G8 Recommendations on Counter-Terrorism

June 13, 2002

PREAMBLE

The G8 attaches the highest importance to preventing and combating terrorism. To assist in the effort, the G8 have defined a series of principles which provide guidance to strengthen capacities to combat terrorism. The following recommendations are the result of a revision of the Counter-Terrorism Experts Group 25 Measures, adopted in Paris in 1996. The revision was initiated by the United States, conducted by the G8 Counter-Terrorism Experts Group (Roma Group), and coordinated by the Canadian Presidency.

The recommendations update the Counter-Terrorism Experts Group 25 Measures to address new terrorist threats as well as to complement the 40 Recommendations of the G8 crime group, known as the Lyon Group (1996). The Lyon Recommendations have also been modified in order to address more effectively the challenge of transnational crime threats. The revised Lyon Group Recommendations, now entitled the G8 Recommendations on Transnational Crime, were endorsed by G8 Ministers of Justice and the Interior (Mont-Tremblant, May 13-14, 2002).

These recommendations are intended to complement the work of experts in other regional organizations and international fora. This includes other experts groups of the G8 such as the Non-Proliferation Experts' Groups which has developed Principles to prevent terrorists, or those that harbour them, from gaining access to weapons of mass destruction, radiological weapons and missiles.

The following revised G8 Recommendations on Counter-Terrorism comprise standards, principles, best practices, actions and relationships that the G8 views as providing improvements to the mechanisms, procedures and networks that exist to protect our societies from terrorist threats. They are intended as commitments by the G8, which we commend as guiding principles to all States.

States should ensure that their strategies for combating terrorism are dynamic and sufficiently flexible and innovative to respond to the constantly changing challenges. We urge all States to join the G8 in the implementation of the following measures.

SECTION 1: RAPID IMPLEMENTATION OF EXISTING COUNTER-TERRORISM INSTRUMENTS

We commit ourselves and urge all other States to:

1. Take actions to ensure, as rapidly as possible, full adherence to the following instruments relating to the prevention and suppression of terrorism:
   • the twelve United Nations conventions and protocols addressing counter-terrorism issues listed in the annex;
   • all relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions, in particular, United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373 (2001); and,
2. Become a party, if entitled, to the Council of Europe's Convention on Cybercrime (2001), ensuring full and rapid implementation of its terms, or, ensure the availability of a legal framework approximating the measures called for in the Convention, as it provides useful measures to combat attacks by terrorists and other criminals on computer systems, as well as to gather electronic evidence of terrorism and other crimes.

We commit ourselves and urge all other States to:

1. Work within the United Nations system to complete the draft UN Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism, and coordinate our efforts in this regard.
2. Promote appropriate action in multilateral organizations of which we are members, including at the regional level, in order to usefully supplement counter-terrorism measures already taken or under development at the global level.

We commit ourselves and urge all other States to:

1. • With respect to ensuring effective action against the use of biological weapons by terrorists, make crimes the offences established in the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (1972), prosecute such crimes or, where appropriate, extradite individuals, in accordance with national law and bilateral extradition agreements, and work cooperatively to develop best practices to deter and detect such offences.
   • Take measures to work cooperatively to develop effective mechanisms to track and curb the illicit possession and transfer of selected biological agents both domestically and internationally, and to explore additional measures to prevent biological agents from being used to commit terrorist attacks.
2. Work within the United Nations system to complete work on the draft International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism and strengthen our cooperative efforts to this end.
3. Support ongoing negotiations to strengthen the 1980 Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and explore together potential additional international measures to advance its ends and investigate enhanced measures aimed at the problem of nuclear smuggling.
4. Work cooperatively to develop, in appropriate international fora, best practices to ensure the protection of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and related infrastructures against terrorist actions, and explore means to prevent sensitive information pertaining to these infrastructures from being used by terrorists for targeting purposes.
5. Coordinate efforts and encourage support in other fora where concerted CBRN prevention programs are underway, such as at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
6. Develop best practice guidelines for contingency planning at national levels and strengthen existing arrangements for crisis response.

1. Accelerate research and development of methods of detection of explosives and weapons and other harmful substances that cause death or injury, and undertake consultations on the development of standards for marking explosives in order to identify their origin in post-blast investigations, and to promote cooperation, where appropriate.
2. Adopt effective domestic laws and regulations including export controls to govern manufacture, trading, transport, and export of firearms, explosives, or any device designed to cause violent injury, damage, or destruction, in order to prevent their use for terrorists' acts.

We commit ourselves and urge all other States to:

1. As rapidly as possible, ensure full implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373, the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) Special Recommendations on Terrorist Financing (2001), and participate in the fulfilment of the FATF global action plans.
2. Adopt the steps to remove obstacles to effective common action to combat terrorist financing contained in the Report of the G8 Meeting on Legal Measures to Combat Terrorist Financing (2002), endorsed by G8 Justice and Interior Ministers (2002), and move beyond freezing to also forfeit terrorist assets in order to permanently deprive terrorists of their funds.
3. Implement the recommendations on "Money Laundering, Related Terrorist Financing and Asset Forfeiture" contained in the G8 Recommendations on Transnational Crime (2002).
4. Facilitate, through appropriate domestic measures, the traceability of terrorist funds and ensure that mutual legal assistance is not refused on the grounds of bank secrecy or that the request involves a fiscal offence.

We commit ourselves and urge all other States to:

1. Maintain strong financial support through voluntary contributions for the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) aviation security activities to fulfil its standards and recommended practices with a view to deterring and detecting terrorism.
2. Cooperate in conducting an expeditious review of aviation security conventions, international standards and recommended practices in the ICAO, with a view to updating such standards in order to deter and detect terrorism, including by applying mechanisms referred to the G8 Recommendations on Transnational Crime.
3. Work as expeditiously as possible towards implementation of a common global standard for the collection and transmission of advance passenger information (API).
4. Enhance their abilities to share timely information internationally with law enforcement and other appropriate counterparts, in accordance with applicable laws, with respect to passengers concerning whom there are specific and serious reasons to consider they may engage in a terrorist act.
5. Work closely with each other and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in order to improve the capability of governments to deter and prosecute terrorist attacks on maritime vessels or the use of such vessels to further terrorist activities.
6. Cooperate in conducting an expeditious review of maritime safety conventions, international standards and recommended practices in the IMO, with a view to updating such standards in order to deter and detect terrorism.
7. Work with relevant international organizations to develop and implement an improved global container security regime to identify and examine high-risk containers, their in-transit integrity, implement the global common standards for electronic customs reporting, and work within the World Customs Organization (WCO) on advance information pertaining to containers as early as possible in the trade chain.
8. Urgently intensify consultations among transport security and other relevant officials to improve the capability of governments to prevent, investigate, and respond to terrorist attacks on modes of mass ground transportation, such as railway, underground and bus transport systems, and to cooperate with other governments in this regard.

We commit ourselves and urge all other States to:

Strengthen internal cooperation between various national agencies and services which may deal with different aspects of counter-terrorism.

SECTION 8: INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

We commit ourselves and urge all other States to:

1. Take all possible measures to deny safe havens to those who finance, plan, support, or commit terrorist acts, or provide safe havens.
2. Ensure, in conformity with international law and, in particular, the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, that refugee status is not abused by the perpetrators, organizers or facilitators of terrorist acts.
3. Identify and eliminate obstacles to extradition to the greatest extent possible, including those referred to in "Part II: Enhancing International Cooperation" of the G8 Recommendations on Transnational Crime (2002).
4. Take strong measures, including relevant legislative measures if necessary, in cooperation with other countries, to prevent terrorist acts and the international movement of terrorists by strengthening, inter alia, border, immigration, and travel document control and information sharing.
   Attach special priority to mutual legal assistance and law enforcement cooperation with respect to terrorism offences in order to ensure a quick and effective response, including those referred to in the recommendations on "Mutual Legal Assistance and Law Enforcement Channels" of the G8 Recommendations on Transnational Crime (2002).
5. Develop effective measures for obtaining the rapid freezing, seizing and confiscation of assets related to terrorist activities.
6. Ensure that claims of political motivation are not recognized as grounds for refusing requests for the extradition of alleged terrorists and, exclude or reduce to the greatest possible extent any application of the political offence exception in responding to a request for mutual legal assistance concerning terrorist offences.

We commit ourselves and urge all other States to:

1. • Ensure that an effective framework is in place to fight against transnational crimes that can support or facilitate terrorist activity, such as that provided by the G8 Recommendations on Transnational Crime (2002).
   • Examine and exchange information to determine the nature of links between terrorism and transnational crime, in particular, of the manner in which terrorist organizations can support their activities through the commission of other crimes, and develop strategies, as required, to enable concerted effort to disrupt and disable such activities.
2. Support the efforts of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) and its donors to coordinate counter-narcotics assistance in combating the drug trade in and emanating from Afghanistan, to strengthen the "security belts" around it and to maximize the effectiveness of UNDCP programmes in the region.

We commit ourselves and urge all other States to:

1. Conduct outreach, including technical assistance, to other countries, in coordination with each other and with other parts of the G8 structure as well as regional organizations, with a view to building capacity to implement UNSCR 1373, the twelve United Nations counter-terrorism conventions and protocols listed in the annex, the Roma Group counter-terrorism recommendations, and the G8 Recommendations on Transnational Crime (2002), for the purpose of combating terrorism-related activities.
2. As appropriate, develop best practices to facilitate such outreach and cooperate closely on capacity building and outreach with the United Nations Security Council's Counter-Terrorism Committee (UNSC CTC).
3. Develop additional measures, in cooperation with international organizations and civil society, to increase the awareness of all individuals that any act or threat of terrorism represents a serious crime with appropriate penalties.

United Nations Conventions and Protocols addressing Counter-Terrorism

1. Convention on Offences and Certain Other Acts Committed on Board Aircraft, done at Tokyo, on 14 September 1963;
2. Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft, done at The Hague on 16 December 1970.
3. Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation, done at Montreal on 23 September 1971.
4. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Internationally Protected Persons, including Diplomatic Agents, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 14 December 1973.
5. International Convention against the Taking of Hostages, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 17 December 1979.
6. Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material, adopted at Vienna on 3 March 1980.
7. 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 24 February 1988.
8. Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation, done at Rome on 10 March1988.
9. Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Fixed Platform located on the Continental Shelf, done at Rome on 10 March 1988.
10. Convention on the Marking of Plastic Explosives for the Purpose of Detection, done at Montreal on1 March 1991.
11. International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 15 December 1997.
12. International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 9 December 1999.

Source: http://www.g8.gc.ca/summitterror-e.asp