Government’s Preliminary Response to the Interveners Submissions

The government responds to the submissions made by the interveners (Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Rights Watch (UK); and Oxfam). It submits that the interveners’ arguments effectively represent stand-alone challenges, and seek to raise new legal and factual issues which form no part of the claimant’s case. Therefore, the government submits that the court should not rule on any of the issues raised in the interveners’ submissions. Notwithstanding, it provides some of the key legal arguments it wishes to advance in opposition to the two interventions, namely that the submissions of the first interveners (Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Rights Watch (UK)) are misconceived in law as Article 16 of the Draft Articles on State Responsibility form no part of the Consolidated Criteria. It also submits that the submissions of Oxfam proceed on a misconceived basis when it comes to the scope of Criterion 1(b).