Chinese Journal of International Law Advance Access originally published online on April 26, 2005
Chinese Journal of International Law 2005 4(1):141-166; doi:10.1093/chinesejil/jmi005
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© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
BRIEF COMMENTS, ESSAYS & NOTES |
Definition of "Terrorism" in the UN Security Council: 19852004
International debate about the problems of defining terrorism historically centred on the General Assembly. Yet, between 1985 and 2001, the Security Council adopted a range of measures addressing terrorist threats to peace and security, and analysis of the incidents involved reveals much about the Council's understanding of "terrorism". After September 2001, problems of definition became acute, since the Council adopted general legislative measures against terrorismwith serious legal consequenceswithout defining it. The Council has encouraged States to unilaterally define terrorism in national law, permitting wide and divergent definitions. A non-binding Council definition of late 2004 fails to remedy the serious difficulties caused by the lack of an operative definition in Council practice.
* BA (Hons) LLB (Hons) (Syd) DPhil (Oxon); Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia (email: b.saul{at}unsw.edu.au).