Abstract:
Into what can sometimes appear a chasm of impunity, Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji has published a timely new book and call to action, End of Immunity: Holding World Leaders Accountable for Aggression, Genocide, War Crimes, and Crimes Against Humanity. With it, the former International Criminal Court President defends a provocative claim: There is no immunity—for anyone—when they face charges for international crimes at international courts. Even more pointedly, customary international law does not recognize and perhaps never recognized immunity for heads of State in this context.
The sentiments behind End of Immunity will no doubt touch many readers, and the scope of the book’s ambition will impress. At some points, the book’s arguments may sound familiar, repeating reasoning and evidence that Judge Eboe-Osuji has offered before. At others, they may fall short of the book’s own aims, or may not satisfy readers hoping for a different style of analysis. But End of Immunity does readers a great service in elaborating how a central figure in international criminal law views these issues, and along the way it offers an excellent illustration of what Ann Woolhandler describes as the “legality model of immunity,” in which questions of responsibility and immunity are treated as one in the same. Collectively, even if readers are not convinced by the book’s arguments, they will find value in observing the way they’ve been laid out—and in the fact of them having been made by this particular author.