Managing the biological weapons problem: from the individual to the international

Littlewood, Jez (2004) Managing the biological weapons problem: from the individual to the international Stockholm, Sweden. Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission 18pp.

Abstract

1. The problem posed by biological weapons is very complex. It encompasses attempts to ensure biological disarmament under the BWC has real meaning, the prohibition on use of biological weapons in the Geneva Protocol remains the international norm, and that the proliferation of capabilities is not transformed into actual weapons. There are no easy solutions to the biological weapons issue.
2. Any attempt to model solutions to the biological weapons problem based only on international treaties and agreements will fail. This is not an issue which can be resolved by a treaty on its own.
3. If the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission seeks to identify realistic proposals to reduce the dangers posed by biological weapons in the short to long term it will have to advocate a break with past policies. Efforts such as those enshrined in the negotiations on the BWC Protocol (1995-2001) are no longer workable.
4. The issue is not biological weapons and states: the issue is the biological weapons problem itself, which encompasses states, non-state actors, and individuals. Efforts at control must address each of those discrete areas of concern through a variety of measures.
5. Any effort to ameliorate the problems posed by biological weapons requires six components: (1) a real understanding of the problem such weapons pose;
(2) a willingness to go well beyond the traditional arms control/disarmament paradigm;
(3) a short-term strategy to overcome the political difficulties in the BWC;
(4) a medium-term strategy to strengthen the BWC;
(5) a willingness to actually enforce – by putative means if required – existing law and norms;
(6) a recognition that there is no solution to this problem: it requires on-going and permanent management.

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