The Apple Does Not Fall Far from the Tree: Self-Defence in the Context of State-Sponsored Terrorism

Abstract

The Article will examine the parameters of state-sponsored terrorism through an evaluation of the tenets of state responsibility. Under customary international law, States are not perpetrators of terrorism because terrorism is a penal offence and states are not subjects of international criminal law. Nonetheless, General Assembly resolutions repeatedly condemn States that undertake and/or support acts of terrorism. It reflects the absolute prohibition on the use of force except in reaction to a conventional armed attack and the seeming metamorphosis and fluidity of the traditional understanding.

Keywords

• terrorism
• state-sponsored terrorism
• self-defence
• armed attack
• use of force
• state responsibility