U.N. Urges Nations Join Nuclear Terror Treaty

A senior U.N. official has urged nations to sign an international nuclear terrorism treaty that has not entered into force 20 months after it was adopted by the General Assembly (see GSN, Oct. 4).

“Currently, more than 110 states have signed and 11 have ratified” the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism, U.N. Legal Counsel Nicolas Michel said Friday in a release.  Twenty-two nations must ratify the pact before it enters into force (see GSN, Sept. 15, 2005).

The agreement calls on nations to prevent nuclear terror by sharing information about threats, cooperating with prosecutions and protecting vulnerable targets, such as nuclear reactors.

“The convention will play a crucial role in preventing terrorists from gaining access to weapons of mass destruction, the use of which could lead to catastrophic circumstances,” Michel said.  “It will strengthen the international legal framework for suppressing terrorism and be a valuable addition to the already existing universal antiterrorism conventions” (United Nations release, Dec. 15).

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