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United Republic of Tanzania - BTWC Status Update

Hon. Jasson Samson Rweikiza MP, Chair of the PGA National Group in Tanzania
Hon. Jasson Samson Rweikiza MP, Chair of the PGA National Group in Tanzania

As reported in an article on Xinhuanet.com:

"Tanzania was in the process of ratifying the Biological Weapons Convention, an international effort to address the threats posed by biological weapons, a senior official told Parliament on Monday. Hussein Mwinyi, the east African nation's Minister for Defense and National Service, said it was high time Tanzania ratified the convention, joining other countries that have ratified the deal. "With ongoing terrorism threats in the world, Tanzania now sees it fit to ratify the convention," Mwinyi told the National Assembly in the capital Dodoma. He said the government will table in the National assembly the convention for ratification in the next parliamentary session slated for September this year. He said Tanzania first signed the convention on August 1, 1972 but it has not yet ratified it until now, adding that Tanzania did not ratify the convention because it was not important at that time. Mwinyi was responding to Jason Rweikiza, the Member of Parliament for Bukoba Urban constituency, who had demanded reasons behind Tanzania's failure to ratify the convention.

The minister clarified that the government was aware of the effects of not ratifying the convention. Mwinyi added that by not ratifying the convention, Tanzania was denied opportunities for its experts to get training on how to deal with biological and toxin weapons. "Failure to ratify the convention also prevents Tanzanians from applying for opportunities in international institutions that are working in accordance with the law on biological weapons," Mwinyi told the House.

The convention bans the use of biological weapons in war and prohibits all development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, or transfer of such weapons. The convention was first signed in London, Moscow, and Washington, D.C. on April 10, 1972, and thereafter was opened for signing by other states."
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On  February 9, 2018 Hon. Jasson Rweikiza MP, Chair of the PGA National Group in Tanzania, informed PGA that, further to a meeting he had with the Minister of Defence and National Service and several prominent Military/Defense Officials, he was notified that it is the intention of the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania to ratify the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) in April 2018. The United Republic of Tanzania signed the BTWC on August 16th, 1972. Hon. Rweikiza has been a consistent and strong advocate over the past 18 months for his country to ratify the BTWC, meeting on several occasions with the Minister of Defence and raising the matter repeatedly in the Parliament in Dodoma

Hon. Rweikiza also participated in PGA's Regional Africa Workshop to Promote Universality and National Implementation of the BTWC in Freetown, Sierra Leone in March 2017 at which he gave a detailed presentation outlining the several important initiatives he has taken to date to promote ratification of the BTWC by the United Republic of Tanzania in the past eighteen months.

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