CYIL vol. 8 (2017)

CYIL 8 ȍ2017Ȏ RESPONSIBILITY OF STATE AND RESPONSIBILITY OF INDIVIDUAL … RESPONSIBILITY OF STATE AND RESPONSIBILITY

OF INDIVIDUAL – OLD PROBLEMS AND NEW CHALLENGES FOR INTERNATIONAL LAW Karolina Wierczyńska *

Abstract: The present article takes into account the question of international responsibility and the problem of its attribution in the light of state and individual responsibility. The contribution develops the question of elements of those two regimes with a special attention to the relations between them, specifically when it comes to the international justice, targeted killings and the technology of drone warfare. The considerations will not, however, be limited only to states and individuals, but attention is paid also to some specific subjects such as terrorist groups and their status in international law as well as their responsibility for committed crimes. Resumé: Článek přináší úvahu o otázce mezinárodní odpovědnosti a problematice přičita- telnosti ve světle státní a individuální odpovědnosti. Příspěvek rozvíjí otázku prvků obou režimů odpovědnosti se zvláštním důrazem na vztahy mezi nimi, konkrétně pokud jde o mezinárodní spravedlnost, cílená zabíjení a technologii vedení války za použití dronů. Předmětné úvahy se však neomezují pouze na státy a jednotlivce; pozornost autorka věnuje rovněž některým specifickým subjektům, jako jsou teroristické skupiny a jejich postavení v mezinárodním právu, jakož i jejich odpovědnost za spáchané zločiny. Key words: responsibility, ICC, ICTY. ICJ, targeted killings, drone warfare, robots, non- state actors, ISIS, Al-Kaida. On the Author: Karolina Wierczyńska is senior research fellow, Institute of Law Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw and Managing editor of Polish Yearbook of International Law. Introduction The rules of the international responsibility of states and individuals are today the essential elements of the international law system. On the one hand, the state bears responsibility for the violations of international law (actions as well as omissions), on the other hand, the individual may be found guilty of committing a crime before the international criminal tribunals. Although state responsibility and individual responsibility with no doubt are governed by two separate and independent legal regimes, they could be sometimes perceived as concurring ones – especially when the responsibility for an international crime (as an international wrongful act of state and the crime of individual) is at stake. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) referring to the application of the Convention on genocide 1 noticed that provisions relating to responsibility can simultaneously concern the responsibility of a state and an individual “if an organ of the State, or a person or group whose acts are legally attributable to the State, commits any of the acts proscribed by * The contribution is a side-effect of the research project financed by the National Science Centre Poland (DEC- 2012/07/B/HS5/03858). 1 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, UNTS vol. 78, p. 277.

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