Defining The International Terrorist Offence From The Perspective Of International Law

After the 9/11 attacks,terrorist offences showed characteristics of systematic organization,diverse methods and amplified scale.In the 21 st Century,combating international terrorist offences has been a main concern of the international community,and with it comes the issue of how to combat terrorist offences legally,which requires first and foremost a proper definition of international terrorist offence.However,since the Western States and States in the Middle East failed to reach a compromise on the issue whether struggles for national liberation could be regarded as terrorist offences,the Draft Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism proposed by India in 1996 has not been adopted after twenty years' tough negotiation.Currently,general sectoral treaties and regional treaties are the main basis for combating terrorist offences by the international community.Through comparing the elements of the international terrorist offence implied in the treaties and analyzing the contentious elements in accordance with international principles and jurisprudence,the author comes to the conclusion on the definition.In peacetime,an international terrorist offence is the threat or use of violence against any natural persons,a State or government facility,a public transportation system,an infrastructure facility,a public place,fundamental natural resources,the environment,private properties and other innocent targets or targets concerning the fundamental interests of a State perpetratedby individuals,organizations or States,the purposes of which include the terrorist purpose of seriously intimidating a population and provoking fears in society and the ultimate political purpose of unduly compelling a Government or an international organization to do or abstain from doing any act.However,where the offence is committed within a single State,the alleged offender and the victims are nationals of that State,and the alleged offender is found in the territory of that State,it shall not be deemed as an international terrorist offence.During the armed conflict(including national liberation movements constituting an international armed conflict),the aforementioned definition is just a prima facie one of the international terrorist offence.If there are no terrorist acts violating international humanitarian law,an international terrorist offence cannot be identified.Besides the introduction and conclusion,the essay is divided into three chapters.Chapter One introduces the origin and development of terrorism.By elaborating the four stages of the development of terrorism—terrorism under the “Anarchist”doctrine(1880s~1920s),terrorism against the anti-colonial background(1920s~1960s),the “New Left” terrorism and right-wing terrorism during the Cold War(1960s~1990s)and religious terrorism(1979~?),the author demonstrates that the meaning of terrorism is changing at different periods,and summarizes the core elements of terrorism embodied during this process—violence,provoking terror and political nature.In Chapter Two,the author researches in depth on the definition and description of international terrorist offence in treaties and discovers the international community's consensus and disputes concerning this concept.Horizontally,the deadlock of the conclusion of general comprehensive anti-terrorism treaties and the differences in regional anti-terrorism treaties reflect the divergent interests of all States.Vertically,since 1963,elements like methods of perpetration,political purpose and terrorist purpose have been gradually clarified and getting consistent in general sectoral anti-terrorism treaties.Chapter Three analyzes different elements of the international terrorist offence,especially focusing on the two most contentious elements—national liberationmovements and state terrorist crime.Based on principles and rules of international law(eg.the principle of non-extradition of political offenders,the prohibition on the use of force)and current situations,the author discusses the status and exact meaning of national liberation movements,State terrorism,political element and terrorist purpose in the definition of international terrorist offence,and eventually comes to the definition of international terrorist offence in the lex ferenda sense.