4 December 2008
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Bioterrorism Steps taken by member countries in response to UNSCR 1540 The United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1540 in April 2004. Unanimously adopted under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter and thus binding for all member states, the resolution prohibits the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to non-state actors. Its intent is to fill a gap which undercuts international prohibitions against WMD proliferation: the failure to include the threat that terrorists, criminals or other dangerous individuals may acquire or develop catastrophic capabilities. Every member state must adopt and enforce laws criminalising the ‘manufacture, possession, transportation or use of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and their means of delivery’. Moreover, each state must establish appropriate controls over WMD-related materials. These controls include: measures to account for and secure such items; effective physical protection measures; effective border controls and law enforcement efforts; and effective national export and trans-shipment controls over such items. Finally, the resolution prohibits states from assisting or financing WMD proliferation. UN Security Council Resolution 1540 calls for the establishment of a committee to receive reports from states on ‘steps they have taken or intend to take to implement this resolution’ and to report to the Security Council, as some states ‘may require assistance in implementing the provisions of this resolution’. As of June 2005, approximately 60% of all United Nations member states had submitted their reports to the Resolution 1540 Committee, covering a wide range of issues applicable to all types of WMD and their means of delivery. Personnel working on behalf of Interpol have extracted information regarding bio-terrorism and the control of bio-weapons-related materials from the existing reports. These extracts have been edited only for the purposes of clarity; the substance of these reports remains unchanged. Accordingly, the summaries which are available here are as accurate and comprehensive as the states’ reports themselves. Readers should be aware that every effort has been made to present states’ self-reports on bio-weapons as completely and objectively as possible. The purpose of this information is essential to international peace and security, and it is hoped that it initiates an ongoing process of intellectual inquiry and exchange.
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