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Genocide and State Responsibility
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2007
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Legal ResponsibilityExtraterritorial State ResponsibilityConstitutional LawLawMass AtrocityCriminal LawInternational CrimesAdministrative LawHumanitarian LawInternational CourtInternational Criminal LawGenocide Convention 1948Public PolicyCrime Against HumanityGenocideInternational RelationsHuman RightsInternational Criminal CourtsInternational LawHuman Rights LawState ResponsibilityInternational Humanitarian LawPublic International LawInternational Criminal PracticeJusticePolitical ScienceSocial Responsibility
In the Case Concerning the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v Serbia and Montenegro) (‘ Bosnia v Serbia ’), 1 the International Court of Justice (ICJ or Court) returned to the issue of extraterritorial state responsibility and it did so in two different, but related, contexts. The first concerned whether Serbia 2 could be held responsible under the Genocide Convention 1948 3 for acts carried out by Bosnian Serb paramilitary forces. Employing the same kind of legal standards that it had used previously in Nicaragua v United States , 4 the ICJ ruled that, notwithstanding the tremendously close relationship between the Serbian government and its Bosnian Serb allies (including the self-proclaimed Republic of Srpska), this relationship was not one of ‘complete dependence’ and that the former had not exercised the requisite level of ‘effective control’ over the latter. For these reasons, Serbia did not bear any legal responsibility for these acts.