Seminar: Principles of Shared Responsibility in International Law

On February 7-8, 2013, SHARES: The Research Project on Shared Responsibility in International Law will hold a seminar on "Principles of Shared Responsibility in International Law." The preliminary program is here. Here's the idea:

This SHARES Seminar will provide a critical review of the principles of international responsibility, as these have been formulated by the International Law Commission (ILC), from the perspective of shared responsibility.

The International Law Commission recognized in its work on the responsibility of states and the responsibility of international organizations that attribution of acts to one state or organization does not exclude the possible attribution of the same act to another state or organization. There is no doubt that under positive international law situations of shared responsibility may arise.

However, the ILC has provided little guidance regarding the allocation of responsibility or reparation in such cases. In such diverse areas as peacekeeping, counter-terrorism policy, refugee law and international environmental law, considerable uncertainty exists on the applicable principles of responsibility in situations when two or more actors contribute to a wrong.

The SHARES Project will organize a seminar that will discuss critically the main principles of responsibility, in order to enhance our understanding of what the principles of responsibility can offer in situations of shared responsibility, and where gaps can be found. The papers that will be presented will review for each of the established principles of responsibility (such as breach, attribution, circumstances precluding wrongfulness, reparation and so on) whether these principle are sufficiently attuned to questions that may arise in situations of shared responsibility.