Terrorism Convention Adopted.

The Sixth Committee (Legal), chaired by Phakiso Mochochoko of Lesotho, succesfully completed its work on 9 December 1999, when the General Assembly adopted 12 draft resolutions it had recommended. Chief among them was a global treaty designed to cut off funding for terrorist activities. A year after the initial proposal by France, the Assembly followed the Committee's recommendation and adopted without a vote the Convention on the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism.

The most recent of 12 anti-terrorism instruments, which cover such acts as bombing, hostage-taking and hijacking, the Convention requires its States parties to criminalize the provision or collection of funds for acts defined as terrorist offences, and to confiscate assets allocated for such purposes. It further provides for liability of legal entities and excludes the possibility of using political motives as any kind of defence. The new Convention, opened for signature on 10 January 2000, will enter into force once it has received 22 ratifications.

In another resolution, adopted by a recorded vote of 149 to none, with 2 abstentions (Lebanon, Syria), the Assembly asked States to enact legislation to ensure that violators of various anti-terrorism instruments are brought to trial. Strongly condemning all terrorist acts as criminal and unjustifiable, it urged States to become parties to the anti-terrorism treaties.

In another matter, the Assembly asked the Preparatory Commission on the International Criminal Court to finalize by 30 June 2000 two key texts: Rules of Procedure and Evidence; and Elements of Crimes. The Preparatory Commission has also begun work on a definition of the crime of aggression. Once a definition is agreed upon, the Court will be able to try individuals for that crime, in addition to genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. For the Court to become operational, 60 ratifications are needed. To date, the Court's Statute has been ratified by six States (Senegal, Trinidad and Tobago, San Marina, Italy, Fiji and Ghana); 91 States have signed the Statute.

In view of the increasing value to global economic development of modernizing international trade law, the Assembly urged that higher priority be given to the work of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) in anticipation of several new trade law texts being readied for adoption: a draft legislative guide on privately financed infrastructure projects; a draft convention on assignment in receivables financing; and uniform rules on electronic signatures.

The Assembly also approved UNCITRAL's work on draft articles aimed at preventing transboundary damage from hazardous activities and its efforts to articulate criteria that would characterize unilateral acts of State. It called for a working group to consider outstanding issues in a draft convention on jurisdictional immunities of States and their property. In response to the increasing involvement of States in commercial activity, the codification of such principles would prevent States from invoking immunity for themselves or their property in connection with legal proceedings m the court of another State.

The Assembly also decided to continue work on a set of draft articles aimed at preventing people from becoming stateless in such situations as transfer or separation of a territory or unification or dissolution of a State, with a view to adopting them at the next regular session.

Also adopted was a resolution asking the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on Strengthening the Role of the Organization to give priority to the question of assistance to third States experiencing economic problems due to sanctions imposed on their neighbours or trading partners under Chapter VII of the UN Charter.

A Decisive Decade

Much of the United Nations work on legal issues was given impetus by the Decade of International Law (1990-1999), which officially dosed at a General Assembly ceremony on 17 November. During that time, more than 70 legal instruments were concluded under the auspices of the United Nations. In addition to the treaty establishing the International Criminal Court, notable treaties include the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), the Ottawa Convention on Landmines and a host of environmental agreements adopted in the wake of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. A text on safety of United Nations personnel and several anti-terrorism conventions, as well as numerous treaties on issues of trade and maritime law, are among the Decade's achievements.