Abstract

Abstract It is common in international practice that several states and/or international organizations contribute together to the indivisible injury of a third party. Examples thereof are aplenty in relation to climate change and other environmental disasters, joint military activities and cooperative actions aimed at stemming migration. Such situations are hardly captured by the existing rules of the law of international responsibility. In particular, the work of the International Law Commission, which is widely considered to provide authoritative guidance for legal questions of international responsibility, has little to offer. As a result, it is often very difficult, according to the existing rules of the law of international responsibility, to share responsibility and apportion reparation between the states and/or international organizations that contribute together to the indivisible injury of a third party. The Guiding Principles on Shared Responsibility in International Law seek to provide guidance to judges, practitioners and researchers when confronted with legal questions of shared responsibility of states and international organizations for their contribution to an indivisible injury of third parties. The Guiding Principles identify the conditions of shared responsibility (including questions of multiple attribution of conduct), the consequences of shared responsibility (notably, the possibility of joint and several liability) and the modes of implementation of shared responsibility. The Guiding Principles are of an interpretive nature. They build on the existing rules of the law of international responsibility and sometimes offer novel interpretations thereof. They also expand on those existing rules, backed by authoritative practice and scholarship, to address complex questions of shared responsibility.

Highlights

  • The Guiding Principles on Shared Responsibility in International Law provide guidance to judges, practitioners and researchers when confronted with legal questions of shared responsibility of states and international organizations

  • An international person shares responsibility pursuant to paragraph 1 if the act would have been internationally wrongful if committed by that international person

  • An international person shares responsibility when it knowingly acts in concert with another international person that commits an internationally wrongful act, and the conduct of each of those international persons contributes to the indivisible injury of another person

Read more

Summary

Part I: Determination of Shared Responsibility

Principle 1 Use of terms For purposes of the present Guiding Principles:. (a) ‘international person’ means a state or international organization; (b) ‘person’ means an international actor, including an international person; (c) ‘injury’ means material and non-material damage, and does not include legal injury; (d) ‘contribution to injury’ means a causal relationship between conduct and injury.[8]. 1. An international person shares responsibility when it knowingly aids or assists another international person in committing an internationally wrongful act, and the conduct of each of those international persons contributes to the indivisible injury of another person. 1. An international person shares responsibility when it knowingly acts in concert with another international person that commits an internationally wrongful act, and the conduct of each of those international persons contributes to the indivisible injury of another person. 1. An international person shares responsibility when it knowingly controls another international person in committing an internationally wrongful act, and the conduct of each of those international persons contributes to the indivisible injury of another person. 4. Except in situations of coercion, an international person shares responsibility pursuant to paragraph 1 if the act would have been internationally wrongful if committed by that international person

Part III: Content of Shared Responsibility
Part IV: Implementation of Shared Responsibility Principle 14
Introduction
Part I: Determination of Shared Responsibility Principle 1 Use of terms
Findings
Part IV: Implementation of Shared Responsibility
Full Text
Published version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call