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Terror
Free Legal Regime- PART 2 (November 6)
By Prof. Naorem Sanajaoba
Montreal Convention by its Article 1 states:
1) Any person commits an offence if he unlawfully and intentionally:
(a) performs an act of violence against a person on board an aircraft in flight if that act is likely to endanger the safety of that aircraft, or
(b) destroys an aircraft in service or causes damage to such aircraft which renders it incapable of flight or which is likely to endanger its safety in flight; or
(c) places or causes to be placed on an aircraft in service, by any means whatsoever, a device or substance which is likely to destroy that aircraft or to cause damage to it which is likely to endanger its safety in flight; or
d) destroys or damages air navigation facilities or interferes with their operation, if such act is likely to endanger the safety of aircraft in flight; or
(e) communicates information which he knows to be false thereby endangering the safety of an aircraft in flight.
These air-safety conventions are found to be inadequate and
deficient in the context of the WTC suicide bombing and they
call for revision. The hijackers found some loopholes on
September 11 and humbled America which is the vanity symbol of
invincibility of mankind and the vindictive power in
retaliation has to rain for weeks all the thunderbolts she has
manufactured to the Afghan desert which has already been
extensively land-mined with American help to out the Soviet
presence then. Terrorism has its genesis in politics and one
has to go to roots while trying to remove it. Inadequacy of
the laws was not the primary cause of American failure to
defend itself against the pen-knifers from the middle east;
humanity failed at that crucial moment.
Why humanity failed at that instant is a subject of
study for scholars all over the world. Cursing Terrorism is
not enough; we have to march an extra mile in our search for
humanity.
Mercenaries also commit terrorist crimes. The UN General
Assembly by its resolution 2548 adopted in December 11 1969
declared mercenaries outlawed and qualified the use of
mercenaries against national liberation movements. By UN
General Assembly resolution 2625 (October 24, 1970), every
State has the responsibility to refrain itself from organizing
or participating in terrorist acts on the territory of another
State. It also states, “ Also, no State shall organize,
assist, foment, finance, incite or tolerate subversive,
terrorist or armed activities directed towards the violent
overthrow of the regime of another State, or interfere in
civil strife in another State.” The Declaration on the
Strengthening of International Security, December 16, 1970,
General Assembly resolution 2734 prevents States from
organizing terrorist acts in another State. (Blishchenko:
62-et. Seq.)
The Convention to Prevent and Punish the Acts of Terrorism
taking the form of Crime against Persons and Related Extortion
that are of International Significance, February 1971 of the
OAS has the objective to prevent and punish acts of terrorism,
especially kidnapping, murder and other assaults against the
life or physical integrity of persons to whom the State has a
duty to give special protection. The principle of aut
dedere aut judicare (Art 5) is applicable; the State has
to offer the matter to competent authority in the event of
refusal of the request for extradition of the accused.
The period from 1972 to 1987 to be more specific or the 1990s
in wider specific or the 1990s in wider span has been found in
the history of terrorism on the one hand and national
liberation movements on the other hand. A plethora of
Conventions and resolutions of the UN had flooded in the world
order of the cold war vintage. In the post cold war period,
the US and its allies stand out as the sole arbiter of the new
world order (or disorder) and its mandate compounded by dollar
power and military might defines the corpa delictis even the
non-aligned movement which acted as a third force has
subsided. However, the global consensus about combating
terrorism and espousing national liberation struggles in
legitimate cases has not been totally vanquished by the
American national-vital interest doctrine, which dictate terms
to the new world order (or disorder).
The territorial integrity principle also remains uneroded in
the new era.
The non-aligned movement led by India and like-minded States
had been pro-active in combating terrorism in its true sense
of the term. UN General Assembly resolution 3034, dated
December 18, 1972 is significant in that Resolution 3034
highlighted the importance of international cooperation for
effective prevention of terrorism, of investigating the
underlying causes of international terrorism and it
re-affirmed the inalienable right of all peoples under
colonial, foreign or racist domination to self-determination
and independence. The resolution supported by India,
Afghanistan and Algeria among others as I Bishchenko and N
Zhdanov wrote (p 214), condemns the terrorist acts of
repressive colonial, foreign and racist regimes. An ad hoc
committee of 35 members has also been constituted. The
American diplomacy of that era led her to unwittingly oppose
the use of force for the sake of denial of the right of
self-determination.
Israel which voted against the resolution would narrow down
the concept of international terrorism to Arab terrorism only
and lay down her definition of terrorism a: ‘terrorism
consists of an unlawful (criminal) act directed against a
state, its organs, its nationals, interests or property,
including its means of transportation whenever such act is
meant or calculated to engender a state of terror or panic in
the minds of the public as a whole, or of an individual or
groups.’ (21:217). Syria, however, focused more on State
Terrorism that could be the most dangerous of all kinds of
terrorism. The issues of State Terrorism have been taken up by
the special committee for definition of aggression.
Undoubtedly, state terrorism is also an active and significant
concept, endorsed by several countries including the Arab
world. Primarily as a result of American hegemonism, the vital
concept of state terrorism has been underplayed, although at
present the US lists 7 states in this category. The United
States itself should have been placed at the top after
considering her track record after the Hiroshima, Vietnam
adventures. The subdued world is incapable to raise this issue
in the world order. A bipartisan world order would be capable
to hammer out the political instrumentality to ease out
international terrorism; as long as the national-vital
interest theory supersedes the world of equity, the terrorist
would sneak into that loophole and irritate psychic impacts of
the people.
The study of the underlying causes of Terrorism has been made
the objective of the UN General Assembly resolution 31/102 on
December 15, 1976 – ‘Measures to prevent international
terrorism…’ The ad hoc committee worked in 1977 and 1979
in order to progressively eradicate the underlying causes of
international terrorism. The West in particular was not fully
committed to the eradication of the malaise from its root
causes and the vestiges still remain chronic since the 1970s.
The international community has adopted the 1973 Convention
on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against
Internationally Protected Persons including diplomatic agents.
Mercenary had become an evil institution for overwhelming the
weaker people and State. The use of mercenaries by colonial
powers for the suppression of national liberation movements
has been accepted as a criminal act by the UN General Assembly
resolution 3103 of December 12. 1973 related to Basic
Principles of the Legal Status of Combatants Struggling
against Colonial and Alien Domination and Racist regimes. It
could be added herein that at the time of adopting the Four
Geneva Conventions in 1949, many of the future States were in
the stage of liberation movements and as such, they had no
voice in the diplomatic conferences. In order to compensate
this political vacuum with their active participation, the two
additional Protocols 1977 to the Geneva Conventions have been
subsequently added. The humanitarian law regime has its own
format of corpa delicti in the form of the grave
breaches of the said conventions.
A benchmark had been made by the European regional bloc in
1977. The European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism,
January 27, 1997 has laid down the framework for prosecution
and punishment of terrorists by excluding certain offences
like the Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft etc. from the political
offences. It has urged for the revision of the extradition
treaties that have been entered into between the contracting
parties. ‘Extradite or prosecute’ is the basic principle
of the European Convention. Closely on the heels, it has been
ensured by the 1979 International Convention against the
Taking of Hostages. State parties have to prevent the crime as
well.
The UN Security Council in its resolution 573 (1985)
unequivocally condemned the crimes of abduction and hostage
taking (Shaw 805). After the refusal of Libya to extradite the
alleged bombers, the Security Council by its resolution 731
(1992) has considered international terrorism as a threat to
international peace and security.
The world order in the past and also in the post-cold war
period, notwithstanding the polemic about the ‘Clash of
Civilizations’ and structures of peace as advanced by
regimes, considers international terrorism as a menace. A
plethora of Conventions apart, a universal convention is also
on the anvil. The underlying causes and the subterranean
faultiness has also to be addressed in equal measure by the
new order.
(Courtesy:
The Sangai Express) << Back
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