Erga omnes

Erga omnes is a Latin phrase which means "towards all" or "towards everyone". In legal terminology, erga
omnes rights or obligations are owed toward all. For instance, a property right is an erga omnes entitlement,
and therefore enforceable against anybody infringing that right. An erga omnes right (a statutory right) can
here be distinguished from a right based on contract, unenforceable except against the contracting party.

Contents
International law
Examples
The International Law Commission
See also
References

International law
In international law, it has been used as a legal term describing obligations owed by states towards the
community of states as a whole. An erga omnes obligation exists because of the universal and undeniable
interest in the perpetuation of critical rights (and the prevention of their breach). Consequently, any state has
the right to complain of a breach. Examples of erga omnes norms include piracy and genocide. The concept
was recognized in the International Court of Justice's decision in the Barcelona Traction case[1] [(Belgium v
Spain) (Second Phase) ICJ Rep 1970 3 at paragraph 33]:

… an essential distinction should be drawn between the obligations of a State towards the
international community as a whole, and those arising vis-à-vis another State in the field of
diplomatic protection. By their very nature, the former are the concern of all States. In view of the
importance of the rights involved, all States can be held to have a legal interest in their protection;
they are obligations erga omnes. [at 34] Such obligations derive, for example, in contemporary
international law, from the outlawing of acts of aggression, and of genocide, as also from the
principles and rules concerning the basic rights of the human person, including protection from
slavery and racial discrimination. Some of the corresponding rights of protection have entered
into the body of general international law ... others are conferred by international instruments of a
universal or quasi-universal character.

Examples
In its advisory opinion of 9 July 2004, the International Court of Justice found "the right of peoples to self-
determination" to be a right erga omnes.[2] The finding referred to article 22 of the Covenant of the
League of Nations.
In its judgment of 20 July 2012 between Belgium and Senegal, the International Court of Justice found
that in relation to the Convention against Torture "any State party to the Convention may invoke the
responsibility of another State party with a view to ascertaining the alleged failure to comply with its
obligations erga omnes partes".[3]
In its order on provisional measures of 23 January 2020, the International Court of Justice found that The
Gambia had prima facie standing in the Rohingya genocide case it brought against Myanmar on the basis
of the Genocide Convention.[4]
The International Law Commission
The UN’s International Law Commission has codified the erga omnes principle in its draft articles on State
responsibility as it, in article 48(1)(b) of these articles, allows all States to invoke a State responsibility which
another State incurred due to its unlawful actions, if "the obligation breached is owed to the international
community as a whole". The ILC refers directly in its comments to this article to the erga omnes principle and
the ICJ's acceptance of it in the Barcelona Traction case.[5]

See also
Inter partes
Jus cogens (peremptory norm)

References
1. Simma, Bruno; Paulus, Andreas L. (1998). "The 'International Community': Facing the Challenge of
Globalization". European Journal of International Law. 9 (2): 266–277. doi:10.1093/ejil/9.2.266 (https://do
i.org/10.1093%2Fejil%2F9.2.266). ISSN 0938-5428 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0938-5428).
2. Legal consequences of the construction of a wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (http://www.unhc
r.org/refworld/pdfid/414ad9a719.pdf) art. 88; 9 July 2004
3. Questions relating to the Obligation to Prosecute or Extradite (https://www.icj-cij.org/public/files/case-relat
ed/144/144-20120720-JUD-01-00-EN.pdf). International Court of Justice. 20 July 2012, para 69.
4. Order on provisional measures (https://www.icj-cij.org/public/files/case-related/178/178-20200123-ORD-0
1-00-EN.pdf). International Court of Justice. 23 January 2020, paras 39-42.
5. Report of the Commission to the General Assembly on the work of its fifty-third session (23 April – 1 June
and 2 July– 10 August) A/56/10 (2001) II (Part Two) p. 127, para 8 and Jesper Jarl Fanø (2019).
Enforcing International Maritime Legislation on Air Pollution through UNCLOS. Hart Publishing. Ch. 18.

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