126 Report of the International Law Commission on the work of its fifty-third session Article 48. Invocation of responsibility by a State other than an injured State 1. Any State other than an injured State is entitled to invoke the responsibility of another State in accordance with paragraph 2 if: (a) the obligation breached is owed to a group of States including that State, and is established for the protection of a collective interest of the group; or (b) the obligation breached is owed to the international community as a whole. 2. Any State entitled to invoke responsibility under paragraph 1 may claim from the responsible State: (a) cessation of the internationally wrongful act, and assurances and guarantees of non-repetition in accordance with article 30; and (b) performance of the obligation of reparation in accordance with the preceding articles, in the interest of the injured State or of the beneficiaries of the obligation breached. 3. The requirements for the invocation of responsibility by an injured State under articles 43, 44 and 45 apply to an invocation of responsibility by a State entitled to do so under paragraph 1. Commentary (1) Article 48 complements the rule contained in article 42. It deals with the invocation of responsibility by States other than the injured State acting in the collective interest. A State which is entitled to invoke responsibility under article 48 is acting not in its individual capacity by reason of having suffered injury, but in its capacity as a member of a group of States to which the obligation is owed, or indeed as a member of the international community as a whole. The distinction is underlined by the phrase “[a]ny State other than an injured State” in paragraph 1 of article 48. (2) Article 48 is based on the idea that in case of breaches of specific obligations protecting the collective interests of a group of States or the interests of the international community as a whole, responsibility may be invoked by States which are not themselves injured in the sense of article 42. Indeed, in respect of obligations to the international community as a whole, ICJ specifically said as much in its judgment in the Barcelona Traction case.721 Although the Court noted that “all States can be held to have a legal interest in” the fulfilment of these rights, article 48 refrains from qualifying the position of the States identified in article 48, for example by referring to them as “interested States”. The term “legal interest” would not permit a distinction between articles 42 and 48, as injured States in the sense of article 42 also have legal interests. (3) As to the structure of article 48, paragraph 1 defines the categories of obligations which give rise to the wider 721 Barcelona Traction (see footnote 25 above), p. 32, para. 33. right to invoke responsibility. Paragraph 2 stipulates which forms of responsibility States other than injured States may claim. Paragraph 3 applies the requirements of invocation contained in articles 43, 44 and 45 to cases where responsibility is invoked under article 48, paragraph 1. (4) Paragraph 1 refers to “[a]ny State other than an injured State”. In the nature of things, all or many States will be entitled to invoke responsibility under article 48, and the term “[a]ny State” is intended to avoid any implication that these States have to act together or in unison. Moreover, their entitlement will coincide with that of any injured State in relation to the same internationally wrongful act in those cases where a State suffers individual injury from a breach of an obligation to which article 48 applies. (5) Paragraph 1 defines the categories of obligations, the breach of which may entitle States other than the injured State to invoke State responsibility. A distinction is drawn between obligations owed to a group of States and established to protect a collective interest of the group (paragraph 1 (a)), and obligations owed to the international community as a whole (paragraph 1 (b)).722 (6) Under paragraph 1 (a), States other than the injured State may invoke responsibility if two conditions are met: first, the obligation whose breach has given rise to responsibility must have been owed to a group to which the State invoking responsibility belongs; and secondly, the obligation must have been established for the protection of a collective interest. The provision does not distinguish between different sources of international law; obligations protecting a collective interest of the group may derive from multilateral treaties or customary international law. Such obligations have sometimes been referred to as “obligations erga omnes partes”. (7) Obligations coming within the scope of paragraph 1 (a) have to be “collective obligations”, i.e. they must apply between a group of States and have been established in some collective interest.723 They might concern, for example, the environment or security of a region (e.g. a regional nuclear-free-zone treaty or a regional system for the protection of human rights). They are not limited to arrangements established only in the interest of the member States but would extend to agreements established by a group of States in some wider common interest.724 But in any event the arrangement must transcend the sphere of bilateral relations of the States parties. As to the requirement that the obligation in question protect a collective interest, it is not the function of the articles to provide an enumeration of such interests. If they fall within paragraph 1 (a), their principal purpose will be to foster a common interest, over and above any interests of the States concerned individually. This would include situations in 722 For the extent of responsibility for serious breaches of obligations to the international community as a whole, see Part Two, chap. III and commentary. 723 See also paragraph (11) of the commentary to article 42. 724 In the S.S. “Wimbledon” (see footnote 34 above), the Court noted “[t]he intention of the authors of the Treaty of Versailles to facilitate access to the Baltic by establishing an international regime, and consequently to keep the canal open at all times to foreign vessels of every kind” (p. 23).