| Abstract [eng] |
State responsibility is regarded as one of the most important doctrines of international law. For centuries, the main emphasis was put on the responsibility of the state for its own conduct, committed through the acts of the organs and officials of that state. However, in the recent times the importance of the possibility to hold a state accountable for the private conduct is increasing rapidly. The general rule in international law is that states can only be held responsible for their own conduct, thus eliminating the possibility for a state to be accountable for the acts perpetrated by private individuals. However, if the private conduct can be imputed to the state, the state becomes accountable for such acts, although committed by private individuals. There are several rules of attribution of a conduct to a state, which can be used to make state responsible for the acts of private persons. Thus state may be directly responsible for the private conduct in these instances: 1) when it controls, directs or gives instructions to private individuals to carry out certain operations; 2) when it empowers a person or entity to exercise certain elements of the governmental authority; 3) when it acknowledges and adopts the private conducts as its own; 4) when the conduct, necessary in that situation and in fact exercising elements of the governmental authority, was carried out by private individuals in the absence of the official authorities; 5) when the conduct is carried out by successful insurrectional or other movements; and 6) when an official or an organ of a state acts ultra vires, pursuing a private motive and at the same time acting within the scope of apparent authority. The state can also be indirectly responsible for the acts committed by private individuals if it fails to act due diligent in relation to those acts and prevent them or pursue and bring the culprit to justice. In this case the state infringes its own international obligations and therefore is responsible not for the private conduct as such, but for its own acts or omissions accompanying it. |
