NCJ Number
141784
Date Published
1993
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This paper assesses the use by direct or indirect application of the international law of war and the agreements relating to that law to international terrorism.
Abstract
Those who insist that terrorism is a form of "warfare" are demanding that those who engage in such acts be treated as states or at least as groups that are demanding "national liberation." This would mean that terrorists who are captured or injured would be managed as prisoners of war and that the various Geneva Conventions would be applied to them. Placing terrorists under the legal regime of the law of war, however, would also mean they are bound to act in accordance with the law relating to military necessity, protection against illegitimate attacks, protection of noncombatants, etc. Violations of these laws would subject terrorists to prosecution for war crimes. Terrorism as such is not permissible under the law of war; it is treated as a war crime. The terrorist might thus find himself subject to prosecution in a military commission or military court rather than in a peacetime criminal court. It would also mean that terrorists would come under a relatively strict law of international extradition, as specified in Article 88 of Geneva Protocol I. 30 references