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AG/RES. 1553 (XXVIII-O/98)

HEMISPHERIC COOPERATION TO PREVENT, COMBAT, AND ELIMINATE TERRORISM

(Resolution adopted at the third plenary session, held on June 2, 1998)

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

HAVING SEEN the report of the Permanent Council on hemispheric cooperation to prevent, combat, and eliminate terrorism (AG/doc.3718/98);

BEARING IN MIND the Declaration and the Plan of Action on Hemispheric Cooperation to Prevent, Combat, and Eliminate Terrorism, adopted in Lima at the Inter-American Specialized Conference on Terrorism in 1996;

CONSIDERING that among the measures recommended in the Plan of Action on Hemispheric Cooperation to Prevent, Combat, and Eliminate Terrorism is the follow-up, within the OAS framework, on progress made in implementing that Plan of Action, promotion of "the prompt signing and ratification of and/or accession to international conventions related to terrorism, in accordance with their domestic laws," and initiation of a study "within the framework of the OAS and on the basis of an evaluation of existing international instruments, [on] the need for and advisability of a new inter-American convention on terrorism"; and

BEARING IN MIND ALSO that, in the Plan of Action adopted at the Second Summit of the Americas, held in Santiago, Chile, the Heads of State and Government agreed to convene, under the auspices of the Organization of American States, the Second Inter-American Specialized Conference on Terrorism, to evaluate progress made and define future courses of action to prevent, combat, and eliminate terrorism,

RESOLVES:

1. To reiterate the importance of the Declaration and the Plan of Action on Hemispheric Cooperation to Prevent, Combat, and Eliminate Terrorism, adopted in Lima at the Inter-American Specialized Conference on Terrorism in 1996.

2. To reiterate also that the observance of international law, full respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, respect for the sovereignty of states, the principle of nonintervention, and strict observance of the rights and duties of states as embodied in the OAS Charter constitute the overall framework for preventing, combating, and eliminating terrorism.

3. To reiterate as well its strongest condemnation of all forms of terrorism, by whomever and however they are perpetrated, and to repudiate these acts, which have serious consequences and which, as pointed out in the Plan of Action of the First Summit of the Americas, constitute a systematic and deliberate violation of the rights of individuals. 4. To instruct the Permanent Council to continue its study of the recommendations and proposals made at the Meeting of Government Experts held in May 1997 to examine ways to improve the exchange of information and other measures for cooperation among member states to prevent, combat, and eliminate terrorism.

5. To instruct the Permanent Council to continue considering appropriate means and mechanisms for follow-up and implementation, as appropriate, of the measures recommended in the Plan of Action on Hemispheric Cooperation to Prevent, Combat, and Eliminate Terrorism, adopted at the Inter-American Specialized Conference on Terrorism, held in Lima, Peru, in April 1996, including a study of the necessity and advisability of a new inter-American convention on the subject, in the light of the evaluation of existing international instruments.

6. To urge member states that have not yet done so to sign, ratify, and/or accede to, in accordance with their domestic laws, the international conventions related to terrorism referred to in United Nations General Assembly resolution 51/210 and the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings, open to signature since January 12, 1998, at United Nations headquarters.

7. To instruct the Permanent Council to carry out preparatory work for the Second Inter-American Specialized Conference on Terrorism, with a view to its convocation.

8. To request the Permanent Council to report to the General Assembly on the implementation of this resolution at its twenty-ninth regular session.

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