A/34/PV.105 General Assembly

Although my delegation has some difficulties with some provisions of the Convention, it has joined in its adoption by consensus. We have done so in the belief that the early adoption of the Convention is urgently needed throughout the international community and we strongly hope that the Convention will provide a concrete and effective inter- \ national legal framework for the prevention of all acts . of hostage-taking. 60. For a clarification of my Government's position, let me refer, first of all, to the fifth paragraph of the preamble. We hold the view that the words "international terrorism" contained in this paragraph are highly problematic. All of us recognize that these words lack an agreed definition. In our view, and we believe that it is a view shared by all, no legal text should include, even in a preamble, any words which are not clearly defined, or for which a definition is not given in the text itself. I think that the term "international terrorism" is the only one whose definition is not clear in the text of this Convention. We are afraid that the retention without any qualification of the term "international terrorism" may cause various difficulties when the Convention is applied to specific cases of acts of hostage-taking. 61. From this point of view, our preference was to delete the term "international terrorism" and thus we endorse the similar position repeatedly stated by the French delegation. However, in a spirit of compromise and accommodation with the delegation that attaches the utmost importance to these words, we tried to improve the text while retaining these words and to this end we submitted a variety of alternative formations. We very much regret that for one reason or another none of these proposals was accepted. 62. Having said that. my delegation would like to make it clearly understood that this paragraph does not by any means narrow the scope of the Convention as stipulated in article 13. 63. Next, let me brietly refer to article 9 of the Convention. To be quite frank, my delegation had difficulty in accepting this article. The Japanese Government believes that it is primarily for the State in which an alleged offender is found to decide whether or not he should be extradited. However, my delegation voted in favour of article 9 as it stands, recognizing the urgent need for the Convention to be concluded and on the understanding that if there was agreement on the article the whole Convention would be adopted by consensus. 64. In conclusion, I should like to express our warmest congratulations to the delegation of the Fed- 65. I should like particularly to commend Mr. Zehentner for his tireless dedication and perseverance as Vice- Chairman of the Sixth Committee and Chairman- Rapporteur of the working and drafting groups. His efforts were surely among the main factors which contributed to this successful outcome. It should also be recalled that all the delegations which participated in drafting the Convention worked with common recognition of the goal in mind: namely, to work out as early as possible a concrete and effective legal framework, based on close international co-operation, for combating all acts of hostage-taking. 66. It might not be an exaggeration to say that the adoption of the Convention at this session of the General Assembly is a reflection of the shared concern of the entire international community, without which this exercise might have been doomed to failure. 67. The adoption of this Convention is also to be valued as a contribution to the codification of international law and its progressive development. 68. Finally, let me repeat our sincere hope that this newly-born Convention will provide the international community with an effective instrument for international co-operation in the prevention of hostage-taking acts.

On the occasion of the final adoption of the International Convention against the Taking of Hostages by the General Assembly at its thirty-fourth session, I should like, on behalf of the delegation of the Federal Republic ofGermany , to make a few comments on the over-all result of our work. 70. We were entrusted with the task of drafting an international convention against the taking of hostages. This particular subject has been singled out from the vast complex of acts of international terrorism because the cases of hostage-taking on an international scale have become frequent phenomena in recent years. Hostage-taking in itself is not new, but recently it has caused serious disturbances of the international order. And it has been singled out because the taking of hostages is particularly odious and it is generally felt that the taking of hostages is below generally accepted standards for the furthering of any aim whatsoever. The.re has been, as will be recalled, general agreement during the debates in both the Sixth Committee and the Ad Hoc Committee for the Drafting on an International Convention against the Taking of Hostages that hostage-taking is not permissible in any circumstances. 7I. Although there was thus a clear direction and orientation for our work, the task given to us by the General Assembly was nevertheless extremely difficult. We were able to overcome the difficulties because all countries and all groups of countries felt ,. Ibid .. Thirtv-iirst session, AIIII('.H's. agenda item 123.document A/31/242.