The Arrest Warrant Case: (Re)Asserting Immunity of Foreign Ministers for War Crimes
In this landmark case on immunity of individual state officials, the International Court of Justice upheld the immunity of foreign ministers before foreign courts even when the allegations amounted to war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Court attempted to mitigate this controversial finding by setting out 4 situations where foreign ministers can be held accountable for violations of international law. In reality, 3 of these methods depend heavily on action by the State of nationality and the 4th method can be avoided by smart logistics. See more here. Immunity of individual officials flow from sovereign equality. The judgement created a considerable de facto hierarchy between the need to uphold human rights and punish perpetrators for international crimes using foreign courts, on one hand, and principles of sovereignty, on the other. This hierarchy was reasserted with the Court's subsequent judgement on State immunity - Germany vs Italy. Read more here.
(Source: ruwanthikagunaratne.wordpress.com)