International convention for the suppression of acts of nuclear terrorism

The Preamble, composed of 13 paragraphs and drafted in the usual style of a General Assembly resolution, is aimed at placing the convention in a number of relevant contexts. First, the convention is linked to the issue of the maintenance of international peace and security through a reference to the purposes of the United Nations under Article 1 of the Charter. Next, it is presented as being a further step in the decisions, measures and instruments developed by the United Nations over the past ten years with the common objective of eliminating international terrorism in all its forms. Lastly, the convention is placed in its specific nuclear context through a number of references. In its third paragraph, the Preamble contains a reference to the principle recognizing 'the right of all states to develop and apply nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and their legitimate interests in the potential benefits to be derived from the peaceful application of nuclear energy'. This paragraph is identical to the first paragraph of the Preamble of the CPPNM, and the same principle is stated again in the first paragraph of the Preamble of the Amendment to the CPPNM, and constitutes a kind of general statement in favour of the peaceful use of nuclear energy and technology, without explicit reservations concerning non-proliferation, the safety and security of nuclear facilities or the management of radioactive waste. A draft amendment presented by the United States delegation in the final phase of work that suggested adding the phrase 'while recognizing that the goals of peaceful utilisation should not be used as a cover for proliferation' to the sentence cited above, was apparently not retained. Next, the Preamble mentions the 1980 Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material, and in the tenth paragraph the threat that 'acts of nuclear terrorism may result in the gravest consequences and may pose a threat to international peace and security'. Paragraph 11 of the Preamble justifies the decision to establish this convention given that '...existing multilateral legal provisions do not adequately address those attacks'. This paragraph is taken verbatim from the 1998 Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings and a further element based on this convention has been added to the last paragraph: 'the activities of military forces of states are governed by rules of international law outside of the framework of this convention and that the exclusion of certain actions from the coverage of this convention does not condone or make lawful otherwise unlawful acts, or preclude prosecution under other laws'. (author)