The Rule of States Immunities and Countering Terrorism With Emphasis on The Crash of a Ukrainian Plane

Abstract

The rule of immunity of states and their property from the jurisdiction of domestic courts is a rule of customary international law and exceptions are set out in customary international law as well as in the 2004 United Nations Convention on Immunity but some countries, such as Canada, have begun efforts to add a new exception called terrorism by amending their former immunity law earlier this century. The crash of a passenger plane with P. S. 752 belonging to Ukraine in 3 January 2020 as a result of hitting two IRGC missiles has several legal issues, including the legal and criminal liability of the perpetrators and culprits of the accident, how to compensate damages, violation of obligations under international conventions, has created the international responsibility of the Iranian government and the possibility of litigation by survivors in domestic courts or litigation in the International Court of Justice. Subsequently, some survivors of the plane crash filed a lawsuit in Ontario and a sentence was handed down to Iran, citing the deliberate firing of a missile and its terrorist nature. In the area of government immunity, as well as the draft of the 2004 United Nation Immunity Convention and the attempt to implement the vote issued by the survivors, the rule of government immunity has faced a new challenge.

Keywords

• state immunity
• united nation convention 2004
• ukrainian passenger aircraft
• terrorism
• justice for victims of terrorism act 2012