State responsibility the coercion would be,267 an internationally wrongful act on the part of the coerced State. In all three cases, the act in question is still committed, voluntarily or otherwise, by organs or agents of the acting State, and is, or but for the coercion would be, a breach of that State’s international obligations. The implication of the second State in that breach arises from the special circumstance of its willing assistance in, its direction and control over or its coercion of the acting State. But there are important differences between the three cases. Under article 16, the State primarily responsible is the acting State and the assisting State has a mere supporting role. Similarly under article 17, the acting State commits the internationally wrongful act, albeit under the direction and control of another State. By contrast, in the case of coercion under article 18, the coercing State is the prime mover in respect of the conduct and the coerced State is merely its instrument. (7) A feature of this chapter is that it specifies certain conduct as internationally wrongful. This may seem to blur the distinction maintained in the articles between the primary or substantive obligations of the State and its secondary obligations of responsibility.268 It is justified on the basis that responsibility under chapter IV is in a sense derivative.269 In national legal systems, rules dealing, for example, with conspiracy, complicity and inducing breach of contract may be classified as falling within the “general part” of the law of obligations. Moreover, the idea of the implication of one State in the conduct of another is analogous to problems of attribution, dealt with in chapter II. (8) On the other hand, the situations covered in chapter IV have a special character. They are exceptions to the principle of independent responsibility and they only cover certain cases. In formulating these exceptional cases where one State is responsible for the internationally wrongful acts of another, it is necessary to bear in mind certain features of the international system. First, there is the possibility that the same conduct may be internationally wrongful so far as one State is concerned but not for another State having regard to its own international obligations. Rules of derived responsibility cannot be allowed to undermine the principle, stated in article 34 of the 1969 Vienna Convention, that a “treaty does not create either obligations or rights for a third State without its consent”; similar issues arise with respect to unilateral obligations and even, in certain cases, rules of general international law. Hence it is only in the extreme case of coercion that a State may become responsible under this chapter for conduct which would not have been internationally wrongful if performed by that State. Secondly, States engage in a wide variety of activities through a multiplicity of organs and agencies. For example, a State providing financial or other aid to another State should not be required to assume the risk that the latter will divert the aid for purposes which may be internationally unlawful. Thus, it is 267 If a State has been coerced, the wrongfulness of its act may be precluded by force majeure: see article 23 and commentary. 268 See paras. (1)–(2) and (4) of the general commentary for an explanation of the distinction. 269 Cf. the term responsabilité dérivée used by Arbitrator Huber in British Claims in the Spanish Zone of Morocco (footnote 44 above), p. 648. 65 necessary to establish a close connection between the action of the assisting, directing or coercing State on the one hand and that of the State committing the internationally wrongful act on the other. Thus, the articles in this chapter require that the former State should be aware of the circumstances of the internationally wrongful act in question, and establish a specific causal link between that act and the conduct of the assisting, directing or coercing State. This is done without prejudice to the general question of “wrongful intent” in matters of State responsibility, on which the articles are neutral.270 (9) Similar considerations dictate the exclusion of certain situations of “derived responsibility” from chapter IV. One of these is incitement. The incitement of wrongful conduct is generally not regarded as sufficient to give rise to responsibility on the part of the inciting State, if it is not accompanied by concrete support or does not involve direction and control on the part of the inciting State.271 However, there can be specific treaty obligations prohibiting incitement under certain circumstances.272 Another concerns the issue which is described in some systems of internal law as being an “accessory after the fact”. It seems that there is no general obligation on the part of third States to cooperate in suppressing internationally wrongful conduct of another State which may already have occurred. Again it is a matter for specific treaty obligations to establish any such obligation of suppression after the event. There are, however, two important qualifications here. First, in some circumstances assistance given by one State to another after the latter has committed an internationally wrongful act may amount to the adoption of that act by the former State. In such cases responsibility for that act potentially arises pursuant to article 11. Secondly, special obligations of cooperation in putting an end to an unlawful situation arise in the case of serious breaches of obligations under peremptory norms of general international law. By definition, in such cases States will have agreed that no derogation from such obligations is to be permitted and, faced with a serious breach of such an obligation, certain obligations of cooperation arise. These are dealt with in article 41. Article 16. Aid or assistance in the commission of an internationally wrongful act A State which aids or assists another State in the commission of an internationally wrongful act by the latter is internationally responsible for doing so if: (a) that State does so with knowledge of the circumstances of the internationally wrongful act; and (b) the act would be internationally wrongful if committed by that State. 270 See above, the commentary to paragraphs (3) and (10) of article 2. 271 See the statement of the United States-French Commissioners relating to the French Indemnity of 1831 case in Moore, History and Digest, vol. V, p. 4447, at pp. 4473–4476. See also Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua (footnote 36 above), p. 129, para. 255, and the dissenting opinion of Judge Schwebel, p. 389, para. 259. 272 See, e.g., article III (c) of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide; and article 4 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.