United Nations counter-terrorism conventions

English | Français | Español | Русский | 中文 | عرب 

The universal conventions and protocols against terrorism, which have been developed under the auspices of the United Nations and its specialized agencies, are open to participation by all Member States. Between 1963 and 1999, the international community negotiated 12 universal legal instruments relating to the prevention and suppression of terrorism. In April 2005, the General Assembly adopted the International Convention for the Suppres­sion of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (resolution 59/290, annex). Also in 2005 were adopted the Amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material, the Protocol of 2005 to the Convention for the suppression of unlawful acts against the safety of maritime navigation and the Protocol of 2005 to the Protocol for the suppression of unlawful acts against the safety of fixed platforms located on the continental shelf. These 16 universal legal instruments are a major element of the global regime against terrorism and an important framework for international cooperation in countering terrorism. In addition, a comprehensive convention on international terrorism is being elaborated under the auspices of the United Nations. UN Security Council resolutions, passed both before and after recent terrorist attacks, have called upon Member States to ratify these international instruments and to fully implement them through passage of the domestic legislation necessary to fulfil obligations imposed by the conventions.

Most of these conventions and protocols are penal in nature with a common format. Typically the instruments: 

  1. Define a particular type of terrorist violence as an offence under the convention, such as seizure of an aircraft in flight by threat or violence;
  2. Require State Parties to penalize that activity in their domestic law; 
  3. Identify certain bases upon which the Parties responsible are required to establish jurisdiction over the defined offence, such as registration, territoriality or nationality; 
  4. Create an obligation on the State in which a suspect is found to establish jurisdiction over the convention offence and to refer the offence for prosecution if the Party does not extradite pursuant to other provisions of the convention. This last element is commonly known as the principle of " no safe haven for terrorists". It has been stressed by the Security Council in Resolution 1373 (pdf) of 28 September 2001, as an essential anti-terrorism obligation of Member States.