International Responsibility for Violating Obligations Erga Omnes

Abstract

The objective of the research is to identify the concept of international responsibility in general and the development of the legal basis for international responsibility. The research concentrates on international responsibility for violating obligations erga omnes and the consequences of this violation. The concept of obligations erga omens refers to obligations of a global concern, and all nations have a legal interest in protecting them. Obligations erga omnes partes, obligation erga omnes regulated as multilateral treaties, afford the legal standing for all contracting parties to invoke the international responsibility of any state, directly injured or not, for violating these obligations. However, imposing sanctions unilaterally as a third party countermeasure is debatable. Due to the novelty of the concept of obligations erga omnes the legal regulation of international responsibility for violating these obligations suffers a big deal of deficiency, especially concerning countermeasures adopted and forced by a non-injured state. The International Law Committee regulated the issue in the Draft Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts and stated explicitly that any state can invoke the international responsibility of any other state that violates these obligations. However enforcing international responsibility was left to future development of international law. This aroused a legal divide between two parties, one of them recognize an international custom to impose third party measures to protect these obligation while the other refuses this practice and adopts a contrary view concerning the unilateral enforcement of legal international norms.