What are the requisite elements to convict an individual of aiding and abetting international crimes committed by an organization? This form of liability question was the principal issue the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) addressed in its February 28, 2013 judgment overturning the 2011 conviction of General Momčilo Perišić, the former head of the Army of Yugoslavia (VJ), for aiding and abetting war crimes in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia.

On July 11, 2013, in the case against Radovan Karadžić, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) held that the evidence presented against the accused, if taken at its highest, could lead a reasonable trier of fact to find that genocide against Bosnian Muslim and/or Bosnian Croat groups had occurred in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992. This decision overturned an earlier ruling by Trial Chamber III on the accused’s motion for acquittal pursuant to Rule 98bis of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence, which found that there was insufficient evidence to support a conviction for genocide in the seven municipalities of Bosnia and Herzegovina.2

International legal personality has often been viewed as synonymous with statehood. States are the primary subjects of international law, and only they have general competence on the international plane, including the competence to create the law. However, in the 1949 Reparation for Injuries advisory opinion, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) acknowledged that forms of international legal personality other than statehood could exist. In determining whether the United Nations (UN) was an international person, the ICJ considered the functions and rights which had been conferred on the organization pursuant to the UN Charter. Although these were found to be distinct from the rights and duties possessed by States, the ICJ concluded that these necessarily involved “a large measure of international personality and the capacity to operate on an international plane.” According to the Court, the hallmarks of international legal personality included the ability to possess international rights and duties and the capacity to maintain such rights by bringing international claims.

Somalia, embroiled in civil war since the early 1990s, has been variously qualified as a failed state, a rogue state, or a collapsed state. Several peacekeeping operations by the United Nations (UN) have attempted to bring peace to the chaotic region. The latest UN Security Council Resolution pertaining to Somalia, Resolution 2093 (2013), partially lifts the twenty-one-year-old arms embargo imposed on Somalia, in an acknowledgement of the progress made by the current government towards stability.

On March 7, 2013, the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 2094 (2013), bolstering the scope of United Nations (UN) sanctions against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). The Resolution represents the international community’s latest attempt at applying diplomatic and economic pressure to the DPRK so as to curb its nuclear weapons program. The resolution is also a response to the DPRK’s third nuclear test on February 12, 2013 and its subsequent threat to carry out preemptive nuclear strikes against the United States and South Korea. Acting under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, the Security Council responded to these grave violations of its existing Resolutions—seen as clear threats to international peace and security—by building upon, strengthening, and expanding the scope of the sanctions regime against the DPRK.