Article

The global fight against terrorism and the application of international humanitarian law

Godard Busingye

• Uganda's paper series on international humanitarian law, Vol. 1, No. 1, August 2013, p. 123-134

English

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The article attempts a conceptual analysis of acts of terrorism and then progressively analyses how terrorism has been handled over time and lastly ventures into the most interesting part of the discussion: the global fight against terrorism and whether or not International Humanitarian Law (IHL) applies to this ‘war’. The article concludes that overall, terrorism as a concept is a function of global politics, which prevail in a given political environment within States at any given point in time.1 Global fight against terrorism, therefore, may be handled according to the prevailing political environment in a State—that determines whether or not those labeled terrorist will be handled as common criminals or fighters that fall under the ambit of IHL.

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