Liability Yes; Damages No. Consolation without Monetary Compensation: When Tribunals Rule for Claimant on the Merits and Award No Damages
Article from: TDM 2 (2020), in Compensation and Damages in International Investment Arbitration
Introduction
Sometimes Tribunals rule in favor of Claimants on the merits and award no damages. After a contentious process that may have lasted years and cost millions, Claimant gets the consolation that the actions of a sovereign were judged to be in violation of international law but receives no monetary compensation.
This raises the question whether damage is an essential element of the breach of an international obligation, which is to say, "whether it is possible to conceive, even hypothetically, of a breach (of international obligations) ... which occasions no damage".