Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 1 of 1
Full-Text Articles in Human Rights Law
Abusing The Authority Of The State: Denying Foreign Official Immunity For Egregious Human Rights Abuses, Beth Stephens
Abusing The Authority Of The State: Denying Foreign Official Immunity For Egregious Human Rights Abuses, Beth Stephens
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
Government officials accused of human rights abuses often claim that they are protected by state immunity because only the state can be held responsible for acts committed by its officials. This claim to immunity is founded on two interrelated errors. First, the post-World War II human rights transformation of international law has rendered obsolete the view that a state can protect its own officials from accountability for human rights violations. Second, officials can be held individually responsible for their own actions even when international law also holds the states liable for those acts. This Article begins with an analysis of …