The Legal Status of Apology in International Law: State Responsibility and the Limits of Accountability for Wrongful Acts

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-491-4_30How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Apology in International Law; State Responsibility; International Wrongful Acts; Reparation; Accountability

Abstract

This study investigates the intersection between apology and accountability in international law by addressing two central questions: What is the legal status of apology in international law, and to what extent can it be regarded as a form of acknowledgment or reparation under the law of state responsibility? and How does international law regulate accountability for international wrongful acts, and what role, if any, can apology play in mitigating or shaping such responsibility? The analysis situates apology within the framework of the Articles on the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts (ARSIWA), which recognizes acknowledgment of the breach and guarantees of non-repetition as forms of reparation. While apology may serve as an expression of acknowledgment, its binding legal force remains ambiguous, often oscillating between a political gesture and a limited form of satisfaction. This ambiguity raises questions as to whether apology can fulfill the reparative requirements of international law or merely function as a symbolic act without concrete legal effect. Furthermore, the study explores the broader architecture of accountability for wrongful acts, including the attribution of conduct to the state, the role of jus cogens norms, and the relationship between state and individual responsibility. In this context, apology may mitigate tensions in international relations but is insufficient to discharge obligations such as restitution, compensation, or prosecution for serious violations. The findings suggest that while apology has an important reconciliatory and symbolic dimension, its contribution to legal responsibility under international law remains supplementary rather than determinative, reflecting the inherent tension between politics and law in the enforcement of accountability.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Cholidah Cholidah
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/11/18
TI  - The Legal Status of Apology in International Law: State Responsibility and the Limits of Accountability for Wrongful Acts
BT  - Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Law Reform (INCLAR 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 315
EP  - 323
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-491-4_30
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-491-4_30
ID  - Cholidah2025
ER  -