INTER-AMERICAN CONVENTION AGAINST
TERRORISM
(Adopted at the second plenary
session held on June 3, 2002)
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,
REAFFIRMING the
principles and provisions contained in the Charter of the Organization of
American States and the Charter of the United Nations;
RECOGNIZING the threat that terrorism poses
to democratic values and international peace and security, and that it is a
source of profound concern to all member states;
CONVINCED that the
Charter of the Organization of American States and international law constitute
the appropriate framework for strengthening hemispheric cooperation for the
prevention, combating, and elimination of terrorism in all its forms and
manifestations;
BEARING IN MIND
resolution RC.23/RES. 1/01 rev. 1 corr. 1, “Strengthening Hemispheric
Cooperation to Prevent, Combat, and Eliminate Terrorism,” of the Twenty-Third
Meeting of Consultation of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of September 21,
2001, which entrusted the Permanent Council with preparing a Draft
Inter-American Convention against Terrorism;
RECALLING the Declaration of Lima to
Prevent, Combat, and Eliminate Terrorism and the Plan of Action on Hemispheric
Cooperation to Prevent, Combat, and Eliminate Terrorism, adopted within the
framework of the First Inter-American Specialized Conference on Terrorism, in
Lima, Peru, in April 1996, as well as the Commitment of Mar del Plata, adopted
at the Second Inter-American Specialized Conference on Terrorism, and the work
of the Inter-American Committee against Terrorism (CICTE);
CONSIDERING that
terrorism is a serious criminal phenomenon, which is of deep concern to all
member states; attacks democracy; impedes the enjoyment of human rights and
fundamental freedoms; threatens the security of states, destabilizing and
undermining the foundations of all society; and seriously impacts the economic
and social development of the states in the region;
BEARING
IN MIND that the Inter-American Democratic Charter recognizes the commitment by
member states to promote and defend representative democracy and that no
democratic state can be indifferent to the clear threat that terrorism poses to
democratic institutions and freedoms;
REAFFIRMING that the
fight against terrorism must be undertaken with full respect for national and
international law, human rights, and democratic institutions, in order to
preserve the rule of law, liberties and democratic values in the Hemisphere,
which are essential components of a successful fight against terrorism;
CONVINCED that the
adoption, ratification, and effective implementation of the Inter-American
Convention against Terrorism contribute to the progressive development and the
codification of international law;
UNDERSCORING the
importance of effective action in cutting off the supply of funds for
terrorism, and of coordinated action with international entities competent in
the area of money laundering, especially the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control
Commission (CICAD);
RECOGNIZING the urgency of strengthening and
establishing new forms of regional cooperation against terrorism with a view to
its eradication; and
RECOGNIZING the
importance and timeliness of the existing international legal instruments on
combating terrorism, including the 10 international instruments considered for
the text of the Inter-American Convention against Terrorism itself, as well as
the Convention to Prevent and Punish the Acts of Terrorism Taking the Forms of
Crimes against Persons and Related Extortion That Are of International
Significance, adopted by the General Assembly itself on February 2, 1971; the
Convention on Offences and Certain Other Acts Committed on Board Aircraft,
adopted in Tokyo on September 14, 1963; and the Convention on the Marking of
Plastic Explosives for the Purpose of Detection, adopted in Montreal on March
1, 1991,
RESOLVES:
1. To adopt the Inter-American Convention against
Terrorism attached to this resolution and to open it for signature by the
member states on this date.
2. To urge member states to ratify the
Convention as soon as possible, in accordance with their constitutional
procedures.
3. To request the Secretary General to
present a report to the General Assembly at its thirty-third regular session on
progress made toward the Convention’s entry into force.
INTER-AMERICAN CONVENTION AGAINST TERRORISM
The States Parties to this Convention,
BEARING
IN MIND the purposes and principles of the Charter of the Organization of
American States and the Charter of the United Nations;
CONSIDERING
that terrorism represents a serious threat to democratic values and to
international peace and security and is a cause of profound concern to all
member states;
REAFFIRMING
the need to adopt effective steps in the inter-American system to prevent,
punish, and eliminate terrorism through the broadest cooperation;
RECOGNIZING that the serious economic harm to states
which may result from terrorist acts is one of the factors that underscore the
need for cooperation and the urgency of efforts to eradicate terrorism;
REAFFIRMING
the commitment of the states to prevent, combat, punish, and eliminate
terrorism; and
BEARING
IN MIND resolution RC.23/RES. 1/01 rev. 1 corr. 1, “Strengthening Hemispheric
Cooperation to Prevent, Combat, and Eliminate Terrorism,” adopted at the
Twenty-third Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs,
Have agreed to the following:
Object[JS1] and purposes
The purposes of this
Convention are to prevent, punish, and eliminate terrorism. To that end, the states parties agree to
adopt the necessary measures and to strengthen cooperation among them, in
accordance with the terms of this Convention.
[JS2]Article 2
Applicable international instruments
1. For the purposes of this Convention, “offenses”
means the offenses established in the international instruments listed below:
a. Convention
for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft, signed at The Hague on
December 16, 1970.
b. Convention
for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation,
signed at Montreal on September 23, 1971.
c. Convention
on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Internationally Protected
Persons, including Diplomatic Agents, adopted by the General Assembly of the
United Nations on December 14, 1973.
d. International
Convention against the Taking of Hostages, adopted by the General Assembly of
the United Nations on December 17, 1979.
e. Convention
on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material, signed at Vienna on March 3, 1980.
f. Protocol
on the Suppression of Unlawful Acts of Violence at Airports Serving
International Civil Aviation, supplementary to the Convention for the
Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation, signed at
Montreal on February 24, 1988.
g. Convention
for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation,
done at Rome on March 10, 1988.
h. Protocol
for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Fixed Platforms
Located on the Continental Shelf, done at Rome on March 10, 1988.
i. International
Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings, adopted by the General
Assembly of the United Nations on December 15, 1997.
j. International
Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, adopted by the
General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1999.
2. Upon depositing its instrument of
ratification to this Convention, a state party that is not a party to one or more
of the international instruments listed in paragraph 1 of this article may
declare that, in application of this Convention to such state party, that
particular instrument shall be deemed not to be included in that paragraph. The declaration shall cease to have effect
as soon as that instrument enters into force for that state party, which shall
notify the depositary of this fact.
3. When a state party ceases to be a party
to one of the international instruments listed in paragraph 1 of this article,
it may make a declaration, as provided in paragraph 2 of this article, with
respect to that instrument.
Article 3
Domestic measures
Each
state party, in accordance with the provisions of its constitution, shall
endeavor to become a party to the international instruments listed in Article 2
to which it is not yet a party and to adopt the necessary measures to
effectively implement such instruments, including establishing, in its domestic
legislation, penalties for the offenses described therein.
Measures to prevent, combat, and eradicate
the financing of terrorism
1. Each state party, to the extent it has
not already done so, shall institute a legal and regulatory regime to prevent,
combat, and eradicate the financing of terrorism and for effective
international cooperation with respect thereto, which shall include:
a. A comprehensive domestic regulatory and supervisory regime
for banks, other financial institutions, and other entities deemed particularly
susceptible to being used for the financing of terrorist activities. This regime shall emphasize requirements for
customer identification, record-keeping, and the reporting of suspicious or
unusual transactions.
b. Measures to detect and monitor movements across borders of
cash, bearer negotiable instruments, and other appropriate movements of
value. These measures shall be subject
to safeguards to ensure proper use of information and should not impede
legitimate capital movements.
c. Measures to ensure that the competent authorities dedicated
to combating the offenses established in the international instruments listed
in Article 2 have the ability to cooperate and exchange information at the
national and international levels within the conditions prescribed under its
domestic law. To that end, each state
party shall establish and maintain a financial intelligence unit to serve as a
national center for the collection, analysis, and dissemination of pertinent
money laundering and terrorist financing information. Each state party shall inform the Secretary General of the
Organization of American States of the authority designated to be its financial
intelligence unit.
2. When implementing paragraph 1 of this
article, states parties shall use as guidelines the recommendations developed
by specialized international and regional entities, in particular the Financial
Action Task Force and, as appropriate, the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control
Commission, the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force, and the South American
Financial Action Task Force.
Article 5
Seizure and
confiscation of funds or other assets
1. Each
state party shall, in accordance with the procedures established in its
domestic law, take such measures as may be necessary to provide for the identification,
freezing or seizure for the purposes of possible forfeiture, and confiscation
or forfeiture, of any funds or other assets constituting the proceeds of, used
to facilitate, or used or intended to finance, the commission of any of the
offenses established in the international instruments listed in Article 2 of
this Convention.
2. The measures referred to in paragraph 1
shall apply to offenses committed both within and outside the jurisdiction of
the state party.
Predicate offenses to money laundering
1. Each
state party shall take the necessary measures to ensure that its domestic penal
money laundering legislation also includes as predicate offenses those offenses
established in the international instruments listed in Article 2 of this
Convention.
2. The
money laundering predicate offenses referred to in paragraph 1 shall include
those committed both within and outside the jurisdiction of the state party.
Article 7
Cooperation on border controls
1. The states parties, consistent with
their respective domestic legal and administrative regimes, shall promote
cooperation and the exchange of information in order to improve border and
customs control measures to detect and prevent the international movement of
terrorists and trafficking in arms or other materials intended to support
terrorist activities.
2. In this context, they shall promote
cooperation and the exchange of information to improve their controls on the
issuance of travel and identity documents and to prevent their counterfeiting,
forgery, or fraudulent use.
3. Such measures shall be carried out
without prejudice to applicable international commitments in relation to the
free movement of people and the facilitation of commerce.
Article 8
Cooperation among law
enforcement authorities
The states parties shall work closely with one
another, consistent with their respective domestic legal and administrative
systems, to enhance the effectiveness of law enforcement action to combat the
offenses established in the international instruments listed in Article 2. In this context, they shall establish and
enhance, where necessary, channels of communication between their competent
authorities in order to facilitate the secure and rapid exchange of information
concerning all aspects of the offenses established in the international
instruments listed in Article 2 of this Convention.
Article 9
Mutual legal assistance
The states parties
shall afford one another the greatest measure of expeditious mutual legal
assistance with respect to the prevention, investigation, and prosecution of
the offenses established in the international instruments listed in Article 2
and proceedings related thereto, in accordance with applicable international
agreements in force. In the absence of
such agreements, states parties shall afford one another expeditious assistance
in accordance with their domestic law.
Article 10
Transfer of persons in custody
1. A person who is being detained or is
serving a sentence in the territory of one state party and whose presence in
another state party is requested for purposes of identification, testimony, or
otherwise providing assistance in obtaining evidence for the investigation or
prosecution of offenses established in the international instruments listed in
Article 2 may be transferred if the following conditions are met:
a. The person freely gives his or her
informed consent; and
b. Both states agree, subject to such conditions as those
states may deem appropriate.
2. For the purposes of this article:
a. The state to which the person is transferred shall have the
authority and obligation to keep the person transferred in custody, unless
otherwise requested or authorized by the state from which the person was
transferred.
b. The state to which the person is transferred shall without
delay implement its obligation to return the person to the custody of the state
from which the person was transferred as agreed beforehand, or as otherwise
agreed, by the competent authorities of both states.
c. The state to which the person is transferred shall not
require the state from which the person was transferred to initiate extradition
proceedings for the return of the person.
d. The person transferred shall receive, for time spent in the
custody of the state to which he or she was transferred, credit toward service
of the sentence being served in the state from which he or she was transferred.
3. Unless
the state party from which a person is to be transferred in accordance with the
present article so agrees, that person, whatever his or her nationality, shall
not be prosecuted or detained or subjected to any other restriction of his or
her personal liberty in the territory of the state to which that person is
transferred in respect of acts or convictions prior to his or her departure
from the territory of the state from which said person was transferred.
Article 11
Inapplicability
of political offense exception
For the purposes of extradition or mutual legal
assistance, none of the offenses established in the international instruments
listed in Article 2 shall be regarded as a political offense or an offense
connected with a political offense or an offense inspired by political motives. Accordingly, a request for extradition or
mutual legal assistance may not be refused on the sole ground that it concerns
a political offense or an offense connected with a political offense or an
offense inspired by political motives.
Each
state party shall take appropriate measures, consistent with the relevant
provisions of national and international law, for the purpose of ensuring that
refugee status is not granted to any person in respect of whom there are
serious reasons for considering that he or she has committed an offense
established in the international instruments listed in Article 2 of this
Convention.
Article
13
Denial
of asylum
Each state party shall take
appropriate measures, consistent with the relevant provisions of national and
international law, for the purpose of ensuring that asylum is not granted to
any person in respect of whom there are reasonable grounds to believe that he
or she has committed an offense established in the international instruments
listed in Article 2 of this Convention.
Article 14
Nondiscrimination
None of the provisions of this
Convention shall be interpreted as imposing an obligation to provide mutual
legal assistance if the requested state party has substantial grounds for
believing that the request has been made for the purpose of prosecuting or
punishing a person on account of that person’s race, religion, nationality,
ethnic origin, or political opinion, or that compliance with the request would
cause prejudice to that person’s position for any of these reasons.
Article 15
Human rights
1. The measures carried out by the states
parties under this Convention shall take place with full respect for the rule
of law, human rights, and fundamental freedoms.
2. Nothing
in this Convention shall be interpreted as affecting other rights and
obligations of states and individuals under international law, in particular
the Charter of the United Nations, the Charter of the Organization of American
States, international humanitarian law, international human rights law, and
international refugee law.
3. Any person who is taken into custody or
regarding whom any other measures are taken or proceedings are carried out
pursuant to this Convention shall be guaranteed fair treatment, including the
enjoyment of all rights and guarantees in conformity with the law of the state
in the territory of which that person is present and applicable provisions of
international law.
1. The states parties shall promote technical
cooperation and training programs at the national, bilateral, subregional, and
regional levels and in the framework of the Organization of American States to
strengthen the national institutions responsible for compliance with the
obligations assumed under this Convention.
2. The states parties shall also promote,
where appropriate, technical cooperation and training programs with other
regional and international organizations conducting activities related to the
purposes of this Convention.
Cooperation through the Organization of
American States
The states parties shall encourage the
broadest cooperation within the pertinent organs of the Organization of
American States, including the Inter-American Committee against Terrorism
(CICTE), on matters related to the object and purposes of this Convention.
Article 18
Consultations among the parties
1. The states parties shall hold periodic
meetings of consultation, as appropriate, with a view to facilitating:
a. The full implementation of this Convention, including the
consideration of issues of interest relating thereto identified by the states
parties; and
b. The exchange of information and experiences on effective
means and methods to prevent, detect, investigate, and punish terrorism.
2. The Secretary General shall convene a
meeting of consultation of the states parties after receiving the 10th
instrument of ratification. Without
prejudice to this, the states parties may hold consultations as they consider appropriate.
3. The states parties may request the
pertinent organs of the Organization of American States, including CICTE, to
facilitate the consultations referred to in the previous paragraphs and to
provide other forms of assistance with respect to the implementation of this
Convention.
Article 19
Exercise of jurisdiction
Nothing in this Convention entitles
a state party to undertake in the territory of another state party the exercise
of jurisdiction or performance of functions that are exclusively reserved to
the authorities of that other state party by its domestic law.
Article 20
Depositary
The original instrument of this
Convention, the English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish texts of which are
equally authentic, shall be deposited with the General Secretariat of the
Organization of American States.
Signature and ratification
1. This Convention is open for signature
by all member states of the Organization of American States.
2. This
Convention is subject to ratification by the signatory states in accordance
with their respective constitutional procedures. The instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the
General Secretariat of the Organization of American States.
Article
22
1. This Convention shall enter into force
on the 30th day following the date of deposit of the sixth instrument of
ratification of the Convention with the General Secretariat of the Organization
of American States.
2. For each state ratifying the Convention
after deposit of the sixth instrument of ratification, the Convention shall
enter into force on the 30th day following the deposit by such state of its
instrument of ratification.
Denunciation
1. Any state party may denounce this
Convention by written notification to the Secretary General of the Organization
of American States. Denunciation shall
take effect one year following the date on which notification is received by
the Secretary General of the Organization.
[JS3]2. Such
denunciation shall not affect any requests for information or assistance made
during the time the Convention is in force for the denouncing state.