| Sumario: | There is historical evidence of thousands of criminal activities committed
around the globe with the acquiescence or support of the states. This evidence has
originated a debate around the conceptualization of state crimes and their consequent
regime of responsibility within international law. The International Law Commission
of the United Nations (ILC) has presented the most intense debate among universal
scenarios on this matter. ILC discussions on a States’ responsibility codification
introduced the idea of state crimes as serious breaches of an international obligation
of essential importance for the maintenance of international peace and security, for
safeguarding the right of self-determination of peoples, for safeguarding the human
being, or for the safeguarding and preservation of the human environment. In 1998
this concept was ‘put to one side’ due to lack of consensus on its content and of the
regime of responsibility that it should be granted with. Since that moment, state crimes
seemed to be abandoned by international law as a legal concept. Nonetheless,
after some time, certain tribunals have recurred to this concept for dealing with
situations of state prompted violence. This paper presents evidence regarding the
resource to the concept of state crimes by domestic tribunals in Latin-America as
well as by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. This article aims at reflecting
on the validity of state crimes as a concept and on its applicability in Latin-America
according to the international law.
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