Terrorism and Universal Jurisdiction: Opening a Pandora’s Box?

The relationship between terrorism and international criminal law has provoked a good deal of discussion in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in New York City and at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. A particularly challenging issue pertains to whether terrorism is an international crime or a transnational crime, and if and in what context offenders and offenses, to which we affix the label of terrorist and terrorism, should or can be subject to the limited jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and other international and national criminal tribunals.