Circumstances precluding wrongfulness (CPW) are a set of recognized defenses that, when validly invoked, bar the wrongfulness of a state's conduct that would otherwise breach an international obligation. They are codified in Chapter V (Articles 20–27) of the International Law Commission's Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts (ARSIWA), adopted by the ILC in 2001 and commended to states by UN General Assembly Resolution 56/83.
The six recognized circumstances are:
- Consent (Art. 20): valid consent by another state to the specific conduct.
- Self-defence (Art. 21): lawful measures taken in conformity with the UN Charter, principally Article 51.
- Countermeasures (Art. 22): proportionate responses to a prior wrongful act, subject to the conditions in Articles 49–54.
- Force majeure (Art. 23): an irresistible force or unforeseen event making performance materially impossible.
- Distress (Art. 24): where the author has no other reasonable way to save lives entrusted to their care.
- Necessity (Art. 25): invocable only exceptionally, to safeguard an essential interest against a grave and imminent peril, and only if it does not seriously impair an essential interest of the state(s) toward which the obligation exists.
Important limits apply. Under Article 26, no CPW can justify a breach of a peremptory norm of general international law (jus cogens), such as the prohibitions on genocide, torture, or aggression. Article 27 preserves questions of compensation for material loss caused by the act, even where wrongfulness is precluded.
CPW are secondary rules: they do not terminate the underlying obligation, but suspend its operation for the duration of the circumstance. The ICJ applied this framework in Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros Project (Hungary/Slovakia, 1997), rejecting Hungary's necessity plea, and discussed countermeasures in the same judgment. ARSIWA is not a binding treaty, but its provisions on CPW are widely treated as reflecting customary international law.
Example
In the 1997 *Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros* judgment, the ICJ rejected Hungary's invocation of necessity to justify abandoning its obligations under the 1977 treaty with Czechoslovakia on the Danube dam project.
Frequently asked questions
No. ARSIWA is a non-binding ILC text noted by the UN General Assembly in Resolution 56/83 (2001), but many provisions, including most CPW, are widely regarded as reflecting customary international law.
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