Why There Is a Need for an International Organ to Try the Crime of Terrorism - Past Experiences and Future Opportunities

Abstract

This paper suggests that the crime of terrorism requires the establishment of an international organ to prosecute the perpetrators of the crime and there is a need to enable the prosecution of the crime of terrorism as a specific new type of international crime. In advancing this thesis, the paper is divided into three parts. The first part briefly defines the notion of terrorism, while the second discusses the international legal instruments and practices when it comes to prosecution of the crime of terrorism. It starts with the first failed attempts to define and prosecute the crime of terrorism. Next, it discusses the jurisdiction of different international courts and tribunals over the crime of terrorism. The third part presents the specific case of the Polish domestic legislation regulating the crime of terrorism in order to demonstrate that States which so far have not been affected in a major way by terrorism may have little experience in creating comprehensive legislation, yet they still may have to deal with perpetrators of the crime. This is why both a comprehensive legal instrument and an international organ with jurisdiction over the crime of terrorism are necessary.