Fluchtverursachung als völkerrechtliches Delikt. Die völkerrechtliche Verantwortlichkeit des Herkunftsstaates für die Verursachung von Fluchtbewegungen [published in German, title translated to English: Causing Refugee Flows as a Delict under International Law - International Responsibility of the State of Origin for Causing Refugee Movements]

Abstract

The book considers a wide range of basic concepts within public international law relating to state responsibility for internationally wrongful (illegal) acts, applied to expulsion of a state's own population. The main emphasis of the book is on the violation of the receiving state's sovereignty by the obtrusion of unwanted people. Looking for preventative approaches, it starts by discussing the evolution of the principles of state responsibility as they have been moulded in the International Law Commission's Articles on State Responsibility. It pays particular attention to special problems resulting from their application in a refugee context, such as causation and attribution of the acts leading to a mass refugee movement and its consequences. It examines the primary norms of international law which are violated when states cause their population to flee, and then lays out the legal consequences of such internationally wrongful acts.

Possible norm violations are discussed at three levels, first in terms of violations of human rights, such as of the right to free movement, nationality rights and, most notably, the existence of a right to a home(land). Secondly, the book undertakes an overview of refugee movements since 1917, with special emphasis on refugees fleeing from Nazi Germany, as discussed in the League of Nations institutions. This reveals an emerging opinio iuris and state practice that perceives the causing of refugee movements as a violation of the receiving state's sovereignty, and, therefore, as prohibited by international law even before human rights regulated this situation. The third level examines whether obligations owed to the international community as a whole are violated, discussing the concept of 'international community' and the relevance and relationship between the concepts of international crimes, erga omnes obligations and ius cogens.

The book then looks at the consequences of internationally wrongful acts in a refugee context, with specific focus on reparation, compensation and guarantees against repetition. It concludes with an analysis of the possible legal implementation of such consequences by states, especially by unilateral or collective humanitarian intervention.

Keywords: state responsibility, sovereignty, right to a homeland, free movement, ius cogens, international crimes, refugees, human rights, international community, humanitarian intervention

JEL Classification: K34