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OEA/Ser.G
CP/DEC. 36 (1599/07)
28 May 2007
Original: Spanish
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CP/DEC. 36 (1599/07)
DECLARATION ON STRENGTHENING COOPERATION IN THE FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM
AND THE IMPUNITY OF ITS PERPETRATORS
(Adopted at its session held on
May 28, 2007)
THE PERMANENT COUNCIL OF THE ORGANIZATION
OF AMERICAN STATES,
TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION the
presentations given at the regular meetings of the Permanent Council
held on April 25, 2007, and May 23, 2007, by the representatives of the
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the United States of America, as
well as documents CP/doc.4218/07 rev. 2, CP/INF.5504/07, CP/INF.5483/07,
CP/INF.5489/07, CP/INF.5490/07, and CP/INF.5510/07;
BEARING IN MIND ALSO the presentations
given at those meetings by the representatives of Barbados (on behalf of
CARICOM), Paraguay (on behalf of MERCOSUR), Nicaragua, Guatemala,
Guyana, Bolivia, Canada, Ecuador, Panama, and Honduras;
CONSIDERING the principles and standards
set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the OAS Charter;
the Charter of the United Nations; the American Declaration of the
Rights and Duties of Man; the Inter-American Convention against
Terrorism; the Declaration on Security in the Americas; and other
pertinent regional and international instruments;
REAFFIRMING that terrorism, whatever its
form or manifestation and whatever its origin or motivation, has no
justification whatsoever, is inimical to the full enjoyment and exercise
of human rights, and poses a grave threat to international peace and
security, to institutions, and to the democratic values enshrined in the
OAS Charter, the Inter-American Democratic Charter, and other regional
and international instruments;
REAFFIRMING the United Nations
resolutions against terrorism and, in particular, resolutions S/RES/1373
(2001), S/RES/1540 (2004), S/RES/1566 (2004), S/RES/1624 (2005), and
S/RES/1737 (2006) of the United Nations Security Council; as well as
resolutions A/RES/61/40 and A/RES/60/288 of the United Nations General
Assembly and other relevant resolutions;
TAKING INTO ACCOUNT that in resolution
1373 the United Nations Security Council requests all states to “deny
safe haven to those who finance, plan, support, or commit terrorist
acts, or provide safe havens”; to “ensure that any person who
participates in the financing, planning, preparation or perpetration of
terrorist acts or in supporting terrorist acts is brought to justice”;
and to ensure “that claims of political motivation are not recognized as
grounds for refusing requests for the extradition of alleged
terrorists”; and calls upon “all states to find ways of intensifying and
accelerating the exchange of operational information, especially
regarding actions or movements of terrorist persons or networks; forged
or falsified travel documents; traffic in arms, explosives or sensitive
materials; use of communications technologies by terrorist groups; and
the threat posed by the possession of weapons of mass destruction by
terrorist groups”;
RECALLING that in United Nations Security
Council resolution 1624 the states also undertake to “cooperate fully in
the fight against terrorism in accordance with their obligations under
international law, in order to find, deny safe haven and bring to
justice, on the basis of the principle of extradite or prosecute, any
person who supports, facilitates, participates or attempts to
participate in the financing, planning, preparation or commission of
terrorist acts or provides safe havens”;
RECALLING ALSO the following resolutions
of the Organization of American States: AG/RES. 1840 (XXXII-0/02),
“Inter-American Convention against Terrorism”; AG/RES. 1906
(XXXII-O/02), “Human Rights and Terrorism”; AG/RES. 1931 (XXXIII-O/03),
AG/RES. 2035 (XXXIV-O/04), AG/RES. 2143 (XXXV-O/05), and AG/RES. 2238
(XXXVI-O/06), “Protecting Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms While
Countering Terrorism”; and AG/RES. 2249 (XXXVI-O/06), “Extradition of
and Denial of Safe Haven to Terrorists: Mechanisms for Cooperation in
the Fight against Terrorism”; and
RECALLING ALSO the resolutions, treaties,
and international agreements on extradition, considered an essential
instrument in the fight against terrorism and an effective form of
cooperation among states pursuing that common purpose,
DECLARES:
1. Its vehement condemnation of
terrorism, in all its forms and manifestations, regardless of its origin
or motivation, as criminal and unjustifiable, as a grave threat to
international peace and security, and because it undermines efforts
under way to promote stability, prosperity, and equity in the countries
of the Hemisphere.
2. That terrorism violates the democratic
values and principles enshrined in the OAS Charter, the Inter-American
Democratic Charter, and other regional and international instruments.
3. To urge all member states to prosecute
and, as appropriate, extradite, in accordance with their domestic laws
and relevant treaties and conventions, anyone participating in the
planning, preparation, commission, or financing of terrorist acts or,
where appropriate, the attempted commission of said offenses.
4. That it is an inescapable duty of all
countries of the Hemisphere to prevent, fight, and eliminate acts of
terrorism and to prosecute, in accordance with their domestic law and
international law, any person who has participated in the planning,
preparation, financing, or commission of terrorist acts, and to
cooperate, in accordance with their domestic law, so that member states
may also bring to justice those responsible for acts of terrorism
committed in their territories or against their citizens.
5. It staunch determination to impede the
movement of terrorists or terrorist groups by way of effective border
controls and controls on the issuance of identification and travel
documents, and through the adoption of measures to prevent the forgery,
unlawful alteration, or fraudulent use of identification and travel
documents.
6. Its reaffirmation of the value of
extradition as an essential instrument in the fight against terrorism;
and that it urges all those states that have received requests lodged by
member states for the extradition of terrorists to process them duly.
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