Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC)

Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC)

Part of: Prelims and GS-III Biological weapons

Context:  Russia has called for a Security Council meeting on the issue of biological laboratories in Ukraine.

• Russia had requested the meeting to discuss claims it made of chemical and biological weapon labs in Ukraine supported by the U.S.
• India has emphasised that any matters relating to obligations under the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) should be addressed through consultation and cooperation between the parties concerned.

Biological Weapons Convention

• The Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), or Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), is a disarmament treaty that effectively bans biological and toxin weapons by prohibiting their development, production, acquisition, transfer, stockpiling and use.
  • Biological weapon is a bacterium, virus, protozoan, parasite, fungus, chemical, or toxin that can be used purposefully as a weapon in bioterrorism or biological warfare.
  • More than 1,200 different kinds of potentially weaponizable bio-agents have been described and studied to date.
• It entered into force on 26 March 1975.
• The BWC was the first multilateral disarmament treaty to ban the production of an entire category of weapons of mass destruction
• The convention is of unlimited duration.
• As of January 2022, 183 states have become party to the treaty.

News Source: TH