The impact of international legal developments on the immunity of the Head of State before foreign courts

Abstract

The immunity of the President of the State before foreign criminal justice is one of the most important immunities that make foreign heads of State immune from criminal proceedings against them even in the case of serious international crimes. However, this situation is no longer acceptable after the major developments in international human rights law In times of peace and in time of armed conflict, that developments led to the establishment of several mechanisms to ensure respect for those rights and to prosecute perpetrators of serious violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law. and began to move significantly to restrict the criminal jurisdiction of Heads of State who escaped punishment for a long time by those impunity. that immunity has been restricted by the exception of serious international crimes committed by heads of State from the scope of exempt from submission to the jurisdiction of the criminal foreign, and this is consistent ultimate goal of international criminal law.