Description
Third State support to non-State armed groups (NSAGs) is a recurrent feature of contemporary armed conflicts. While States have long recognized the strategic advantages of this form of indirect warfare, it also oftentimes contributes to violations of international humanitarian law (IHL). However, instances of States being held responsible for their contributions to violations of IHL by NSAGs remain rare, exposing a serious responsibility gap. This article attempts to formulate a response to this gap. It offers an analysis of the complex relationship between third States and NSAGs in indirect warfare before describing the inadequacy of the current rules of State responsibility. It is identified that the reliance on attribution of acts of NSAGs to States based on institutional or factual control fails to capture the collusive nature of indirect warfare. Therefore, the article argues that a State responsibility framework is required that is able to better accommodate the particularities of these relationships. The article identifies as the appropriate responsibility framework the concept of complicity. It continues by analyzing the constitutive normative requirements of complicity as a State responsibility framework and by providing an overview of the three main approaches to operationalize complicity under international law, including each approach’s main merits.| Period | 13-May-2022 |
|---|---|
| Event title | Responding to Complex Relationships in International Law: The Society of Legal Scholars (SLS) PhD Workshop |
| Event type | Conference |
| Degree of Recognition | International |