17 February 2006
U.S. Signs Protocols To Combat Terror on the High Seas
New U.N. protocols signed to combat terrorism, piracy, WMD proliferation
The United States has signed two new agreements to combat terrorism and crime in international waters and to curb the spread of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
The U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom, Robert Holmes Tuttle, signed on behalf of the United States two treaties augmenting the U.N. Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation (SUA), according to a February 17 State Department announcement.
The new agreements, negotiated over a three-year period, will create a new international framework for boarding vessels and for interdiction of dangerous individuals and deadly cargos. The United States is urging other SUA parties to sign and ratify the two new protocols as soon as possible.
SUA originally was adopted in response to the 1985 terrorist hijacking of the Italian-flag cruise ship Achille Lauro, which resulted in the murder of a disabled American passenger.
In the wake of September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the United States has led an effort in the International Maritime Organization to strengthen further existing agreements as part of the global effort against terrorism. (See related article.)
The State Department said that the new agreements will strengthen international cooperation against the use of ships to undertake criminal activities or terrorist attacks, transport terrorists or smuggle WMD or related cargo. (See related article.)
The following is the text of the State Department announcement:
(begin text)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
February 17, 2006
MEDIA NOTE
U.S. Signs the Protocols to the United Nations Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation (SUA)
Today, Ambassador to the United Kingdom Robert Holmes Tuttle signed on behalf of the United States two treaties amending the U.N. Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation (SUA) and its related protocol on Fixed Platforms. After September 11, the international community, recognizing the urgent need for a more effective international regime to combat maritime terrorism, asked the United States to lead the effort to update the SUA Convention and Fixed Platform Protocol. These treaties were originally adopted in response to the 1985 hijacking of the Italian-flag cruise ship Achille Lauro and the murder of an American passenger.
After more than three years of intensive negotiations in the International Maritime Organization, parties adopted the new Protocols establishing important new international terrorist crimes and significantly strengthening our tools to combat the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems. The treaties create an international criminal framework for combating, on the high seas, the use of a ship to undertake a terrorist attack or to transport terrorists or cargo intended for use in weapons of mass destruction programs. They also create a new international framework for boarding ships carrying items of proliferation concern and for interdiction of the items.
The new Protocols, when they enter into force, will add to the 12 already existing U.N. counterterrorism conventions and will be an important tool in the worldwide fight against terrorism and proliferation.
We strongly encourage all Parties to the SUA to sign and ratify the two new Protocols as quickly as possible.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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