SECRETARY-GENERAL DISAPPOINTED NO AGREEMENT REACHED IN LEGAL COMMITTEE ON COMPREHENSIVE TERRORISM CONVENTION

SECRETARY-GENERAL DISAPPOINTED NO AGREEMENT REACHED IN LEGAL COMMITTEE

ON COMPREHENSIVE TERRORISM CONVENTION

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

The Secretary-General was disappointed to learn that it has not been possible to reach agreement in the Sixth Committee of the General Assembly on a draft comprehensive convention on international terrorism.

He intends to consult the Chairman of the Committee, and other representatives of Member States, to see if there are ways for him to assist their efforts to reach agreement on and conclude the convention during the sixtieth session of the General Assembly, as agreed by Heads of State and Government in the 2005 World Summit Outcome.

Meanwhile, he urges all Member States that have not yet done so to become parties to, and implement, the existing 13 conventions on different types of terrorism, and hopes that the General Assembly will expedite its work on adopting and implementing a strategy to promote comprehensive, coordinated and consistent responses to counter terrorism, developed from the elements that he identified in his Madrid speech last March.  He stands ready to amplify and further refine those elements if so requested by the Assembly.  And in the meantime, he is confident that the Security Council is ready to take any further measures that are necessary to deal with the threat of international terrorism, which continues to cause death and suffering to innocent people in many different parts of the world.

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*     Revised for technical reasons.

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