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U.N. Passes Global Nuclear Terrorism Pact:
UNITED NATIONS (AP) – After a seven-year struggle, the U.N. General Assembly adopted a global treaty Wednesday to prevent nuclear terrorism, making it a crime to possess radioactive material or weapons with the intention of committing a terrorist act.
...Moscow launched the campaign for a treaty to combat nuclear terrorism in 1997 when Boris Yeltsin was president, but it was stymied for years because countries believed the draft convention was trying to define terrorism – an issue that has deeply divided the General Assembly.
...”Any agreement on a definition of terrorism must not prejudice the legitimate rights of people to struggle against foreign occupation and for self-determination and national liberation – nor exclude state terrorism,” Pakistan’s U.N. Ambassador Munir Akram said Wednesday,
Defining terrorism does require some attention. Here’s a definition from Dictionary.com:
ter·ror·ism
n.
The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons.
That says “unlawful,” so (in the absence of a globally recognized judiciary) it only applies within a country. Between countries, which country’s laws apply? Some Islamic nations publicly praise suicide bombers, so it’s unlikely those nations would consider such actions unlawful.
Some thought is needed to come up with a good definition. I would suggest that a definition be found that does not say that all the nations that were involved in World War II, and attacked the civilians of other countries, which was common practice in all wars in all history up until about 40 years ago, were terrorists.
How about this:
ter·ror·ism
n.
1) The intentional targeting of civilians for murder by a person, or by a group that is not a nation-state, or by a nation-state that has not declared war on the nation in which the targeted civilians live.
2) The intentional targeting of property for destruction contrary to the laws of the nation in which that property is located, by a person, or by a group that is not a nation-state, or by a nation-state that has not declared war on the nation in which the targeted civilians live.
It is important to distinguish between war and terrorism. This definition does not condone or approve war; war is to be avoided whenever the alternative is not far worse.
With regard to the concerns expressed by Pakistan’s Ambassador Akram (quoted above), if Hamas blows up a schoolbus with kids on it, that’s terrorism. If Ambassador Akram supports that, I would be shocked; but it’s terrorism whether he supports it or not.
