[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 127 (Thursday, October 12, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10499-S10500]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      REMOVAL OF INJUNCTION OF SECRECY--TREATY DOCUMENT NO. 106-49

  Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, as in executive session, I ask 
unanimous consent that the injunction of secrecy be removed from the 
following convention transmitted to the Senate on October 12, 2000, by 
the President of the United States: International Convention for 
Suppression of Financing Terrorism (Treaty Document No. 106-49).
  Further, I ask unanimous consent that the convention be considered as 
having been read the first time, that it be referred with accompanying 
papers to the Committee on Foreign Relations and ordered to be printed, 
and that the President's message be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The message of the President is as follows:

To the Senate of the United States:
  With a view to receiving the advice and consent of the Senate to 
ratification, I transmit herewith the International Convention for the 
Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, adopted by the United 
Nations General Assembly on December 9, 1999, and signed on behalf of 
the United States of America on January 10, 2000. The report of the 
Department of State with respect to the Convention is also transmitted 
for the information of the Senate.
  In recent years, the United States has increasingly focused world 
attention on the importance of combating terrorist financing as a means 
of choking off the resources that fuel international terrorism. While 
international terrorists do not generally seek financial gain as an 
end, they actively solicit and raise money and other resources to 
attract and retain adherents and to support their presence and 
activities both in the United States and abroad. The present Convention 
is aimed at cutting off the sustenance that these groups need to 
operate. This Convention provides, for the first time, an obligation 
that States Parties criminalize such conduct and establishes an 
international legal framework for cooperation among States Parties 
directed toward prevention of such financing and ensuring the 
prosecution and punishment of offenders, wherever found.
  Article 2 of the Convention states that any person commits an offense 
within the meaning of the Convention ``if that person by any means, 
directly or indirectly, unlawfully and willfully, provides or collects 
funds with the intention that they should be used or in the knowledge 
that they are to be used, in full or in part, in order to carry out''

[[Page S10500]]

either of two categories of terrorist acts defined in the Convention. 
The first category includes any act that constitutes an offense within 
the scope of and as defined in one of the counter terrorism treaties 
listed in the Annex to the Convention. The second category encompasses 
any other act intended to cause death or serious bodily injury to a 
civilian, or to any other person not taking an active part in 
hostilities in a situation of armed conflict, when the purpose of the 
act, by its nature or context, is to intimidate a population, or to 
compel a government or an international organization to do or to 
abstain from doing any act.
  The Convention imposes binding legal obligations upon States Parties 
either to submit for prosecution or to extradite any person within 
their jurisdiction who commits an offense as defined in Article 2 of 
the Convention, attempts to commit such an act, participates as an 
accomplice, organizes or directs others to commit such an offense, or 
in any other way contributes to the commission of an offense by a group 
of persons acting with a common purpose. A State Party is subject to 
these obligations without regard to the place where the alleged act 
covered by Article 2 took place.
  States Parties to the Convention will also be obligated to provide 
one another legal assistance in investigations or criminal or 
extradition proceedings brought in respect of the offenses set forth in 
Article 2.
  Legislation necessary to implement the Convention will be submitted 
to the Congress separately.
  This Convention is a critical new weapon in the campaign against the 
scourge of international terrorism. I hope that all countries will 
become Parties to this Convention at the earliest possible time. I 
recommend, therefore, that the Senate give early and favorable 
consideration to this Convention, subject to the understanding, 
declaration and reservation that are described in the accompanying 
report of the Department of State.
                                                  William J. Clinton.  
The White House, October 12, 2000.

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