U.S. Rejects Germ Warfare Treaty Draft
G E N E V A, July 25 -- The United States — already facing criticism fromEuropean nations for rejecting initiatives on climate change andsmall arms trade — announced today it is rejecting a U.N. drafttreaty designed to give teeth to an anti-germ warfare accord.
"In our assessment, the draft protocol would put nationalsecurity and confidential business information at risk," said U.S.chief negotiator Donald A. Mahley. He said Washington still supported the 1972 U.N. treaty banningthe use of biological weapons, and would come up with new proposalson how to enforce it. Nations have been negotiating for seven years to develop anaccord on how to enforce the germ warfare treaty, painstakinglyworking through disagreements over the 210-page document. The draftis intended to create a way to inspect sites suspected ofdeveloping biological weapons without interfering with legitimateindustries and facilities.
U.S. Promises 'New, Affirmative Ideas'
The United States is the only one of the 56 nations negotiatingin Geneva that has indicated it is not prepared to continuenegotiating on the basis of the existing draft protocol. Mahley said the United States had concluded that it could notsupport the treaty even if amendments were made. "The draft protocol will not improve our ability to verifyBiological Weapons Convention compliance. It will not enhance ourconfidence in compliance and will do little to deter thosecountries seeking to develop biological weapons," he said. He said the United States believes it can strengthen theconvention through multilateral arrangements and "new, affirmativeideas." "There is no basis for a claim that the United States does notsupport multilateral instruments for dealing with weapons of massdestruction and missile threats," he said. "To be valuable,however, we believe any approach must focus on effective,innovative measures." Tibor Toth, the Hungarian diplomat who chairs the negotiations,would not comment on the United States position until he had readMahley's speech more closely.
