EJIL: Debate!

• Lanovoy, Vladyslav 1

Abstract

The grounds of attribution of conduct as codified by the International Law Commission in the Articles on State Responsibility for Internationally Wrongful Acts fail to capture different dimensions of the use of force by non-state actors. The conflicts in Syria, Ukraine and Yemen demonstrate the difficulty in applying the classical attribution framework to complex situations with multiple actors and varying degrees of state involvement in the internationally wrongful acts. This article proposes to redraw the boundaries between the concepts of a de facto organ of a state, the control thresholds for the attribution of non-state actors’ conduct and complicity as an additional ground of attribution of conduct in international law.

• 1PhD in international law, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland; Solicitor, United Kingdom. The author would like to thank Heather Clark, Mamadou Hébié, the participants of the 2015 ESIL Research Forum and the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not represent the views of any former or current employer. E-mail: vladyslav.lanovoy@graduateinstitute.ch.