Terrorism

Treaties are among the main tools used by states in their attempts to combat terrorism on the international scene. Under the impetus of the General Assembly, the UN has adopted five of the most significant conventions aimed at combating terrorism at the universal level and is currently pursuing work on a draft comprehensive convention against terrorism. These treaties are classical instruments of international criminal law, providing for the criminalization of specific acts or activities under the domestic law of states parties and maximizing the possibilities of prosecution for these crimes, based in particular on the principle aut dedere, aut judicare. While the adoption of these treaties proved to be generally uncontroversial, the difficulties encountered in the elaboration of the draft comprehensive convention (particularly in respect of acts of national liberation movements and of acts of members of armed forces in situations other than armed conflicts) are evidence of persistent divisions within the international society, even in an area that has been identified as one of its most important priorities for the last two decades.