is primarily used to refer to those rules or principles of general international law which are regarded as being “peremptory” in nature and as enjoying a non-derogable character. Erga omnes obligations are those that are owed to the international community as a whole, rather than to other individual states.124 If a rule gives rise to an obligation erga omnes, it will allow any other state to institute a claim against it before an international court or tribunal irrespective of whether or not it (or its nationals) might have been palpably “injured” by the action in question. It gives rise, in other words, to a general right of enforcement. Obligations erga omnes may well also justify the assertion of universal jurisdiction by national courts or tribunals. 124 For the original conceptualization of erga omnes obligations see Barcelona Traction, Light and Power Company Limited (Belgium v. Spain), Second Phase, ICJ Reports [1970] 3, at 32: “…[A]n essential distinction should be drawn between the obligation of a State towards the international community as a whole, and those arising vis-à-vis another State… By their very nature the former are the concern of all States. In view of the importance of the rights involved, all States can be held to have a legal interest in their protection; they are obligations erga omnes.” The ICJ has affirmed its distinction between obligations of a state towards the international community as a whole, and those arising towards individual states in its Advisory Opinion on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, ICJ Reports [2004] 136, paras. 155 et seq. Countering Terrorism, Protecting Human Rights 57