Exemptions hold up drafting of UN comprehensive anti-terrorism treaty

Disagreement about exemptions is the key hold-up preventing completion of a comprehensive international anti-terrorism convention, according to the diplomat charged with coordinating the draft of that United Nations treaty.

On Friday, Australian diplomat Richard Rowe told the final meeting of the General Assembly's Ad Hoc Committee on Terrorism latest session that other outstanding issues would fall into place if States could find a consensus on the wording of article 18 of the draft - on exemptions from the treaty's jurisdiction.

State representatives agreed on the wording of the majority of the draft treaty's 27 articles prior to the Committee's current session, however the language that should apply to four areas remains in dispute. These are the preamble to the treaty, article 1 (on definitions of terms used in the treaty), article 2 (defining terrorism) and article 18.

The five-day session that ended on Friday had made some progress on the first three, according to Mr. Rowe. However debate continued about whether article 18 should refer to "parties" or "armed forces," whether to include a reference to peoples under foreign occupation, and whether military forces acting in their official capacities should be described as "governed" by international law or called on to act "in conformity" with it.

At the session's conclusion, Committee Chairman, Rohan Perera of Sri Lanka, asked delegates to find innovative and creative approaches to the outstanding disagreements, and to continue their discussions between now and the Committee's next session, the date for which has not been set.

The comprehensive convention is intended to plug gaps left by the 12 more specific UN anti-terrorism conventions. Its drafting is one of the duties of the Ad Hoc Committee on Terrorism, which was established by the General Assembly in 1996.

The Committee is mandated to harmonize legal structures for combating international terrorism. Since its establishment, it has successfully drafted two key treaties, on terrorist bombings and the suppression of financing of terrorism.