The Law of International Responsibility: Is ‘Failure to Train’ Legally Relevant?
Abstract
The European Union (“EU”) behaves as a unitary military power in international relations. It exercises material capabilities in various ways. One way is training states to kill insurgents who seek their destruction. Operations that bolster the state’s ability to maintain a monopoly of violence in its territory (“EU Training Missions” or “EUTM”) typically involve military capacity building, which is the practice of increasing a state’s military technology and knowledge. The EU’s goal in these operations is to systematically prepare state military forces to “assum[e] responsibility for countering internal security challenges, supporting and gradually replacing [the EU’s] external armed interventions.” This goal usually requires instruction on certain international laws.
This post was originally published on the Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review website on March 17, 2021. The original post can be accessed via the Archived Link button above.
