Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2017
On September 8 of last year Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim requested tlie inclusion in the agenda of the 27th session of the General Assembly of an item on “Measures to prevent terrorism and other forms of violence which endangers or takes innocent human lives or jeopardizes fundamental freedoms.” The Secretary-General’s request was triggered by the kidnaping and killing of eleven Israeli athletes participating in the Olympiad—a time for the brotherhood of man radier than the inhumanity of man. In a larger sense, however, the Secretary-General’s request was a response to an alarming worldwide increase in attacks against civil aviation, internationally protected persons, and the transportation and communication ties which bind us togedier.
Counselor on International Law, Office of the Legal Adviser, Department of State.
1 “Measures to Prevent International Terrorism Which Endangers or Takes Innocent Human Lives or Jeopardizes Fundamental Freedoms, and Study of the Underlying Causes of Those Forms of Terrorism and Acts of Violence Which Lie in Misery, Frustration, Grievance and Despair and Which Cause Some People to Sacrifice Human Lives, Including Their Own, in an Attempt to Effect Radical Changes,” Study prepared by the Secretariat in accordance with the decision taken by the Sixth Committee at its 1314th meeting, on 27 September 1972, UN DOC. A/C.6/418 (Nov. 2, 1972).
2 Id. at 41.
3 Draft Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of Certain Acts of International Terrorism (Draft Convention to Prevent the Spread of Terrorist Violence), UN DOC. A/C.6/L.850 (Sept. 25, 1972).
4 G.A. Res. 3034 (XXVII) (Dec. 18, 1972).