[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 36 (Monday, September 13, 1999)]
[Pages 1710-1711]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Message to the Senate Transmitting the International Convention for the 
Suppression of Terrorist Bombings

September 8, 1999

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 Terrorist Bombings, adopted by the United Nations General 
Assembly on December 15, 1997, and signed on behalf of the United States 
of America on January 12, 1998. The report of the Department of State 
with respect to the Convention is also transmitted for the information 
of the Senate.
    In recent years, we have witnessed an unprecedented and intolerable 
increase in acts of terrorism involving bombings in public places in 
various parts of the world. The United States initiated the negotiations 
of this convention in the aftermath of the June 1996 bombing attack on 
U.S. military personnel in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, in which 17 U.S. Air 
Force personnel were killed as the result of a truck bombing. That 
attack followed other terrorist attacks including poison gas attacks in 
Tokyo's subways; bombing attacks by HAMAS in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem; and 
a bombing attack by the IRA in Manchester, England. Last year's 
terrorist attacks upon United States embassies in

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Nairobi and Dar es Salaam are recent examples of such bombings, and no 
country or region is exempt from the human tragedy and immense costs 
that result from such criminal acts. Although the penal codes of most 
states contain provisions proscribing these kinds of attacks, this 
Convention provides, for the first time, an international framework for 
cooperation among states directed toward prevention of such incidents 
and ensuing punishment of offenders, wherever found.
    In essence, 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, 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.
    Article 2 of the Convention declares that any person commits an 
offense within the meaning of the Convention if that person unlawfully 
and intentionally delivers, places, discharges or detonates an explosive 
or other lethal device in, into or against a place of public use, a 
state or government facility, a public transportation system, or an 
infrastructure facility, with the intent (a) to cause death or serious 
bodily injury or (b) cause extensive destruction of such a place, 
facility or system, where such destruction results in or is likely to 
result in major economic loss. 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.
    The recommended legislation necessary to implement the Convention 
will be submitted to the Congress separately.
    This Convention is a vitally important new element in the campaign 
against the scourge of international terrorism. I hope that all states 
will become Parties to this Convention, and that it will be applied 
universally. I recommend, therefore, that the Senate give early and 
favorable consideration to this Convention, subject to the 
understandings and reservation that are described in the accompanying 
State Department report.
                                            William J. Clinton
The White House,
September 8, 1999.