Attributing Conduct in the Law of State Responsibility: Lessons from Dutch Courts Applying the Control Standard in the Context of International Military Operations

Abstract

In two decisions of 2019, the Dutch courts have come up with novel interpretations of the ‘control-based’ standard of attribution in the international law of State responsibility. This is a standard of attribution that is laid down in Article 8 of the International Law Commission‘s (ILC) Articles on the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts (ARSIWA), which is, by and large, reflective of customary international law. The traditional understanding of Article 8 ARSIWA is that it applies to relations between States and private persons or entities, in particular armed groups: conduct of a non-State armed group is attributed to a State to the extent that the State exercises control over that group. However, the Dutch courts have extended the scope of application of Article 8 ARSIWA to conduct of organs of international organisations (the UN) as well as foreign States (i.e., States other than the Netherlands). Internationally speaking, this is a novel interpretation of Article 8 ARSIWA, for which there are no precedents. After introducing the Dutch courts’ reasoning in these cases, the contribution zooms out and inquires what the Dutch evolutions imply for the development of the controlbased attribution standard in the international law of State responsibility. The author argues that the relatively peculiar interpretation of Article 8 ARSIWA, as applying to interactions between States and international organisations and between States inter se, is practically viable in a narrow range of scenarios characterised by relatively strong politico-military relations and hierarchies.