Nigeria born international jurist and former president of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Dr. Chile Eboe Osuji, is set to release his new book titled, End of Immunity. This critically acclaimed and highly anticipated book, which stressed the need to hold world leaders accountable, will be released on the 15th of October 2024 on various platforms across the globe.
A peek into the book’s synopsis. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and other brutal wars the world has seen since and around then, have reinforced to the world the importance of holding culprits accountable for aggressive wars, genocide, war crimes, and other crimes against humanity—even when the culprits are heads of state, heads of government, and sundry strong men who gratify terror.
In End of Immunity, a former President of the International Criminal Court exposes the history and theory of the concept of immunity, which for so long protected heads of state from accountability until the end of World War I. Through that historic lens, Dr Chile Eboe-Osuji explains the new rule of international law that now precludes immunity even for heads of state, underscores the achievements of international law in that regard, exposes the hypocrisies that still struggles to perpetuate impunity, and offers workable solutions to close the deliberate loopholes used by government leaders to try and escape accountability for their atrocities.
The author, Dr Chile Eboe-Osuji, is a leading and world-renowned jurist in international law. A former judge of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, he was the President of the ICC from 2018 to 2021, 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, he served as the senior legal advisor to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva. Since completing his term at the ICC, Dr Eboe-Osuji has served as a Senior Fellow of the Carr Center at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard
University, the Herman Phlegar Visiting Professor of Law at Stanford University,
Distinguished International Jurist at Lincoln Alexander School of Law at the Toronto
Metropolitan University, amongst other visiting professorships and fellowships. He has an extensive record of legal scholarship and publications and is the founding editor-in-chief of the Nigerian Yearbook of International Law.
He received his academic Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Amsterdam (the
Netherlands), Master of Laws degree from McGill University (Canada) and Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Calabar (Nigeria).
He has received a number of honorary awards, notably, an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from McGill University (Canada), honorary Doctor of the University degree from the
University of Middlesex (England), the Goler T. Butcher Medal of the American Society of
International Law for outstanding global contribution to human rights, Gold Medal of the
Honorary Patronage of the Philosophical Society at Trinity College, Dublin (Ireland), and the Emeka Anyaoku Lifetime Achievement Award (Nigeria).
Below are some of recent reviews by renowned international scholars and world leaders;
“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
“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; former President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
“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, United Kingdom
“Judge Eboe-Osuji skillfully traces the historic legal developments that have made it possible to bring to justice those most often responsible for mass atrocities, the men of the highest rank and power, who as Justice Jackson said at Nuremberg make ‘deliberate and concerted use’ of that power to set the evils in motion.”
—Stephen Rapp, former United States Ambassador-at-Large for War Crime Issues
“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
This book is the definitive account of a vital principle for international relations, international law and global humanity. Every intelligent person—not only lawyers—can and should read it.
The book is published by Prometheus Books/Globe Pequot (an Imprint of Rowman & Littlefield), Essex,
Connecticut (USA), and will be available on the following platforms; Amazon (in various countries), Apple, Barnes & Nobles, Blackwell’s, Books-A-Million, Bookshop.org, Booktopia, Coles, Indigo-Chapters, WHSmith, from the 15th of October 2024.