DYB2011-Part-II-web

United Nations Disarmament Yearbook 2011: Part II
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welcomed report, which contained forward-looking recommendations on the
future work of the Organisation.
The year also witnessed important developments in Libya that underlined
the value that the international community attaches to the elimination of
chemical weapons, under the aegis of OPCW. In response to the evolving
situation in that country, the Organisation’s inspectors returned to Libya to
continue their work in the context of the destruction of existing chemical
weapons stockpiles.
In September, the OPCW Conference on International Cooperation and
Chemical Safety and Security marked the Organisation’s contribution to the
International Year of Chemistry, which was celebrated throughout the world
in 2011. The Conference underscored the critical importance of the use of
chemistry for exclusively peaceful purposes, as outlined by the Convention,
and it served to further strengthen support for the Chemical Weapons
Convention.
The Australia Group continued its efforts to strengthen national export
controls over dual-use biological and chemical agents and equipment. At its
annual plenary meeting in June, the Group agreed upon a number of important
measures to deepen the implementation and enforcement of the national export
control system. The Group also agreed to continue its extensive engagements
with non-members and other international bodies in both 2011 and 2012 with
a view to the wider global adoption of the Group’s control lists.
For more information on the resolutions and decisions related to this
chapter, refer to appendix VIII.
Biological weapons
Preparatory Committee for the Seventh Review Conference of
the Biological Weapons Convention
A two-day session of the Preparatory Committee for the Seventh
Review Conference of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development,
Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin
Weapons and on Their Destruction, also known as the Biological Weapons
Convention (BWC), 2 was held in Geneva from 13 to 14 April under the
chairmanship of Paul van den IJssel (Netherlands). The Preparatory
Committee unanimously elected Desra Percaya (Indonesia) and Judit Körömi
(Hungary) as Vice-Chairpersons. A total of 93 States parties3 participated in
2 The treaty text and status of adherence are available from http://disarmament.un.org/
treaties/ (accessed 12 April 2012).
3 Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh,
Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Canada,
Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican