|
State Immunity: The United Nations Convention and its Effect
Briefing Paper
Joanne Foakes and Elizabeth Wilmshurst, May 2005
- If a person is tortured by officials of a foreign state, can that state be sued
in the courts of the victim's own country? - Should a state ever be immune from proceedings in a foreign court when
it has chosen to employ people in that foreign state, entered into
commercial transactions there or agreed to arbitration? - What are the rules of international law on state immunity and should they
be changed? - Is the new United Nations Convention a useful statement of the law? Or
will it freeze the law and stop useful developments? Should states be
encouraged to ratify the Convention and bring it into force?
This paper deals with questions such as these. It explains in non-technical language
what the basic rules of state immunity are and what the new United Nations
Convention will do.
Audio (mp3)
Members only content
Microsoft® Word™ Document