International organizations and their members

International Organizations Law Review

Volumn 1, Issue 1, 2004, Pages 139-161

  Blokker, Niels ^a,b  

^a LEIDEN UNIVERSITY   (Netherlands)

^b Ministry of Foreign Affairs Netherlands   (Netherlands)

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EID: 66249149947     PISSN: 15723739     EISSN: 15718069     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1163/1572374043242448     Document Type: Article

References (70)

1. In exceptional cases international organizations are not founded by treaty. Examples are the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
2. In its work on the issue of responsibility of international organizations the International Law Commission has therefore rightly not limited its definition of international organizations to organizations established by treaty, but also included organizations established by another instrument governed by international law (see UN Doc. A/58/10, at 38-40).
3. U. Fastenrath in B. Simma, The Charter of the United Nations (2nd ed. 2002), p. 173.
4. See on the San Francisco Conference S.C. Schlesinger, Act of Creation-The Founding of the United Nations (2003).
5. In addition to the countries which participated in the San Francisco negotiations, Art. 3 of the UN Charter also acknowledges as original members the countries which signed the "Declaration by United Nations" on 1 January 1942 (and signed and ratified the Charter). This alternative possibility for belonging to the group of original members was in fact created especially for Poland. Poland had signed the "Declaration by United Nations", but could not be invited to the San Francisco negotiations because no agreement could be reached about which government was authorised to represent Poland.A1. See further U. Fastenrath and Chr. Vedder in Simma, op. cit. note 2, pp. 173-176 and pp. 1373-1378.
6. Final act embodying the results of the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations, para. 3.
7. The text of the message to the Secretary-General can be found in the "Ratification status of the Rome Statute", see 〈www.un.org/law/ ICC/index〉.
8. Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (1969), art. 18.
9. See Acts of the First Chamber, 12 November 1985, pp. 72-93, and 19 May 1987, pp. 30-1309/1310.
10. See re the origins of the terms "international organization" P.B. Potter, "Origin of the Term International Organization", 39 American Journal of International Law (1945), pp. 803-806.
11. See W. Meng, Das Recht der Internationalen Organizationen-eine Entwicklungsstufe des Völkerrechts (1979), pp. 152-157.
12. See, for instance, art. 11 of the constitution of the Universal Postal Union. The current version of this article provides that only countries which are not members of the UN must be admitted by means of a separate decision (and cannot automatically become members by applying).
13. Security Council Official Records, 2nd year No. 90 (204th meeting), p. 2418 and p. 2421.
14. Art. 4.1 of the UN Charter.
15. ICJ Reports 1947-1948, p. 92 (para. 21).
16. ICJ Reports 1947-1948, p. 83 (para. 4).
17. The legal advisor of the International Telecommunications Union referred to this judgment of the ICJ when in 1982 the highest organ of the ITU was considering imposing sanctions against Israel which were not listed in the constitution. See H.G. Schermers & N.M. Blokker, International Institutional Law (4th ed. 2003), para. 1467.
18. See G. Scelle, "Le phénomène juridique du dédoublement fonctionnel", in W. Schätzel and J.-J. Schlochauer (eds.) Rechtsfragen der Internationalen Organisation-Festschrift Hans Wehberg (1956), pp. 324-342.
19. See also M. Virally, Lorganisation mondiale (1972), p. 56.
20. Compare art. 6 of the Vienna Convention on the Representation of States in their Relations with International Organizations of a Universal Character (1975). This treaty has not yet come into force.
21. The description in art. 6 of the functions of the permanent representation makes the dual role of these representations very clear.
22. The functions it lists are, among others, the protection of the interests of the sending state and the promotion of the aims and principles of the organization.
23. Sometimes the name of this plenary organ reminds of this origin. For example, in the case of the International Labour Organization or UNESCO the name of this organ is Conference.
24. C. Wilfred Jenks, "Some Constitutional Problems of International Organizations", 22 British Year Book of International Law 1945, pp. 11-72, especially pp. 27-28 ("Such persons
25. Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, art. 8.2. An exception exists only in the case that the receiving state agrees to the dispatch of a diplomat with the nationality of that state.
26. UPU Constitution, art. 17.2.
27. UN Charter, art. 23.1.
28. UN Charter, art. 24.1.
29. UN Charter, art. 24.3.A1. See also M.C. Wood, "Security Council Working Methods and Procedure: Recent Developments", 45 International and Comparative Law Quarterly (1996), pp. 150-161 (especially pp. 157-158).
30. As was indicated by the ICJ in the advisory opinion it gave to the World Health Organi zation in 1996. ICJ Reports 1996, p. 75:
31. "But the constituent instruments of international organizations are also treaties of a particular type; their object is to create new subjects of law endowed with a certain autonomy, to which the parties entrust the task of realizing common goals".
32. See, with extensive references to further literature, J.L. Kunz, Die Staatenverbindungen (Handbuch des Völkerrechts, vierte Abteilung, 1929), especially pp. 393-404.
33. See I.L. Claude, Swords into Plowshares (4th ed. 1971), pp. 191-212;
34. J. Lemoine, The International Civil Servant-An Endangered Species (1995), especially pp. 15-41.
35. C. van Vollenhoven, "Diplomatic Prerogatives of Non-Diplomats", 19 American Journal of International Law (1925), pp. 469-474.
36. See for instance P. Sands and P. Klein, Bowetts Law of International Institutions (2001), p. 16;
37. J. Klabbers, An Introduction to International Institutional Law (2002), pp. 12-13.
38. Documents of the United Nations Conference on International Organization, San Francisco (1945), Vol. XIII (Commission IV, Judicial Organization), p. 710.
39. See pp. 622-623 for a report of the short discussion on this subject. See p. 763 for the text proposed by Belgium in which "international status, together with the rights this involves" is explicity attributed.
40. Report of the San Francisco Conference to the American President, Department of State Publication 349, Conference Series 71, as cited in
41. C.W. Jenks, "The Legal Personality of International Organizations", 22 British Year Book of International Law 1945, on pp. 269-270.
42. ICJ Reports 1949, p. 179.
43. The next few sentences on the issue of international legal personality of the EU have largely been taken from Schermers & Blokker, op. cit. note 19, para. 1569.
44. See for example R.A. Wessel, "The International Legal Status of the European Union", 2 European Foreign Affairs Review 109-129 (1997)
45. R.A. Wessel, "Revisiting the International Legal Status of the EU", 5 European Foreign Affairs Review 507-537 (2000) (both with many references to further literature).
46. Agreement concluded between the EU and Yugoslavia concerning the activities of the EU Monitoring Mission in Yugoslavia, OJ 2001, L 125/1.
47. This agreement was approved by the Council on behalf of the EU. Other examples are the agreements between the EU and the US on extradition and on mutual legal assistance, signed 25 June 2003 (see OJ 2003, L 181/25).
48. Art. I.6: "The Union shall have legal personality". Although this text leaves it open
49. whether it covers both national and international legal personality, the recent practice of the EU to conclude treaties supports the view that it also covers international legal personality.
50. I. Seidl-Hohenveldern, "Internationale Organisationen aufgrund von Soft Law", in U. Beyerlin et al. (eds.), Recht zwischen Umbruch und Bewahrung-Festschrift für Rudolf Bernhardt (1995), pp. 229-239.
51. Staatsblad 2002, 580 (Official Gazette of the Kingdom of the Netherlands).
52. Mercosur, Protocol of Ouro Preto (1994), art. 34;
53. Marrakesh Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization, art. VIII; Agreement establishing the Agency for International Trade Information and Cooperation as an Intergovernmental Organization, art. 13.
54. R. Higgins, "The Legal Consequences for Member States of the Non-fulfilment by International Organizations of their Obligations towards Third Parties", 66 Annuaire de lInstitut de Droit International (Session of Lisbonne, Vol. I, 1995).
55. Reproduced in this issue.
56. See 96 American Journal of International Law (2002), pp. 711-712.
57. Judgment 2232, 16 July 2003 (see www.ilo.org/public/english/tribunal/ fulltext/2232. htm).
58. See further the so-called Kosovo evaluation which the government sent to Dutch House of Commons in March 2000, Parliamentary Document (Kamerstuk) 1999-2000, 22181, nr. 310, especially pp. 8-11 and 15-18.
59. See the Dutch newspaper Trouw, 3 August 2000.
60. See, inter alia, Canada during the oral pleadings relating to the request by Yugoslavia for provisional measures (Public sitting 10 May 1999, Doc. CR 99/16 (p. 15),A1. and Public sitting 12 May 1999, Doc. CR 99/27 (p. 10));
61. France (during the April 2004 hearings, Public sitting 20 April 2004, Doc. CR 2004/12, pp. 23-25);
62. Portugal (during the April 2004 hearings, Public sitting 19 April 2004, Doc. CR 2004/9, pp. 21-24).
63. France in de Bancovic cases: see ECHR, Grand Chamber Decision as to the admissibility of Application no. 52207/99, 12 December 2001 (especially paragraphs 31, 32 and 83).
64. See also, briefly, R. Higgins, "The Responsibility of States Members for the Defaults of International Organizations: Continuing the Dialogue", in S. Schlemmer-Schulte & Ko-Yung Tung (eds.), Liber Amicorum Ibrahim F.I. Shihata 441-448 (2001), in particular at 446-448.
65. Lorimer designed a "Scheme for the Organization of an International Government". the original version of this was published in 1877 in his article "Le Problème final du Droit International", which appeared in the Revue de Droit International (Vol. ix, No. II, p. 161).
66. The English text of this design is included in The Institutes of the Law of Nations, Vol. II (1884), p. 181 and further. On pp. 264-267
67. Lorimer discusses the "Want of an International Locality" which should serve as a "centre of international life".
68. That is where a "government" should be located "which belonged to all nations and to none" (p. 266).
69. As a synonym for the word "Government" Lorimer uses "international body", "institution" and "international organization".
70. Lorimer regarded the Constantinople of his time to be the most suitable place for it to be located, and noted Geneva as an alternative.