Opening Lecture of the LL.M. Programmes in Public International Law & International Dispute Settlement and Arbitration by ICC President Chile Eboe-Osuji
On 12 September 2019, Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji, President of the International Criminal Court (ICC), delivered a lecture on Customary International Criminal Law and Head of State Immunity to open the academic year for the LL.M. Programmes in Public International Law & International Dispute Settlement and Arbitration.
Judge Eboe-Osuji presided over the ICC Appeals Chamber when on 6 May of this year, it issued its long awaited decision on head of state immunity, the Judgment in the Jordan Referral. In it, the Appeals Chamber returned to the rationale earlier espoused in the Malawi Decision of 2011, in which the Pre-Trial Chamber held that Head of State Immunity provides no barrier to the exercise of the ICC’s jurisdiction. The hour-long lecture covered the history of head of state immunity, discussed the modern record of international criminal law with respect to immunities before international tribunals, and opened for an hour of lively questions and debate.
The lecture was moderated by Assistant Professor Jens Iverson.