Skip to main navigation menu Skip to main content Skip to site footer
Teka Commission of Legal Sciences Polish Academy of Sciences Branch in Lublin

Vol. 18 No. 2 (2025)

Articles

The Legality of Unilateral Measures in Reaction to Human Rights Violations Committed by a Third State Against Its Nationals

DOI: https://doi.org/10.32084/tkp.9767  [Google Scholar]
Published: 2025-12-29

Abstract

Currently, there is no universal international mechanism that would allow the international community to effectively react to flagrant human rights violations that a State commits against its own nationals. That is why States, aware of the shortcomings of the international legal system, often decide to unilaterally react to flagrant human rights violations committed in third States against the nationals of those States. In general, States can use two unilateral tools to react to violations of international law: retorsions and countermeasures. The question this raises is, however, whether they can also be used to address human rights violations as described above. The current paper is aimed at addressing this issue. The paper starts with general definitions of retorsions and countermeasures, and then moves on to discuss their applicability to cases of violations of human rights in third States committed against the nationals of those States.

References

  1. Akehurst, Michael. 1970. “Reprisals by Third States.” British Yearbook of International Law 44:1-18. [Google Scholar]
  2. Bâli, Aslı Ü. 2023. “Weapons Against the Weak.” The Law and Political Economy Project, https://lpeproject.org/blog/weapons-against-the-weak/ [accessed: 29.10.2025]. [Google Scholar]
  3. Białocerkiewicz, Jan. 2007. Prawo międzynarodowe publiczne. Toruń: TNOiK. [Google Scholar]
  4. Cannizzaro, Enzo. 2001. “The Role of Proportionality in the Law of International Countermeasures.” European Journal of International Law 12 no. 5:889-916. [Google Scholar]
  5. Cassese, Antonio. 2005. International Law. 2nd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [Google Scholar]
  6. Crawford, James. 2013. State Responsibility: The General Part. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Google Scholar]
  7. Czapliński, Władysław, and Anna Wyrozumska. 2014. Prawo międzynarodowe publiczne: Zagadnienia systemowe. Warszawa: C.H. Beck. [Google Scholar]
  8. Damrosch, Lori F. 1997. “Enforcing International Law Through Non-forcible Measures.” Collected Courses of the Hague Academy of International Law 269:9-250. [Google Scholar]
  9. Elagab, Omer Y. 1986. “The Legality of Non-Forcible Counter-Measures in International Law.” Thesis submitted to the Board of the Faculty of Law, University of Oxford. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:bbb45168-8338-447a-bf4a-fe4e47834e3e/files/m5be14f-40d271e5376e77f4e7314fe1e1 [accessed: 30.10.2025]. [Google Scholar]
  10. Giegerich, Thomas. 2020. “Retorsion.” In Max Planck Encyclopedias of International Law. http://opil.ouplaw.com [accessed: 30.10.2025]. [Google Scholar]
  11. Gilas, Janusz. 2007. “Czyn w prawie międzynarodowym.” Kwartalnik Prawa Publicznego, nr 1-2:7-26. [Google Scholar]
  12. Hofbauer, Jane A., and Philipp Janig. 2022. “State Responsibility.” In Elgar Encyclopedia of Human Rights, edited by Christina Binder, Manfred Nowak, Jane A. Hofbauer, et al., 320-27. Cheltenham, Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing. [Google Scholar]
  13. Hofer, Alexandra. 2020. “The Proportionality of Unilateral “Targeted” Sanctions: Whose Interests Should Count?” Nordic Journal of International Law 89:399-421. [Google Scholar]
  14. Hofer, Alexandra. 2025. “Third-Party Countermeasures: Making Custom Out of Ambiguous Practice?” International and Comparative Law Quarterly 74:287-317. [Google Scholar]
  15. Kammerhofer, Jörg. 2024. “Obligations erga omnes.” In Max Planck Encyclopedias of International Law. http://opil.ouplaw.com [accessed: 30.10.2025]. [Google Scholar]
  16. Karl, Wolfram. “Protest.” In Encyclopedia of Public International Law, vol. 9, edited by Rudolf Bernhardt, 320-22. Amsterdam/New York/Oxford/Tokyo: North-Holland. [Google Scholar]
  17. Krisch, Nico. 2012. “Article 39.” In The Charter of the United Nations: A Commentary, edited by Nikolai Wessendorf, Bruno Simma, Daniel-Erasmus Khan, et al., 1238-271. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [Google Scholar]
  18. Malanczuk, Peter. 1985. “Zur Repressalle im Entwurf der International Law Commission zur Staatenverantwortlichkeit.” Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht 45:293-323. [Google Scholar]
  19. Partsch, Karl J. 1986. “Retorsion” In Encyclopedia of Public International Law, vol. 9, edited by Rudolf Bernhardt, 335-37. Amsterdam/New York/Oxford/Tokyo: North-Holland. [Google Scholar]
  20. Ragazzi, Maurizio. 2000. The Concept of International Obligations Erga Omnes. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [Google Scholar]
  21. Richter, Dagmar. 2013. “Unfriendly Act.” In Max Planck Encyclopedias of International Law. http://opil.ouplaw.com [accessed: 30.10.2025]. [Google Scholar]
  22. Ruys, Tom. 2016. “Sanctions, Retorsions and Countermeasures: Concepts and International Legal Framework.” In Research Handbook on UN Sanctions and International Law, edited by Larissa van den Herik, 19-51. Cheltenham, Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing. [Google Scholar]
  23. Schachter, Oscar. 1982. “International Law in Theory And Practice: General Course in Public International Law.” Collected Courses of the Hague Academy of International Law 178:3-395. [Google Scholar]
  24. Shaw, Malcolm N. 2008. International Law. 6th edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Google Scholar]
  25. Sicilianos, Linos-Alexandre. 1990. Les réactions décentralisées à l’illicite: Des contre-mesures à la légitime défense. Paris: LGDJ. [Google Scholar]
  26. Tams, Christian J. 2005. Enforcing Obligations Erga Omnes in International Law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Google Scholar]
  27. Tomuschat, Christian. 1973. “Repressalie und Retorsion. Zu einigen Aspekten ihrer innerstaatlichen Durchführung.” Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht 33:179-222. [Google Scholar]
  28. Tzanakopoulos, Antonios. 2015. “The Right to Be Free from Economic Coercion.” Cambridge Journal of International and Comparative Law 4, no. 3:616-633. [Google Scholar]
  29. Tzouvala, Ntina. 2023. “Successful Failures: Economic Sanctions, Humanitarianism, and the Undoing of Post-Colonial Sovereignty.” The Law and Political Economy Project, https://lpeproject.org/blog/successful-failures-economic-sanctions-humanitarianism-sovereignty/ [accessed 29.10.2025]. [Google Scholar]
  30. Villagrán Kramer, Francisco. 1997. “Retorsión y represalias por violaciones a los derechos humanos.” In Amicorum Liber: Persona Humana y Derecho Internacional, edited by Héctor Gros Espiell, 1765-1799. Bruxelles: Bruyant. [Google Scholar]
  31. Weber, Hermann. 1982. “Unfriendly Act.” In Encyclopedia of Public International Law, vol. 4, edited by Rudolf Bernhardt, 252-253. Amsterdam/New York/Oxford/Tokyo: North-Holland. [Google Scholar]
  32. Wengler, Wilhelm. 1977. “Public International Law: Paradoxes of a Legal Order.” Collected Courses of the Hague Academy of International Law 158:9-85. [Google Scholar]
  33. Zoller, Elisabeth, 1984. Peacetime Unilateral Remedies: An Analysis of Countermeasures. New York: Transnational Publishers Inc. [Google Scholar]

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Similar Articles

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.