Committee: General Assembly (DISEC) Topic: Non-proliferation of biological and chemical weapons Country: Mexico I. Background Chemical weapons are chemicals in solid, liquid, or gas form that are designed to kill, incapacitate, or injure soldiers and civilians either through direct exposure or systematic destruction of the environment, especially sources of food such as agriculture and livestock. Biological weapons, on the other hand, are organisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites that are utilized as weapons to harm people, plants, and animals. Chemical and biological weapons have been used since ancient times when water supplies were poisoned and various plant toxins were mixed with the food supply, but the means of delivery has only modernized about seventy years ago with World War II, when both the Allies and the Axis Powers used sealed artillery canisters filled with chlorine gas and other agents and initiated biological weapon research involving various pathogens such as anthrax, smallpox, yellow fever, and cholera. Chemical weapons concern the international community because weaker countries with smaller budgets may turn to chemical warfare, a cheaper, more destructive alternative that costs no soldiers. Terrorists can also take advantage of chemical warfare to conduct sudden, anonymous attacks in crowded places, especially underground subways where widespread panic is dangerous. The same is true with biological warfare, another cheap alternative to nuclear weapons that can be accomplished with a handful of microbiologists. Because chemical weapons can also indiscriminately spread to civilians and biological weapons can be extremely virulent, the proliferation of such weapons is of great concern to the international community. II. Past UN Involvement The Geneva Protocol (1925), which only banned the first use of chemical and biological warfare, was a follow-up to the Hague Convention of 1898, which also banned the production and use of biological and chemical weapons, after the horrors of World War I (1939-1945) firmly convinced many countries who had previously not signed the Hague Convention. The UN General Assembly RES 2162B passed in 1966 called for member states to observe the provisions of the Geneva Protocol, while another General Assembly RES 2603 passed in 1969 recognized the ban on chemical and biological warfare in international conflicts, as said in the Geneva Protocol, as customary international law. The Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) was another treaty established in 1972 to ban the production and stockpiling of biological weapons. Likewise, in 1992, the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) was established as another treaty to enforce what the Geneva Protocol did not include in its provisions, such as the development, acquisition, stockpiling, and transfer of chemical weapons. UNODA (UN Office for Disarmament Affairs), the Conference on Disarmament, and the UNDC (UN Disarmament Commission) promote non-proliferation through awareness and opportunities between nations to debate disarmament issues, and oversee disarmament by providing substantive and organizational support in disarmament areas in collaboration with the General Assembly and its First Committee. The OPCW (Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) oversees compliance with the CWC and the ISU (Implementation Support Unit) assist state parties with implementation of the BWC by harnessing resources, forging connections, developing networks and identifying opportunities.
III. Country Policy Mexico has signed and ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention, affirming its support of a chemical weapon-free world and non-proliferation of chemical warfare. It has also signed and ratified the Biological Weapons Convention, and has expressed its hopes that member states will follow the BWC and leave biological warfare out of international and national conflicts. Mexico is also concerned about the proliferation of biological and chemical weapons among various terrorist groups, most notably alQaeda. The possibility of cooperation between such terrorists and drug cartels to smuggle biological and chemical weapons through existing smuggling routes across the US-Mexico border into the United States is matter of major concern for both Mexico and the United States. In 2010, Mexico reported possible initiatives involving rail and multimodal transport, control and safety in ports, and drills. In 2013, Mexico joined the Australia Group, a collective and voluntary group of countries working to counter the spread of
materials, equipment and technologies that could contribute to the development or acquisition of chemical and biological weapons by states or terrorist groups. An objective of the Australia group is to encourage all countries to take the necessary steps to ensure that they and their industries are not contributing to the spread of CBW. IV. Solutions Mexico proposes that the UN hold a yearly summit that all countries would be recommended to attend to discuss the issue of non-proliferation. This summit could also give sponsors, signers, and signatories of the Biological Weapons Convention and Chemical Weapons Convention an opportunity to exert international pressure on non-signatories (especially countries with known chemical and/or biological weapons programs). Multilaterism is stressed, since countries combining their respective strengths can do more than individual countries finding their individual solutions. As for domestic concerns that Mexico believes any country can have involving scenarios of chemical/biological weapons attacks, precautions should be put in place in the event of a chemical/biological weapons attack. Such precautions should include specially manufactured gas masks to minimize civilian casualties, vaccine programs, an emergency radio station to tell civilians what they can do to protect themselves and their families for the countries that do not have unified or efficient communications systems, and guidelines for emergency response teams. Countries that implement a part, or all, of these recommendations will feel more confidence.
Works Cited http://school.eb.com/levels/high/article/110179 http://www.un.org/disarmament/HomePage/Issues/ http://school.eb.com/levels/high/article/79262 http://www.un.org/disarmament/WMD/Chemical/ http://www.un.org/law/icc/index.html http://www.un.org/law/icc/index.html http://school.eb.com/levels/high/article/384655 http://www.un.org/disarmament/WMD/Bio/ http://www.un.org/disarmament/about/ http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_13936032 http://www.un.org/disarmament/WMD/SGReport_Terrorism/Docs%202010/1st%20Cttee%2 0-%20member%20states%20replies%20-%202010/Mexico%20-%20english%20%20post.pdf http://www.australiagroup.net/en/mexico_statement.html http://www.fta.dot.gov/documents/cwirp_guidelines.pdf
