The Workshop called “The Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) – The Road to the Ninth Review Conference” was conducted from 10 to 11 May 2022 in RACVIAC.
The question of biological threats – whether purposely engineered or naturally occurring – as well as biological safety and security are today more relevant than ever. This Workshop was organized together with the United Nations Office of Disarmament Affairs – Biological Weapons Convention Implementation Support Unit (BWC ISU) and it was the 2nd BWC related endeavour organised by RACVIAC in recent years as a result of the significance of the topic as well as upon request of RACVIAC Members. The two days were highly interactive and included both the theoretical part delivered through presentations and discussions, and a practical part which included discussions and Table Top Exercises.
The “Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) Workshop” gathered 23 participants from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Germany, Italy, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Turkey. The audience included senior/junior military or civilian policy-makers/recommendation-makers/experts dealing with non-proliferation or BWC issues and responsible for biological safety and security issues.
The Workshop was closed by RACVIAC CSE Programme Manager, COL Deniz Öztürk, who also delivered certificates to lecturers and participants. In his Closing speech he once again emphasized the importance of holding in-person activities underlining that this is the most significant confirmation of the realization of RACVIAC mission which, among other things, includes networking.
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*This Designation is without prejudice to positions on status and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.
