16 June 2003
OAS Anti-Terrorism Treaty About to Enter into Force
(U.S.-supported treaty aims to prevent, punish, end terrorism) (520) By Eric Green Washington File Staff Writer Washington -- A U.S.-supported inter-American treaty against terrorism is about to go into effect, says the Organization of American States (OAS). The OAS said June 10 a sixth country -- Nicaragua -- had ratified the Inter-American Convention Against Terrorism, which aims to prevent, punish, and eliminate terrorism. Six member nations of the OAS were needed to ratify the treaty before it could go into force in 30 days. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has praised the OAS for producing the first international treaty since the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States "targeted at improving our ability to combat terrorism." Powell said that "more than ever before, the Americas stand together today against terrorism and for democracy. There can be no doubt of our resolve." Powell, who signed the treaty for the United States in June 2002, also applauded improved inter-American cooperation in intelligence sharing and other areas since the September 11 attacks. At his confirmation hearing June 3 to be U.S. Permanent Representative to the OAS, John Maisto said the adoption of "this major international treaty" against terrorism "defies the conventional wisdom that the OAS is long on words and short on action." Maisto said the treaty "elaborates for regional use a broad variety of legal and practical tools against terrorism and is consistent with, and builds upon, previous counter-terrorism instruments and U.N. Security Council Resolution 1373, which mandates certain measures to combat terrorism." The U.S. State Department's "Patterns of Global Terrorism" report for 2002, released in April, said that international terrorist groups "have not hesitated to make Latin America a battleground to advance their causes elsewhere." As two well-known examples, the Department pointed to the bombings in Buenos Aires of the Israeli embassy in 1992 and the Argentine-Jewish Cultural Center in 1994. Those bombings have been linked to the Lebanon-based terrorist group Hezbollah, which the Department says has raised money through criminal enterprises such as drug and arms trafficking in several Latin American countries. The Department said the OAS treaty will improve regional cooperation against terrorism through exchanges of information, training, technical cooperation, and mutual legal assistance. Nicaragua's Foreign Affairs Minister, Norman Caldera, said the anti-terrorism treaty's impending entry into force "shows the OAS can adapt to the times, rather than be stymied or seeking refuge in the past." Caldera said the Western Hemisphere "now has an instrument with which to rid itself of one of the worst scourges of our time -- the threat from terrorism." He said Central America, in particular, was working together as a united, peaceful, and democratic region to fight terrorism. Besides the United States, 32 other OAS member nations have signed the treaty, while Nicaragua now joins Antigua and Barbuda, Canada, El Salvador, Mexico, and Peru as states that have ratified it. President Bush transmitted the terrorism treaty to the U.S. Senate for its advice and consent to ratification last November. (The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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