View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Archivio istituzionale della ricerca - Università di Macerata Th e Relationship Between State and Individual Responsibility for International Crimes Th e Relationship Between State and Individual Responsibility for International Crimes By Beatrice I. Bonafè LEIDEN • BOSTON 2009 On the cover: Public Announcement of the Establishment of the Studium Iuris in Macerata in 1920 (detail). Fresco by Giulio Rolland, XIX Century. University of Macerata, Aula Magna. Th is book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bonafe, Beatrice I. Th e relationship between state and individual responsibility for international crimes / by Beatrice I. Bonafe. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-17331-6 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Criminal liability (International law) 2. International off enses. 3. Government liability. 4. Administrative responsibility. 5. Superior orders (Criminal law) I. Title. K5301.B66 2009 345’.04—dc22 2008051891 ISBN: 978 90 04 17331 6 Copyright 2009 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, Th e Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Brill provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to Th e Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands Contents Acknowledgments .................................................................................. ix List of Abbreviations .............................................................................. xi Introduction ........................................................................................... 1 Part I General Approaches to the Relationship Between State and Individual Responsibility for International Crimes Chapter 1 Th e General Framework of the Relationship Between State and Individual Responsibility for International Crimes .............. 11 1. Clarifying Some Basic Concepts .................................................... 11 A. Individual Criminal Responsibility .......................................... 12 B. Aggravated State Responsibility ................................................ 17 2. Th e Overlap Between State and Individual Responsibility for International Crimes ..................................................................... 23 A. Aggression ............................................................................... 25 B. War Crimes .............................................................................. 27 C. Crimes against Humanity ........................................................ 28 D. Genocide and Torture ............................................................ 29 3. Th e Relationship Between State and Individual Responsibility for International Crimes in the Works of the ILC ............................... 32 4. Historical Overview ...................................................................... 35 Chapter 2 Th eoretical Approaches to the Relationship Between State and Individual Responsibility for International Crimes ...................... 43 1. Dual Responsibility for International Crimes ................................. 43 2. Diverging Approaches to the Relationship Between State and Individual Responsibility for International Crimes ......................... 45 A. Th e Separation of State and Individual Responsibility .............. 46 B. Individual Criminal Responsibility as Part of State Responsibility ........................................................................... 52 vi Contents 3. Th e Individual-Oriented and State-Oriented Conceptual Schemes ......................................................................................... 63 A. Individual-Oriented Conceptual Scheme ................................. 63 B. State-Oriented Conceptual Scheme ......................................... 64 4. Concluding Observations .............................................................. 66 Part II Th e Overlap Between State and Individual Responsibility for International Crimes in International Practice Chapter 3 Th e Overlap of the Material Element: Th e Seriousness Requirement ...................................................................................... 71 1. Two Diff erent Concepts of Seriousness .......................................... 72 A. Th e Seriousness Requirement under Aggravated State Responsibility ........................................................................... 75 B. Th e Seriousness Requirement under International Criminal Law .......................................................................................... 81 2. Th eoretical Approaches to the Seriousness Requirement ................ 88 3. Th e Seriousness Requirement as Applied in International Case Law ............................................................................................... 90 A. War Crimes .............................................................................. 90 B. Crimes against Humanity ........................................................ 94 C. Crimes against Humanity: Th e Role of the General Criminal Context .................................................................................... 99 D. Genocide .................................................................................. 104 E. Aggression ................................................................................ 108 4. Concluding Observations .............................................................. 114 Chapter 4 Th e Overlap of the Psychological Element: Mens Rea v. Fault .................................................................................................. 119 1. Th e Psychological Element and State Responsibility ....................... 120 2. Th eoretical Approaches to the Psychological Element .................... 124 3. Th e Psychological Element as Applied in the International Case Law ............................................................................................... 126 A. Genocide .................................................................................. 127 B. Genocide: Th e Role of the General Criminal Context ............... 131 C. War Crimes .............................................................................. 137 D. Aggression ................................................................................ 138 4. Concluding Observations .............................................................. 144 Contents vii Chapter 5 Defences and Circumstances Precluding Wrongfulness ....... 147 1. Th eoretical Approaches to the Relationship Between Defences and Circumstances Precluding Wrongfulness ........................................ 148 2. Overlapping Defences and Circumstances Precluding Wrongfulness ................................................................................. 150 A. Th e Scope of the Overlap Between Defences and Circumstances Precluding Wrongfulness .......................................................... 153 B. Th e Particular Case of the Crime of Aggression ......................... 156 C. Concluding Remarks ................................................................ 157 3. Circumstances Precluding Wrongfulness and International Criminal Law ................................................................................ 158 4. Concluding Observations .............................................................. 165 Chapter 6 Ascribing Responsibility for Collective Crimes: Modes of Liability ............................................................................................. 167 1. Linking Individual Liability to Collective Criminal Conduct ......... 168 2. Th e Crime of Membership in a Criminal Organization .................. 169 3. Modes of Collective Liability under International Criminal Law .... 172 4. Joint Criminal Enterprise and Mass Atrocities ............................... 181 5. Modes of Collective Liability and State Responsibility ................... 186 6. Concluding Observations .............................................................. 190 Chapter 7 Establishing State and Individual Responsibility for International Crimes .......................................................................... 193 1. Issues of State Responsibility before International Criminal Tribunals ....................................................................................... 194 2. Connections in the Establishment of State and of Individual Responsibility ................................................................................ 202 3. Establishing State and Individual Responsibility for Aggression ..... 210 4. Concluding Observations .............................................................. 216 Part III Th e Relationship Between State and Individual Responsibility for International Crimes Chapter 8 Complementarity Between State and Individual Responsibility for International Crimes .............................................. 221 1. Th e Relationship Between State and Individual