European response to international terrorism

Recommendation 1024 (1986)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly debate on 28 and 29 January 1986 (22nd, 23rd, 24th and 25th Sittings) (see Doc. 5518, report of the Political Affairs Committee). Text adopted by the Assembly on 29 January 1986 (25th Sitting).

Thesaurus

The Assembly,

1. Outraged by the wave of murders and massacres perpetrated by various terrorist organisations in several countries, in particular the simultaneous attacks carried out at the airports of Rome and Vienna on 27 December 1985 ;

2. Recalling its unqualified condemnation of terrorism, which denies democratic values and human rights ;

3. Emphasising again that democratic states must combat terrorism while respecting democratic principles and the rights and freedoms guaranteed in their constitutions as well as in the Statute of the Council of Europe and the European Convention on Human Rights ;

4. Noting with concern the growing evidence that terrorist organisations receive substantial logistic, political and financial support, relayed, in particular, by certain states – Libya, Syria and Iran, among others – in open contradiction with the obligations resulting from membership of the international community ;

5. Convinced that co-operation between the member states and the world's other pluralist democracies is the primary condition for effective prevention and suppression of all forms of terrorism ;

6. Anxious for a speedy and successful conclusion to the efforts being made at intergovernmental level to set up within the Council of Europe framework an ad hoc political body open to all ministers who in their national governments are responsible for matters relating to the problems of terrorism and international organised crime ;

7. Urging all member states of the Council of Europe to fully implement existing international agreements and, insofar as they have not yet done so, to ratify such important conventions as :

the European Convention on Extradition,

the European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism,

the European Convention on the Control of the Acquisition and Possession of Firearms by Individuals,

the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters, and others,

8. Having decided to consider in greater detail, at its next part-session, the Council of Europe action to improve co-operation between member states on the lines of this recommendation,

9. Recommends that the Committee of Ministers :

a introduce as a matter of urgency new forms of co-operation between their relevant authorities, and especially between police forces and intelligence services :

9.1.1 to expose and publicly denounce states which assist terrorism in any way ;

9.1.2 to forestall any attack by stepping up checks and circulating information ;

9.1.3 to reinforce penal sanctions for all those responsible for terrorist acts ;

b take action in all international forums, particularly in the United Nations, within the CSCE framework and through more intensive Euro-Arab dialogue, in the light of the proposal made by President Mubarak to the Assembly on 28 January 1986, in order to secure the participation of as many states as possible in the battle against terrorism, and in the political and economic isolation and moral condemnation of states which support it ;

c consider together and, where possible, take all measures whether diplomatic, political or economic to deter and punish states recognised as being responsible directly or indirectly for assistance to terrorism.