Signing of the United Nations Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and Their Property

January 10, 2007

The Cabinet has decided to sign the United Nations Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and Their Property. The Convention will be signed in New York at the UN Headquarters in the morning of January 11 (Japan time: the evening of January 11) by Ambassador Kenzo Oshima, Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations.
The Convention was adopted at the plenary meeting of the UN General Assembly on December 2, 2004. The Convention stipulates such cases as when States Parties cannot apply jurisdictional immunities to its own State and property in other states' courts.
Japan has been aware of the importance of establishing an international rule concerning the principle of State immunity and has been deeply involved with formulating the Convention from the stage of negotiating for a draft. This Convention holds significant importance since it establishes an international rule on the specific scope of State immunities for States and their property applied in judicial cases. It is extremely significant that Japan will sign this Convention during the period when it is open for signature (until January 17, 2007) and thus demonstrate its strong will for the conclusion and entering into force of the Convention.

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