Regional Challenges to the Law of State Immunity

Abstract

State immunity is an area of the law where a unified, universal approach is critical to the fulfilment of its goals. Those goals are well-summarised by the 2009 Naples Resolution of the Institut de droit international: immunities are ‘conferred to ensure an orderly allocation and exercise of jurisdiction in accordance with international law in proceedings concerning states, to respect the sovereign equality of states and to permit the effective performance of the functions of persons who act on behalf of states’. Each of these goals requires a common understanding of the scope of state immunity. Without such an understanding, we could be faced with competing claims to jurisdiction, inter-state disputes over the limits of sovereignty, and the disruption of international relations.