Combating Terrorism and the Use of Force against a State: A Relook at the Contemporary World Order

• Author: Abdul Ghafur Hamid @ Khin Maung Sein
• Pages: 107-108

Combating Terrorism 107

VIII JEAIL 1 (2015)

Abdul Ghafur Hamid @ Khin Maung Sein∗

Self-defence has long been understood as an inherent right of a State when it is

militarily attacked by another State. After September 11 attacks, however, there have

been attempts to reinterpret the meaning of

‘

armed attack

’

under Article 51 of the

UN Charter to include attacks by terrorists - non-State actors. This paper critically

examines the legal and policy considerations that promote a right of self-defence

against terrorists by means of thoroughly analyzing the text of the UN Charter, State

       

such may not be an armed attack within the meaning of Article 51 of the Charter

unless it is an act of a State or directly imputable to a State and is on a large scale with

substantial effects. The paper concludes that unilateral use of force against a State in

the name of self-defence is not the correct way of combating terrorism and that there

are effective alternatives such as addressing the root causes of terrorism, resorting

to law enforcement mechanisms or coercive countermeasures, and strengthening

multilateralism.

Keywords

Terrorism, Self-defence, Article 51. Armed Attack, State Responsibility,

Security Council, ICJ

Combating Terrorism

and the Use of Force against

a State: A Relook at the

Contemporary World Order

∗ Professor of Law and Coordinator of the International Law and Maritime Affairs Research Unit of the International

Islamic University Malaysia (“IIUM”), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. LL.B./LL.M. (Yangon), Ph.D. (IIUM). ORCID:

http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2439-8642. This article is a fully revised and updated version of the paper presented at The

Asian Conference on Politics, Economics and Law 2013, Osaka, Japan, on November 21-24, 2013. The author may

be contacted at: ghafur@iium.edu.my / Address: Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyyah of Laws, International Islamic University

Malaysia, P.O. Box 10, 50728 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14330/jeail.2015.8.1.05