The public ceremony takes place at the Agnietenkapel, University of Amsterdam (Oudezijds Voorburgwal 229-231, Amsterdam).

The public ceremony takes place at the Agnietenkapel, University of Amsterdam (Oudezijds Voorburgwal 229-231, Amsterdam).

The public ceremony takes place at the Agnietenkapel, University of Amsterdam (Oudezijds Voorburgwal 229-231, Amsterdam).

From sexual abuses by peacekeepers, to air strikes causing disproportionate casualties, violations of international law have recurrently been occurring in the course of collaborative military operations. Yet, it often remains unclear which participant(s) can be held responsible for which wrongful conduct. This is notably because, during collaborative military operations, different elements of military control are distributed between several States and international organizations. In turn, the notion of control is often used as a legal criterion to determine responsibility. Against this background, the thesis analyses how forms and degrees of military control can translate into forms and degrees of responsibility.

In order to provide answers to the question of allocation, the study engages in a reinterpretation of existing rules through the lens of the concept of causal control. In essence, the thesis argues that a State or international organization can be held responsible when its direct or indirect exercise of, or failure to exercise, a form of control qualifies as a cause of a given wrongful conduct. In this argument, different forms and degrees of control can be causally linked to the occurrence of different types of harmful acts, and responsibility can be allocated on that basis.

The SHARES Project was based on a 5-year research grant from the European Research Council (ERC). To mark the end of this period, the project is now embarking on the drafting of critical commentaries on the law of international responsibility, in particular as that law has been developed by the International Law Commission (ILC).

The aim is to draft a normative authoritative product (called the ‘SHARES Commentaries on the Law of International Responsibility’) that can be referred to by judges, practitioners and scholars in conjunction with the ILC Articles. The SHARES Commentaries will draw on the papers and books produced during the SHARES project.

The workshop of 15 October will discuss the approach and structure of the Commentaries as well as the drafting process. In this respect, the Workshop does not (other than was announced earlier) constitute the final event of the SHARES project.

The Commentaries will be drafted in consultation with experts during the next year, and will be presented in the fall of 2016.

During this seminar Jeroen Kortmann (Professor of European Tort Law and Partner at Stibbe) will discuss the paper ‘The Group of 54: Shifting Responsibilities in a Complicity Network’ by André Nollkaemper (Professor of Public International Law).

This presentation is part of the ASIL International Legal Theory Interest Group and University of Richmond School of Law Workshop entitled ‘Whither The West? Debates on Concepts of International Law in Europe and North America’, held on 6-7 May 2015. For more information see here, the programme is available here.

Members of the SHARES team regularly present their research on a variety of issues of shared responsibility.

This presentation is part of the 2015 ASIL annual meeting. For the tentative programme see here.

Members of the SHARES team regularly present their research on a variety of issues of shared responsibility.

This presentation is part of the IILJ International Legal Theory Colloquium Spring 2015. For more information see here.

Members of the SHARES team regularly present their research on a variety of issues of shared responsibility.