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Recognising that terrorist offences and the offences set forth in this Convention, by whoever perpetrated, are

under no circumstances justifiable by considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic,

religious or other similar nature, and recalling the obligation of all Parties to prevent such offences and, if not

prevented, to prosecute and ensure that they are punishable by penalties which take into account their grave

nature;

Recalling the need to strengthen the fight against terrorism and reaffirming that all measures taken to prevent

or suppress terrorist offences have to respect the rule of law and democratic values, human rights and

fundamental freedoms as well as other provisions of international law, including, where applicable, international

humanitarian law;

Recognising that this Convention is not intended to affect established principles relating to freedom of

expression and freedom of association;

Recalling that acts of terrorism have the purpose by their nature or context to seriously intimidate a population

or unduly compel a government or an international organisation to perform or abstain from performing any act or

seriously destabilise or destroy the fundamental political, constitutional, economic or social structures of a country

or an international organisation;

Have agreed as follows:

Article 1 – Terminology

1 For the purposes of this Convention, "terrorist offence" means any of the offences within the scope of and

as defined in one of the treaties listed in the Appendix.

2 On depositing its instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession, a State or the European

Community which is not a party to a treaty listed in the Appendix may declare that, in the application of this

Convention to the Party concerned, that treaty shall be deemed not to be included in the Appendix. This

declaration shall cease to have effect as soon as the treaty enters into force for the Party having made such a

declaration, which shall notify the Secretary General of the Council of Europe of this entry into force.

Article 2 – Purpose

The purpose of the present Convention is to enhance the efforts of Parties in preventing terrorism and its

negative effects on the full enjoyment of human rights, in particular the right to life, both by measures to be taken

at national level and through international co-operation, with due regard to the existing applicable multilateral or

bilateral treaties or agreements between the Parties.

Article 3 – National prevention policies

1 Each Party shall take appropriate measures, particularly in the field of training of law enforcement

authorities and other bodies, and in the fields of education, culture, information, media and public awareness

raising, with a view to preventing terrorist offences and their negative effects while respecting human rights

obligations as set forth in, where applicable to that Party, the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and

Fundamental Freedoms, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and other obligations under

international law.

2 Each Party shall take such measures as may be necessary to improve and develop the co-operation

among national authorities with a view to preventing terrorist offences and their negative effects by, inter alia:

a exchanging information;

b improving the physical protection of persons and facilities;

c enhancing training and coordination plans for civil emergencies.

3 Each Party shall promote tolerance by encouraging inter-religious and cross-cultural dialogue involving,

where appropriate, non-governmental organisations and other elements of civil society with a view to preventing

tensions that might contribute to the commission of terrorist offences.