I ask the Government to send the Bill on the Implementation of the Biological Weapons Convention and the Convention on Chemical Weapons to Congress without further delay. This bill has been the subject of study by the Government since 2014 and was transmitted by the Ministry of Defense to the Office of the Presidency of Chile in May 2017. As recent horrible events in Syria and the United Kingdom clearly demonstrate, the risk of using Weapons of Mass Destruction to commit atrocities against innocent civilians is now a well-established reality. There has also been compelling evidence in the past two years that several terrorist organizations, including ISIS, Boko Haram, Al Shabaab and Al Qaeda are now actively seeking to develop and manufacture biological weapons. The Congress of Chile organized an important Latin American Regional Workshop on the Implementation of the Biological Weapons Convention in Santiago in May 2017. We can and must set an example in this, not only for our neighboring countries in the region, but for all the countries of the world.Dip. Tucapel Jiménez
Executive Committee, PGA

On May 15-16, 2017, PGA organized a Promote Ratification and Implementation of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, hosted by the Chamber of Deputies in Chile, which brought together prominent Legislators and several Government officials from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Honduras, Paraguay, Uruguay for a two day period to discuss and review the Biological & Toxin Weapon Convention (BTWC), in particular its significance in the context of the Latin American community with a view to identifying a range of practical steps and initiatives that could be taken to promote ratification and implementation of the BTWC in their respective countries.

For more information, please visit: 
https://www.pgaction.org/news/regional-parliamentary-workshop-santiago.html