UKRAINE: UNODC Nuclear Legislation Workshop - A Model for

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KYIV 000768

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PARM PTER KNNP KCRM KGIC US UP
SUBJECT: UKRAINE: UNODC Nuclear Legislation Workshop - A Model for
Future Efforts


1. The Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department's Nuclear
Smuggling Outreach Initiative (NSOI) office worked with the UN
Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to hold a "Legislative Drafting
Expert Workshop on the Criminal Law Aspects of the Universal Legal
Framework Against Nuclear Terrorism" in Kyiv March 11-13. The
workshop aimed to strengthen Ukrainian legislation and international
legal cooperation against nuclear terrorism. (Note: NSOI is an
interagency effort, coordinated by ISN/CTR and reporting to the
Proliferation Strategy Sub-PCC, to enhance international assistance
to combat smuggling of nuclear and radioactive materials. The
initiative focuses on countries identified by the U.S. intelligence
community as being of greatest concern regarding the possibility of
nuclear smuggling attempts taking place.)


2. NSOI's interest resulted from a joint NSOI and Ukrainian
government determination that one of the priority steps that should
be taken to improve Ukraine's anti-nuclear smuggling capabilities
would be to ensure that Ukrainian laws are sufficient to enable the
GOU to prosecute all possible cases of nuclear smuggling. To this
end, NSOI and the Ukrainian government agreed to seek the assistance
of legal experts to review Ukrainian laws and, if they were deemed
insufficient, to advise on appropriate revisions. NSOI wanted to
ensure that Ukraine had the requisite laws necessary to adequately
prosecute all scam scenarios involving nuclear and radioactive
materials, since effective prosecution of criminals involved in
illicit trafficking is vital to deter what is primarily an
opportunistic, profit-driven crime. Scams constitute a significant
portion of cases of illicit trafficking in Ukraine and waste the
valuable time of law enforcement and intelligence personnel in
addition to exposing vulnerabilities that could be exploited by
smugglers trafficking in more dangerous materials. Likewise, these
cases perpetuate the belief that smuggling nuclear and radioactive
materials can be very profitable and may encourage additional thefts
of these materials.


3. We put NSOI in contact with the Ukrainian NGO, International
Antiterrorism Unity, to identify a Ukrainian legal expert to carry
out this analysis within the framework of the workshop. The Embassy
Resident Legal Advisor's office also provided translation of
Ukrainian legislation, vetted the candidate expert, and assisted in
contacting him. The expert, Dr. Volodymyr Halahan, prepared a
30-page analysis of the adequacy of Ukrainian legislation with
respect to prosecution of nuclear smuggling scams. DOJ
Counterterrorism section trial attorney David Cora presented the
U.S. experience in prosecuting nuclear smuggling scams and suggested
simple changes to Ukrainian legislation that could improve its
effectiveness in prosecuting similar crimes.


4. Workshop participants further considered how Ukrainian
legislation should be amended to fully implement Ukraine's
obligations to criminalize nuclear terrorism that arise from UN
Security Council Resolutions (UNSCR) and international conventions.
During the workshop, held at the George Kuzmycz training center in
Kyiv, UNODC experts noted that, in addition to the relevant UNSCRs
(1267, 1373, 1452, 1526, 1540),there are 16 international
conventions with provisions that should be incorporated. (Note: The
16 conventions include the 2005 Nuclear Terrorism Convention, the
1980 Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (and
the 2005 Amendment),the 1997 Terrorism Bombing Convention, the 1999
International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of
Terrorism, and the 2005 Protocol to the Convention for the
Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime
Navigation)


5. The UNODC experts noted the importance of harmonizing definitions
in Ukrainian legislation with the definitions used in international
agreements, but also pointed out the ambiguities that might arise
from differences among the agreements. In incorporating amendments,
the legislation also should use accurate translations, with one
UNODC presenter noting, for example, that using "money" in place of
"funds" in conventions on money laundering could potentially result
in a narrower interpretation in national legislation than intended
in the international agreement. On the second day, workshop
participants refined a UNODC-prepared draft legislative amendment.


6. The draft amendment adds the definition of bombing crimes, drawn
from the 1997 Terrorism Bombing Convention, and offenses related to
nuclear facilities and specific clauses dealing with radioactive
material, drawn from the 2005 Nuclear Terrorism Convention, to the
Ukrainian Criminal Code Chapter IX, "Crimes against public safety."
The draft amendment also includes a new article based on provisions
of the 2005 Protocol to the Convention for the Suppression of
Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation, which
Ukraine has not yet ratified. Thus, the new article was not
discussed at the workshop, but included in the amendment for the
Ukrainian government's consideration. The same protocol was used as
the basis for recommended changes to a chapter of the criminal code
dealing with "criminal offenses against the environment."


7. After the workshop, we coordinated a briefing for the diplomatic
community, extending invitations to 35 diplomatic missions and

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providing an Embassy conference room for the briefing. A dozen
diplomats attended, including Austrian Ambassador Wuketich and
Russian Political Counselor Yuriy Pasyutin. NSOI and UNODC
representatives also met with Ukrainian Ministry of Justice and
Foreign Affairs officials to push for implementation of the draft
legislative amendment.


8. NSOI, DOJ, and UNODC representatives indicated that they were
pleased with the results of the conference and plan to use this as a
model for similar conferences in other countries.


9. Visit Embassy Kyiv's classified website:
www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/kiev.

Taylor