Today liability for international offenses - This is a necessary legal tool that ensures compliance with international law and restores violated rights and relationships. What constitutes such an offense? What are its symptoms and types? You can answer these and other equally interesting questions after studying the materials of the article.
The essence of the concept and relevant features
The concept of an international offense correlates with a very complex legal phenomenon. If we consider it in legal terms, the offense at the international level is a certain act of the subject of international legal relations, which, as a rule, is endowed with the corresponding signs of its composition. It depends on the design of the latter who, for what, and on the basis of what norms of an international character, is there being held liable in a particular case.
Offense in international law characterized by the following features:
- The wrongful nature of the act.
- The presence of harm (damage) as a result of this act.
It is important to note that between the presented signs there is a bright causal relationship. It will be advisable to consider each of them individually.
Wrongful conduct
As noted above international crimes and offenses characterized by unlawful behavior. As a rule, it manifests itself directly in violation of state obligations at the international level in the form of inaction or action. In international law, unlawfulness must be understood as some contradiction that has arisen between a legal obligation (a certain rule of law) and state behavior.
International offenses are regulated by Article 16 of the corresponding draft: “Violation of an obligation of an international nature by a state is evident when a certain act of that state completely does not meet the specified obligation required of it”. So, in any case, unlawfulness will be relevant when the state refuses to fulfill one or another of its own obligations of an international nature. In connection with these provisions, Professor R. Ago, special-level rapporteur of the Commission on the International Law Branch, emphasized: “In the international legal industry, the term violation of an obligation is often considered to be an exact definition for inflicting certain damage on the law of another party.”
Naturally, this kind of term describing international offenses, and the wrongfulness considered above in the case of the international branch of law fundamentally differ from similar terminology in other branches of domestic law: criminal and administrative. The fact is that in the latter a specific list of offenses is necessarily recorded, in addition, the corresponding wrongfulness indicates that in the legal norm the act and the characteristic of the offense are closely interconnected. So, in international law, by wrongfulness we mean a certain discrepancy between action and a legally established norm.
Damage as a consequence of an act
As it turned out, signs of international offenses include two interrelated and interdependent points.So, absolutely any illegal behavior entails damage to the legitimate interests of states or the entire international community that are protected by international law. So, as a result of this kind of consequences, the state is considered a victim. It is this provision that is the basis for raising the question of responsibility.
Usually, international offenses entail damage that is both tangible and intangible. The first group should include losses of a territorial and property nature, corresponding losses and, of course, lost profit. The consequences of intangible nature include infringement of the rights, dignity, honor, and prestige of the state. By the way, most often international offenses lead to cumulative damage (in mixed form).
additional information
It is important to note that the Commission of the international branch of law directly in the draft articles did not classify the damage as an independent element of the offense. This provision was motivated by the fact that it is covered by the very fact of illegal behavior. Nevertheless, international practice proves that in accordance with many situations, the key condition for the formation of responsibility is nothing more than inflicting certain damage.
It is interesting to add: in order for liability to occur, a mandatory causal relationship is necessary directly between the damage and the unlawful behavior. It provides an opportunity to accurately identify state involvement in harmful consequences that were caused by specific actions or events. It is in this way that the problem of responsibility is resolved.
Guilt problem
It is interesting that the issue of guilt as an independent sign of an international level offense gives rise to diverse opinions and does not have a single solution. In accordance with international practice, the ILC did not introduce an element of state guilt into the draft articles as a self-evident sign of an offense. It is important to note that proponents of self-reliance on guilt rely on the fact that one way or another, the state shows its own will. When committing an offense at the international level, the implementation of the will is characterized primarily by unlawfulness. Thus, the responsibility of the international legal orientation is relevant for certain factual and legal grounds, which include a specific legal obligation and the presence of an offense in the activities of the subject.
The concept and types of international offenses
As it turned out, in international law there is no definite list of offenses. However, in any case, they cannot be the same in severity and direction. Therefore, their classification is advisable, on which the liability regime directly depends.
In accordance with the criterion of the degree of social danger, which was proposed in the domestic literature, it is customary to distinguish such types of international offensesas simple offenses and international crimes. In subsequent chapters, these categories are discussed in detail.
Crimes Against Peace and Security
In addition to the above, it is advisable to mention a special category of offenses - crimes against peace, as well as the security of mankind. It is important to note that these offenses are highlighted in some acts of an international level. Among them are the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal, the Convention on the Prevention of Genocide and Corresponding Punishment, the Convention on the Exclusion of the Limitation Period for Military Crimes, as well as Crimes against Humanity and so on.
Delicts and international crimes
The most important step in relation to international offenses is considered by the ILC proposal to distinguish between crimes of an international level and tort directly in the process of codification of responsibility.The presented classification is adopted on the basis of analysis by the community of factual information and the doctrine of international legal nature. Thus, the Commission noted the positive contribution of Soviet doctrine directly to the development of such an important issue.
Tort
Under a simple international offense (tort) today we should understand a certain act, which is not a crime of an international level. To some extent, a tort is related to a crime, since it entails a penalty in favor of the victim. However, today there are a number of crimes that do not comply with this rule. It is important to add that a distinctive characteristic of a tort from other offenses of an international nature is the presence of an intention to do harm.
Conclusion
Of course, the list of crimes of an international nature is not exhaustive. So, in future periods new types of crimes will be formed. In addition, in relation to the two types of offenses presented, two liability regimes that are not similar to each other will be used. In accordance with them, in the case of committing offenses of an ordinary nature (tort), only the injured state is entitled to apply to the judicial authorities. However, for crimes of an international nature, other subjects of international law can make a similar move, in other words, the totality of the international community.
This distinction was benevolently accepted by various states directly at the sessions of the UN General Assembly, as well as experts in the field of international law. The bilateral type of liability regime, which today is traditional, is not able to function in full force when it comes to violations of the norms that protect the fundamental interests of absolutely all states. This opinion is also emphasized in the current draft Code of Crimes against the Peace and Security of Humanity.