PGA wishes to congratulate the Council of Ministers of the Government of South Sudan on its approval of accession by South Sudan to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC) on Friday 7th June, 2019.
PGA would like also to take this opportunity to warmly commend PGA Member, Hon. Dr. Alma Jervase Yak, MP, Member of the Committee of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA) of South Sudan, and Chairperson of the Bilateral Relations Sub-Committee, for her concerted advocacy and tireless, assiduous outreach efforts, both within Parliament, and in regular dialogue with relevant Government Ministers over the past 8 months, that has contributed significantly to this decision by the Council of Ministers of the Government of South Sudan.
PGA Member Hon. Dr. Alma Jervase Yak, MP participated and made a presentation at PGA's Regional Africa Parliamentary Workshop to Promote Universality and Implementation of the Biological Weapons Convention and Implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540 (2004) in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania in September 2018 and was also part of a Delegation of African Parliamentarians that attended the Annual Meeting of States Parties to the Biological Weapons Convention at the United Nations in Geneva from 4-7 December, 2018, facilitated by PGA.
PGA is also grateful for the support and advocacy of Ambassador Moses M. Akol Ajawin, Director General for International Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of South Sudan, who also participated in the Delegation Visit to, and made a presentation at, the Annual Meeting of States Parties (MSP) to the Biological Weapons Convention at the United Nations in Geneva from 4-7 December, 2018, facilitated by PGA.
PGA acknowledges the important parallel efforts made by certain Governments and international organizations, in particular the Implementation Support Unit (ISU) of the Biological Weapons Convention, which have also contributed to this important decision by the Council of Ministers of the Government of South Sudan in Juba on 7th June, 2019. PGA also wishes to express the sincere hope that this affirmative decision of the Council of Ministers, on a treaty of great importance to national, regional and international peace and security, may also, directly and/or indirectly, have a beneficial and salutary impact with respect to the effective implementation of the South Sudan Peace Agreement, signed in September 2018.
PGA respectfully now encourages the Council of Ministers of the Government of South Sudan to promptly submit the BWC to the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA) for required TNLA approval to allow for South Sudan, in due course, to deposit its Instrument of Accession to the BWC. PGA, in addition, also wishes herewith to encourage the Government of South Sudan similarly to submit to the TNLA in the near future the Chemical Weapons Convention, as approved for accession by the Council of Ministers in August 2017, as announced by Ambassador Moses M. Akol Ajawin at the Annual Meeting of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague in December 2017.
PGA is grateful to Global Affairs Canada and the Norwegian Foreign Ministry for their support for PGA's Global Parliamentary Campaign to Promote Universality and Implementation of the Biological Weapons Convention and Implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1540 (2004).
