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Immunity Ratione Personae of Foreign Government Officials and Other Topics: The Sixty-Fifth Session of the International Law Commission

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Sean D. Murphy
Sean D. Murphy*
Affiliation:
George Washington University
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Extract

The International Law Commission held its sixty-fifth session in Geneva from May 6 to June 7, and from July 8 to August 9, 2013, under the chairmanship of Bernd H. Niehaus (Costa Rica). The Commission devoted most of the sixty-fifth session to discussing three topics: immunity of state officials from foreign criminal jurisdiction, subsequent agreements and subsequent practice in relation to the interpretation of treaties, and protection of persons in the event of disasters. Notably, the Commission provisionally adopted three draft articles and commentaries identifying three categories of senior governmental officials—heads of state, heads of government, and foreign ministers—as entitled to immunity ratione personae from foreign criminal jurisdiction for their public or private acts, an immunity that ceases once they leave office.

Information

Type
Current Developments
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 108 , Issue 1 , January 2014 , pp. 41 - 57
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 2014 

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Footnotes

*

My thanks to Josh Doherty (JD/MA ‘14) and Anthony Kuhn (JD/MA ‘15) in preparing this essay.

References

1 see Report of the International Law Commission on the Work of Its Sixty-Fifth Session, UN GAOR, 68th Sess., Supp. No. 10, at 2, para. 4, UN Doc. A/68/10 (2013), available at http://www.un.org/law/ilc/index.html [hereinafter 2013 Report].

2 see Report of the International Law Commission on the Work of Its Sixty-Fourth Session, UN GAOR, 68th Sess., Supp. No. 10, at 11–83, UN Doc. A/67/10 (2012), available at http://legal.un.org/ilc/reports/2012/2012report.htm [hereinafter 2012 Report]; see also Murphy, Sean D., The Expulsion of Aliens and Other Topics: The Sixty-Fourth Session of the International Law Commission, 107 AJIL 164, 164–68 (2013)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

3 For its prior work on this topic, see Murphy, supra note 2, at 169–71.

4 International Law Commission, Second Report on the Immunity of State Officials from Foreign Criminal Jurisdiction, UN Doc. A/CN.4/661 (Apr. 4, 2013) (prepared by Special Rapporteur Concepción Escobar Hernández) [hereinafter Second Report on the Immunity of State Officials].

5 Id. at 3, para. 7.

6 Id. at 15–17, paras. 47–53.

7 2013 Report, supra note 1, at 52, para. 49 (footnote omitted).

8 Id. at 53–54, para. 49.

9 Id. at 54, para. 49.

10 Id.

11 See, e.g., United Nations Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and Their Property, GA Res. 59/38, annex (Dec. 2, 2004).

12 2013 Report, supra note 1, at 55–58, para. 49.

13 Second Report on the Immunity of State Officials, supra note 4, at 11–17, paras. 36–53.

14 see Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, Art. 1, Apr. 18, 1961, 23UST3227, 500 UNTS 95; Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, Art. 1, Apr. 24, 1963, 21 UST 77, 596 UNTS 261.

15 Certain Questions of Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters (Djib. v. Fr.), 2008 ICJ REP. 177, para. 171 (June 4).

16 2013 Report, supra note 1, at 58, para. 49.

17 Id. at 58–65, para. 49.

18 Id. at 60–62, para. 49.

19 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Art. 7(2)(a), May 23, 1969, 1155 UNTS 331, 8 ILM 679 (1969) [hereinafter VCLT].

20 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Internationally Protected Persons, Including Diplomatic Agents, Art. 1(1)(a), Dec. 14, 1973, 28 UST 1975, 1035 UNTS 167.

21 Convention on Special Missions, Art. 21(2), Dec. 8, 1969, 1400 UNTS 231.

22 Vienna Convention on the Representation of States in Their Relations with International Organizations of a Universal Character, Art. 50(2), Mar. 14, 1975, UN Doc. A/CONF.67/16 (1975).

23 United Nations Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States, supra note 11, Arts. 2.1(b)(iv), 3(2) (suggesting that the other two categories of officials are included in the concept of “representatives of the State”).

24 Armed Activities on the Territory of the Congo (New Application: 2002) (Dem. Rep. Congo v. Rwanda), Jurisdiction & Admissibility, 2006 ICJ REP. 6, para. 46 (Feb. 3).

25 2013 Report, supra note 1, at 60–61, para. 49.

26 Arrest Warrant of 11 April 2000 (Dem. Rep. Congo v. Belg.), 2002 ICJ Rep. 3, 20–21, para. 51 (Feb. 14) [hereinafter Arrest Warrant ]; see also Certain Questions of Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters, supra note 15, at 63–64, para. 170.

27 2013 Report, supra note 1, at 62, para. 49 (footnote omitted).

28 See, e.g., Prouvèze, Rémy, Immunities, in Routledge Handbook of International Criminal Law 355, 360 (Schabas, William & Bernaz, Nadia eds., 2011)Google Scholar; Annyssa Bellal, ImmunitéS Et Violations Graves Des Droits Humains: Vers Une éVolution Structurelle De L’Ordre Juridique International? 155–57 (2011).

29 Arrest Warrant, supra note 26, at 20–21, para. 51.

30 See, e.g., Webb, Philippa, International Judicial Integration and Fragmentation 73–75 (2013)Google Scholar; Crawford, James, Brownlie’s Principles of Public International Law 500 (8th ed. 2012)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Wickremasinghe, Chanaka, Immunities Enjoyed by Officials of States and International Organizations, in International Law 380, 401 (Evans, Malcolm D. ed., 3d ed. 2010)Google Scholar; Palchetti, Paolo, Some Remarks on the Scope of Immunity of Foreign State Officials in the Light of Recent Judgments of Italian Courts, 2009 Italian Y. B. Int’l L. 83, 85Google Scholar.

31 Re Mofaz (Bow St. Mag. Ct. Feb. 12, 2004), in Immunity and International Crimes in English Law (Colin War brick ed.), 53 Int’l & Comp. L.Q. 769, 773 (2004).

32 Khurts Bat v. Investigating Judge of the German Federal Court, [2011] EWHC 2029 (Admin)(July 29, 2011) (QB), available at http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/Resources/JCO/Documents/Judgments/khurts-bat-v-federal-court-germany.pdf.

33 Republic of Philippines v. Marcos, 665 F.Supp. 793, 797–98 (N.D. Cal. 1987).

34 I.T. Consultants, Inc. v. Republic of Pakistan, 351 F.3d 1184, 1191–92 (D.C. Cir. 2003).

35 Fotso v. Republic of Cameroon, No. 6:12-cv-1415-TC, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25424, at *2–6 (D. Ore. Jan. 25, 2013) (extending immunity ratione personae to the president based on a suggestion of immunity from the U.S. government); Fotso v. Republic of Cameroon, No. 6:12-cv-1415-TC, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 83948, at*3, *16–21 (D. Ore. May 16, 2013) (extending immunity ratione materiae to the other defendants).

36 2013 Report, supra note 1, at 65.

37 International Law Commission Secretariat, Immunity of State Officials from Foreign Criminal Jurisdiction, at 74–79, paras. 114–15, 121, UN Doc. A/CN.4/596 (Mar. 31, 2008).

38 see Kline v. Kaneko, 535 N.Y.S. 2d 303 (Sup. Ct. 1988).

39 2013 Report, supra note 1, at 66, para. 49.

40 Arrest Warrant, supra note 26, para. 76.

41 2013 Report, supra note 1, at 8, para. 25.

42 Arrest Warrant, supra note 26, para. 61.

43 Id., para. 58.

44 Prosecutor v. Al Bashir, Case No. ICC-02/05-01/09, Decision Pursuant to Article 87(7) of the Rome Statute on the Failure by the Republic of Malawi to Comply with the Cooperation Requests Issued by the Court with Respect to the Arrest and Surrender of Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir (Dec. 12, 2011), available at http://www.icc-cpi.int/iccdocs/doc/doc1287184.pdf.

45 Id., paras. 22–43(affirming that immunity ratione personae exists with respect to prosecution for serious crimes in national courts, as contrasted with its unavailability with respect to arrest and surrender of a person suspected of such crimes to an international criminal tribunal).

46 Prosecutor v. Taylor, Immunity from Jurisdiction, No. SCSL-2003-0l-1, paras. 51–52 (May 31, 2004), at www.sc-sl.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=7OeBn4RulEg=&tabid=191.

47 Regina v. Bartle, ex parte Pinochet, [1998] 3 W.L.R. 1456 (H.L.), reprinted in 37 ILM 1302 (1998), aff’d & rev’d in part, [1999] 2 W.L.R. 827 (H.L.), reprinted in 38 ILM 581 (1999).

48 see Murphy, supra note 2, at 176.

49 International Law Commission, First Report on Subsequent Agreements and Subsequent Practice in Relation to Treaty Interpretation, UN Doc. A/CN.4/660, at 4–5, para. 6 (2013) (prepared by special rapporteur Georg Nolte) [hereinafter First Report on Subsequent Agreements and Subsequent Practice].

50 see VCLT, supra note 19, Arts. 31, 32.

51 2013 Report, supra note 1, at 13, para. 39.

52 Id. at 20, para. 39.

53 Report of the International Law Commission on the Work of Its Eighteenth Session, [1966] 2 Y.B. Int’l L. Comm’n 187, 218–23, UN Doc. A/CN.4/SER.A/1966/Add.1 (1966).

54 Id. at 219.

55 see Navigational and Related Rights (Costa Rica v. Nicar.), 2009 ICJ Rep. 213, para. 66 (July 13).

56 2013 Report, supra note 1, at 24, para. 39.

57 Id. at 25, para. 39.

58 Id. at 31, para. 39.

59 Id. at 37– 41, para. 39.

60 Id. at 41, para. 39.

61 Id. at 42, para. 39.

62 Id. at 42– 43, para. 39.

63 First Report on Subsequent Agreements and Subsequent Practice, supra note 49, at 56, para. 145.

64 2013 Report, supra note 1, at 73, para. 61.

65 see Murphy, supra note 2, at 168–69.

66 2013 Report, supra note 1, at 73, para. 59.

67 Id. at 74, para. 61.

68 Id. at 79, para. 62.

69 Id. at 80, para. 62.

70 Id. at 83, para. 62.

71 Id. at 85, para. 62.

72 Id. at 76, para. 62.

73 International Law Commission, Sixth Report on the Protection of Persons in the Event of Disasters, UN Doc. A/CN.4/662 (May 3, 2013) (prepared by Special Rapporteur Eduardo Valencia-Ospina).

74 2013 Report, supra note 1, at 75, para. 61.

75 Id. at 89, para. 62.

76 Id. at 86–87, para. 62.

77 Id. at 87, para. 62.

78 Id. at 87– 88, para. 62.

79 Id. at 89–90, para. 62.

80 Id. at 78, para. 62.

81 see Murphy, supra note 2, at 174.

82 International Law Commission, First Report on Formation and Evidence of Customary International Law, UN Doc. A/CN.4/663, at 3, para. 6 (2013) (prepared by Special Rapporteur Sir Michael Wood) [hereinafter First Report on Formation and Evidence of Customary International Law].

83 Id. at 6, para. 14.

84 Id. at 6–7, para. 15.

85 2013 Report, supra note 1, at 95, para. 73; id. at 99, para. 101.

86 Id. at 95, para. 76; see also id. at 100, para. 106. In French, the title will be “La d´etermination du droit inter national coutumier.”

87 Id. at 96, para. 78; id. at 99, para. 103.

88 Id. at 8, para. 26.

89 First Report on Formation and Evidence of Customary International Law, supra note 82, at 76, para. 102.

90 Id.

91 2012 Report, supra note 2, at 105, paras. 140–41; see Murphy, supra note 2, at 171–73.

92 International Law Commission, First Report on the Provisional Application of Treaties, UN Doc. A/CN.4/ 664, at 2, para. 1 (2013) (prepared by Special Rapporteur Juan Manuel Gómez-Robledo).

93 2013 Report, supra note 1, at 102– 03, paras. 118–19.

94 Id. at 103, para. 121.

95 Id. at 104, para. 129.

96 Id. at 8, para. 27.

97 see Murphy, supra note 2, at 174 –76.

98 2013 Report, supra note 1, at 125, Annex A.

99 Id. at 132, para. 18.

100 Id. at 132–33, para. 20.

101 Questions Relating to the Obligation to Prosecuteor Extradite (Belg. v. Sen.) (Int’l Ct. Justice July 20, 2012), available at http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/144/17064.pdf.

102 Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Dec. 10, 1984, S. Treaty Doc. No.100–20 (1988), 1465 UNTS 85.

103 2013 Report, supra note 1, at 134 –39, paras. 21–36.

104 see Murphy, supra note 2, at 176 –77.

105 2013 Report, supra note 1, at 110, para. 152.

106 Id. at 111, 112–13, paras. 155 n.385, 160–62.

107 Id. at 113, para. 163.

108 Id. at 114, para. 164.

109 Report of the International Law Commission on the Work of Its Sixty-Third Session, UNGAOR, 66th Sess., Supp. No. 10, at 287, para. 365, UN Doc. A/66/10 (2011), available at http://legal.un.org/ilc/reports/2011/2011report.htm.

110 2013 Report, supra note 1, at 105, para. 131.

111 Id. at 105, para. 132.

112 Id. at 106, paras. 139–41.

113 Id. at 8, para. 28.

114 Id. at 106–07, para. 143.

115 Id. at 6, para. 22.

116 Id. at 115, para. 168.

117 at http://www.ila-hq.org/en/committees/index.cfm/cid/1029.

118 2013 Report, supra note 1, at 115–16, paras. 169 –70; id. at 140, Annex B.

119 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, July 17, 1998, 2187 UNTS 90.

120 2013 Report, supra note 1, at 140–48, Annex B.

121 Murphy, supra note 2, at 177.