Introduction:

This compendium of international and regional legal instruments that relate to countering terrorism is a presentation of ICPAT – the IGAD Capacity Building Program Against Terrorism, based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The compendium was prepared and made available to ICPAT by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which has been working at the global level to promote the ratification and implementation of the legal instruments, or conventions.

ICPAT – an initiative of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) with the technical assistance of Institute for Security Studies (ISS) - was launched on June 14, 2006 and is due to run for four years. It has five components, namely;
- enhancement of judicial measures
- optimization of interdepartmental cooperation
- enhancement of border control
- training, sharing of information and best practices
- promotion of strategic cooperation.

In its responsibility to support IGAD countries in enhancing judicial measures to deal with terrorism and promote security, ICPAT is bringing to the attention of judicial and legislative authorities the importance of laying the groundwork to resist terrorism by ensuring that the relevant international and regional conventions/protocols are signed, ratified and implemented in our region.

The first step in this direction is to ensure that all concerned have this compendium in their hands, and the intention is to stimulate activity at the national level to accede to the instruments and to domesticate them through national legislation and the passing of appropriate laws.

ICPAT is ready to contribute to these national efforts by ensuring that countries are provided the technical support that they need in this regard.

Member states of IGAD
Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda.