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COMPENSATION IN INTERNATIONAL LAW
Pavel Šturma (ed.) a kol.
Compensation in International Law
[Odškodňování v mezinárodním právu]
Praha: Univerzita Karlova v Praze, 2013, 196 s., Studie z mezinárodního
práva; č. 5 (28) [Studies in international law; vol. 5 (28)]
This monograph is the first attempt in Czech academic research to comprehensively
summarize the indemnification of non-state actors in international public law.
The publication came about as a result of Specific University Research project
SVV no. 266404/2013 with a body of academic researchers and students from the
Department of International Public Law at the Law Faculty of Charles University in
Prague.
A remark from the text paraphrased by Professor Šturma can be used as a motto
of the book: Even though from a pragmatic point of view, an individual seeks
compensation on the basis of some legal title, on the other hand, from the viewpoint
of the discipline of international law, this distinction is important to the extent that
the compensation is not a sole right of the private individual but is linked to state
responsibility for internationally wrongful conduct.
The publication is mainly structured as two parts. The first part deals with general
issues of indemnification in international public law. Attention is also accorded to
long standing regimes that provide for remedy, such as investment treaty law or
human rights law that contain a vast body of case law.
The second part is concerned with the practice or possibility of indemnification
in various international legal regimes such as human rights law, law pertaining to
compensation of acts of terrorism, consequences of peace missions or compensation
mechanisms in case of oil pollution, indemnification inmaritime law or compensation
for nuclear damages. Attention is also given to long standing regimes that provide for
remedy, such as investment treaty law or human rights law.
Structural issues of indemnification in international law
Thebookbegins by introducing indemnificationas a classic institutionof international
public law which has become more dynamic in nature due to the proliferation of
individual rights. Or, as is pointed out by Professor Šturma, the main challenge for
general rules on state responsibility is private individuals or other non-states actors
to whom primary rules of international public law have granted certain rights. The
chapter additionally offers an analysis of indemnification of non state actors from the
perspective of the 2001 Draft Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally
Wrongful Acts. Accordingly, different theoretical approaches are also presented.