Statement on behalf of the European Union by Mr. Marko Rakovec, Second Secretary Legal Adviser - Permanent Mission of Slovenia to the United Nations
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Mr. Chairman,
I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The following countries align themselves with this statement: The Candidate Countries Turkey, Croatia* and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia , the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and the EFTA country Iceland, member of the European Economic Area, as well as Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Armenia, and Georgia.
Mr. Chairman,
The EU remains committed to reaching an agreement on the draft Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) as soon as possible. At the outset, the European Union (EU) would like to thank the coordinator, Mrs. Maria Telalian, for her dedicated work and tireless efforts towards reaching a consensus on the Comprehensive Convention. The EU supports her approach to continue with bilateral consultations focusing on the outstanding issues.
Mr. Chairman,
The EU would like to recall the commitment of the international community, expressed in the 2005 World Summit Outcome and in the 2006 Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, to make every effort to reach an agreement on and conclude the negotiations on the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism. There can be no justification for international terrorism and the international community should show its strong commitment and its unity in combating this scourge. We all agree that international cooperation to fight terrorism must be conducted in conformity with international law, including the UN Charter and relevant international conventions and protocols, in particular human rights law, refugee law and international humanitarian law. The international community has already shown its strong commitment to tackling terrorism by adopting 16 UN counter-terrorism conventions and protocols and unanimously adopting in the UN General Assembly the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. We must strive to make further steps on complementing the existing UN counter-terrorism agreements, which will contribute to a deeper international consensus on the normative framework for the fight against terrorism. This session of the Ad Hoc Committee is therefore a new opportunity to resolve the outstanding issues on the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism.
Mr. Chairman,
The EU would like to reiterate that it has accepted the previous coordinator’s draft (as contained in Document A/59/894 of 12 August 2005). We encourage all states to actively and constructively participate in consultations on the outstanding issue of the scope of the Convention (namely Article 18/20) to be convened by the coordinator, Mrs. Maria Telalian in the coming weeks. The EU highly appreciates her efforts to find a compromise that can bridge the remaining gaps and remains committed to working towards finalizing the negotiations on the draft Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism as soon as possible.
Mr. Chairman,
As to the issue of convening a High Level UN Conference on Counter-Terrorism, position of the EU remains unchanged. It is for consideration following an agreement on the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism.
I thank you Mr. Chairman.
