Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has shown the world the critical importance of whether and how to punish heads of state, heads of government, and sundry strong men when accused of crimes of aggression, genocide, war crimes, and other crimes against humanity. In End of Immunity, former President of the International Criminal Court, Chile Eboe-Osuji, probes the history and theory of the concept of immunity for heads of state, underscoring tribunal achievements, pointing out gaps in the existing framework of accountability and the hypocrisies that produced them, and offering workable solutions to the loopholes that government leaders still use to escape consequences today.

Eboe-Osuji traces the development of international law from the pre-World War I era that left wars of aggression as the prerogative of sovereigns able to wage them through the peacetime conferences of the Hague at the turn of the 20th century, the momentous Article 227 of the Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919, which communicated the resolve of the Allies and Associated Powers to prosecute German Emperor and King of Prussia Kaiser Wilhelm II before an international tribunal, how the legal norms applied in the post-WWII Nuremberg trial transformed the norms of modern international law, how 1990’s Africa breathed new life into arguments against immunity for heads of state, and how modern-day Russia flouts those laws with Putin’s war of aggression on Ukraine.

Going as far back as the Middle Ages and the ancient doctrine of the divine right of kings, and concluding with a fresh new proposal for the ways in which international law can be shored up to prosecute those leaders who wage wars of aggression, Eboe-Osuji investigates the journey of international law’s rejection of immunity for anyone – including heads of state in particular – when they are suspected or accused of atrocities that international law has proscribed as crimes. The result is the definitive account of a profoundly vital principle for international relations and global humanity.

Chile Eboe-Osuji's profile page

Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji is the former President of the International Criminal Court (ICC), as well as a judge in both the trial and the appellate Divisions of the Court during a tenure that lasted nine years. Before his appointment to the ICC judiciary, Eboe-Osuji served as the senior legal advisor to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva. Since completing his term at the ICC, Eboe-Osuji has returned to Canada and is a Senior Fellow of the Carr Center at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, among holding many other fellowships. He has an extensive record of legal scholarship and publications and is the editor-in-chief of the Nigerian Yearbook of International Law. Eboe-Osuji is the 2022 recipient of the Goler T. Butcher Medal of the American Society of International Law for outstanding global contribution to human rights.

Stephen Rapp, former United States Ambassador-at-Large for War Crime Issues

In this topical new book Chile Eboe-Osuji traces the history of accountability of heads of state and those in power since the era before WWI. The story of accountability against defaulting leaders amid claims of legal immunity is still very much a live, relevant issue today... The International Criminal Court’s jurisprudence on head of state immunity, in which Dr. Eboe-Osuji played a leading role, may hopefully put an end to the continuing assertion of immunity for state actors. This book should assist that hope.

Dr. Navi Pillay, former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

This book could not come at a better time and could not have been written by a better author. Eboe-Osuji's authority does not rest on his academic credentials alone but also on his experience as a judge at the International Criminal Court, and not just any judge but one of the most influential ones in shaping the ICC’s jurisprudence in the question of head of state immunity, among other areas.

Kai Ambos, Professor of Law at Georg August University, Gottingen, Germany; Judge Kosovo Specialist Chambers, The Hague, Netherlands

Our febrile world seems to be in retreat from the visionary order based on shared principles that were created after World War II. Instead of being brought to justice, the powerful show utter contempt for the rule of law, the laws of war, and International Law and enjoy impunity, hiding behind claims of national sovereignty and state security. But here, a great man of law describes the vital need for legal accountability for those who commit egregious crimes. A fascinating and timely book.

Baroness Helena Kennedy, LT, KC, Member, House of Lords

At a time when lawless wars are testing humanity’s resolve and commitment to international law, this timely book reminds us of the importance of the discipline, and the pursuit of independent and impartial justice for atrocity crimes by holding perpetrators to account, irrespective of rank or status.

Fatou Bensouda, former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court