Dual Attribution: Liability of the Netherlands for Conduct of Dutchbat in Srebrenica

Abstract

On 5 July 2011 the Court of Appeal of The Hague held that the state of the Netherlands had acted unlawfully and is liable, under Dutch law, for evicting four Bosnian nationals from the compound of Dutchbat in Srebrenica on 12 July 1995. When not overturned by the Supreme Court, the decisions of the Court of Appeal will stand as groundbreaking rulings on the possibility of dual attribution of conduct to the United Nations (UN) and a troop contributing state. In this case-note, I will first summarize the relevant facts (section 2) and the disputed conduct (section 3) and subsequently discuss questions of attribution (section 4) and wrongfulness (section 5). The case-note focuses in particular on the implications of the case for the possibility of shared responsibility in international law.

Keywords: International law, international responsibility, peace-keeping, liability, United Nations

JEL Classification: K33