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USIS Washington File

12 January 2000

U.S. Signs Treaty Targeting the Financing of Terrorism

(Supports international efforts to combat funding sources) (1,050)
By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent

United Nations -- The United States is urging other nations to sign
the newest convention in a series of international anti-terrorism
instruments, the International Convention for the Suppression of the
Financing of Terrorism.

The treaty, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in December
1999, was opened for signature at UN headquarters on January 10, 2000.
Ambassador James Cunningham, the U.S. deputy UN representative, signed
the convention on behalf of the United States.

"In signing this new convention on the day it first opened for
signature, the United States is sending a strong message of support
for international efforts to combat terrorism at one of its most
critical points - raising and spending the money needed to finance
terrorist activities," an announcement from the U.S. Mission to the
United Nations said.

The United States encourages all countries to further the global fight
against terrorism by joining the new convention to suppress the
financing of terrorism and all preceding counterterrorism conventions,
the announcement said.

The new convention is an approach that will add substantial strength
and enforcement opportunities to the network of interlocking
conventions created by the international community during the past 30
years. It recognizes that financing is at the heart of terrorist
activity and paves the way for concerted actions and close cooperation
between law enforcement and financial authorities.

"What is important about the convention is the continuing effort of
the international community to combat terrorism," a senior U.S.
official said after the signing. "The process is continuing to work
away at the problem."

The treaty takes the existing acts that have been defined as terrorism
in other treaties and says that anybody who provides or collects money
for those acts is also guilty of the crime, the official explained.

The international community historically has been unable to agree on
an overall definition of terrorism because in certain cases some
individuals may perceive terrorists as freedom fighters. Because of
this problem, countries have taken an issue-by-issue approach,
creating a network of conventions criminalizing specific acts, such as
bombings, kidnappings, or hijacking airplanes, the U.S. official
noted.

Ambassador Philippe Kirsch of Canada, chairman of the committee that
drafted the text, said the convention recognizes the fundamental
importance of the problem of financing terrorism in an era when huge
quantities of money can circle the globe electronically in seconds.

The convention, Kirsch said at a press conference in December,
establishes the act of financing terrorism as an independent crime. It
does not require that an act of terrorism actually be committed.

For the first time a convention specifically targets the financial
sponsors of terrorist activity rather than only the actual
perpetrators. Previously, financial backers of terrorist acts could be
charged only with aiding or abetting that crime. The new convention
criminalizes the act of providing or collecting funds with the
intention or knowledge that those funds will be used to carry out a
terrorist act, whether or not that act of terrorism takes place.

If a significant number of countries become parties, the convention
will provide powerful enforcement possibilities to governments that
want to put an end to acts of terrorism, diplomats say. Every time
terrorist monies pass through the territory of a party to the
convention, an international crime will be committed which can be
prosecuted.

The convention defines a terrorist act as one that is intended to
cause death or serious injury to a civilian with the purpose of
intimidating a population or compelling a government or organization
either to carry out or not to carry out a particular action.

States parties will be required to adopt national laws paralleling the
convention making such offenses punishable by appropriate penalties
which take into account the gravity of the crimes. States parties also
must make the offenses extraditable and include the offenses in any
extradition treaties they conclude. They also will be required to
cooperate and assist other states in investigations and preventive
efforts. For example, they cannot refuse a request for legal
assistance on the grounds of bank secrecy.

Banks and another financial institutions must identify account
holders, must pay special attention to unusual or suspicious
transactions, and report any they suspect may stem from criminal
activity. The convention also suggests a number of specific measures
that banks might be required to undertake, such as requiring proof of
incorporation or maintaining transaction records for at least five
years.

Seven countries -- Finland, France, Malta, the Netherlands, Sri Lanka,
the United Kingdom, and the United States -- signed the treaty on the
first day. States that sign a treaty demonstrate their intention to
ratify. The convention will be open for signature until December 31,
2001, and must receive 22 instruments of ratification in order to
enter into force.

For the United States, the new convention, as with other treaties,
will be subject to the ratification process of the United States
Senate. The nine previously adopted anti-terrorism conventions, all of
which have entered into force, are: Convention for the Suppression of
Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft (1970); Convention for the Suppression of
Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation (1971); Convention
on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Internationally
Protected Persons including Diplomatic Agents (1973); International
Convention against the Taking of Hostages (1979); Convention on the
Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (1980); Protocol for the
Suppression of Unlawful Acts of Violence at Airports Serving
International Civil Aviation (1988); Convention for the Suppression of
Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation (1988);
Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of
Fixed Platforms Located on the Continental Shelf (1988); and
International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings
(1997).

In addition, the General Assembly has adopted two non-binding
declarations which uncategorically condemn terrorist acts: the
Declaration on Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism in 1994
and a supplement to the 1994 declaration in 1996.

In another resolution adopted in December 1999, the General Assembly
decided that the ad hoc committee on international terrorism should
continue to work on a draft convention for the suppression of acts of
nuclear terrorism and discuss whether the UN should convene a
high-level international conference on terrorism.

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State.)