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On 23–24 September 2026, the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) and the Government of Angola convened a National Legal Awareness-Raising Forum on the Effective Implementation of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) in Luanda, bringing together senior decision-makers and technical representatives from across Angolan institutions.

The Forum was organized under the Project supporting the Universalization and Effective Implementation of the BWC in Africa, Southeast Asia and the Pacific, implemented by UNODA with support from the Global Partnership against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction, in particular Canada, France, Italy, the Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Angola joined the BWC in 2016 and has made sustained progress in strengthening its national implementation. Its experience has increasingly positioned it as a regional example, in particular among Portuguese-speaking States Parties. In October 2024, UNODA supported an initial national workshop in Angola focused on raising awareness of the Convention, strengthening the submission of confidence-building measures and supporting the development of a draft BWC implementing legislation. Following this event, Angola consolidated the draft BWC implementing law, and the Angolan National Authority for Arms Control and Disarmament (ANCAD) requested further UNODA assistance to support its adoption.

The National Legal Awareness-Raising Forum was designed to address both the political and technical dimensions of the legislative adoption process. On the first day, UNODA held bilateral meetings with senior representatives of the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Justice, as well as with the Minister of State and Chief of the Military House of the President of the Republic and the President of the National Assembly. Discussions focused on the importance of adopting the draft legislation, Angola's leadership in BWC implementation and the remaining issues requiring attention before the law can be adopted and effectively implemented. The meetings confirmed strong political support for moving the legislation forward.

The second day brought together more than 45 representatives from 15 Angolan government entities for a technical workshop. UNODA presented approaches to developing legal and regulatory frameworks for BWC implementation, while ANCAD presented the latest version of the draft law. Participants examined remaining issues, discussed institutional responsibilities and identified regulations and administrative measures that will be needed to make the future legal framework fully operational.

The Forum demonstrated the importance of sustained national ownership and high-level political support in advancing BWC legal implementation. Angola's progress has been among the most sustained in Africa in recent years, and its National Authority for Arms Control and Disarmament provides a strong institutional model, combining political support, dedicated resources and mechanisms for inter-institutional cooperation.

The BWC prohibits the development, production, acquisition, transfer and stockpiling of biological and toxin weapons. Effective implementation requires States Parties not only to comply with these international obligations, but also to establish appropriate national laws, regulations and institutional arrangements. UNODA supports States in strengthening these national frameworks and translating their commitments under the Convention into practical measures.

HSPA - Webinars

Upcoming Webinars:

• “AI and weapons of mass destruction: implications for proliferation and non-proliferation”, 4 November 2026  

Previous Topics:

• “Toward a Biosecurity Framework in North Africa: Nonproliferation, Cross-Border Risks and Multisectoral Governance”, 7 October 2026
• “Genomic tools for global biosecurity: deterring, detecting and responding to emerging biological threats”, June 2025
• “Challenges and solutions for biorisk management”, September 2025
• “One-Health and biological threats: Productive ways forward”, December 2025
• “AI-powered health agents as a medical countermeasure: agent-based simulation of surveillance, behavioural intervention and supply chain coordination for pandemic response in Africa”, March 2026
• “Actionable biological intelligence: From fragmented signals to decision-ready insight”, May 2026
• “Transforming biosafety practice and training: Risk and evidence based digital solutions”, July 2026
• “Earth Observations for Ebola response in Eastern DRC: Improving situational awareness in hard-to-reach areas”, August 2026.

National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Netherlands

The Biosecurity Office offers two e-learning courses specially developed for students, introducing the key principles of biosecurity and dual-use in the life sciences. Participants will learn why these topics are relevant to studies and future career, and how to handle the associated risks and responsibilities consciously.

• E-learning biosecurity for students: This e-learning consists of five chapters and introduces the history, origins, and core concepts of biosecurity.
• E-learning dual-use for students: This e-learning, which consists of six chapters, explains what the concept of “dual-use” entails and how it is related to biosecurity and research in the life sciences.

A third course was developed for all staff (e.g. laboratory technicians, students, biosafety officers) working in laboratories dealing with biological materials, such as clinical, public health or research laboratories.  

• Online Course Fundamentals on Laboratory Biosafety: This course explains the fundamentals of working safely in the laboratory and focuses on core requirements for biosafety as described in the WHO Laboratory Biosafety Manual 4th edition (LBM4). The course consists of 10 modules.

Op-Ed Series - Project Coast

A six-part series on the history of late-stage apartheid South Africa’s biological and chemical weapons program is currently being released by Daily Maverick: from the building and dismantling of late-stage apartheid South Africa's biological and chemical weapons program, the role of its leader Wouter Basson and the scientists, during regime change from F. W. de Klerk to Nelson Mandela; the concerted efforts made by the international community, the United States and UK Governments in particular, to prevent and contain the proliferation of materials and weapons of mass destruction.

Links:

• https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-09-21-apartheids-covert-operation-that-built-and-dismantled-sas-biological-weapons-programme-1
• https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-09-29-how-apartheid-biological-weapons-programme-emerged-from-the-dust-of-world-war-2
• https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-10-05-project-coast

ICGEB's BIO-GUARD programme builds biothreat response capacity in Africa

Rapid detection of a dangerous pathogen depends on trained scientists, reliable methods and laboratories that handle biological materials safely and securely. Over the past year, the BIO-GUARD programme of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) has worked on all three with African partners, through hands-on courses, research fellowships and the establishment of two national Biothreat Response Units.

BIO-GUARD is implemented and coordinated by ICGEB in cooperation with the Biological Weapons Convention Implementation Support Unit (BWC ISU) of the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), with support from the Governments of Italy, Norway and the United Kingdom. It contributes to the G7 Global Partnership's Signature Initiative to Mitigate Biological Threats in Africa (SIMBA) by strengthening laboratory capacity for the surveillance and detection of biological threats, together with biosafety and biosecurity practice through three linked instruments: courses, fellowships and national Biothreat Response Units. Since 2023 its network has grown to 127 scientists from 60 countries, 43 of them from 25 African countries.

Hands-on training in pathogen detection and biosecurity

Two courses on Pathogen Detection and Biosecurity were held over the past year, in Cape Town in December 2025 and in Trieste in May 2026. Together they trained 31 professionals from 28 countries, 11 of them from Africa. Participants worked hands-on with qPCR, LAMP and nanopore sequencing. Alongside the laboratory work, they studied the Biological Weapons Convention, dual-use research, biosafety and biosecurity, and public communication. Each course closed with a simulated outbreak in which participants had to turn a laboratory result into a recommendation for decision-makers. A third course, "Biotechnology Innovation and Biosecurity", will take place at the ICGEB component in New Delhi, India, from 12-16 October 2026.

Fellowships: applying new skills to national priorities

Fellowships lasting two to nine months give scientists time to develop and apply methods relevant to priorities in their home institutions. Since 2024, 35 ICGEB Fellowships for Scientists in Biosecurity have been awarded to scientists from 26 countries, including 15 fellows from Africa. The fellows come from public health laboratories, agricultural research institutes, environmental agencies, wildlife authorities and universities, the places where biological threats tend to surface first. They are hosted in ICGEB laboratories in Trieste, New Delhi and Cape Town and at the ICGEB Regional Research Centre in Taizhou, China. Their projects respond to priorities identified at home. They include extraction-free sample preparation for the colorimetric RT-LAMP detection of Ebola virus, genomic fingerprinting for the traceability of pathogens held in biorepositories, whole-genome sequencing of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria in wastewate, etc. These activities aim to simplify diagnostic workflows, strengthen the management of pathogen collections and support One Health surveillance, while building expertise that fellows can apply in their home laboratories. On 6 October 2026, the fellows hosted in Trieste met to present their projects and to discuss biosafety, biosecurity and the responsible conduct of research.

Biothreat Response Units in Zimbabwe and Kenya

Alongside courses and fellowships, BIO-GUARD supports institutional capacity through the ICGEB Grants for Strengthening Biosecurity in Healthcare and Research Laboratories. Supported by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the grants provide laboratories in low- and middle-income African countries with two years of funding to develop national Biothreat Response Units, together with access to ICGEB’s technology transfer facilities.

The units are designed to combine pathogen detection, One Health data integration and technical analysis to support the investigation of biological events. Their purpose is to provide national authorities with evidence for preparedness and response decisions. ICGEB supports their development through technology transfer, training, laboratory networking and technical backstopping, together with guidance on governance, biosafety and biosecurity. The first two grants were awarded in 2025, and work began in January 2026. In Zimbabwe, the National Microbiology Reference Laboratory is strengthening genomic surveillance and biobanking as part of the country's preparedness for future pandemics. In Kenya, the unit is building biosecurity capacity in healthcare diagnostic and research laboratories, where a pathogen is most often first identified. The aim in both countries is the same: capacity that becomes part of the national system.

Building lasting capacity

The ongoing outbreak of Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo underscores the importance of having trained personnel, reliable diagnostic methods and safe, secure laboratory capacity in place before an emergency. By linking short courses, fellowships and institutional grants, BIO-GUARD helps skills acquired by individual scientists to become established practice in their laboratories and, in turn, part of national systems. For SIMBA and the wider Global Partnership community, this approach contributes to sustained capacity in Africa to detect, investigate and respond to biological threats of natural, accidental or deliberate origin.