Italy’s responsibility for violation of positive obligations inherent in Article 3 ECHR

As explicitly affirmed by the ILC, ¹ the provision on aid and assistance analyzed in Chapter 3 may also apply in case of human rights violations, although “the concept has scarcely been acknowledged by human rights treaty monitoring bodies”. ² Conversely, human rights bodies, and in particular, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), have been more willing to apply the theory of positive obligations in order to hold Member States responsible for human rights violations connected to acts committed by other States. Indeed, according to the doctrine of positive obligations, Member States are under a due diligence obligation to do all they can in order to prevent ³ human rights ⁴ violations by others (both private parties and other States). ⁵ As pointed out, ⁶ “positive obligations and obligations of prevention may also prove to be viable functional alternatives to 29Article 16 ASR which may in some cases make it easier to establish the responsibility of a complicit State”.