Response and Recovery in the Event of CBRN Terrorism

In the aftermath of terrorist acts involving CBRN weapons, the response and recovery phases come into play. The international legal framework on response and recovery in the event of CBRN terrorism provides for specific measures to be adopted by States, including the investigation of facts, the prosecution of perpetrators, the compensation and support for the victims and the rehabilitation of the offenders. The present chapter aims to critically analyse this framework, thus highlighting its strengths and weaknesses. The main conclusion is that, although the proliferation of international legal instruments against CBRN terrorism reveals a significant commitment to counter the phenomenon, the large plurality of legal tools and the gaps in their implementation hinder the effectiveness of such a framework.