BRIEFING PAPER: ANTI-TERRORISM LEGISLATION IN NAMIBIA ‘ (iii) (iv) (v) (vi) (vii) (viii) (ix) (x) (xi) (xii) (xiii) There is no academic or legal consensus on the exact definition of terrorism or terrorist activities. ’ (c) the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Internationally Protected Persons, including Diplomatic Agents (1973); the International Convention against the Taking of Hostages (1979); the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (1980); the Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts of Violence at Airports Serving International Civil Aviation, supplementary to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation (1988); Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation (2005); Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Fixed Platforms located on the Continental Shelf (2005); International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings (1997); and International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism (1999); International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (2005); Convention on the Suppression of Unlawful Acts relating to International Civil Aviation (2010); and Protocol Supplementary on the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft (2010); any promotion, sponsoring, contribution to, command, aid, incitement, encouragement, attempt, threat, conspiracy, organising, or procurement of any person, with the intent to commit any act referred to in paragraph (a) or (b); (d) any other act intended to cause death or serious bodily injury to a civilian, or to any other person not taking an active part in the hostilities in a situation of armed conflict, when the purpose of such act, by its nature or context, is to intimidate a population, or to compel a government or an international organisation to do or to abstain from doing any act; or (e) the payment of ransom to designated persons or organisations, except where such payment is approved or authorised by any government to secure the safety of a national of that country; There is no academic or legal consensus on the exact definition of terrorism or terrorist activities. Terrorism expert Walter Laqueur had counted over 100 definitions of terrorism. Laqueur concluded that the “only general characteristic generally agreed upon is that terrorism involves violence and the threat of violence”.6 Definitions of terrorism have become more complex over time (compare the 44-word definition in Namibia’s Defence Act of 2002 with the 500-word definition of terrorist activity in the 2014 Prevention and Combating of Terrorist and Proliferation Activities Act). As definitions have lengthened, more ambiguities have been introduced. This is 6 Walter Laqueur, The New Terrorism: Fanaticism and the Arms of Mass Destruction, New York: Oxford University Press, 1999, p. 6. PAGE 6