1 Responsibility of States for Unlawful Acts in Cyberspace Abstract This master's thesis addresses the topic of responsibility of state for the unlawful acts in cyberspace. The research subject is the application of the legal norms and the possibility of the state being held responsible in the field of collective security and human rights in cyberspace. It discusses mainly the question of use of force, armed attack, and aggression. Regarding the human rights, this master's thesis focuses on right to private life and family life, freedom of expression and right to life. This thesis delimitates the rules of responsibility of state under the Articles on Responsibility of State for Unlawful acts. In the chosen fields it was found that the international public law applies in limited manner also to cyberspace. In cyberspace, many attacks take place, which may result in breach in different fields of international law. To answer the question of the state responsibility, it was firstly dealt with, whether the subject-matter of this breaches can be reached in cyberspace. Following the analysis of the contemporary case law and state positions, it was argued, that the responsibility for the breach of prohibition of use of force may be applied in cyberspace. This thesis uses terms of armed attack and aggression and also...

"This study centres on the presumption that, given the unprecedented economic power of corporations, it is vital to clarify the legal issues surrounding the responsibility of corporations for human rights violations and to look at avenues for asserting responsibility. Consequently, this study focuses on the responsibility concept for corporate human rights violations and the objective of this study is to explore, examine and assess various avenues for asserting responsibility for corporate human rights violations. The study recommends other avenues for asserting responsibility for corporate human rights violations in Africa. The study therefore raises four issues. The first phase seeks to focus on how globalisation has triggered the proliferation of corporations in national economies in Africa and the impact on human rights issues taking into cognisance the responsibility concept vis a vis corporations. The second part seeks to examine state responsibility for the acts of corporations. This discussion will focus on the International Rules on State Responsibility and obligations of states under international human rights law with reference to certain human rights instruments that confer a duty on states to respect and to ensure to all citizens within their territories and subject to their jurisdiction the rights recongnised in these instruments. This discussion basically seeks to review the dominant approach to human rights treaties and the relevant instruments to assess the available avenues in asserting responsibility on the state for corporate human rights violations. This study will assess home and host state responsibility and argue that the host state cannot certainly be regarded as the main bearer of responisiblity for violations of human rights due to the powerful characteristics of corporatoins. The jurisprudence of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights will also be taken into consideration in examining the legal responsibility of states under international human rights law for corporate human rights violations. Part three of this study will addres the question of asserting direct responsibility on transnational corporations for human rights violations. While some remarks will be made on non-legal responsibilities or soft law, my interest will however be to examine and assess the suitability of human right principles and instruments that confer direct responsibility on corporations for human rights violations. The discussion will also take cognisance of some treaties that confer direct criminal responsibility on corporations for human rights violations. The fourth and concluding part will attempt to look at the need for internaitonal legally binding regulations of corporations. This discussion will attempt to focus on the application and implications of international legally binding regulation in Africa as a means of reforming and strengthening direct corporate criminal responsibility for human rights violations. Recommendations geared towards the legal reform of asserting direct responsiblity on transnational corporations in Africa will then be made." -- Introduction. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2004. / Prepared under the supervision of Prof. Kingsley K. K. Ampofo, Faculty of Law, University of Ghana / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/llm1.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

L’immatriculation des satellites est une procédure issue du droit international spatial, et en particulier de l’article VIII du Traité sur l’espace de 1967 et de la Convention relative à l’immatriculation des objets spatiaux de 1975. De nombreux États en précisent le champ, les modalités et la portée dans leur droit national. C’est le cas de la France, qui prévoit ce mécanisme dans sa « Loi relative aux opérations spatiales » de 2008 et ses textes d’application. L’immatriculation établit un lien de rattachement entre un État et un objet spatial, et c’est en particulier les satellites actifs qui font l’objet de la présente analyse. Ce lien de rattachement est attributif de la « juridiction et du contrôle » sur l’objet, expression dont il fallait cerner le sens précis. Synonyme de compétence dans un sens général, elle n’en renvoie pas moins à un devoir d’encadrement technique des activités dans l’espace de la part de l’État qui y procède. Ceci permet de préserver l’une des normes fondamentales du droit de l’espace, la liberté d’accès à l’espace extra-atmosphérique par tous les États. Le fait de mettre en place ces normes permet d’éviter que ces activités, intrinsèquement dangereuses, ne soient dommageables. Cette liberté d’accès à un espace non soumis à un titre de compétence territorial est un corollaire de la souveraineté de l’État. Cette liberté ne va pas sans difficultés. L’évolution des activités dans des espaces partagés, tels que l’espace extra-atmosphérique, la haute mer ou l’espace aérien surplombant cette dernière y contribue. Elle s’intensifie. L’espace extra-atmosphérique est de plus en plus utilisée. Le secteur spatial fournit en effet des services très demandés, et désormais indispensables à la société. On pense en particulier à la télédétection, aux télécommunications et aux systèmes de positionnement. De ce fait les satellites participent du mouvement de digitalisation de l’économie. L’espace peut donc être considéré comme un ressource rare, comme l’est déjà le spectre radioélectrique, indispensable aux communications avec les satellites. Dans un environnement de plus en plus concurrentiel, la tendance à optimiser le choix du droit applicable peut être un facteur d’économie, parfois au détriment de la sécurité des activités.Le droit maritime connait ce phénomène, avec les pavillons de complaisance. L’évolution des activités spatiales doit de ce fait prendre ce risque en compte. Dans ce cadre l’immatriculation est un mécanisme fondamental. D’une part, pour des raisons de sûreté matérielle. Il permet en effet d’assurer que le satellite sera opéré sous la surveillance d’un État. Si ce mécanisme ne peut pour l’instant que difficilement être contourné du fait de la responsabilité qui s’attache au statut d’Etat de lancement, il faut néanmoins soulever que celui-ci est un héritage des premiers temps des activités spatiales, qui ne correspond que peu avec la dynamique actuelle de ces activités. D’autre part, pour des raisons d’applicabilité du droit aux espaces numériques. En effet les satellites sont des infrastructures numériques, considérant le caractère fluide de ces activités, c’est bien le contrôle sur l’infrastructure qui constitue la dernière garantie de l’applicabilité du droit. / Satellites registration is a mechanism of international space law. Article VIII of the 1967 Space Treaty and the 1975 Convention on the Registration of Space Objects are the two main treaties establishing it. Many States specify its scope, modalities and range in their national legislations. This is the case of France, which provides for this mechanism in its municipal law on space operations of 2008 and its implementing texts. Registration establishes a link between a State and a space object. In particular, the functioning satellites are the subject of this analysis. This connecting link attributes "jurisdiction and control" over the object, the meaning of which was to be understood. It can be asserted as a synonymous with competence in a general sense. Nonetheless, it also refers to a duty of technical supervision of activities in outer space from the State, which proceeds to the registration. This preserves a fundamental norm of outer space law, the freedom of access to outer space by all States. Putting these standards in place prevents these inherently dangerous activities from being harmful. This freedom of access to an area not subject to territorial jurisdiction is a corollary of the sovereignty of States. This freedom does not come without challenges. The evolution of activities in shared spaces, such as outer space, the high seas or the airspace above it contributes to the phenomenon of intensification of uses. Outer space knows indeed a more and more intense utilization. The space sector provides high-demand services, which are now essential to society. In particular, we can mention remote sensing, telecommunications and positioning systems. As a result, satellites are part of the digitization movement of the economy. Outer space is therefore be considered as a scarce resource, as is already the radio spectrum, essential for communications with satellites. In an increasingly competitive environment, the tendency to optimize the choice of the applicable law can be a saving factor, sometimes to the detriment of the safety of the activities. Maritime law knows this phenomenon with flags of convenience. The evolution of space activities must therefore take this risk into consideration. In this context, registration is a fundamental mechanism. On the one hand, for reasons of material safety. It makes it possible to ensure that the satellite operator is under State supervision. While this mechanism cannot for the moment be easily circumvented by the responsibility attached to the status of launching State, it must nevertheless be pointed out that it is a legacy from the earliest days of space activities. It does not quite correspond to the current dynamics of these activities. On the other hand, for reasons of applicability of the law to digital spaces. Indeed satellites are digital infrastructures. Considering the fluid nature of these activities, it is the control over the infrastructure that constitutes the last guarantee of the applicability of the law.

No description available.

No description available.

The mass of space debris in orbit around the Earth is growing and will continue to grow due to more frequent launches of satellites and space debris colliding with other space debris. This could lead to a situation in the future where a part, or all, of the orbit becomes so crowded with space debris that it becomes impossible to launch satellites to that region. In the end, it could even become impossible to access outer space at all due to the high risk of collision when travelling through the orbit. The first aim of this thesis is to explore the international regulation regarding space debris and evaluate if the legal regime can successfully be used as a tool to deal with the growing issue of orbital debris. The second aim is to discuss and recommend some possible improvements to the international regulation of space, to promote the sustainability of the Earth orbit as well as legal certainty. It is concluded that the current legal regime is unequipped to handle the issue of space debris. This is because the space treaties are vague and do not impose strict boundaries on the actions of states, and sufficient international customary law has not been developed. To address this issue, several improvements to the regulation of outer space are proposed with the aim of removing the legal uncertainty and providing a flexible framework to address the complex issues space debris creates.

Since 1945, there has been a proliferation of armed groups in conflict theatres across the globe. Although these groups exist outside of the regular forces of States, they are in most instances supported and controlled by States. Despite this, the complicit support of States in the commission of international crimes by armed groups is not recognised under international law and the tests of control through which the conduct of individuals could be attributed to States are almost impossible to meet. This allows States to maintain compelling roles in international crimes committed by armed groups with impunity. Despite this, the role played by States in modern international conflict has received only intermittent attention in the literature. This thesis seeks to address this disparity by addressing the critical role of State support of armed groups in the commission of international crimes by challenging the existing tests of attribution of conduct to States under the present rules of international responsibility. Therefore this thesis asks whether there can be variation to the current tests for attribution of conduct of individuals who are members of non-State armed groups to States which provide support to them, by approaching the interpretation of "control" in a purposive, less literal manner. It argues this by analysing the limitations of the current law through selected case studies. It further examines alternative approaches in the fields of international human rights law and international criminal law, again through selected case studies with a view to determining whether they can assist in crafting more purposive approaches towards the determination of State control over armed groups. This will augment the current corpus of literature by suggesting improvements that can, hopefully, pass into the lex lata and stymie continued State impunity in this area.

Two major pillars of the state responsibility system are administrative losses compensation system and national compensation system. The ¡§Destruction Fire Operation¡¨ which causes innocent third person¡¦s property loss forms administrative losses compensation responsibility or national compensation responsibility promptly. The fire protection law in Taiwan has been revised and enlarged the 19th item 2 since August, 1995. From the view of protecting people¡¦s right, it is admirable to compensate people propriety loss caused by disaster. However the related compensation stipulate seems not enough. The essay based on legal principle state responsibility researches the national compensation responsibility of the ¡§Destruction Fire Operation¡¨. Meanwhile, we confirm it is true that the theory and practice are agreed with from two cases happened in Kaohsiung county. The essay researches the motive, the range and restriction, the structure and method. We have detail description on the meaning of the ¡§Destruction Fire Operation¡¨ compensation responsibility as well as extended compensation responsibility resulted from fire-fighting. We analyze and discuss the current legal provisions of ¡§Destruction Fire Operation¡¨, and practices of fire operation compensation and compensation cases.

The prohibition on the use of child soldiers is widely recognized. Still, it is estimated that 60,000 children were abducted and forced to take part in the internal armed conflict between the Lord’s Resistance Army and the Government of Uganda. Thus, this study examines how the formerly abducted children have experienced their return and reintegration. The thesis is based on a minor field study conducted in Gulu and aims at investigating whether the provision of remedies aids or hinders their reintegration. Using theories of recognition and a conceptualization of successful reintegration, I analyze the semi-structured interviews with fourteen former abductees and ten other community members. The findings suggest that the process of return is fraught with many challenges. It is concluded that the absence of symbolic and material reparations is an obstacle to successful reintegration and sustainable peace as the lack of recognition can drive future social conflict in Uganda.

It has been two decades since the terrorist attacks on September 11. These events were the starting shot for the US war on terrorism, which has resulted in extreme challenges for human rights treaties. Several people have fallen victim to the US protection measures, which have included a detention and interrogation program and extraordinary renditions. The US protection measures have resulted in military invasions, kidnappings, detentions, and acts of torture. Even though black sites are no longer secret, has nobody ever been held responsible for these crimes. The question of who should be held responsible for the systematic violations of the United States is therefore necessary to discuss as this is a problem that characterizes the international legal system still today. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the US legal argument for justifying enhanced interrogation techniques and extraordinary renditions is consistent with the human rights treaties. The study examines the extent to which the US exercises jurisdiction over people who are subject to extraordinary renditions. Furthermore, it is also important to investigate if extraordinary renditions conflict with two treaties that have been approved in the United States and consequently the legitimacy of the arguments will be tested against CAT and ICCPR. The problem has been analysed in the light of jurisdiction. The interpretation of the concept of jurisdiction in general international law and human rights treaties constitutes an essential issue regarding states’ responsibilities to uphold and respect the human rights within the research area and research questions. The study focuses primarily on the question of when a state has obligations under human right treaties outside of its own territory. The issue of jurisdiction has been discussed primarily in international courts since Bankovic. The investigation shows that people that have been subject to extraordinary renditions as well as the detention and interrogation program fall under US jurisdiction. According to case law, the study establishes that the United States exercises effective control over the people in the event of extraordinary renditions. Moreover, the study claims that state responsibility can be attributed to the US for having failed in its obligations to respect and protect human rights in the war on terrorism.