The Material Scope of the Tokyo Convention

Abstract

The material scope of the Tokyo Convention is to be found in Chapter one of the Convention. It is rather wide, and covers not only criminal offences but also acts which are not crimes, yet endanger the safety of aircraft, persons or property on board. Moreover, acts which jeopardize good order and discipline on board aircraft are also within the scope of the Convention. However, the Convention does exclude from its material scope certain types of offences: offences of a political nature, and those which involve racial and religious discrimination. Although the crime of hijacking of aircraft is an offence on board aircraft, the Convention has devoted one chapter, consisting of Article 11 only, to deal with it.¹