3 Chi J Intl L 527
Sarah C. Rispin

This article concerns how the Congo v. Belgium decision, delivered by the International Court of Justice, has impacted the precedent the British House of Lords attempted to establish in Pinochet, and the law of official immunity for major international crimes. It begins by describing each of the Law Lords’ rationale for the Pinochet decision, followed by an explanation of the majority’s formalistic reasoning in the Congo v. Belgium opinion. It sets out to determine what portions of the Pinochet decision survive Congo v. Belgium and looks to the main concurrence in the ICJ’s decision to bring to light its attempt to maintain some of the Pinochet precedent. The article concludes that the ICJ’s decision quashed the impetus Pinochet generated to begin prosecuting senior officials accused of committing serious human rights violations, leaving open the question of if and when these officials can be brought to justice.