Research On The Issue Of Juriisdiction Conflicts Over Maritime Terrorism

Compared to general international terrorism criminal cases,the geographical environment of maritime terrorism criminal cases is more complicate.The cases happen not only just on any country's territorial waters,but happen on high seas that may produce more jurisdiction issues.There are two kinds of issues,one is several countries try to get the jurisdiction of one case,the other is the country that should have the jurisdiction can't exercise the authority effectively.This paper explore the reasons of jurisdiction conflicts of maritime terrorism cases both in general international terrorism cases jurisdiction conflict and the characteristics of the maritime terrorism,analyzes current solutions and how to improve them.The first part of the paper describes existing international law and theories about the definitions of terrorism and maritime terrorism.Maritime terrorism doesn't have a unified definition yet.In the existing international treaties which involving punishment rules of maritime terrorism,there are several acts defined as maritime terrorism acts.This part also introduces the characteristics of the maritime terrorism,including special geographical environment,unconventional victim and transnational issues.At lasts,analyzing the differences and similarities between maritime terrorism and piracy.The second part introduces the current principles of jurisdiction in international law,then brings up the two types of jurisdiction,and essence of jurisdiction conflict(national sovereignty).Besides,the part discusses the reasons that cause conflicts,including the common reasons that the international terrorism criminal cases have and specific reasons maritime terrorism criminal cases have.The third part analyzes the rationality and deficiency of current ways to solve the conflict,such as the right to board,aut dedere aut punier,the primacy jurisdiction.In the current international law about the right to board,the operating procedure is lagging,the rules need to be perfected in legislation.There are many disputes in the actual application of aut dedere aut punier,caused by the different wills and value judgments from different countries.At last,the paper discuss countermeasures in theory,such as strengthening cooperation between countries in similar geographical region,improving the system of the right to board,bringing maritime terrorism criminal into limited universal jurisdiction.