The acts of terrorism currently occupy a large part of the public concern and similarly a vast number of articles and research papers are written about them. Due to the prevailing divergent definitions on the international plane, the global community of states has not found adequate means of countering terrorists. Controversies exist with regard to the question whether acts of terrorism are criminal or instead more like acts of war. Also, differences about the actus reus and mens rea elements of terrorism remain. Agreement on the core components of terrorism would help to draw the conduct into the realm of international criminal law, which could be helpful to more assertively combat terrorists.

he expression ‘terrorism’, today, evokes an image of one or more private individuals committing an assault on persons or property in order to induce fear in the population at large and to destabilize the internal order of a state or the rules of its government.

The crime of terrorism is a serious and pervasive phenomenon currently facing the global community and the reprehensible character of these acts of violence is virtually indisputable. As one academic assiduously puts it, ‘Following 9/11 it became abundantly clear that it was necessary to do more than simply declare terrorism to be contrary to law, it became necessary to deal with the issue on a global basis’,2 and the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has characterized international terrorism as a threat to international peace and security.

International Relations Journal, The Thorny Nature of a Terrorism, Definition in International Law