Undeniably, the articles on State Responsibility for Internationally Wrongful Acts, finally adopted by the International Law Commission in 2001, constitute a milestone in the evolution and codification of the law of State responsibility. Shortly after the adoption of the articles by the Commission, the General Assembly took note of the articles in resolution 56/83 of 12 December 2001, and commended them to the attention of governments without prejudice to the question of their future adoption or other appropriate action. The topic of State responsibility has figured prominently in the programme of work of the Sixth Committee of the General Assembly in 2004, 2007, 2010, 2013 and 2016. In the meantime, at the request of the General Assembly, the Secretary General prepared in 2012 a compilation of decisions of international courts, tribunals and other bodies referring to the articles covering the period from their adoption up to the 31st of January 2010*.
The Athens PIL Materials on State Responsibility 2010-2016 aim at putting into a single volume the concomitant decisions of international courts and tribunals rendered the past five years. Given the fundamental place of the law of State responsibility within the international legal order and the increasing authority the articles have acquired, it is only natural that international courts and tribunals have been frequent users of the articles. A thorough study of international judicial and arbitral practice in relation to the articles has immense practical significance for our understanding of the law, but it also reveals who at the end of the day are the main users of the articles. Equally important, an examination of how international courts and tribunals apply the articles over the course of a substantial time-span brings to light is telling also of the way in which international law comes to life and evolves through judicial decisions.
What follows therefore in this volume is a compilation, to the best of our efforts, of the practice of international courts and tribunals from the 31st of January 2010 and up to the completion of the present study, the 1st of January 2016. During this period, 64 relevant decisions of international courts, tribunals and other bodies were recorded. The general formatting of the present collection of materials follows the Secretary General’s 2012 Report, with minor modifications. Thus, each article is followed by the respective extracts of decisions prepared by the students, and each extract is accompanied by a brief description of the context in which the international court, tribunal or other body made the relevant statement.
Research Paper No. 1/2016 can be downloaded here.