COSTA RICA HOSTS UNITED NATIONS COUNTER-TERRORISM WORKSHOP

COSTA RICA HOSTS UNITED NATIONS COUNTER-TERRORISM WORKSHOP

(Reissued as received.)

VIENNA, 27 January (UN Information Service) -- Under the auspices of the Government of Costa Rica, a workshop on the Implementation of the Universal Legal Instruments against Terrorism and the Inter-American Convention Against Terrorism was held in San José, Costa Rica, from 20 to 22 January 2004.  The workshop was jointly organized by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the Inter-American Committee Against Terrorism (CICTE) of the Organization of American States (OAS), and the United Nations Latin American Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (ILANUD), with the cooperation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).  The capacity-building event was sponsored by Canada.

The workshop was attended by experts from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama and Peru, as well as by representatives of the Counter-Terrorism Committee of the United Nations Security Council, the Forum of the Presidents of the Legislative Powers of Central America and the Caribbean, and the Central American and Caribbean Institute of Legislative Studies.

During the three-day workshop, the participants reviewed legislative measures taken by their five countries in order to prevent and punish acts of terrorism.  The workshop also served as a venue for exchange of information concerning the relevant legal advisory services offered by the UNODC and the CICTE in order to ensure a coordinated approach to technical assistance.

The workshop reached conclusions and recommendations concerning the national draft counter-terrorism laws, which had been discussed in the light of the obligations set forth both by the 12 international conventions and protocols against terrorism and by the Security Council resolution 1373 of 28 September 2001.  In these conclusions, the delegations expressed their interest in technical assistance programmes, which should also be conducive to a better harmonization of domestic laws in accordance with the provisions of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the United Nations Convention against Corruption.

Upon request of Member States, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime regularly delivers technical assistance to facilitate the ratification and implementation of international conventions and protocols against terrorism, money-laundering, corruption, organized crime, trafficking in persons, the smuggling of migrants, as well as the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms.

In order to ensure the effective delivery of the legal advisory services, the UNODC coordinates its activities in this area with a wide range of international, regional and subregional organizations.  Among others, these include the Counter-Terrorism Committee of the United Nations Security Council, the Council of Europe, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the International Monetary Fund, the Organization of American States, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

For more information, please contact Walter Gehr, tel.: +43 1 26060 4512; or Admirela Balic, tel.: +43 1 26060 4130 at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Vienna.

United Nations Information Service Vienna (UNIS), P.O. Box 500, A-1400 Vienna, Austria, tel.: (+43-1) 26060 4666, fax: (+43-1) 26060 5899, e-mail: UNIS@unvienna.org, home page: www.unis.unvienna.org.

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