Obligations Erga Omnes

Obligations erga omnes are duties that a state owes to the international community as a whole, rather than only to another particular state. Unlike ordinary bilateral obligations, their protection is a matter of legal interest to all states because of the fundamental interests they safeguard.

To whom the obligation is owed

The central distinction concerns the beneficiaries of the obligation, not simply how many states have signed a treaty.

• An ordinary bilateral obligation is owed to a particular state, which normally invokes responsibility when that obligation is breached. A treaty involving many states can also create obligations operating bilaterally between its parties.
• An erga omnes obligation is owed to the international community as a whole; every state has a legal interest in its protection, even without suffering individual injury.
• In Barcelona Traction (1970), the International Court of Justice articulated this distinction, identifying examples concerning the prohibition of aggression and genocide, and basic human rights, including protection from slavery and racial discrimination.

Who may invoke responsibility

The distinction broadens the legal interest in responding to a breach, but it does not remove the procedural requirements governing international adjudication.

• For an ordinary bilateral obligation, the injured state is normally entitled to invoke the responsible state's international responsibility.
• For an obligation owed to the international community as a whole, a state other than an injured state may also invoke responsibility. Article 48 of the International Law Commission's Articles on State Responsibility reflects this distinction.
• Such a state may seek cessation of the wrongful conduct and appropriate assurances of non-repetition, as well as performance of the obligation of reparation in the interest of the injured state or the beneficiaries.
• An obligation's erga omnes character does not itself establish ICJ jurisdiction: a separate jurisdictional basis remains necessary. Nor does it automatically authorize force or any particular enforcement measure.

Distinction from related concepts

Erga omnes describes to whom an obligation is owed; other concepts address different legal questions.

• Jus cogens concerns a norm's superior legal status: it permits no derogation. Erga omnes concerns the community-wide legal interest in compliance; the concepts overlap but are not interchangeable.
• Erga omnes partes describes obligations owed collectively to all parties to a particular treaty because they protect a common interest. Its relevant community is the treaty's parties, rather than the international community as a whole.