Consensus on the Horizon

Sreeram Yashasvi, reporting from the United Nations General Assembly- Disarmament and International Security Council (UNGA- DISEC) chronicles the debate as possible solutions were discussed.

The committee after serious deliberation about persistent problems in the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) moved onto a discussion of the possible solutions for the same.

One of the solutions put forward by the Delegate of Poland was the improvement of International Support Unit (ISU). The Delegate said the ISU was severely understaffed and lacked regular funding. This hampered its efficiency and important processes were often delayed. The Delegate felt fixing this would be the first logical step.

Bringing in binding counter-measures would be the next logical step, pointed out the Delegate of Singapore. This would include transparent methods to verify the credibility of the declaration of stockpiles made by different countries. The Delegate also proposed criminalizing the possession of undeclared stocks of biological substances which can be used as potential weapons.

The Delegate of Bulgaria pointed out that a considerable number of lab accidents led to serious outbreaks and therefore urged the committee to consider bringing in a reform which would make it mandatory for different labs and their projects, present across a country to register in a national database.

The lack of a proper code of conduct for scientists and other people involved in research of biological substances is a grey area which can be easily exploited. The Delegate of Egypt found unanimous support for this stance.

“The importance of administering vaccine to people who may potentially be exposed.” Many delegates were on the same note with regards to increased number of surprise inspections and field trips.

The possible introduction of challenging and non-challenging inspections was suggested by the Delegate of India. He also put forward the idea of using red and green light checks. In the red light method, a vote is taken to stop an inspection from happening whereas a vote is taken to decide whether to proceed with an inspection or not.

The committee was able to discuss solutions to many important problems and consensus on these solutions seemed unanimous.