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On the Proposed Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism
Issued by the Office of the Chairperson
International Coordinating Committee
International League of Peoples' Struggle
September 11, 2005
The proposed Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT)
will be one more weapon of US imperialism for oppressing under the guise
of combating terrorism persons and groups fighting for national
liberation and social justice. It is principally a legal cover for the
United States to intervene in the domestic affairs of other states.
Articles 3 and 6 of the current draft legally allow the United States in
conducting its "war on terror" to extend its police activities to all
parts of the globe.
The definitions under Article 2 of the working draft actually considers
armed struggle a criminal offense rather than a political act: "Any
person commits an offence within the meaning of this Convention if that
person…causes: …serious damage to public ...property ...when the purpose
of the conduct ...is to compel a Government ...to do or abstain from
doing any act."
The draft Convention also makes resistance to foreign occupation a
terrorist act. In Iraq for example any attack on US forces, whether
those openly acknowledged as military or the so-called "military
civilians," is a terrorist act according to the definition in the
previous paragraph.
It requires signatory states to "align" their domestic law with the
Convention. This means that they would have to pass national
anti-terrorism laws criminalizing so-called terrorist acts. Many
national legislatures have been unable to pass anti-terrorism laws
because of strong objections and resistance by the people. As proposed
the Convention is an example of "policy laundering," a tactic
increasingly employed by the United States of using international or
foreign forums or mechanisms to force acceptance of its policies by
sovereign states without going through their national political processes.
It also retrospectively legalizes the many so-called anti-terrorism
measures which have been strongly criticized as arbitrary and unjust and
which violate basic civil, political and human rights such as the right
to _expression, association, due process and the right not to be
discriminated and to a good reputation. In particular, the practice of
drawing up unjust lists of terrorist groups and individuals by the
United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom will now be
legal and entities on these lists would now be considered terrorists
outside their original jurisdictions.
These so-called terrorist lists have been compiled solely on the basis
of intelligence assessments which have not been or could not be
subjected either to legislative or judicial review. These lists have
been exposed by human rights experts and activists as "arbitrary and
politically-motivated." Not only individuals and groups are affected by
these lists. Entire communities have suffered racial discrimination
because of these lists.
The Convention would criminalize not only specific "terrorist acts" but
also so-called "preparatory acts." "Instigating" the commission of a
terrorist act or "tolerating" terrorist activities would also be
criminal offenses. This is a serious abridgement of the right to free
_expression for example of journalists, writers, filmmakers and others
artists who tackle or discuss terrorist acts or entities in their
professional work.
The Convention would be a global extradition treaty and would extend the
police powers and operations of the United States to all parts of the
globe. Under proposed articles 11 to 17, a state may request extradition
even without a formal extradition treaty with regard to terrorist
crimes. Moreover, Article 14 explicitly states that any terrorist act
defined by the Convention shall not be regarded as a political act in
connection with an extradition request. Article 7 would revise the
Refugee Convention by including terrorism as among the grounds for
refusing asylum. But more serious would be an interpretation of the
Convention as negating the principle of non-refoulement guaranteed by
the Refugee Convention. #
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Amnesty International Statement to the U.N. General Assembly
22 October 2001
United Nations General Assembly, 56th Session 2001, Draft Comprehensive
Convention on International Terrorism: A Threat to Human Rights Standards
http://web.amnesty.org/802568F7005C4453/0/C2B5C77098FC83D480256AEF0050ED19?Open
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Working document submitted by India on the draft comprehensive
convention on international terrorism
http://www.indianembassy.org/policy/Terrorism/draft_convention.htm
http://meaindia.nic.in/warterror/draft/draft-convention.htm
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