The International Bioweapons Regime Must be Strengthened, Not Exploited in Geopolitical Competition

COMMENTARY The Working Group on the Strengthening of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) met for the fourth time in Geneva in August 2024. [...] In addition to Britain submitting examples of scientific and technological advances relevant to the BWC, the meeting’s tangible outcomes were Russia’s proposal to create mobile biomedical units and France and India’s proposal to establish a database to help match assistance offers and requests between countries. [...] The US Department of State, in turn, accused Russia of using the choking agent chloropicrin to “achieve tactical gains on the battlefield” and added some 80 individuals and entities to the nearly three hundred already sanctioned. [...] First, misuse of the BWC mechanisms of consultation and review further degrades the foundations of the international bioweapons regime. [...] NATO’s outward demonstrations of ethical commitments on bioweapons single Russia out as a bad actor and add to the international divisions along the lines of “us” versus “them.” This not only escalates tensions but also adopts the Russian style of manipulating perceptions and engaging in “lawfare” concerning the BWC.