Council of Europe Secretary General asks member states to accelerate ratification of anti-terrorism and anti-trafficking conventions.

Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, said this in a statement to the 118th session of the Committee of Ministers, according to a press-release forwarded to UNIAN by CE Press Division.

“I should like to draw your attention to the progress in the ratification of the three Warsaw Conventions.  These are the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, which has been, as of yesterday, ratified by 17 countries, the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism, ratified by 13 countries, and the Council of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime and on the Financing of Terrorism, which has so far been ratified by only six countries”, Terry Davis said in his statement.

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According to him, these are extremely important international legal instruments.  “They introduce new and groundbreaking approaches to facilitate international co-operation and protect human rights.  They deal with two of the most serious challenges our societies face today, and they are also open to non-European countries, which is vitally important because a broader geographical scope is a clear asset in efforts to fight international terrorism and organised crime”, the statement reads.

“That is why I would encourage those who have not yet done so, to accelerate the ratification procedures and thus broaden the geographical zone of application of these Conventions within Europe and allow these Conventions to become fully operational”, Terry Davis noted.