Law and Ethics presents advances and challenges in international law and frames ethical debates in international affairs. Philosophers, ethicists, law practitioners, advocates and scholars from around the world tackle some of the most challenging international dilemmas of our day. Law and Ethics gives Journal readers a look at issues ranging from the recruitment of young soldiers in violent conflicts to the extradition of heads of state accused of war crimes and the ethical questions surrounding economic development in the world's poorest areas.

The Extradition Question:
Immunity and the Head of State

By Sara Criscitelli

In 1999 the United Kingdom’s House of Lords justified the possible extradition of Augusto Pinochet, Chile’s former head of state, to Spain for prosecution on torture-related charges. Its decision in Regina v Bartle and the Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis and Others Ex Parte Pinochet recognized that heads of state generally enjoy immunity under international law; a British statute also confers immunity upon them. Nonetheless, it concluded, in the narrow circumstances presented in that case, that the UN Convention Against Torture or Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment (the Torture Convention) and British domestic legislation trumped Pinochet’s head of state immunity.1 Human rights advocates hoped the decision would impel other nations to bring heads of state to justice who commit atrocities in their official capacities and presume impunity.2 more...