CYIL 2012

PETRA BAUMRUK CYIL 3 ȍ2012Ȏ Currently she is working at the United Pension Fund in Iceland (Sameinaði lífeyrissjóðurinn) and as a teacher and lecturer at an elementary school in Iceland, Lækjarskóli. 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 International Law on Immunities “The law of nations” 1 as international law was once called, developed in the 19 th century into a system of legally binding customary rules supplemented by numerous conventions. However, the expression “international law” appeared much earlier, in 1780, when Jeremy Bentham used it in his book Introduction to Principles of Morals and Legislation. The international law of immunities evolved from customary law into legally binding rules that can now be found in various international conventions. The doctrine of immunity represents a departure from the conventional practice of holding people responsible for their wrongful acts. State representatives (diplomats, heads of state, ministers and other officials) have been sent, since time immemorial, on behalf of a foreign state for the purposes of carrying out official acts in other states. These representatives need to be protected from the foreign state’s interference and as a result are granted immunity in order to proceed unhindered with their missions. Moreover, these relations between state representatives on the one hand, and a foreign state on the other hand, have been established for the purposes of ensuring peaceful communications and cooperation among all member states of the international community. However, while immunities are considerably important in preventing interference with state representatives, immunities can also hinder prosecution for heinous crimes under international law as will be demonstrated in chapter 2. 1.2 Various categories of Immunities Immunities from national jurisdiction can be primarily divided into three categories but there are other categories of immunities which are also of growing importance, such as immunities accorded to international organizations and their personnel. 2 These three main categories of immunities are state immunity, diplomatic and consular immunity, and, last but not least, immunity accorded to heads of state and other high-ranking state officials. State immunity (or sovereign immunity) refers to legal rules and principles determining conditions under which a foreign state may claim freedom from the jurisdiction (the legislative, administrative and judicial powers) of another state,

1 This concept can be traced back to the Roman term of “jus gentium”. 2 Alina Kaczorowska: Public International Law, p. 356 and 408; Malcolm N. Shaw: International Law, p. 776.

174