Acceso usuarios
Ingrid Brunk Wuerth
Government officials who are sued in foreign national courts are entitled, as a matter of customary international law, to immunity for their official actions. Scholars disagree, however, about the basis for and scope of such immunity, especially in human rights cases. Although academic articles on this topic are easy find, far less common are clear examples of the State practice and opinio juris upon which customary international law is based. For this reason, recent Swiss and U.S. court decisions explicitly rejecting foreign official immunity in human rights cases assume particular importance. This article analyzes the decisions and their significance for customary international law, focusing in particular on the invocation of immunity, the purpose that this kind of immunity serves, and the claim that immunity in human rights cases is more limited than in other kinds of litigation.
