Reassessing Dual Responsibility for International Crimes

Abstract

the recent decision of the International Court of Justice in the case between Croatia and Serbia provides us with the opportunity to reassess the relationship between state and individual responsibility for international crimes. Although limited to the commission of acts of genocide, the judgment shows that the conceptual framework explaining such relationship is now well settled. However, the Court seems to reach solutions that at times are not entirely consistent with the premises of such conceptual scheme. The purpose of the following analysis is to test the general theoretical approach with respect to a number of issues dealt with by the Court in its recent decision.