UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee

Convention on Offences and Certain Other Acts Committed On Board Aircraft

Signed at Tokyo on 14 September 1963

Entered into force on 4 December 1969

Status: 185 Parties

• Applies to acts affecting in-flight safety
• Authorizes the aircraft commander to impose reasonable measures, including restraint, on any person he or she has reason to believe has committed or is about to commit such an act, where necessary to protect the safety of the aircraft; and
• Requires contracting States to take custody of offenders and to return control of the aircraft to the lawful commander

Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft

Signed at The Hague on 16 December 1970

Entered into force on 14 October 1971

Status: 184 Parties

• Makes it an offence for any person on board an aircraft in flight to "unlawfully, by force or threat thereof, or any other form of intimidation, [to] seize or exercise control of that aircraft" or to attempt to do so
• Requires parties to the convention to make hijackings punishable by "severe penalties"
• Requires parties that have custody of offenders to either extradite the offender or submit the case for prosecution; and
• Requires parties to assist each other in connection with criminal proceedings brought under the Convention

Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Civil Aviation

Signed at Montreal on 23 September 1971

Entered into force on 26 January 1973

Status: 187 Parties

• Makes it an offence for any person unlawfully and intentionally to perform an act of violence against a person on board an aircraft in flight, if that act is likely to endanger the safety of the aircraft; to place an explosive device on an aircraft; to attempt such acts; or to be an accomplice of a person who performs or attempts to perform such acts
• Requires parties to the Convention to make offences punishable by "severe penalties"; and
• Requires parties that have custody of offenders to either extradite the offender or submit the case for prosecution

Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Internationally Protected Persons, including Diplomatic Agents

Adopted at New York on 14 December 1973

Entered into force on 20 February 1977

Status: 172 Parties

• Defines an "internationally protected person" as a Head of State,  Minister for Foreign Affairs, representative or official of a State or international organization who is entitled to special protection in a foreign State, and his her family; and
• Requires parties to criminalize and make punishable "by appropriate penalties which take into account their grave nature" the intentional murder, kidnapping or other attack upon the person or liberty of an internationally protected person, a violent attack upon the official premises, the private accommodations, or the means of transport of such person; a threat or attempt to commit such an attack; and an act "constituting participation as an accomplice"

International Convention Against the Taking of Hostages

Adopted at New York on 17 December 1979

Entered into force on 3 June 1983

Status: 167 Parties

• Provides that "any person who seizes or detains and threatens to kill, to injure, or to continue to detain another person in order to compel a third party, namely, a State, an international intergovernmental organization, a natural or juridical person, or a group of persons, to do or abstain from doing any act as an explicit or implicit condition for the release of the hostage commits the offence of taking of hostage within the meaning of this Convention"

Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material

Signed at Vienna on 26 October 1979

Entered into force on 8 February 1987

Status: 141 Parties

• Criminalizes the unlawful possession, use, transfer or theft of nuclear material and threats to use nuclear material to cause death, serious injury or substantial property damage

Amendments to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (no hyperlink available)

Signed at Vienna on 8 July 2005

Status: 22 Parties

• Makes it legally binding for States Parties to protect nuclear facilities and material in peaceful domestic use, storage as well as transport; and
• Provides for expanded cooperation between and among States regarding rapid measures to locate and recover stolen or smuggled nuclear material, mitigate any radiological consequences or sabotage, and prevent and combat related offences

Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts of Violence at Airports Serving International Civil Aviation, Supplementary to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation, done at Montreal on 23 September 1971

Signed at Montreal on 24 February 1988

Entered into force on 6 August 1989

Status: 168 Parties

• Extends the provisions of the Montreal Convention (see No. 3 above) to encompass terrorist acts at airports serving international civil aviation

Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation

Done at Rome on 10 March 1988

Entered into force on 1 March 1992

Status: 154 Parties

• Establishes a legal regime applicable to acts against international maritime navigation that is similar to the regimes established for international aviation; and
• Makes it an offence for a person unlawfully and intentionally to seize or exercise control over a ship by force, threat, or intimidation; to perform an act of violence against a person on board a ship if that act is likely to endanger the safe navigation of the ship; to place a destructive device or substance aboard a ship; and other acts against the safety of ships

Protocol to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation (no hyperlink available)

Adopted at London on 14 October 2005

Status: 9 Parties

• Criminalizes the use of a ship as a device to further an act of terrorism
• Criminalizes the transport on board a ship various materials knowing that it is intended to be used to cause, or in a threat to cause, death or serious injury or damage to further an act of terrorism
• Criminalizes the transporting on board a ship of persons who have committed an act of terrorism; and
• Introduces procedures for governing the boarding of a ship believed to have committed an offence under the Convention

Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Fixed Platforms Located on the Continental Shelf

Done at Rome on 10 March 1988

Entered into force on 1 March 1992

Status: 143 Parties

• Establishes a legal regime applicable to acts against fixed platforms on the continental shelf that is similar to the regimes established against international aviation

Protocol to the Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Fixed Platforms Located on the Continental Shelf (no hyperlink available)

Adopted at London on 14 October 2005

Status: 7 Parties

• Adapts the changes to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation to the context of fixed platforms located on the continental shelf

Convention on the Marking of Plastic Explosives for the Purpose of Detection

Done at Montreal on 1 March 1991

Entered into force on 21 June 1998

Status: 141 Parties

• Designed to control and limit the use of unmarked and undetectable plastic explosives (negotiated in the aftermath of the 1988 Pan Am flight 103 bombing)
• Parties are obligated in their respective territories to ensure effective control over "unmarked" plastic explosives, i.e., those that do not contain one of the detection agents described in the Technical Annex to the treaty; and
• Generally speaking, each party must, inter alia, take necessary and effective measures to prohibit and prevent the manufacture of unmarked plastic explosives; prevent the movement of unmarked plastic explosives into or out of its territory; exercise strict and effective control over possession and transfer of unmarked explosives made or imported prior to the entry into force of the Convention; ensure that all stocks of unmarked explosives not held by the military or police are destroyed, consumed, marked, or rendered permanently ineffective within three years; take necessary measures to ensure that unmarked plastic explosives held by the military or police are destroyed, consumed, marked or rendered permanently ineffective within fifteen years; and, ensure the destruction, as soon as possible, of any unmarked explosives manufactured after the date of entry into force of the Convention for that State

International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings

Adopted at New York on 15 December 1997

Entered into force on 23 May 2001

Status: 162 Parties

• Creates a regime of universal jurisdiction over the unlawful and intentional use of explosives and other lethal devices in, into, or against various defined public places with intent to kill or cause serious bodily injury, or with intent to cause extensive destruction of the public place.

International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism

Adopted at New York on 9 December 1999

Entered into force on 10 April 2002

Status: 169 Parties

• Requires parties to take steps to prevent and counteract the financing of terrorists, whether direct or indirect, though groups claiming to have charitable, social or cultural goals or which also engage in illicit activities such as drug trafficking or gun running;
• Commits States to hold those who finance terrorism criminally, civilly or administratively liable for such acts; and
• Provides for the identification, freezing and seizure of funds allocated for terrorist activities, as well as for the sharing of the forfeited funds with other States on a case-by-case basis. Bank secrecy is no longer adequate justification for refusing to cooperate.

International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism

Adopted at New York on 13 April 2005

Entered into force on 7 July 2007

Status: 54 Parties

• Covers a broad range of acts and possible targets, including nuclear power plants and nuclear reactors;
• Covers threats and attempts to commit such crimes or to participate in them, as an accomplice;
• Stipulates that offenders shall be either extradited or prosecuted;
• Encourages States to cooperate in preventing terrorist attacks by sharing information and assisting each other in connection with criminal investigations and extradition proceedings; and
• Deals with both crisis situations (assisting States to solve the situation) and post-crisis situations (rendering nuclear material safe through the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).