PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW APRIL 25
ARMED INTERVENTION Implied Authorization
 Defined as an action that constitutes coercive interference by a
State on the internal or external affairs of another State in order to
impose on the latter a course of conduct desired by the intervening
State.
 Usually of limited duration and its objective is the accomplishment
of its mission, usually the removal of an existing political regime
Prohibition on Armed Intervention
 Condemnation on armed intervention by states in the affairs of
other states – maintained by the UN
o No state has the right to intervene, directly or indirectly,
for any reason whatever, in the internal or external affairs
of any other State
o Armed intervention and all other forms of interference or
attempted threats against the personality of the state or
against its political, economic and cultural elements are
condemned
 1970 Declaration on Friendly Relations
o Prohibition on the use of force during civil conflict
 Refer to book
Nicaragua vs United States – intervention is wrongful when it uses,
in regard to such choices, methods of coercion, particularly force,
either in the direct form of military action or in the indirect form of
support for subversive activities in another State
Justification for Intervention
 History is replete with instances of armed intervention
o Vietnam War – initially a war of liberation by the
Vietnamese against the colonial grip of the French but
which degenerated into a protracted was against US.
Protection of Nationals and Justification for Armed Intervention
 Armed intervention is justified if the nationals of the intervening
state are to be rescued from grave danger
 Israel has interpreted its right of self-defense to include the right to
rescue its nationals
 Bosnian War – war involving the territory of the former Yugoslavia.
The conflict was one of race and religion. The Serbs are Eastern
Orthodox and the Croats are Roman Catholics.
o Although both sides were guilty of committing despicable
atrocities, the Serbian atrocities were more remarkable in
number and extent
Democratic Intervention
- Armed intervention done in order to impose or restore western-style
democracy
- During the Cold War – when the US intervened in small and major
wars, the purpose of such intervention was to arrest the growth of
communism and to protect non-communist governments even if
such governments committed massive human rights abuses
Ambiguity of Humanitarian Intervention
- Although AI is prohibited, there are instances when it may be
justified, as when it is necessary to put an end to genocide in a
state which has no domestic means to stop the killings, or of the
state itself acts as a sponsor to genocide.
o However, if it will be used to occupy territory or to gain
control of another nation’s mineral resources, then said
humanitarian intervention takes on the nature of a crime
of aggression and should be proscribed.
BELLIGERENT OCCUPATION
2 phases of Conquest
1. Invasion
o Taking of possession of an enemy country for the purpose
of holding it, at any rate temporarily (Lassa Oppenheim)
- Difference: once the fact of occupation is established, that fact
gives rise to certain legal rights and duties
2. Occupation
o Does not transfer sovereignty
o Although the occupying force can exercise military
authority over the territory occupied, nonetheless, it does
not acquire sovereignty over the territory seized unless:
 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW APRIL 25
 Sovereignty is ceded to the invading power
through a treaty of peace
 Sovereignty is clearly abandoned in favor of the
invading force and there exists a clear intention
to abandon any claim to sovereignty
3 systems of law apply when a territory is under belligerent
occupation:
o Laws of the sovereign which were in force prior to
occupation of the territory by the belligerent occupant
o Laws, decrees, orders and proclamations of the
belligerent occupant
o Rules of customary and conventional international law
What constitutes belligerent occupation of territory by the enemy? (Art 42 of
1907 Hague Convention)
- Territory is considered occupied when it is actually placed under the
authority of the hostile army
Rights of the Occupying Force in Occupied Territory
- A military occupier generally has no right to change the laws of the
country being occupied.
o Exception: when such changes are necessary to maintain
law and order in the occupied territory
o Art 43 HC – Duty of the occupying force
 The authority of the legitimate power having
actually passed into the hands of the occupant,
the latter shall take all steps in his power to
restore, and ensure, as far as possible, public
order and safety, while respecting, unless
absolutely prevented, the laws in force in the
country
o Allegiance to the displaced sovereign is not transferred to
the occupying force; people of the occupied territories
who committed inimical acts against the sovereign could
be tried for treason after the occupation ceases and the
former sovereign returns.
 Civil courts may continue to function
o Rome statute considers as a war crime the act of
belligerent in declaring abolished, suspended or
inadmissible in a court of law the rights and actions of the
nationals of the hostile party
o Indigenous population has the duty to obey the belligerent
occupant
 A contradictory right is the right afforded by the
international law to the civilian population
engaged in armed uprising within the occupied
territory
 Those who participate in the uprising – treated
as guerillas
 Once the occupation of the territory ceases, all
laws with a political character are abrogated
o Practice of POSTLIMINIUM
 Means that territory, persons and property, after
having authority of an occupying force, return to
the authority of the original sovereign upon
retaking of possession
 However, if the occupying force was
acting within its rights under IL (decree
issued was necessary to keep peace
within the captured territory)
o Then those acts must be
respected by the government
retaking possession of the
occupied territory
Money and Currency in Occupied Territories
- A belligerent may adopt any of the following measures in order to
control the currency of a territory that it occupies
o May adopt the local currency used by the inhabitants if the
occupied territory prior to the occupation
o Military occupant may use its own currency in the area it
has occupied
o May issue invasion currency in the territory it is occupying
Postliminium or Postlimini
- Reversion to the old laws of the former sovereign that have been
dislodged by a belligerent occupying force once the territory is re-
occupied by the former sovereign
o However, postlimini shall not affect judicial acts done
during the time of the belligerent occupation as long as
these acts do not carry a political complexion
 Thus, divorce decrees, payments made by
civilians to banks functioning during the
occupation shall REMAIN VALID and shall bind
 PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW APRIL 25

the parties thereto even after the belligerent has

been expelled.
 Non-political cases resolved shall likewise
remain valid
o However, laws that carry a political complexion are
repealed.
- POSTLIMINIUM (Roman Law) – a person who has been captured
and afterwards returned within the boundaries of his own state is
restored to all his former rights.
o Denotes that territory, persons and property, after having
come under the authority of the enemy, revert to the
authority of the original sovereign, upon retaking
possession.
 However, acts of the enemy involving property
or territory are not necessarily invalidated if
under international law the belligerent occupant
was competent to perform them.

Right of Requisition

- Belligerent occupant may requisition goods, commodities and

chattels provided that such requisition is paid in cash or a receipt be
given and the item requisitioned is paid at the soonest possible time
o Requisitioning in kind is not to be demanded from
municipalities or individuals except to answer the need of
the army of occupation
- Requisitioning should be in proportion to the occupied territory’s
resources

Acts Prohibited under the Rome Statute in Occupied Territory

(refer to book)

Limitations on Occupation

- Belligerent occupation (BO) does not justify the commission of cruel

acts on the population of an occupied territory
- During BO Allegiance to one’s country is not suspended and should
continue because if a person’s allegiance is suspended during
wartime, it will lead to disastrous consequences