties in 2018, including the establishment of the working capital fund, and stressed the need to continue monitoring the financial situation of the Convention and requested the Chair of the 2020 meeting of States parties, in close consultation with the States parties, the Implementation Support Unit, the Office for Disarmament Affairs and the United Nations Office at Geneva, to report on the overall financial situation of the Convention, implementation of the measures endorsed in 2018, and possible further measures, in a transparent way and taking into account outstanding credits for those States parties that paid their contribution in full, to bring about timely payment as required, for consideration by the 2020 meeting of States parties;⁴

⁴See BWC/MSP/2019/7, para. 23.

Encourages the meeting of States parties in 2021 to consider and to agree upon arrangements for the Ninth Review Conference, and its Preparatory Committee, taking into account section VIII of the report of the 2019 meeting of States parties;⁵

⁵Ibid., paras. 31–32.

Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its seventy-sixth session the item entitled “Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction”.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What other versions does this mandate have?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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