Pursuant to its recent ratification by the Government of Turkey, ICAO has announced that the Convention on the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Relating to International Civil Aviation, commonly referred to as the Beijing Convention, will enter into force on 1 July.
The new international treaty will help to modernize and reinforce the legal framework for aviation security, including through the criminalization of a variety of terrorist acts.
Dr. Fang Liu, the Secretary General of ICAO, hosted a commemoration ceremony of the deposit by Turkey leading to the Beijing Convention’s coming into force at ICAO’s Headquarters on 14 June 2018. Ambassador Ali Riza Çolak, Representative of Turkey on the Council of ICAO, and Dr. Jiefang Huang, Director of ICAO’s Legal Affairs and External Relations Bureau were present.
“By criminalizing a number of acts constituting new and emerging threats against civil aviation, including certain preparatory acts for said offences, this instrument will strengthen the capacity of States to prevent these offences and to prosecute and punish those who commit them,” explained Dr. Fang Liu. “The Convention will also contribute to the implementation of the United Nations Global Counter Terrorism Strategy by enhancing the global treaty regime on counter-terrorism.”
By Resolution A39-10 in 2016, the ICAO Assembly urged all States to sign and ratify this instrument.
The Beijing Convention modernizes and consolidates the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation, signed at Montreal on 23 September 1971 (Montreal Convention, 1971) and the Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts of Violence at Airports Serving International Civil Aviation, Supplementary to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation, done at Montreal on 23 September 1971, signed at Montreal on 24 February 1988 (Supplementary Protocol, 1988).
