Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-grxwn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-12T10:46:32.254Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - Improper Omission

from Part I - Individual Commission

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2019

By
Robert Roth
General editor
Jérôme de Hemptinne ,
Robert Roth  and
Elies van Sliedregt
Edited by
Marjolein Cupido ,
Manuel J. Ventura  and
Lachezar Yanev
Assisted by
Tom Gal ,
Dillon Roseen  and
Thomas Van Poecke
Jérôme de Hemptinne
Affiliation:
Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights
Robert Roth
Affiliation:
Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights
Elies van Sliedregt
Affiliation:
University of Leeds
Marjolein Cupido
Affiliation:
Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
Manuel J. Ventura
Affiliation:
Western Sydney University
Lachezar Yanev
Affiliation:
Universiteit van Tilburg, The Netherlands
Tom Gal
Affiliation:
Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights
Thomas Van Poecke
Affiliation:
KU Leuven, Belgium
Get access

Summary

When major crimes are committed on a broad scale, most of the people who may be held criminally liable for these crimes have actively taken part in them. Yet some of those morally and politically responsible for these crimes have not undertaken any action. Therefore, criminal prosecutors and judges must also analyse the conduct of people who did not act but whose conduct may nevertheless amount to international crimes. The basis for this operation is simple when a criminal provision specifically addresses the conduct of the person who omits to act; this situation is known as proper omission. By contrast, when no specific criminal provision regarding the omission to act is available, liability results from a legal construction the conditions of which will be discussed in the present chapter.

Type
Chapter
Information
Modes of Liability in International Criminal Law , pp. 58 - 82
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Select Bibliography

Ambos, K., Treatise on International Criminal Law – Volume I: Foundations and General Part (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013).Google Scholar
Ambos, K., ‘Article 25’, in Triffterer, O. and Ambos, K., Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: A Commentary (3rd edn, Munich: Beck, 2016), 979–1029.Google Scholar
Berster, L., ‘“Duty to Act” and “Commission by Omission” in International Criminal Law’, 10 International Criminal Law Review (2010), 619–646.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boas, G., ‘Omission Liability at the International Criminal Tribunals – A Case for Reform’, in Darcy, S. and Powderly, J. (eds.), Judicial Creativity at the International Criminal Tribunals (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), 204–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cryer, R., ‘General Principles of Liability’ in McGoldrick, D., Rowe, P. and Donnelly, E. (eds.), The Permanent International Criminal Court: Legal and Policy Issues (Oxford: Hart, 2004), 233–262.Google Scholar
Duttwiler, M., ‘Liability for Omission in International Criminal Law’, 6 International Criminal Law Review (2006), 1–61.Google Scholar
Gosnell, C., ‘Damned if You Don’t: Liability for Omissions in International Criminal Law’ in Schabas, W., McDermott, Y. and Hayes, N. (eds.), The Ashgate Research Companion to International Criminal Law: Critical Perspectives (Farnham; Ashgate, 2013), 101–131.Google Scholar
Ingle, J., ‘Aiding and Abetting by Omission before the International Criminal Tribunals’, 14 Journal of International Criminal Justice (2016), 747–769.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jessberger, F., ‘Omission’, in Cassese, A. (ed.), The Oxford Companion to International Criminal Justice (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 445–447.Google Scholar
Noto, F., Secondary Liability in International Criminal Law (Zürich/St-Gallen: Dike, 2013), 191–198.Google Scholar
van Sliedregt, E., Individual Criminal Responsibility in International Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012).Google Scholar
Werle, G. and Jessberger, F., Principles of International Criminal Law (3rd edn, Oxford: Oxford University Press), 266–270.Google Scholar
Zappalà, S., ‘Les crimes d’omission’, in Ascensio, H., Decaux, E. and Pellet, A. (eds.), Droit international pénal (2nd edn Paris: Pedone, 2012), 517–528.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×