Dignity and Embarrassment

The Application of Immunities to Central Bank Sanctions

Abstract

Freezes on central bank assets have attracted renewed attention since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. This article examines this lively area of international law in four parts. First, it introduces the topic of freezes on central bank assets. Second, it examines the extent to which central bank sanctions are consistent with immunities and inviolability under international law, in particular immunity from execution, including under the United Nations Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and Their Property (UNCSI) and customary international law as reflected in State practice. Third, it considers categorical critiques of state immunities. Fourth, it suggests that the law of immunities derives from the neglected principle of dignity, qualifying the prevailing view that immunities derive solely from the sovereign equality of states.