Having canvassed the various conceptual questions of state complicity in the prior posts in the series, we can now return to the two basic intelligence sharing scenarios I outlined in my first post – the sharing of intelligence facilitating a wrongful act, and the receipt of intelligence that was unlawfully collected and/or shared. In both scenarios the causal nexus element can generally be met, but their resolution will depend on an assessment of the assisting state’s fault. Thus, under Article 16 ASR, an assisting state will be responsible for sharing intelligence with another state that facilitated the wrongful act of the latter state if the assisting state (i.e. its organs or agents) did so: with the purpose/direct intent of facilitating the wrongful act, that is in a situation in which the facilitation of the wrongful act was the conscious object of the assisting state’s conduct, regardless of any deficits in the assisting state’s knowledge; with the oblique/indirect intent of facilitating the wrongful act, that is while being practically certain that the assisted state will commit the…
Non-State Actors
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The International Law of Intelligence Sharing in Multinational Military Operations: State Fault in Complicity
In my previous post in the series I explained how the fault element of state complicity rules is the single most important determinant of the scope of these rules, in the intelligence sharing context or otherwise. In this post I will elaborate on the different possible modes of fault, starting with the question of how fault…
The International Law of Intelligence Sharing in Multinational Military Operations: Framing Complicity
In my first post in the series I explained how intelligence sharing can be contrary to international law either because it transgresses a rule that directly prohibits the sharing of intelligence as such, or because of complicity in a partner’s wrongful act. Let us now start examining the problems of complicity in more…
State-Empowered Actors in the European Court of Human Rights – State Sovereignty and Council of Europe Authority
Human rights conventions constitute a particular category of international law in respect of which individuals, exceptionally, are empowered to act because of their status as rights holders. Nowhere is this more evident than in regional bodies, such as the Council of Europe, which are founded on human rights conventions the ratification of which is a necessary criterion…
A Collective Failure to Prevent Turkey’s Operation ‘Peace Spring’ and NATO’s Silence on International Law
Since last week Turkey has been using massive military force in Syria. Turkey has decided to call her military operation ‘Peace Spring’. ‘Peace Spring’ seems to be even more extensive than ‘Olive Branch’, Turkey’s preceding invasion of Syria. ‘Peace Spring’ has already resulted in the flight of tens of thousands of civilians. Worldwide, observers fear that ‘Peace Spring’…