International Collaboration and Partnership in Countering Biological Threats Presentation by Georgia Biological Weapons Convention Meeting of Experts Geneva, Switzerland, 16-20 July 2012
Countering Biological Threats: National Implementation of the Biological Weapons Convention and Multinational Outbreak Response and Bioterrorism Investigation Demonstration Workshop held in Tbilisi, Georgia, 17-19 May 2011 These events were a joint effort of: Georgia: National Center for Disease Control and Public Health of Georgia (NCDC), the Emergency Management Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Georgian Biosafety Association U.S. : Department of Defense (US European Command, Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center, Center for Disaster and Humanitarian Assistance Medicine, and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency) and the Department of Health and Human Services (Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response ) This event built off the success of a previous workshop, the 2010 Southern Caucasus Bioshield Workshop and Tabletop Exercise
Workshop organization About 100 participants were in attendance, from: Inter-governmental organizations (WHO, UNODA, NATO, and ECDC); Non-governmental organizations and universities (VERTIC, American Association for Laboratory Accreditation, MJ Lawrence Consulting, International Security and Biopolicy Institute, Virginia Tech University, Battelle, Technology Management Company, University of Nairobi); Public health, security, or law enforcement organizations from Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Turkey, Poland, Kenya, and U.S. The workshop consisted of several activities: Plenary presentations Tabletop exercise Site visit to the U.S.-Georgia Central Public Health Reference Laboratory Demonstration of consequence management capabilities of Georgia s Ministry of Internal Affairs CBRN Rapid Response Team Strength is in Unity
Plenary presentations National implementation of the BWC legislative, administrative and other measures to ensure domestic compliance systems; education, awareness raising and outreach measures; disease surveillance, detection, and containment; biosafety and biosecurity provisions; synergies and convergence between the BWC and other international public health and security regimes such as the WHO IHRs and the UNSCR 1540 International Coordination and Multi- Sectoral Response to Public Health Emergencies the role of public health, law enforcement, and civil-military cooperation in preparedness and response to biological threats Integrating Health Surveillance with Biothreat Notification and Law Enforcement- Forensics and Attribution the role of microbial forensics in deterring biological threats, as well as national capabilities for disease surveillance, and biothreat investigation and response
Tabletop Exercise: UN Secretary-General General s Mechanism for Investigation of Alleged Use of Chemical and Biological Weapons (UNSGM) Fictional scenario starting with a letter to the UN Secretary General from a UN Member State alleging BW use. The UNSGM is intended to ascertain in an objective manner facts of alleged violations of the 1925 Geneva Protocol, which bans the use of chemical and biological weapons For the tabletop exercise, the workshop participants reviewed and employed the UNSGM Technical Guidelines and Procedures The tabletop exercise was a first of its kind at the international level for raising awareness and review of the updated UNSGM Technical Guidelines and Procedures and was built on the foundation of the first training course for UN experts which was organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sweden in 2009 in Umea, Sweden.
The exercise promoted discussions on: Tabletop Exercise (cont d) Preliminary plan and sources of information (official channel or open source, including requests for information to inter-governmental and other UN bodies); Mission plan and scope of in-country mission activities; Fact-finding activities at the site(s) of alleged use; Sampling, chain of custody, sample transportation, interviewing witnesses, record keeping, confidentiality, coordination with the host country, and other technical, logistical, and legal aspects related to the UNSGM; Reporting to the UN Secretary General; Potential follow-up actions.
Key Lessons Learned There is a need for additional training events of this kind to familiarize the international community and a wide range of stakeholders with the mandate, scope, and nature of the UNSGM Such training could be organized at the national level with all relevant stakeholders since it may take a whole of government approach to facilitate the UNSGM s fact-finding mission in a respective country, and each country should identify any potential legal, administrative, and policy issues in advance and address them with UNODA; The 240+ experts nominated by UN Member States on the UNODA rosters for the UNSGM should be trained (an initial and refresher training plan should be considered); and the 40+ laboratories currently on the UN roster should also be involved in training Collaborations, partnerships, and synergies of the UN expert team with inter-governmental and other UN bodies should be well understood and considered during future training events.
Consequence Management Demonstration The Emergency Management Department (EMD) of Georgia s Ministry of Internal Affairs (MoIA) demonstrated its capabilities for the workshop participants The EMD is responsible for the coordination of activities for the prevention and consequence management of emergency situations MoIA s EMD functions in the context of Georgia s Unified system of prevention of emergencies and liquidation of results of such emergencies.
Site Visit to the U.S.-Georgia Central Public Health Reference Laboratory (CPHRL) Workshop participants toured the CPHRL, which officially opened on 18 March 2011 U.S. technical staff with expertise in public and animal health and epidemiology work together with their colleagues from Georgia in this facility on joint research projects to promote public and animal health through infectious disease detection, epidemiological surveillance, and research for the benefit of Georgia, the Caucasus region, and the global community
Contact information: Lela Bakanidze,, Ph.D., RBP Nonproliferation Programs Manager, Agrarian University of Georgia President, Georgian Biosafety Association (GeBSA) `8, S. Metreveli St., Tbilisi, 0112, Georgia E-mail: lbakanidze@agruni.edu.ge