Ban on shooting at civil planes approved

Press, 12 May 1984, Page 10

Ban on shooting at civil planes approved

NZPA-Reuter Montreal A United Nations agency has approved the first ban on the use of weapons against civilian planes — the result of a special meeting called in the wake of the shooting down a South Korean jet by Soviet fighters in September last year. Even the Soviet delegation joined in the applause which marked the unanimous vote yesterday for the ban by the 152 member States of the United Nations International Civil Aviation Organisation. The ban is an amendment to the basic international treaty covering aviation and must to ratified by 102 1.C.A.0. members before taking effect. It says that, “every State must refrain from resorting to the use of weapons against civil aircraft in flight.” The United States dele-

gate, Francis Willis, said that the ban ensured that, “tragedies involving the loss of human life such as the one that brought us here, shall not happen again.” During the three weeks 1.C.A.0. members debated the ban the downing of the South Korean jet, in which 269 people died, was little discussed. The amendment also says that nations are allowed to require aircraft illegally flying in their airspace to land, and allows them to set “severe penalties” for such violations. A Polish delegate, J. Sobieraj, said that he was pleased the amendment included that, which, he said “does not prejudice the delicate balance,” between the international air treaty’s concerns over sovereignty and safety. Mr Willis said that the United States was rnn.

cemed that any penalties — none are specified in the amendment — be “appropriate” for the offence. "The first assumption when an aircraft strays from its course should be that it is in distress,” he said. Other delegates suggested that another clause in the amendment, requiring that States ensure their civilian aircraft not be used for illegal purposes, was basically a domestic issue for each nation to address. There was no immediate response to the amendment from the Soviet Union, which 1.C.A.0.’s governing council has condemned for shooting down the South Korean jet.