Syria has formally acceded to a U.N. treaty designed to cut off funding for terrorist activities, U.N. officials said on Sunday. Syria's instruments of ratification were submitted at a U.N. crime conference in Bangkok. "It is an important decision, not only in the context of Syria," Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, told Reuters. "We are promoting vigorously the ratification and accession by all countries to all 12 conventions and protocols against terrorism. These steps are crucial," he said. Syria raises to 136 the number of parties to the Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, one of 12 anti-terrorism conventions covering such areas as bombings, hostage takings and hijackings. Under the treaty, states must "make the provision of such funding a criminal offence under their domestic laws, and to confiscate assets allocated for terrorist purposes". Governments also have to cooperate with one another in investigations and extraditions, and freeze or seize funds "known to be allocated for terrorist purposes".
