At the fifty-second session of the General Assembly, the Sixth (Legal) Committee reviewed the annual reports of the International Law Commission (ILC), the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization (Special Committee) and the Committee on Relations with the Host Country (Host Country Committee). The Sixth Committee also considered proposals for three new legal instruments relating to (1) the establishment of a permanent international criminal court, (2) international terrorism and (3) jurisdictional immunities of states and their property, as well as other topics concerning the United Nations internal justice system, the United Nations Decade of International Law (Decade) and the United Nations Programme of Assistance in the Teaching, Study, Dissemination and Wider Appreciation of International Law. The topics are discussed in the order in which they were considered by the committee.

On December 15, 1997, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings (Convention or Terrorist Bombing Convention). The Convention sets forth a broad regime of jurisdiction for international cooperation in connection with the unlawful and intentional use of explosives and other lethal devices, in, into or against various defined public places, with intent to kill or cause serious bodily injury or to cause extensive destruction of the defined public place. It will fill an important gap in international law by expanding the legal framework for states to cooperate in the investigation, prosecution and extradition of persons who engage in such international terrorism. While generally patterned after prior counterterrorism conventions, the Convention contains several important innovations.