Panel Discussions - Thursday, November 10, 2011
New CTITF Report on Biological and Chemical Threats Launched at IPI
“The governments of the world are facing a very daunting challenge in asymmetric warfare,” said Robert Orr, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Strategic Planning and Chair of the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF) at an event at IPI on November 10th. “The threat of terrorism in one that is very real; it affects everyone around the globe, and those asymmetries are really something that we can only address through broad international cooperation.”
The event marked the official launch of a report by the multi-agency UN Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force entitled “Interagency Coordination in the Event of a Terrorist Attacks Using Chemical or Biological Weapons and Materials.” The report is a product of the Task Force Working Group on Preventing and Responding to WMD Terrorist Attacks, which brings together a range of expertise within the United Nations and international system on chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear issues.
Panelists stressed the value of the report, which, for the first time, analyzed at the international level the potential of the UN and international organizations to respond to biological and chemical terrorism, identifying ways to strengthen these capacities.
The first report of the working group, launched in August 2010, focused on nuclear and radiological security, a sector that is overseen by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); panelists observed there is no equivalent agency overseeing biological and chemical threats. So for this report, the working group collated the knowledge of a number of different actors in this area, including the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW); Interpol; the World Health Organization; and the World Organization for Animal Health. The working group also engaged with governments, private industries, and NGOs to gain their insights on chemical and biological security.
The findings of the report highlight the need for an interagency mechanism to ensure effective operational coordination and information sharing on chemical and biological threats. As the lead of the working group, Krzysztof Paturej of OPCW, noted, the UN has proven to be an effective platform for relevant actors, and the UN should now follow up with implementation of the report’s recommendations. He said that informal discussions had been held with a number of member states seeking to strengthen national biological and chemical security.
The report was considered an important step towards the implementation of the 2006 UN Global Counter Terrorism Strategy, which invites the United Nations to improve interagency coordination in responding to WMD terrorist attacks.
Opening remarks were offered by Ambassador Witold Sobków of Poland. The event was chaired by Warren Hoge, IPI’s Senior Adviser for External Relations.
Watch video of event:
The Global Observatory
Interview with John Prendergast, Co-Founder, Enough Project
Mr. Prendergast discusses the international justice system and the new ground forged by Invisible Children's Kony2012 campaign.
Key Global Events to Watch in May
A list of key upcoming meetings and events with implications for global affairs.
The Global Observatory is a new website by IPI, providing timely analysis on peace and security issues, interviews with leading policymakers, interactive maps, and more.
Recent Events
May 10, 2012
Arbour: What the Rule of Law Means
“In my understanding of the rule of law, fundamentally, what the rule of law means is that it embraces the principle of equality before the law,” Louise Arbour, president of the International Crisis Group (ICG), told an IPI audience on May 10, 2012. Ms. Arbour outlined that this means that no one is above the law and everyone has both equal protection and equal benefit of the law. 
May 03, 2012
Shachtman: Cyber Threats Akin to South Bronx, Not Pearl Harbor
“There’s not a danger of a cyber Pearl Harbor… it’s more like the South Bronx circa 1999, where there’s a danger that it becomes such a tough neighborhood that no one wants to set up shop there and people move out,” Noah Shachtman, editor of the Danger Room blog at Wired magazine and non-resident fellow at the Brookings Institution, told an IPI audience at a panel on cyber security on May 3, 2011.
April 27, 2012
Preventing Conflicts in Africa: The Role of Early Warning and Response Systems
An April 27th roundtable discussion at IPI titled “Preventing Conflicts in Africa: The Role of Early Warning and Response Systems” examined the progress, prospects and challenges of regional and international early warning and response mechanisms to monitor, anticipate, and mitigate potential conflict situations in Africa.