Prosecutor v Tadić
The ICTY held that it was lawfully established, defined an armed conflict, extended war crimes to internal conflicts, and adopted an overall control test for when a state is responsible for armed groups.
Facts
Duško Tadić, a Bosnian Serb, was the first person to be tried by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, established by the United Nations Security Council in 1993. He was charged with crimes committed against Bosnian Muslims in the Prijedor region in 1992. He challenged the jurisdiction of the tribunal, arguing that the Security Council had no power to establish it, and that the conflict in Bosnia was an internal conflict to which the law of war crimes did not apply.
Legal principle
In its 1995 decision on jurisdiction, the Appeals Chamber held that the Security Council had power to establish the tribunal under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, and that an armed conflict exists whenever there is a resort to armed force between states or protracted armed violence between governmental authorities and organised armed groups or between such groups within a state. Violations of the laws and customs of war could be committed in internal as well as international armed conflicts. In its 1999 judgment on the merits, the Appeals Chamber held that the conflict was international, because the Bosnian Serb forces were under the overall control of Yugoslavia, adopting a less demanding test than the effective control test in Nicaragua. The International Court of Justice later declined to apply the overall control test to state responsibility.
Related cases on use of force, armed conflict and international criminal law
- Al-Jedda v United Kingdom (2011) 53 EHRR 23
- Allegations of Genocide under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Ukraine v Russian Federation) (2022) ICJ Reports 211
- Armed Activities on the Territory of the Congo (Democratic Republic of the Congo v Uganda) (2005) ICJ Reports 168
- Hassan v United Kingdom (2016) 61 EHRR 18
- Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons (1996) ICJ Reports 226
- Oil Platforms (Iran v United States) (2003) ICJ Reports 161
- Prosecutor v Akayesu Case No ICTR-96-4-T (1998)
- Prosecutor v Furundžija Case No IT-95-17/1-T (1998)
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