International organizations

· States increasingly find it convenient to set up international machinery for carrying out tasks of mutual interest.

· International organizations - object is “to create new subjects of law endowed with a certain autonomy, to which parties entrust the task of realizing common goals.”

Ш ICJ, Legality of the Use by a state of nuclear weapons in armed conflict

· They are but instruments in hands of states.

· They have limited competence and field of action – states invest them with special powers, inherently limited by state interests and desires for function of particular int’l organization.

Ш ICJ, Legality of the Use by a state of nuclear weapons in armed conflict

First created in late 19th century and early 20th century – v. rudimentary and concerned with technical matters:

· Universal Postal Union, 1875

· Union for protection of industrial property, 1883

· International Institute for Agriculture, 1905

· Various river commissions (Danube, Rhine, etc.)

League of Nations & ILO

· of greater importance, but they too had hardly any real independence or existence of their own.

· But did they have international legal personality?

o Many scholars said no.

o But some courts said yes а 1931, Italian Court of Cassation, Istitute Internazionale di Agricoltura v. Profili – held that organization had int’l legal personality because states had intended organization to be autonomous

Issue became more pressing after WWII, when lots of international organizations were established on various issues.

· Political relations – UN, OAS, Council of Europe, OAU, League of Arab States

· Military relations – NATO, former Warsaw Pact

· Economic co-operation – IMF, World Bank, WTO, EU

· Cultural relations – UNESCO

· Social co-operation – ILO, FAO

Test for determining whether an organization is an international legal subject

1. Show that member states, in setting up organization and entrusting certain functions to it, intended to clothe it “with the competence required to enable these functions to be effectively discharged”

а prove that founding fathers intended to create an autonomous body capable of being detached from members

Intention can be inferred from various elements:

o Deduced from fact that decisions of principal organs of organization must not be taken unanimously but can adopted by a majority vote

o May be spelt out in statute of organization

e.g. ICC Statute, Art. 4.1 – ICC has international legal personality.

2. Necessary for the organization in actual fac t to enjoy autonomy from member states and effective capacity necessary for it to act as an international subject

Ш 1949, ICJ Reparations for Injuries suffered in service of the UN

· Organizations that do not meet this test are said to be acting on behalf of member states and do not have international legal personality. This means states are collectively responsible for any wrongful act committed by official acting for that organization.

Rights and duties of international organizations with int’l legal personality

· depends on whatever the states creating it have decided.

· But there are some rights which have emerged as generally being held by international bodies:

o Right to enter into int’l agreements with non-member states on matters within the organization’s province (like treaties)

o Right to immunity from jurisdiction of state courts for acts and activities performed by the organization

- Has come up re employment law

o Right to protection for all the organization’s agents acting in territory of a third state in their official capacity as international civil servants

Ш 1949, ICJ Reparations for Injuries suffered in service of the UN - authoritatively upheld this right

o Right to bring an int’l claim with a view to obtaining reparation for any damage caused by a member state or third state to the assets of organization or to its officials acting on its behalf (even when victim is national of offending state, functional rather than national bond respected). Some saw this as dangerous attack on national allegiance, Socialist countries didn’t like this.

Ш 1949, ICJ Reparations for Injuries suffered in service of the UN

· BUT int’l organizations do not always have capacity to enforce these rules if they are breached, because they can often do little more than suspend delinquent member state from participating or voting, or expel it altogether.

· With regard to non-member states, int’l organizations may be able to invoke rules on state responsibility.

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