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Article

Disciplines

International Law

Abstract

Contemporary international law incorporates one aspect of the right of revolution under the right of self-determination, which permits the use of force against colonial domination, alien occupation and racist regimes. However, the right of self-determination does not cover other situations involving entrapped nations suffering severe oppression by their governments. One such situation is presently taking place in Syria under the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. In February 2012, according to Navi Pillay, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, the overall death toll exceeded 5,400 people (including civilians and military personnel who refused to shoot civilians), more than 18,000 were arbitrarily held in detention, 25,000 became refugees, and 70,000 were internally displaced-which indicates "that crimes against humanity are likely to have been committed."' President Assad introduced, then attempted to justify these oppressive measures by arguing that "[n]o political dialogue or political activity can succeed while there are armed terrorist groups operating and spreading chaos and instability."'" In September 2012, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed that 30,000 people have been killed since the beginning of the uprising," and UNHCR estimated that over 500,000 people have fled to neighboring countries.

The situation in Syria will be used in Part 1I to examine the conditions under which the use of force could be justified in overthrowing an oppressive government. This is important because a revolution against oppression cannot always justify the crimes committed in the name of the oppressed people. A good example is the murder of Muammar al-Gaddafi after his regime was already overthrown. Would it have made a difference if he had been assassinated in February 2011 when his forces killed 500-700 protesters?

If future international practice follows the ruling of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, recognizing terrorism as a crime under international law, it is essential to determine its limits: at what point does terrorism end and justified freedom fighting begin? Finding an answer to this question motivated the creation of this Article

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