Art. 44(b) of the Draft Articles on State Responsibility provides that “the responsibility of a State may not be invoked if: the claim is one to which the rule of exhaustion of local remedies applies and any available and effective local remedy has not been exhausted.” It is an established rule of customary international law that before diplomatic protection is afforded or before recourse may be made to international arbitral or judicial processes, local remedies must be exhausted. The rationale behind the rule may be summarized as follows:

• To respect the sovereignty of States. The state must be given the first opportunity to exercise jurisdiction on those matters occurring within its own territory;
• To allow the concerned state the opportunity to afford redress within its own legal system for the alleged wrong;
• To reduce the number of possible international claims;
• To better evaluate the facts. Exhausting local remedies rests on considerations of practical convenience as the local courts are better placed to evaluate the facts;
• To claim denial of justice. There can be no claim on the basis of denial of justice until local remedies have been exhausted.