US Government Debt Different - Finance Department - University of ...

Charles W. Mooney, Jrtions Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and theirProperty (U.N. Convention) contains a somewhat curious connectionrequirement. 160 The U.N. Convention excepts from immunityfrom execution:227property [that] is specifically in use or intended for use by theState for other than government non-commercial purposes andis in the territory of the State of the forum, provided that postjudgmentmeasures of constraint may only be taken againstproperty that has a connection with the entity against which theproceeding was directed. 161Under the U.N. Convention, a judgment creditor normally wouldnot be permitted to execute against the property of one agency orinstrumentality of a state to enforce a judgment against another,separate agency or instrumentality for want of a connection of thefirst entity’s property with the second entity. That is consistent withthe general rule that the assets of agencies and instrumentalities ofa foreign state are immune from execution based on claims againstA required connection between the property sought for attachment and the underlyingclaim also appears in international conventions. See European Convention onState Immunity art 26, June 11, 1976, E.T.S. No. 74 (“a judgment rendered againsta Contracting State . . . may be enforced in the State of the forum against propertyof the State against which judgment has been given, used exclusively in connectionwith such an activity . . . .”); International Law Association: Draft Convention onState Immunity art. 8(A)(2), March 1983, 22 I.L.M. 287 (“The property is in usefor the purposes of commercial activity or was in use for the commercial activityupon which the claim is based”); International Law Commission Report on theDraft Articles Adopted at its Forty-Third Session art 18(1)(c), Sept. 11, 1991, 30I.L.M. 1554 [hereinafter Draft Articles on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and TheirProperty] (“the property is specifically in use or intended for use by the State forother than government non-commercial purposes and is in the territory of the Stateof the forum and has a connection with the claim”).160 United Nations Convention on the Jurisdictional Immunities of States andTheir Property, G.A. Res. 59/38, Annex, U.N. Doc. A/RES/59/38 (Dec. 2, 2004)(adopted without a vote) [hereinafter, U.N. Convention]. Resolutions of theGeneral Assembly are available at http://www.un.org/documents/resga.htm. TheU.N. Convention has 28 signatories and 13 parties, but 30 parties are requiredfor it to enter into force. Id. Art. 30(1); http://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=IND&mtdsg_no=III-13&chapter=3&lang=en.161 U.N. Convention, Art. 19(c).