Citation

Sochor E. Terrorism 1987; 10(4): 311-327.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1987)

DOI

10.1080/10576108708435689

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The Western stand against Syria over the attempted sabotage of an El Al airliner in October 1986 is but the latest equivocation in the absence of an international consensus on punitive action outside the framework of the Chicago Convention which governs all aspects of civil aviation. None of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) legal instruments dealing with criminal acts against civil aviation provide for sanctions against states found to be violating their obligations with respect to prosecution or extradition of offenders. The article also assesses the shortcomings in the ICAO reporting system, which enables states to cover up rather than report relevant facts on hijackings and sabotage, and analyzes the latest incidents. A hopeful development is the use of a model clause in bilateral air agreements since, in the final analysis, only individual governments can uphold the law and force compliance by other states.

Language: en