Immunity Of The Heads Of State Under Customary International Law: A Brief Note

Heads of State represent not only their respective country whenever they are traveling abroad but they also reflect the sovereignty of their respective state. This is because Heads of State are said to be the ‘shadow’ of the state in the eyes of international law. Since the outbreak of World War I, a number of Heads of State have been investigated and prosecuted before national and international tribunals to end impunity of international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression and to provide justice to the victims of the crimes. To do so, those who involved directly and indirectly to the commission of these crimes must be held responsible regardless of their positions. Based on doctrinal analysis, this paper analyses the position of the immunity of Heads of State under international law and concludes that immunity attached to Heads of State has to be set aside in order to end the impunity of the alleged crimes and to uphold justice to the victims of international crimes as a binding international law rule.