Ministers’ Deputies
CM Documents
CM(2002)61-rev (restricted) 25 April 2002
——————————————
796 Meeting, 22 May 2002
10 Legal questions
10.2 Multidisciplinary Group on International Action against Terrorism (GMT) – 3rd Meeting (Strasbourg, 10 - 11 April 2002)
List of items discussed and decisions taken
——————————————
1. The Multidisciplinary Group on international action against terrorism (GMT) held its 3rd plenary meeting on 10-11 April 2002 immediately after the 2nd meeting, in Strasbourg on 8-9 April 2002, of its two working parties, the GMT-Rev and the GMT-Rap, responsible respectively for considering the possible review of the 1977 Convention for the suppression of terrorism and for the preparation of a progress report for consideration at the 110th Ministerial session of the Committee of Ministers. The list of participants appears in Appendix I to document GMT (2002) 7 prov and the agenda in Appendix I to this document.
2. The meeting was opened by the Chairman of the GMT, Mr De Koster (Belgium) and addressed by the Director General of Legal Affairs, Mr De Vel.
3. The GMT adopted its Progress Report on the action which the Council of Europe could usefully carry out in the field of the fight against terrorism (as it appears in document CM(2002)57). This Report contains, inter alia, information on the progress of the updating of the 1977 European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism (ETS 090) (Part I), proposals for further action by the Council of Europe in the field of the fight against terrorism (Part II), and the Opinion of the GMT on the question of cyber-terrorism (Part II.F). An Executive Summary of the Progress Report, prepared by the Secretariat, is reproduced in Appendix II to this document.
4. The GMT took note of the progress made concerning the possible revision of the 1977 Convention for the suppression of terrorism. Delegations were invited to provide comments before the end of May 2002. Moreover, the GMT decided to request the opinion of the DH-S-TER and of the CDPC on the possible adding of a paragraph to Article 8 of the 1977 Convention relating it the refusal of mutual assistance where the person concerned could be subject to the death penalty or to inhuman or degrading treatments.
5. The GMT considered the decisions by the Committee of Ministers concerning the GMT.
6. As regards the decision taken by the Committee of Ministers at its 776th meeting on 6 December 2001 (Decision CM/Del/Dec(2001)776/1.6 10 December 2001) requesting the GMT’s opinion on the possible drafting of a second Protocol to the Convention on Cyber-criminality, to cover terrorist messages and the decoding thereof, the GMT found that, at this stage, it was not realistic to embark on the preparation of such a Protocol. However, the GMT stressed that it would be important to take steps to sign, ratify and implement rapidly the Convention on Cyber-crime, and underlined that the matter of cyber-terrorism could if necessary be addressed in the process of review of the Convention on Cyber-crime, as well as in the framework of the exchange of information process foreseen in Article 46 of the Convention.
7. Regarding the request by the Committee of Ministers to the GMT for an Opinion on Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 1550(2002) on Combating terrorism and respect for Human Rights (Decision No. CM/826/06022002), the GMT decided to ask the Committee of Ministers for an extension of the deadline until the end of 2002, due to the fact that discussions on the important issues involved are still under way, in particular in the process of updating the 1977 European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism (ETS 090).
8. The GMT was informed about developments at national level as well as work in process in other international fora.
9. The GMT decided to have its 4th meeting in Strasbourg, 3 July 2002 immediately after the meeting of its working parties, 1-2 July 2002.
Appendix I
AGENDA
1. Opening of the meeting by the Chairman, Mr Philippe de KOSTER / Ouverture de la réunion par le Président, M. Philippe de KOSTER
GMT (2002) 3 prov.
2. Adoption of the agenda / Adoption de l’ordre du jour
GMT (2002) OJ 2 bil.
3. Communication by the Director General of Legal Affairs, Mr DE VEL / Communication du Directeur Général des Affaires juridiques, M. DE VEL
4. Decisions of the Committee of Ministers concerning the GMT / Décisions du Comité des Ministres concernant le GMT
GMT (2002) 2
5. Programme of work of the GMT / Programme de travail du GMT
GMT (2002) 1 bil.+Add.1 & 2
GMT(2002) 5 bil.
DH-S-TER (2002) Misc 3
DH-S-TER (2002) 2
6. 2nd meeting of the Working Groups of the GMT: GMT-Rev and GMT-Rap / 2ème reunion des Groupes de Travail du GMT: GMT-Rev et GMT-Rap
a. Presentation and discussion of the work of the GMT-Rev on the updating of the European Convention on the suppression of terrorism (ETS 90) / Présentation et débat sur les travaux du GMT-Rev concernant la mise à jour de la Convention européenne pour la répression du terrorisme (STE 90)
GMT-Rev (2002) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
GMT-Rev (2002) Misc 5
GMT (2002) 4
b. GMT-Rap : Draft Progress report on the action which the Council of Europe could usefully carry out in the field of the fight against terrorism / Projet de Rapport d'avancement sur les actions qui pourraient être menées utilement par le Conseil de l’Europe dans le domaine de la lutte contre le terrorisme
GMT (2002) 6
7. Information on measures taken at national level against terrorism / Information sur les mesures prises au niveau national contre le terrorisme
GMT (2002) Inf. 14
8. Information concerning work carried out in other international fora / Information sur les travaux en cours dans d’autres instances internationales
GMT (2002) Inf. 15
GMT (2002) Inf. 16
9. Future work / Travaux futurs
10. Other business / Divers
11. Date of next meetings / Dates des prochaines réunions
12. Close / Fin des travaux
Appendix II
Progress Report on the action which the Council of Europe could usefully carry out in the field of the fight against terrorism
(Executive Summary prepared by the Secretariat)
Following the terrorist attacks of unprecedented violence committed in the United States of America on 11 September 2001, the Council of Europe response has been both firm and immediate, both at the level of the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
It is against the background of these political commitments that the Committee of Ministers, at its 109th Session held on 8 November 2001 "agreed to take steps rapidly to increase the effectiveness of the existing international instruments within the Council of Europe on the fight against terrorism by, inter alia, setting up a Multidisciplinary Group on international action against Terrorism (GMT)".
The Committee of Ministers entrusted the GMT, inter alia, with the task of (a) updating in particular the 1977 European Convention on the Suppression of terrorism and (b) preparing a Progress Report to the Committee of Ministers at its 110th Session (Vilnius, May 2002) on the action which the Council of Europe could usefully carry out in the field of the fight against terrorism, taking into account the work carried out in other international bodies (in particular the United Nations and the OSCE) and within the European Union.
The GMT held one meeting in 2001 and two meetings in the first half of 2002, during the last of which (10-11 April 2002), it finalised this Progress Report.
The first part of the Progress Report refers to the work carried out by the GMT in the process of update of the 1977 Convention.
In accordance with its specific terms of reference, the GMT undertook the consideration of the possible updating of the 1977 European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism (ETS 090) assisted by its Working Party for reviewing the operation of existing Council of Europe instruments in the field of the fight against terrorism (GMT-Rev). The GMT agreed from the outset that it was indeed necessary to introduce changes in this Convention in order to increase its effectiveness.
The GMT was of the opinion that the Convention should be updated by means of a Protocol. The GMT proceeded subsequently to consider the changes to be introduced in the different Articles in the Convention having in mind the possible opening of the Convention to non member States and the work by the other relevant Council of Europe Committees. For the time being, the GMT has examined in particular Articles 1-10 of the Convention.
The GMT also agreed that it would be desirable to provide for a simple, flexible and specific follow-up mechanism in the field of terrorism in order to enhance the efficiency of Council of Europe’s action in this area. It decided to pursue further consideration of this matter, in particular as regards the form and the tasks of such a mechanism and the relationship with the European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism.
The second part of the Progress Report aims at identifying issues and areas which are relevant for the fight against terrorism, as well as at providing the “state of affairs” of the international action against terrorism. The Progress Report further indicates the action which the Council of Europe could usefully carry out in the field of the fight against terrorism. Such actions, which could, if so decided, be carried out by various Council of Europe bodies, require specific action by the Committee of Ministers. Finally, the Progress Report contains a comparative table of the international instruments relevant to the fight against terrorism.
The activities proposed are divided into two major questions: (i) legal and (ii) policy.
As to the legal questions, they concern the following topics: the definition of punishable criminal acts, the study of the concepts of “apologie du terrorisme” and “incitement to terrorism”, pre-trial investigation, protection of witnesses and pentiti, conditions for imprisonment (including high security detention centres and the determination of sentences and their application), international law enforcement co-operation, training for professionals involved in the fight against terrorism (and, in particular, judges, prosecutors and police), financing of terrorism, protection of victims, sales of arms regulation, data protection, Ids, borders control, personal immunities, measures against States, the functioning of international instruments and cyber-terrorism.
As to the policy questions, they concern mainly preventive measures. Such preventive measures refer to the need to (i) develop codes of conduct/good practices for journalists reporting terrorist actions and (ii) carry out work to raise the awareness of the media to the need to contribute to the fight against terrorism, while promoting and protecting the freedom of media. The measures proposed also concern the need to promote public awareness-raising campaigns and education of young persons.
When dealing with the various topics referred to above, the various Council of Europe committees may, on the basis of specific terms of reference of the Committee of Ministers, propose (i) the elaboration of new international legal instruments and/or update existing ones, (ii) the development of measures and mechanisms to strengthen international co-operation, (iii) the extension of existing and successful solutions (developed at a national, Community and/or international level) to all Council of Europe member States through the elaboration of appropriate instruments, (iv) model laws and codes of conduct in particular for law enforcement agencies and (v) the development of assistance programmes to facilitate the implementation and improve the effectiveness of anti-terrorist conventions in States.
It should also be underlined that the actions referred to above should be carried out on the basis of the Council of Europe competences and taking into account the work of other international institutions in order to avoid duplications.
Finally, it is worth stressing that the approach of and the general policy behind the various proposals listed below has to be seen always in the framework of the Council of Europe’s main values of the protection and promotion of Human Rights and the Rule of Law, while at the same time remaining effective in the fight against terrorism.
The Progress Report also contains a Declaration indicating that some Delegations expressed their interest to draft, within the Council of Europe, a framework convention against terrorism, while other Delegations expressed some concerns about this proposal.