30 May 2013

State Responsibility and Flag State Duties – Commentary

Symposium on the Law of the Sea and the Law of Responsibility, cross-posted on Opinio Juris

Telesetsky’s highly interesting post highlights the problem of flag state responsibility in the law of the sea. The post identifies two major issues: Illegal Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing and structurally unsafe vessels. Both these issues have been hard to resolve and difficult to regulate, at least from a flag state perspective. This comment seeks to further the debate by raising two questions regarding the role of the flag state in terms of its international responsibility. (more…)

29 May 2013

Is there a major role for the law of responsibility in international fisheries management? – Commentary (2)

Symposium on the Law of the Sea and the Law of Responsibility, cross-posted on Opinio Juris

Takei asks whether there is a role for responsibility in international fisheries management, and he proceeds to reply -correctly so- in the affirmative. The blog eloquently presents all possible scenarios, in terms of the law of fisheries, wherein issues of state responsibility might arise. Therefore the purpose of this comment will be to highlight some questions from the viewpoint of the law of responsibility. Two intertwined points merit closer scrutiny. The first relates to the primary rules and the second to the application of the rules on responsibility. (more…)

15 May 2013

SHARES News Items Overview: 1-15 May 2013

The SHARES Project closely follows and collects news items that are linked to the topic of shared responsibility. This is our News Items Overview of 1-15 May 2013, consisting of a summary of recent news relating to shared responsibility. (more…)

3 May 2013

Procurator General of the Dutch Supreme Court concludes to reject appeal against Srebrenica judgment

On 3 May, the Procurator General of the Supreme Court of the Netherlands (mr. P. Vlas) concluded in his so-called ‘advisory opinion’ that the appeal against the Judgment of the Court of Appeal of the Hague, which found that the Netherlands was liable for evicting Bosnian nationals from the compound of Dutchbat in Srebrenica on 12 July 1995, should be rejected. The main task of the Procurator General of the Supreme Court of the Netherlands is to provide independent advice (known as ‘advisory opinion’) to the members of the Supreme Court on how to rule in the cassation proceedings that are before the Court.

The advisory opinion is very rich in legal analysis of questions of shared responsibility. It cites no less than four papers written as part of the SHARES Project, and will be commented upon more fully at a later stage. A few quick points that stand out will be identified below. (more…)