Symposium : Assessing the Work of the International Law Commission on State Responsibility

• Alland, Denis

Abstract

The use of countermeasures by indirectly injured states, subjectively analyzed as a means of the defence of general interests — referred to as ‘countermeasures of general interest’ — is not specifically embodied in the ILC's Draft Articles on the International Responsibility of States. This omission raises questions about the substantial international practice of states on this point, which the article considers. The Draft Articles refer to <it>jus cogens</it> in preference to the previously utilized notion of the ‘international crime’. The article considers how this fits in with the notion of countermeasures of general interest, and also considers the link between international responsibility and the guarantee of international legality.