PRESS BRIEFING BY AD HOC COMMITTEE TO ELIMINATE TERRORISM

Noting the progress made in negotiations, the Chairman of the General Assembly’s Ad Hoc Committee on measures to eliminate international terrorism this afternoon expressed “cautious optimism” about the adoption by the Assembly this year of a comprehensive convention to combat the scourge.

Rohan Perera of Sri Lanka said, at a Headquarters press briefing, that if all went well -- as it had so far -– the Committee at the close of its two-week session on 26 October would be required to make a recommendation to the Sixth Committee.  If there were a formal text, that would be considered when the Sixth Committee takes up the Committee’s report by the middle of November.  It would then be up to the Sixth Committee to recommend its adoption by the General Assembly.

Mr. Perera said, in response to a question:  “Then, technically, by the end of this year, you’ll have a Convention.  At this stage, I’ll be cautiously optimistic.  Progress has been very positive and this feeling is shared by many delegations.”

He said a revised text of the draft convention –- incorporating various proposals -- would be finalized next week.  Encouraging progress had been made since the Ad Hoc Committee began its current session last Monday.  Delegations had been approaching the negotiations “with a sense of compromise and in a spirit of flexibility”.  He added:  “Obviously, the events of 11 September had had an impact on the negotiations.  People realize that the world is waiting for a positive outcome.”

Mr. Perera recalled that the General Assembly, which debated the question of terrorism early this month, had requested the Sixth Committee to report by

15 November on the progress the Ad Hoc Committee was making on negotiations on the draft convention.  “What I can say at this stage is that I’m extremely encouraged, and this is shared by most delegations.”

He told a questioner that the four-day negotiations since last Monday had been focused exclusively on the draft comprehensive convention, but there had also been informal discussion of the draft instrument on the suppression of nuclear terrorism proposed by the Russian Federation.

Problems concerning the scope of that draft text ought to be examined in the context of the draft comprehensive convention on international terrorism,

Mr. Perera said.  If some solution was found, it would have a positive impact on work on the nuclear terrorism instrument.  Discussions on those issues would commence tomorrow morning, he said.

Mr. Perera told a correspondent that debate on the issue of definition of the terrorism began this morning in the working group.  He characterized the debate as useful and workmanlike.  Asked whether he expected something to come out of the discussions, he said there was “an operational definition of terrorism” in

the original paper presented by India.  The discussions were progressing on the Indian text.  There were other proposals to expand the definition to cover State terrorism and others.

In answer to another question on the subject, he said that the issue of the definition of terrorism had been on the United Nations agenda for a long time.  It was now up front in the negotiations on a comprehensive convention on international terrorism.  He hoped that in keeping with United Nations practice, the Sixth Committee would approve the text adopted by the Ad Hoc Committee.

The Ad Hoc Committee last year began evolving a comprehensive convention on suppression of terrorism, first proposed by the Government of India.  The objective of the convention, Mr. Perera said, was to provide a comprehensive cover and in the process, strengthen the existing framework conventions dealing with specific crimes of terrorism such as hijacking, hostage-taking and bombings.  It also provided for a depoliticization clause, meaning that an act of terrorism involving innocent civilian targets could not be considered a political offence. Another aspect was abuse of refugee status.

The original mandate of the Ad Hoc Committee -– established by General Assembly resolution 51/210 of 17 December 1996 -- was to negotiate a convention on the suppression of terrorist bombings in the context of the series of bombings that took place across the globe at that time, he said.  It was thought then that the United Nations must come up with a legal response to such manifestations of terrorism.  The United Nations Convention to Suppress Terrorist Bombings that was successfully negotiated in 1998 entered into force last May.

Thereafter, he said, the Ad Hoc Committee was entrusted with the task of negotiating a convention on the financing of terrorism.  The negotiations on the text were very complex and difficult, but were successfully concluded and adopted by the General Assembly in 1999.  The United Nations Convention on the Suppression of Financing of Terrorism was yet to enter into force, as only four of the

22 States required for that to happen had so far ratified it.

Mr. Perera said he understood that with the recent adoption by the Security Council of its resolution 1373, the pace of signing of that Convention had quickened, and he hoped ratification would likewise increase.

The Ad Hoc Committee had been looking simultaneously at the draft text on a convention for the suppression of nuclear terrorism during its current session.  Work on the draft had already been completed, except for its scope, which required resolution at the policy level, he said.

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