Monitoring and verification in the biological-weapons area

ABSTRACT

This article provides a brief overview of the ongoing monitoring and verification (OMV) regime in Iraq in the biological-weapons area. As an integral part of the formal ceasefire arrangement in 1991, the United Nations Security Council established an international verification regime encompassing nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons and some ballistic missiles. The verification regime was built on two mutually supportive pillars. One pillar related to disarmament validation, i.e., verifying that all prohibited weapons, facilities, and related items and certain ballistic missiles in Iraq were destroyed or rendered harmless, and all past weapons-of-mass-destruction (WMD) activities had ceased. The second pillar was ongoing monitoring to continuously verify that non-proscribed activities were not being diverted to reconstitute WMD programs. Biological-weapons disarmament and OMV in Iraq provide an example of an effective system that may serve as a reference point for future efforts.

KEYWORDS:

• Iraq
• verification
• biological weapons
• biological-weapons disarmament
• UNSCOM
• UNMOVIC

Notes

1 UN Security Council Resolution 687, S/Res/687, April 3, 1991.

2 UN Security Council Resolution 715, S/Res/715, October 11, 1991.

3 UN document S/22871/Rev.1 and S/22872/Rev.1 and Corr.1., October 2, 1991.

4 UN Security Council Resolution 1051, S/Res/1051, March 27, 1996.

5 UN document S/1998/1172, December 15, 1998.

6 UN Security Council Resolution 1284 (1999), S/Res/1284, December 17, 1999.

7 UN document S/1995/284, April 10, 1995, paragraphs 59–60.

8 UN documents S/1995/864, October 11, 1995, paragraph 2; S/2006/420, June 21, 2006, paragraph 261.

9 UN Document S/2008/372, June 9, 2008, paragraph 28a.

10 UN Document S/1999/94, January 29, 1999, Appendix III, The Biological Monitoring System, paragraph 19.

11 In the aftermath of the 2003 Iraq War and the occupation of Iraq by the US-led coalition, the ISG was established by the director of Central Intelligence as a fact-finding mission to collect information on WMD activities in Iraq.

12 Comprehensive Report of the Special Advisor to the Director of Central Intelligence on Iraq’s WMD (Duelfer report), September 30, 2004, Volume 3, Biological Warfare, key findings, p. 2.

13 “Meeting between Saddam and His Security Council Regarding Iraqi Biological and Nuclear Weapons Program,” Conflict Records Research Center, Washington, DC, February 5, 1995, Original Audio for SH-SHTP-A-001-011, <https://conflictrecords.wordpress.com/collections/sh/SH-SHTP-A-001-011>.