Terrorism or not terrorism? Whose money are we looking for?
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JFC-02-2014-0005 |
| Date | 06 July 2015 |
| Published date | 06 July 2015 |
| Pages | 378-390 |
| Author | Hamed Tofangsaz |
| Subject Matter | Accounting & Finance,Financial risk/company failure,Financial crime |
Terrorism or not terrorism?
Whose money are we
looking for?
Hamed Tofangsaz
School of Law, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the counter-terrorism nancing regime
provides a solid platform for a better understanding of who should be considered terrorists or what
forms terrorism, terrorist acts and terrorist groups, the nancing of which is the subject matter. In the
absence of an internationally agreed denition of terrorism, the question which needs to be posed is
whether there is a clear and common understanding of what constitutes terrorism, terrorist acts and
terrorist groups, the nancing of which needs to be stopped. That is, from a criminal law perspective,
whether the Terrorist Financing Convention, as the backbone of the counter-terrorist nancing regime,
claries what types of conduct, by who, in what circumstances and when, against whom (targets or
victims) and with what intention or motivation should be considered terrorism?
Design/methodology/approach – It will be explained how and why it has been difcult to reach an
agreement on the denition of terrorism. The endeavour of the drafters of the Terrorist Financing
Convention and others involved in countering terrorist nancing to establish a general denition of
terrorism will be examined.
Findings – The record of attempts to dene the elements of terrorism proves that it is hardly possible
to reach an agreement on a generic denition of terrorism because the concept of terrorism is elusive and
subject to various understandings. Even the denition provided by the Terrorist Financing Convention,
is not convincing.
Originality/value – With regard to the ndings, this paper calls for further research on the legal
consequences of the implementation of the terrorist nancing-counter measures, while the scope of
terrorism, terrorist acts and terrorist organizations have been left vague.
Keywords Crime, Criminal law
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
On 9 December 1999, the United Nations (UN) adopted the International Convention for
the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism (hereinafter Terrorist Financing
Convention) based on the theory that “the number and seriousness of acts of
international terrorism depend on the nancing that terrorists may obtain” (United
Nations, 1999), and perhaps in the hope that drying up terrorist funds would result in
slowing down, stopping or shutting down terrorist networks (Bush, 2001). The main
The author is a PhD student at School of Law, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New
Zealand. The author would like to express his sincere appreciation to Dennis Mardle and Chat le
Nguyen for their comments and suggestions. The views expressed in this paper are those of the
author alone. The author can be contacted at: hamedtofangsaz@gmail.com or hamed.tofangsaz@
canterbury.pg.ac.nz
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
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JFC
22,3
378
Journalof Financial Crime
Vol.22 No. 3, 2015
pp.378-390
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1359-0790
DOI 10.1108/JFC-02-2014-0005
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