Werkgroep 3 – International law
Literature:
- Chapter 7
1. How is the responsibility of states regulated in international law?
Issue of responsibility:
- In international law, these rules are primarily found within the field of state
responsibility, supplemented by rules on the responsibility of international
organizations.
(Deze regels zijn vooral te vinden op het gebied van verantwoordelijkheid van
staten, aangevuld met regels over de verantwoordelijkheid van internationale
organisaties).
Primairy en secondary rules:
Primary rules: are those that define the particular obligations that may
generate responsibility if they are violated (specifieke verplichtingen, die
verantwoordelijkheid met zich meebrengen als ze worden geschonden).
Secundary rules: determine the consquences of violating the primary
rules (gevolgen overtreden van de primaire regels).
- That the issue of responsibility is distinct from treaty law and the question
of whether or not a treaty obligation is binding (de kwestie van
verantwoordelijkheid los staat van het verdragsrecht en de vraag of een
verdragsverplichting al dan niet bindend is).
The core principles and elements of state responsibility
The fundamental principle of state responsibility is reflected in Article 1 of the
ICL:
“Every internationally wrongful act of a State entails the international
responsibility of that State”.
“Elke internationaal onrechtmatige daad van een staat brengt de internationale
verantwoordelijkheid van die staat met zich mee".
Main rule: each state is responsible for its own conduct (=gedrag)
o Article 2 of the ILC: state responsibility consist of two elements:
1. That conduct must be attributable to a state (=toe te schrijven zijn aan
de staat).
2. Conduct must breach of an international obligation and (=strijd
internationale verplichting).
! If a state is free to act within a given area, its acts cannot give rise to state
responsibility.
The ICJ referred to the two main elements of a breach of an obligation and
attribution of conduct in reverse order in the Tehran Hostage Case:
Iran was in this case responsible for its own actions.
“How far, legally, the acts in question may be regarded as imputable to the
Iranian State’ and secondly “their compatibility of incompatibility with the
obligations of law and not the (secondary rules) on state responsibility that one
decides if conduct violates an existing international obligation, whether in a
treaty or in any other legal source”.
- De handelingen in kwestie kunnen worden beschouwd als toerekenbaar
, - Het gedrag een bestaande internationale verplichting schendt, hetzij in
een verdrag of in een andere rechtsbron.
o Article 12 of the ILC: an international obligation is breached by a state
“when an act of that State is not in conformity with what is required of it
by that obligation, regardless of its orgin or character”.
- Internationale verplichting wordt geschonden door een staat "wanneer een
handeling van die staat niet in overeenstemming is met wat van hem
wordt vereist door die verplichting, ongeacht haar oorsprong of aard”.
the standard depends on the primary rules.
State responsibility:
- does not necessarily require that actual damage in the form of material of
other actual loss must follow from wrongful conduct.
- it all depends on the primary obligation and while some primary rules -
such as those relating to marine pollution- require that actual damage has
been cause, other may not.
o Article 3 ILC: contains the well-known international principle that the
characterization of an act of a state as internationally wrongful is governed
solely by international law and that it is immaterial if the same act is
considered lawful by a state’s own internal laws.
(Het maakt niet uit of het onrechtmatige gedrag wel is toegestaan in de nationaal
(interne) wetten van de staat).
Side note:
- A state cannot justify a breach of its international legal obligations by
invoking its national laws and a state must also comply with international
obligations even if it requires breaching its national laws (Schending van
zijn internationale wettelijke verplichtingen dus niet rechtvaardigen met
een beroep op zijn nationale wetten).
Attribution of conduct (article 2 (a))
A wrongful conduct can be attributed to the state (core element of state
responsibility).
- Overall premise that a state is solely internationally responsible for its own
acts.
Main rule: acts of private individuals are not attributable to as state.
- Only the conduct of a state's own organs or of other individuals or actors
who have acted under the direction, instigation of effective control of such
organs is attributable to the state.
Case Tehran Hostages: that does not mean that a state cannot breach its
international obligations in relation to acts of private individuals if a state is under
a legal obligation to offer effective protection from such private acts (betekent
niet dat een staat zijn internationale verplichtingen niet kan schenden met
betrekking handelingen van particulieren, indien de staat juist verplicht is
effectieve bescherming te bieden tegen dergelijke particuliere handelingen).
Literature:
- Chapter 7
1. How is the responsibility of states regulated in international law?
Issue of responsibility:
- In international law, these rules are primarily found within the field of state
responsibility, supplemented by rules on the responsibility of international
organizations.
(Deze regels zijn vooral te vinden op het gebied van verantwoordelijkheid van
staten, aangevuld met regels over de verantwoordelijkheid van internationale
organisaties).
Primairy en secondary rules:
Primary rules: are those that define the particular obligations that may
generate responsibility if they are violated (specifieke verplichtingen, die
verantwoordelijkheid met zich meebrengen als ze worden geschonden).
Secundary rules: determine the consquences of violating the primary
rules (gevolgen overtreden van de primaire regels).
- That the issue of responsibility is distinct from treaty law and the question
of whether or not a treaty obligation is binding (de kwestie van
verantwoordelijkheid los staat van het verdragsrecht en de vraag of een
verdragsverplichting al dan niet bindend is).
The core principles and elements of state responsibility
The fundamental principle of state responsibility is reflected in Article 1 of the
ICL:
“Every internationally wrongful act of a State entails the international
responsibility of that State”.
“Elke internationaal onrechtmatige daad van een staat brengt de internationale
verantwoordelijkheid van die staat met zich mee".
Main rule: each state is responsible for its own conduct (=gedrag)
o Article 2 of the ILC: state responsibility consist of two elements:
1. That conduct must be attributable to a state (=toe te schrijven zijn aan
de staat).
2. Conduct must breach of an international obligation and (=strijd
internationale verplichting).
! If a state is free to act within a given area, its acts cannot give rise to state
responsibility.
The ICJ referred to the two main elements of a breach of an obligation and
attribution of conduct in reverse order in the Tehran Hostage Case:
Iran was in this case responsible for its own actions.
“How far, legally, the acts in question may be regarded as imputable to the
Iranian State’ and secondly “their compatibility of incompatibility with the
obligations of law and not the (secondary rules) on state responsibility that one
decides if conduct violates an existing international obligation, whether in a
treaty or in any other legal source”.
- De handelingen in kwestie kunnen worden beschouwd als toerekenbaar
, - Het gedrag een bestaande internationale verplichting schendt, hetzij in
een verdrag of in een andere rechtsbron.
o Article 12 of the ILC: an international obligation is breached by a state
“when an act of that State is not in conformity with what is required of it
by that obligation, regardless of its orgin or character”.
- Internationale verplichting wordt geschonden door een staat "wanneer een
handeling van die staat niet in overeenstemming is met wat van hem
wordt vereist door die verplichting, ongeacht haar oorsprong of aard”.
the standard depends on the primary rules.
State responsibility:
- does not necessarily require that actual damage in the form of material of
other actual loss must follow from wrongful conduct.
- it all depends on the primary obligation and while some primary rules -
such as those relating to marine pollution- require that actual damage has
been cause, other may not.
o Article 3 ILC: contains the well-known international principle that the
characterization of an act of a state as internationally wrongful is governed
solely by international law and that it is immaterial if the same act is
considered lawful by a state’s own internal laws.
(Het maakt niet uit of het onrechtmatige gedrag wel is toegestaan in de nationaal
(interne) wetten van de staat).
Side note:
- A state cannot justify a breach of its international legal obligations by
invoking its national laws and a state must also comply with international
obligations even if it requires breaching its national laws (Schending van
zijn internationale wettelijke verplichtingen dus niet rechtvaardigen met
een beroep op zijn nationale wetten).
Attribution of conduct (article 2 (a))
A wrongful conduct can be attributed to the state (core element of state
responsibility).
- Overall premise that a state is solely internationally responsible for its own
acts.
Main rule: acts of private individuals are not attributable to as state.
- Only the conduct of a state's own organs or of other individuals or actors
who have acted under the direction, instigation of effective control of such
organs is attributable to the state.
Case Tehran Hostages: that does not mean that a state cannot breach its
international obligations in relation to acts of private individuals if a state is under
a legal obligation to offer effective protection from such private acts (betekent
niet dat een staat zijn internationale verplichtingen niet kan schenden met
betrekking handelingen van particulieren, indien de staat juist verplicht is
effectieve bescherming te bieden tegen dergelijke particuliere handelingen).
