Legal Research Quarterly

Legal Research Quarterly

Critical Considerations on the Identical Constitutive Elements of International Responsibility of States and International Organizations

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Jamal Seifi 1
Nasim Zargarinejad 2
1 Professor, Faculty of Law, Shahid Beheshti University
2 PhD candidate in International Law, Law faculty, Shahid Beheshti Univeristy
10.29252/jlr.2022.221850.1910
Abstract
The International Law Commission published two separate draft articles on international responsibility in 2001 and 2011. Each draft article deals with the international responsibility of one subject of international law, namely, States or international organizations; however, the two drafts contain many similar or even identical provisions to one another. Among those provisions, the two articles in each draft article that refer to the general conditions for incurring international responsibility are significantly identical. Pursuant to those articles, international responsibility arises when a legal person commits an internationally wrongful act. This paper discusses the theoretical as well as practical difficulties that would arise from applying the same general conditions for the responsibility of states to the responsibility of international organizations. Having illustrated the difference between states and international organizations as to the number and type of international obligations, the paper will then focus on the attribution of the conduct of an organ to the international organizations by discussing different judicial opinions on the issue. 
Keywords
Keywords. International Responsibility
International Law
International Organizations
States
International Law Commission
Subjects
  1. Books
  • Crawford, J. State Responsibility: The General Part, Cambridge University Press, (2013)

 

  1. Articles:

 

  • Pellet, A. 'The Definition of Responsibility in International Law' in James Crawford, Alain Pellet and Simon Olleson (eds), The Law of International Responsibility, Oxford University Press, (2010), pp. 3-17
  • Hoffmeister, F. “Litigating against the European Union and Its Member States – Who Responds under the ILC's Draft Articles on International Responsibility of International Organizations?”, European Journal of International Law, 21, Issue 3, (2010), pp. 723–747
  • Crawford, J. “the System of International Responsibility”, In James Crawford, Alain Pellet, Simon Olleson, Kate Parlett (eds), Oxford University Press, (2010), pp. 17-27
  • Klabbers, J. “Reflections on Role Responsibility: The Responsibility of International Organizations for Failing to Act”, European Journal of International Law, Volume 28, Issue 4, (2017), pp. 1133–1161
  • Klabbers, J. “Sources of international organizations law: reflections on accountability” In Jean d'Aspremont, Samantha Besson (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook on the Sources of International Law, Oxford University Press, (2017),pp.487-1007
  • Daugirdas, K. "How and Why International Law Binds International Organizations." Harvard International law Journal. issue 57, no. 2 (2016), pp.325-381
  • Koskenniemi,M. ‘Doctrines of State Responsibility’ in James Crawford, Alain Pellet and Simon Olleson (eds), The Law of International Responsibility, Oxford University Press, (2010), 45-53
  • Gal-Or N. and Ryngaert, C. ‘From Theory to Practice: Exploring the Relevance of the Draft Articles on the Responsibility of International Organizations (DARIO) – The Responsibility of the WTO and the UN’, German Law Journal, no. 13, (2012),pp.511-541

 

  1. Case law

 

  • Factory Chorzów (Merits), PCIJ, Series A, no 17, (1928)
  • Interpretation of the Agreement of 25 March 1951 between the WHO and Egypt, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports ,(1980)
  • WTO Panel Report, EC—Computer Equipment, WT/DS62/R, WT/DS67/R and WT/DS68/R, adopted 22 June (1998)
  • Panel Report, European Communities – Selected Customs Matters, WT/DS315/R, adopted 11 Dec. (2006)
  • Request for an advisory opinion submitted by the Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission (SRFC), Advisory Opinion, ITLOS Case No 21, (2015)
  • Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro), Judgment, I.C.J. Reports (2007)

 

  1. Documents:

 

 

 

  • General Assembly, Report of the International Law Commission on the work of its fifty-third session, A/RES/56/82, (2002)
  • ILC Yearbook, Documents of the fifteenth session including the report of the Commission to the General Assembly, Vol II, (1963)
  • ILC Yearbook, Documents of the fifty-fifth session, A/CN.4/SER.A/2003/Add.l (Part 1), vol.II, (2003)
  • ILC Yearbook, Documents of the fifty-second session, A/CN.4/SER.A/2000/Add.1 (Part 1), Vol.II, (2000)
  • ILC Yearbook, Report of the International Law Commission on the work of its twenty-first session, II A/7610/Rev.1,(1969)
  • ILC, Comments and observations received from international organization, A/CN.4/545, (2004)
  • ILC, Comments and observations received from international organizations, A/CN.4/637 and Add.1, (2011)
  • ILC, Draft articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, (2001)
  • ILC, Draft Articles on the Responsibility of International Organizations, (2011)
  • ILC, Seventh Report on Responsibility of International Organizations, A/CN.4/610 (2009).
  • ILC, Seventh Report on Responsibility of International Organizations, A/CN.4/610 (2009)
  • ILC, Third Report on Responsibility of International Organizations, A/CN.4/553, (2005)
  • UN General Assembly, Request for the codification of the principles of international law governing State responsibility, A/RES/799, (1953)

 

  • Receive Date 12 May 2021
  • Revise Date 30 April 2022
  • Accept Date 28 May 2022