ICAO CONVENTIONS REVIEWED: FROM CHICAGO TO BEIJING

摘要

The Chicago Convention and Annex 17 provide a solid legal basis for aviation security and the ratified conventions to date have served well, albeit after certain refinements. But the world has witnessed huge innovation by terrorists in recent years. The two 2010 legal instruments from Beijing and the 2014 protocol to amend the Tokyo Convention provide a much more robust legal framework for this new era. It is understandable that states are not able to immediately ratify new conventions as they must review and tweak their national legislation or pass new laws in order to enact these latest conventions. In September 2016, six years will have elapsed since the signing of both the Beijing Convention and the Beijing Protocol. Progress has been slow to date, so let us hope that 2016 brings closer the date of ratification to strengthen ICAO's legal instruments to further safeguard against future unlawful acts of interference against civil aviation.