Command responsibility, Australian war crimes in Afghanistan, and the Brereton Report

This article examines the question of command responsibility for war crimes under international and Australian law, and how far such responsibility extends. It uses the results of the Brereton Report, an Australian investigation into alleged crimes committed by its special forces in Afghanistan, as its starting point. While this is very much an Australian case study, the concerns it raises should be of interest to all professional militaries. The article also provides an important case study of the implications when national legal standards adopted for war crimes prosecutions differ from the provisions of international law.