Impact on the Law of Diplomatic Protection

The article deals with the problem of the impact of the Law of diplomatic protection, as it has been recently codified by the works of the International Law Commission, on general international law. The new role of the individual in international law and the increasing importance of human rights in the international legal order are going to modify the traditional interstate nature of diplomatic protection. Actually, the works of the ILC have produced only partial changes in the traditional law. This conservative approach is criticized in the article, which tries to demonstrate that more important changes are needed and that also international practice is moving towards that direction. In the perspective of progressive development of international law, the individual should be able, at least in case of gross violations of human rights, to have a right to obtain diplomatic protection from its own State. This issue raises the question of the relationship between traditional diplomatic protection and State actions invoking responsibility of other States for violations of human rights.