State Responsibility

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Two Case Studies of Clandestine Operations, Attribution and Functional Immunity for Ordinary Crimes

In this post, I want to briefly analyze two recent high-profile developments. The first is the mass prisoner exchange (if that’s the right term) between Russia and Western states that happened some two weeks ago. That exchange involved the release of political prisoners by Russia, and several Russian secret agents by the West. One possible interpretation of that exchange is that Russia coerced Western states into releasing individuals legitimately convicted for serious criminal offences, essentially be using innocent people as hostages, in a manner that at least arguably violates not just their human rights, but also the prohibition of intervention (see my AJIL article on coercion, at IV.C, dealing with so-called hostage diplomacy as a way of conducting coercion-as-extortion). But the issue that concerns me in this is post is how, in doing the exchange, Russia acknowledged that some of the individuals concerned had previously acted on Russia’s behalf, i.e. that they were its agents, something that it had previously denied. The second development is…

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Implications of the ICJ Advisory Opinion for the EU-Israel Association Agreement

The groundbreaking Advisory Opinion of 19 July 2024 on the Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem by the International Court of Justice (Court or ICJ) has serious implications for third countries. The Court dedicated a full section of its Opinion to international obligations…

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China’s Duties to Prevent and Redress the Human Rights Impacts of the Belt and Road Initiative

China’s massive Belt and Road Initiative continues to expand its project financing activities to around 147 countries in the world as of this writing. This exceptional global footprint, undertaken primarily through sovereign lending or sovereign-driven financing, puts China in a privileged position of international responsibility to ensure respect, protection, and fulfillment of human rights in global…

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Assistance to a Countermeasure in International Law

In recent years, States have begun to discuss and assess whether and when they may cooperate in the taking of countermeasures. The question has arisen most prominently in debates about the application of international law to cyber operations in light of the fact that cyber-capabilities vary significantly among States, making some more vulnerable to malicious cyber-operations, as well…

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Proxy Countermeasures in International Law

Introduction  In the last few years, the term ‘collective countermeasures’ has at times been used to refer to two conceptually distinct claims. It has continued to be used to refer to the idea that a State other than an injured State, in the sense of Article 48 of the ILC Articles on State Responsibility, may take…

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