Lawyer, Vol. 41 No. 84, 2007.
Professional paper
State Responsibility According to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
Goran Jutriša
Abstract
Adoption of International Law Commission’s Draft Articles on State Responsibility for Internationally Wrongful Acts is considered by many legal experts and practitioners a breakthrough in the successive development of international law. Primary rules of international law defi ne the core responsibilities of states as members of the international community. It is only through their interaction with the secondary rules, outlining essential
elements of internationally wrongful acts, that state responsibility can be established in a methodologically sound and a practically sustainable manner. The International Court of Justice clearly stated in the Bosnia and Herzegovina vs. Serbia case that the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,
though putting an emphasis on individual responsibility and prosecution of indicted individuals, does not in any way exclude state responsibility for genocide as “crime of crimes”. States have a three-fold responsibility – not to commit, to prevent and to punish
genocide. Though derived from individual criminal responsibility, state responsibility for genocide is not of criminal nature.
Keywords
genocide; International Court of Justice; state responsibility; Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide; internationally wrongful acts
Hrčak ID:
13296
URI
Publication date:
23.5.2007.
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