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39 German Y.B. Int'l L. 285 (1996)
Obligations Erga Omnes and the Absent Third State

handle is hein.journals/gyil39 and id is 286 raw text is: Obligations Erga Omnes and the Absent Third State By Peter D. Coffman* Introduction There is a problem, increasingly common in international law, of the formula- tion of ever more complex rules in the absence of proper procedures for dispute re- solution.' A notable area of heightening complexity is the doctrine of rights and obligations binding on and enforceable by all States (i.e. applicable erga omnes). This expansive network of legal relationships responds to the stress that an increasing multilateralism in international relations has put on the prevailing horizontal, bilat- eral conception of State responsibility.2 Although these obligations to the interna- tional community3 are frequently assumed to be enforceable primarily in judicial fora, the doctrine's application to the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) rules and jurisprudence has not been much explored.4 The ICJ's recent opinion in the Case concerning East Timor,5 however, effectively bars the courthouse door to most claims invoking the erga omnes doctrine by reject- I gratefully acknowledgeJonathan A. Bush, Mary Virginia Coffman,James R. Crawford, lost Delbrick, Christian Feist, Christopherj Greenwood, Eric Johnson and Gregory F. Maggio for their advice and comments at various points in the writing of this article. 'JamesR. Crawford, Democracy and International Law, British Yearbook of International Law, vol. 64, 1993, 113, 130. 2The inadequacies of the International Court of Justice's procedural jurisprudence in the face of increasingly multilateral disputes receive extensive discussion in Christine Chinkin, Third Parties in International Law, 1993 (reviewed by Stephen M, Schwebel, Book Review, American Journal of International Law, vol. 89, 1995, 835). Cbinkin, 147, stresses the inher- ent tension in the position of third parties in international adjudicative and arbitral proce- dures which arises from the structure of the international legal system. See also Case concern- ing East Timor (Portugal vs. Australia), 1995 ICJ 90, 173 (dissenting opinion of Judge Weera- mantry). 3 Barcelona Traction, Light & Power Co. (Belgium vs. Spain), 1970 ICJ 3, 32 (second phase). 'But see Bruno Simma, Bilateralism and Community Interest in the Law of State Responsi- bility, in: Yoram Dinstein/Mala Tabory (eds.), International Law at a Time of Perplexity, 1989, 825; Chinkin (note 2), section 3. 'East Timor (note 2).

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