Command Responsibility and Its Applicability to Civilian Superiors

Article 28 of the Rome Statute explicitly provides that the command responsibility doctrine may be applied to both ‘commanders and other superiors', and sets out separate criteria for the two categories of superiors. The question arises how the doctrine should be applied by the International Criminal Court and by other international courts and tribunals. Up until now, the doctrine has been applied to both military and civilian superiors without a distinctive provision.

The author examines...