10. Biological weapons and security threats

Biological weapons comprise bacteria, viruses or toxins disseminated through a delivery mechanism to inflict harm and are prohibited under international law. The principal legal instrument banning biological warfare is the 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC). The BWC is moving towards universality, with Tuvalu and Micronesia acceding to the convention in 2024, taking the number of states parties to 188. A further four states have signed but not ratified the convention.

The wider biological warfare regime includes the 1925 Geneva Protocol, which prohibits the use of chemical and biological weapons in war, and a growing array of other measures, including export control regimes like the Australia Group, the United Nations secretary-general’s mechanism for investigation of alleged use of chemical and biological weapons, and UN Security Council Resolution 1540, which marked its 20th anniversary in 2024. These broader measures all serve to bolster aspects of the prohibition and prevention of biological weapons.

Allegations of non-compliance with the BWC

Current geopolitical tensions continue to affect biological weapon disarmament and non-proliferation efforts. Russia’s long-standing and strategic disinformation campaign about what it alleges to be nefarious activities at Western ‘biolabs’ significantly escalated following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Russia continued this campaign in 2024, using every opportunity and international forum available to undermine the inter-national architecture against biological weapons.

Biological weapon disarmament and non-proliferation

Key biological disarmament and non-proliferation activities in 2024 were carried out in connection with the working group on the strengthening of the BWC, the 2024 Meeting of States Parties of the BWC, and the First Committee of the UN General Assembly. In 2024 the General Assembly also adopted the Pact for the Future, in which states committed, among other things, to pursuing a world free of bio-logical weapons and to ensuring that those responsible for any use of these weapons are identified and held accountable.

The working group on the strengthening of the BWC reached the halfway mark in 2024 and has made some progress, largely due to states parties focusing on pragmatic and incremental approaches. Two new mechanisms are being proposed: one for International Cooperation and Assistance (ICA) and another for Science and Technology (S&T) Review. The ICA mechanism would facilitate the implementation of Article X of the BWC, which promotes peaceful uses of biological agents, while the S&T mechanism would review and assess scientific developments relevant to the BWC, providing advice to states parties. There is broad support for the two mechanisms in the working group, but there was no final agreement by the end of 2024, and the 10th BWC Review Conference in 2027 will still have significant work to do to over-come divisions.