Activites

• 2006/11/16 Results of vote in Parliament
  • Results of vote in Parliament
  • T6-0493/2006 summary

    The European Parliament adopted a joint resolution on the Prohibition of Biological and Toxin Weapons (BTWC), cluster bombs and conventional arms, and called for the accession of all States to the BTWC. The EU must work towards a declaration that the ban on biological and toxin weapons is a universally binding rule of international law. Parliament encouraged the EU, therefore, to take up this issue in the transatlantic fora, in particular NATO, and to persuade the US administration to move away from its unilateral point of view and to contribute to the relaunch and enhancement of the multilateral framework. Parliament went on to call on the Council, Commission and Member States to do the following:-promote full compliance with the obligations under the BTWC and, where necessary, the strengthening of national implementation measures, including penal legislation and control over pathogenic micro-organisms and toxins in the framework of the BTWC;-contribute to the improvement of the mechanisms for verifying compliance by the States Parties by promoting efforts to enhance transparency through increased exchange of information among States Parties;-promote compliance with obligations under UN Security Council Resolution 1540, in particular to eliminate the risk of biological or toxin weapons being acquired or used for terrorist purposes;  -promote promote common understanding and effective action in particular on: enhancing international capabilities for responding to cases of alleged use of biological or toxin weapons or suspicious outbreaks of disease; strengthening existing mechanisms for combating infectious diseases affecting humans, animals and plants; adoption of codes of conduct for scientists in the field relevant to the BTWC;  -support a further intersessional work programme during the period between the Sixth and Seventh Review Conferences, to identify specific areas and procedures for further progress under this work programme and to promote the convening of a Seventh Review Conference of the BTWC to be held no later than 2011.Furthermore, Parliament asked the EU and its Member States to ensure that the scope of Protocol III to the CCW on Incendiary Weapons is expanded in order to prevent the further use of white phosphorus shells against military and civilian targets and to stop the use of (depleted) uranium warheads. It also demanded the creation of a specific Protocol VI to unambiguously ban the production, stockpiling, transfer and use of all types of cluster munitions (fragmentation bombs). In this light, Parliament welcomed in particular the positive response by a coalition of more than 30 States (amongst them many Member States, including Belgium, Sweden, Germany, France, Austria, Denmark, Spain and the Czech Republic) to the call made by both Kofi Annan and Jan Egeland at the beginning of the CCW Review Conference for negotiations to start without delay to establish a convention to ban cluster munitions worldwide, in the same way as has been done for anti-personnel mines. The EU and all Member States must support this initiative as actively as possible.Lastly, Parliament called on all Member States, the Council and the Commission to work hard to ensure that, within the foreseeable future, both the BTWC and the CCW are equipped with a permanent secretariat to oversee their successful implementation.

• 2006/11/15 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament

Documents

• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Results of vote in Parliament: Results of vote in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T6-0493/2006

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)