State immunity and the violation of human rights / / Jürgen Bröhmer.

• Superior document: International Studies in Human Rights ; 47
• VerfasserIn: Bröhmer, Jürgen,
• Place / Publishing House: The Hague, The Netherlands ;, Boston, Massachusetts : : Martinus Nijhoff Publishers,, [1997]; ©1997
• Year of Publication: 1997
• Language: English
• Series: International Studies in Human Rights ; 47.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource.

The field of international human rights has been one of the most prominent and dynamic areas of public international law in recent decades. At the same time the law of state immunity, albeit less prominent, has also been subjected to a process of dynamic change. The principle of absolute immunity of states from the adjudicatory jurisdiction of foreign states has been replaced by a restrictive concept under which foreign states can be sued under certain circumstances. The violation of fundamental human rights by foreign states is, however, still widely regarded as immunity- protected conduct, be it because such violations must be considered as governmental acts ( acta jure imperii ) or because the violations were committed outside the territory of the foreign state. Consequently, it is often impossible for the victim of such violations to bring damage proceedings against the foreign state based on municipal (tort) law in a municipal court. The present study attempts to demonstrate that international law does not per se demand that foreign states be granted immunity in such cases. The current state of international immunity law as evidenced by state practice and the work of several international learned bodies is surveyed extensively. It is shown that the granting of immunity may contradict the procedural guarantees of the European Convention of Human Rights. The impact of human rights law on the traditional concept of diplomatic protection is described. The study concludes that a further restriction of the immunity privilege is necessary, and criteria are offered to distinguish between violations of human rights which should remain immunity-protected and violations where the interest of the perpetrating state to remain immune from foreign jurisdiction must yield to the interest of the injured individual to obtain adequate redress.

Table of Contents

Intro -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- PREFACE -- ABBREVIATIONS -- CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION -- I. The Problem of State Immunity in General -- II. State Acts Constituting Torts under Domestic Law -- III. The Scope and Objective of this Study -- IV. Reasons for State Immunity -- 1. Overview -- 2. State Immunity and Sovereignty -- V. History and Development of Sovereign Immunity -- 1. The Origins of the Immunity Concept -- 2. The Absolute Doctrine of lmmunity -- 3. The Restrictive Doctrine of Immunity -- a) General Overview -- b) Early Developments of a Torts Exception to Immunity -- 4. An Attempt to Explain the Shift -- VI. Immunity from Adjudication and Immunity from Attachment and Execution -- VII. State Immunity and Related Immunities and Privileges -- 1. Immunity of International Organisations -- 2. Diplomatic and Consular Immunity -- 3. Immunity of Heads-of-state -- 4. Immunity of States as Occupational Powers -- VIII. Related Concepts -- 1. Jurisdiction -- a) The General Concept of Jurisdiction in International Law -- b) Immunity and Jurisdiction -- 2. The Act-of-State Doctrine -- a) Scope and Content of the Act-of-State Doctrine -- b) The Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991 -- 3. Immunity and Criminal Jurisdiction -- 4. The Alien Tort Claims Act in the United States -- CHAPTER 2: THE CURRENT LEGAL SITUATION -- I. National Statutes on Sovereign Immunity and their Application in Court Practice -- 1. The FSIA of the United States -- a) General Outline -- b) Tortious Conduct under the FSIA -- (1) Torts and the Gestionis/Imperii-Distinction -- (2) Territorial Nexus and the Relationship Tort-Commercial Activity -- (a) Frolova v. Union of Soviet Socialist Republics -- (b) Cases against Iran -- (c) Nelson v. Saudi Arabia -- (3) The FSIA and Violations of lnternational Law -- (a) The FSIA's Expropriation Exception.

(b) A Genuine Immunity Exception for Human Rights Violations? -- (aa) Von Dardel v. Union of Soviet Socialist Republics -- (bb) Hugo Princz v. Federal Republic of Germany -- c) Evaluation -- 2. The SIA of the United Kingdom -- a) General Outline -- b) The Torts Exception -- c) Human Rights Violations: The Al-Adsani case -- d) Evaluation -- 3. Australia -- 4. Canada -- 5. Other Countries -- a) Argentina -- b) Singapore -- c) South Africa -- d) Pakistan -- II. Jurisprudence in Countries without Immunity Statutes -- 1. Germany -- a) General Outline -- b) Immunity and Torts -- c) Evaluation -- 2. France -- a) General Outline -- b) Immunity and Torts -- c) Evaluation -- 3. Other Countries -- a) Austria -- b) Switzerland -- c) Italy -- d) Spain -- III. The European Convention on State Immunity -- IV. Other Conventions and Treaties -- V. Draft Proposals for Multilateral Conventions -- 1. The International Law Commission -- a) General Outline -- b) The Torts Exception -- c) Evaluation -- 2. The International Law Association -- a) General Outline of the ILA's 1982 Montreal Draft as Revised in Buenos Aires 1994 -- b) The Torts Exception -- (1) Art. III F MD -- (2) Art. III G MD -- c) Evaluation -- 3. The Basel Draft of the Institut de Droit International -- a) General Outline -- b) The Torts Exception -- c) Evaluation -- 4. The Inter-American Draft Convention on Jurisdictional Immunity of States -- a) General Outline -- b) The Torts Exception -- c) Evaluation -- VI. Conclusion -- CHAPTER 3: DEVELOPING THE CASE AGAINST IMMUNITY -- I. The Protection of Individuals in International Law -- 1. The Treatment of Aliens -- 2. Fundamental Human Rights as Jus cogens -- 3. The Individual as a Subject of lnternational Law -- 4. Direct Applicability of lnternational Law.

II. Practical Effects of the Increased Significance of Human Rights and the Individual in other Areas of lnternational Law -- 1. Diplomatic Protection -- a) Function and Scope -- b) The Principles of Nationality and Exhaustion of Local Remedies -- c) Conclusion -- 2. The European Convention on Human Rights -- a) Introduction -- b) General Remarks on the Scope and Procedure of the ECHR -- c) The ECHR and State Immunity -- (1) Introduction -- (2) The Relationship Between State Immunity and the ECHR in Theory and Practice -- (a) Literature -- (b) Practice -- (3) Evaluation -- d) The Relationship between the ECHR and State Immunity: A Proposal -- (1) Art. 13 ECHR -- (a) The Interpretation of Art. 13 in General -- (b) Art. 13 Inherently Limited? -- (c) The Nationality of the Authority called upon in Art. 13 ECHR -- (d) Conclusion -- (2) Art. 6 ECHR -- (a) The Right of Access to a Court -- (b) The Meaning of "Civil Rights and Obligations -- (c) Fair Trial and Equality of Arms -- (3) Result -- III. Conclusion -- CHAPTER 4: RECONCILING HUMAN RIGHTS AND STATE IMMUNITY -- I. Solutions Proposed by Other Authors -- 1. "Implied Waiver" of Immunity for Violations of International Law? -- 2. Restricting Immunity as a "Reprisal -- 3. "Forfeiture" of Sovereign Rights -- 4. Reimann's Proposal in the Wake of the Princz Case -- II. An Attempt to Reevaluate Fundamental Individual Interests and Collective Sovereignty Interests -- 1. Again: State Immunity and Sovereignty -- a) Option and Risk Calculability as Criteria to Distinguish Between Immune and Non-Immune Conduct -- b) The Optional Element in the Context of Human Rights Violations -- c) Risk Calculability in the Context of Human Rights Violations -- d) Conclusion -- 2. Different Solutions for Different Types of Human Rights Violations?.

a) The Relationship Between the Nature and Quantity of the Human Rights Violations and State Immunity -- b) Conclusion and Application to Specific Cases -- c) Possible Solutions for Borderline Cases -- d) Proposal for a Draft Article on an Exception to Immunity from Adjudication in Cases Involving Violations of Jus Cogens Human Rights -- SUMMARY -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX -- International Studies in Human Rights.