142 Report of the International Law Commission on the work of its fifty-third session (3) Just as a State may second officials to another State, putting them at its disposal so that they act for the purposes of and under the control of the latter, so the same could occur as between an international organization and a State. The former situation is covered by article 6. As to the latter situation, if a State seconds officials to an international organization so that they act as organs or officials of the organization, their conduct will be attributable to the organization, not the sending State, and will fall outside the scope of the articles. As to the converse situation, in practice there do not seem to be convincing examples of organs of international organizations which have been “placed at the disposal of ” a State in the sense of article 6,832 and there is no need to provide expressly for the possibility. (4) Article 57 also excludes from the scope of the articles issues of the responsibility of a State for the acts of an international organization, i.e. those cases where the international organization is the actor and the State is said to be responsible by virtue of its involvement in the conduct of the organization or by virtue of its membership of the organization. Formally, such issues could fall within the scope of the present articles since they concern questions of State responsibility akin to those dealt with in chapter IV of Part One. But they raise controversial substantive questions as to the functioning of international organizations and the relations between their members, questions which are better dealt with in the context of the law of international organizations.833 (5) On the other hand article 57 does not exclude from the scope of the articles any question of the responsibility of a State for its own conduct, i.e. for conduct attributable to it under chapter II of Part One, not being conduct performed by an organ of an international organization. In this respect the scope of article 57 is narrow. It covers only what is sometimes referred to as the derivative or second832 Cf. Yearbook ... 1974, vol. II (Part One), pp. 286–290. The High Commissioner for the Free City of Danzig was appointed by the League of Nations Council and was responsible to it; see Treatment of Polish Nationals (footnote 75 above). Although the High Commissioner exercised powers in relation to Danzig, it is doubtful that he was placed at the disposal of Danzig within the meaning of article 6. The position of the High Representative, appointed pursuant to annex 10 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina of 14 December 1995, is also unclear. The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has held that the High Representative has a dual role, both as an international agent and as an official in certain circumstances acting in and for Bosnia and Herzegovina; in the latter respect, the High Representative’s acts are subject to constitutional control. See Case U 9/00 on the Law on the State Border Service, Official Journal of Bosnia and Herzegovina, No. 1/01 of 19 January 2001. 833 This area of international law has acquired significance following controversies, inter alia, over the International Tin Council: J. H. Rayner (Mincing Lane) Ltd. v. Department of Trade and Industry, case 2 A.C. 418 (1990) (England, House of Lords); Maclaine Watson and Co., Ltd. v. Council and Commission of the European Communities, case C-241/87, Reports of cases before the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance, 1990-5, p. I–1797; and the Arab Organization for Industrialization (Westland Helicopters Ltd. v. Arab Organization for Industrialization, ILR, vol. 80, p. 595 (1985) (International Chamber of Commerce Award); Arab Organization for Industrialization v. Westland Helicopters Ltd., ibid., p. 622 (1987) (Switzerland, Federal Supreme Court); Westland Helicopters Ltd. v. Arab Organization for Industrialization, ibid., vol. 108, p. 564 (1994) (England, High Court). See also Waite and Kennedy v. Germany, Eur. Court H.R., Reports, 1999–I, p. 393 (1999). ary liability of member States for the acts or debts of an international organization.834 Article 58. Individual responsibility These articles are without prejudice to any question of the individual responsibility under international law of any person acting on behalf of a State. Commentary (1) Article 58 makes clear that the articles as a whole do not address any question of the individual responsibility under international law of any person acting on behalf of a State. It clarifies a matter which could be inferred in any case from the fact that the articles only address issues relating to the responsibility of States. (2) The principle that individuals, including State officials, may be responsible under international law was established in the aftermath of the Second World War. It was included in the London Charter of 1945 which established the Nuremberg Tribunal835 and was subsequently endorsed by the General Assembly.836 It underpins more recent developments in the field of international criminal law, including the two ad hoc tribunals and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.837 So far this principle has operated in the field of criminal responsibility, but it is not excluded that developments may occur in the field of individual civil responsibility.838 As a saving clause, article 58 is not intended to exclude that possibility; hence the use of the general term “individual responsibility”. (3) Where crimes against international law are committed by State officials, it will often be the case that the State itself is responsible for the acts in question or for failure to prevent or punish them. In certain cases, in particular aggression, the State will by definition be involved. Even so, the question of individual responsibility is in principle distinct from the question of State responsibility.839 The 834 See the work of the Institute of International Law under R. Higgins, Yearbook of the Institute of International Law, vol. 66–I (1995), p. 251, and vol. 66–II (1996), p. 444. See also P. Klein, La responsabilité des organisations internationales dans les ordres juridiques internes et en droit des gens (Brussels, Bruylant Editions de l’Université de Bruxelles, 1998). See further WTO, Report of the Panel, Turkey: Restrictions on Imports of Textile and Clothing Products (footnote 130). 835 See footnote 636 above. 836 General Assembly resolution 95 (I) of 11 December 1946. See also the Principles of International Law recognized in the Charter of the Nürnberg Tribunal and in the Judgment of the Tribunal, elaborated by the International Law Commission, Yearbook ... 1950, vol. II, p. 374, document A/1316. 837 See paragraph (6) of the commentary to chapter III of Part Two. 838 See, e.g., article 14 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, dealing with compensation for victims of torture. 839 See, e.g., Streletz, Kessler and Krenz v. Germany (application Nos. 34044/96, 35532/97 and 44801/98), judgment of 22 March 2001, Eur. Court H.R., Reports, 2001–II: “If the GDR still existed, it would be responsible from the viewpoint of international law for the acts concerned. It remains to be established that alongside that State responsibility the applicants individually bore criminal responsibility at the material time” (para. 104).

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