RESPONSIBILITY IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

International Progress Organization launches global debate

Vienna, Austria, 20 June 2020
RE/27675c-is

Approaching the 50th anniversary of its foundation, the International Progress Organization will launch a global debate on responsibility in international relations, the President of the I.P.O., Dr. Hans Köchler, today announced at the Vienna headquarters of the organization.

Since the Congress of Vienna (1815), in a Declaration on the abolition of the slave trade, invoked “the principles of humanity and universal morality” (principes d’humanité et de morale universelle), numerous international instruments have been adopted highlighting the responsibility of states for the respect and realization of fundamental rights. The Preamble to the Charter of the United Nations Organization also testifies to this commitment. Since the end of the 20th century in particular, states repeatedly invoked their “responsibility to protect” to justify the use of force against other states.

The International Progress Organization invited practitioners and experts of international law, political science, history and philosophy from Austria, Canada, China, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, India, Italy, Russia, Serbia, United Kingdom, and the United States, to discuss the problems in terms of individual and state responsibility. In a roundtable consultation to be held in the following year at Hotel Imperial, Vienna, the experts will in particular address the following issues:

• "Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts” -- Draft Articles of the International Law Commission of the United Nations;

• Responsibility as accountability states;

• National interest and state responsibility;

• Accountability of international organizations for the consequences of their decisions;

• Accountability of the Security Council acting under Chapter VII of the UN Charter?

• Responsibility at individual level (with emphasis on the role of the International Criminal Court).

Since the end of the Cold War period, the International Progress Organization has been dealing with issues of transnational democracy, the international rule of law, and the role of the United Nations Organization. Activities initiated or sponsored by the I.P.O. include conferences and roundtables on “Democracy in International Relations” (1985), “The Question of Terrorism” (1987), the “Second International Conference on a More Democratic United Nations” (CAMDUN-2) (1991), “The United Nations and International Democracy” (1994), “The Use of Force in International Relations: Challenges to Collective Security” (2005), and “The ‘Global War on Terror’ and the Question of World Order” (2007).

As organization in consultative status with the United Nations, the I.P.O. will present the results and recommendations of the consultations to UN member states.

• Studies in International Relations