The Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism 2005 (CECPT) is a regional

multilateral treaty A multilateral treaty is a treaty to which two or more sovereign states are parties. Each party owes the same obligations to all other parties, except to the extent that they have stated reservation (law), reservations. Examples of multilateral tre ...

negotiated under the auspices of the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...

. It was concluded in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

on 16 May 2005. Most notable amongst its provisions are the three new offences which it defines: Public Provocation to Commit a "Terrorist Offence"; Solicitation of Persons to Commit "Terrorist Offences"; and Provision of Training For "Terrorist Offences". Parties are required to establish these offences in their national legal systems. However the obligation only applies in respect of behaviour where there is an international nexus of some sort. A "terrorist offence" is defined as any of the offences defined under the 12 existing international conventions on terrorism presently in force.Adrian Hunt, "The Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism" (2006) ''European Public Law'' 603. __TOC__

The Incitement Offence

The most controversial part of the CECPT is its definition of Public Provocation to Commit a Terrorist Offence. Article 5 of the CECPT defines this as intentionally distributing "a message to the public, with the intent to incite the commission of a 'terrorist offence', where such conduct, whether or not directly advocating terrorist offences, causes a danger that one or more terrorist offences may be committed." This is the first attempt in an international law context to define "incitement" to terrorism. It is controversial most notably because of the inclusion of “indirect” incitement. The limits of this concept are not defined in the CECPT. Article 12 of the CECPT requires parties to implement, and apply the offence in a way which is compatible with the Right to freedom of Expression as recognised in International Law ee Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights, and Article 19 of the UN's International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ]. There is some evidence that in a purported fulfilment of their obligations under the CECPT, States are going further than the CECPT and the relevant Human Rights principles would require or permit. See for example the British

Terrorism Act 2006 The Terrorism Act 2006 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that received royal assent on 30 March 2006, after being introduced on 12 October 2005. The Act creates new offences related to terrorism, and amends existing ones. Th ...

, section 1.

Signatures and ratifications

The CECPT is open for signature by the member states of the Council of Europe, the

European Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

, and by non-member states which have participated in its elaboration. It came into force on 1 June 2007 in Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, and Ukraine; as of July 2016 it has been ratified by 35 states. A further 10 states and the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

have signed but not ratified the convention.

References

External links

Text of the CECPT
pdf
Chart of Signatures, Ratifications etc
* ttp://www.counter-terrorism-law.org counter-terrorism-law.org {{Bioterrorism 2005 in Poland Treaties concluded in 2005 Treaties entered into force in 2007 Terrorism treaties Council of Europe treaties Treaties of Albania Treaties of Andorra Treaties of Austria Treaties of Azerbaijan Treaties of Bosnia and Herzegovina Treaties of Bulgaria Treaties of Croatia Treaties of Cyprus Treaties of Denmark Treaties of Estonia Treaties of Finland Treaties of France Treaties of Germany Treaties of Hungary Treaties of Latvia Treaties of Lithuania Treaties of Luxembourg Treaties of Malta Treaties of Moldova Treaties of Monaco Treaties of Montenegro Treaties of the Netherlands Treaties of Norway Treaties of Poland Treaties of Portugal Treaties of Romania Treaties of Russia Treaties of Serbia Treaties of Slovakia Treaties of Slovenia Treaties of Spain Treaties of Sweden Treaties of North Macedonia Treaties of Turkey Treaties of Ukraine