State Immunity from Enforcement Measures, between Respect for State Sovereignty and Access to Justice

This paper deals with the delicate interplay between rules concerning State immunity from measures of constraint and the right of access to justice granted to individuals under the main international human rights instruments. After a general introduction to the issue, in light also of the works leading to the adoption of the UN Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and their Property (New York, 2004), the paper concentrates on an analysis of recent Italian and French case law, concerning the former the immunity in respect of assets owned by the Federal Republic of Germany in Italy from enforcement measures ensuing from judgments awarding compensation for war crimes committed by German troops in Italy in the course of the Second World War, and the latter the taking of measures of constraint against credits of the Republic of Argentina vis-à-vis French companies, following actions for recovery filed against the Republic of Argentina as a consequence of the Argentine default.