Alì, Antonino --- "The relevance of international humanitarian law in national case law on terrorism" [2013] ELECD 1067; in Pocar, Fausto; Pedrazzi, Marco; Frulli, Micaela (eds), "War Crimes and the Conduct of Hostilities" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2013) 293

Book Title: War Crimes and the Conduct of Hostilities

Editor(s): Pocar, Fausto; Pedrazzi, Marco; Frulli, Micaela

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781781955918

Section: Chapter 17

Section Title: The relevance of international humanitarian law in national case law on terrorism

Author(s): Alì, Antonino

Number of pages: 18

Abstract/Description:

Acts of terrorism committed during an armed conflict are prosecutable as war crimes under national and international law. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) considers that in armed conflicts there is no legal significance in describing deliberate acts of violence against civilians or civilian objects ‘as terrorist because such acts would already constitute war crimes’. In light of international humanitarian law (IHL) several international criminal tribunals have tried to elaborate the elements of the crimes of ‘terror against the civilian population’ and ‘acts of terrorism’ as war crimes. According to some international tribunals terror is a war crime under customary international law giving rise to individual criminal responsibility. The jurisprudence of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) refers mainly to terrorist acts committed in armed conflicts and draws the basis for such crimes from IHL.