SIPRI co-hosted a side event during the Seventh Session of the Working Group on the Strengthening of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) in Geneva on 11 December. The event, which explored how emerging technologies can support the biological weapons prohibition regime, was co-hosted with the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Sarah Telford, Deputy Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament, UK Mission to the United Nations Geneva, provided opening remarks.
Advances in areas such as artificial intelligence, distributed ledger technology, robotics and data analytics are reshaping the landscape of biological research and public health. These same developments may also support stronger implementation of the BWC. During the event, Dr Miranda Smith, SIPRI Researcher, presented key insights from recent research on this topic, including findings from recent publications that explore use cases of how emerging technologies can support core functions of the convention. The panel, which also included Peter Ahabwe, Technical Advisor at the Uganda Ministry of Health, and SIPRI Associate Senior Researcher Dr Filippa Lentzos, was moderated by Dr Wilfred Wan, Director of the SIPRI Weapons of Mass Destruction Programme. It explored the safeguards needed for states parties to promote responsible integration of new tools while avoiding new sources of risk or inequity.
Click here to read the use case report on governing high-containment laboratories.
Click here to read the use case report on export controls on biological items.