Untitled Quiz

International Law: International Organizations

• International Organizations (IOs) are entities established by treaties or agreements between sovereign states or international actors to facilitate cooperation on specific issues.
• Two main types:
  • Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs): Composed of member states (e.g., UN, WTO).
  • Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs): Typically composed of individuals or groups focused on social, humanitarian, or environmental issues (e.g., Amnesty International, Greenpeace).
• IOs can be created by:
  • Sovereign states
  • Existing international organizations
  • International conferences
• IOs are usually governed by:
  • International law (treaties, customary law, judicial decisions)
  • Treaty law (Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties)
  • Member state consent

Legal Personality of IOs

• Having legal personality allows an organization to enter into contracts, sue or be sued in court, own property, and manage assets independently from member states.
• Under domestic law, legal personality grants an organization rights and obligations similar to a natural person or corporation, enabling it to operate within a state's legal framework, engage in legal proceedings, and access courts to enforce rights.
• International legal personality recognizes an organization's capacity under international law, including engaging in diplomatic relations, entering into treaties with states and other IOs, and participating in international organizations and proceedings.
• Legal personality isn't inherent but attributed based on creation, treaties, and member state recognition.

Importance of Legal Personality

• Legal personality enables IOs to carry out their objectives and responsibilities independently from member states.
• Essential for IOs to function effectively in the global arena.

The United Nations: Purposes and Principles

• Purposes: Maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations, achieving international cooperation, promoting human rights.
• Principles: Sovereign equality, peaceful settlement of disputes, non-interference in domestic affairs, and collective action.

The United Nations: Structure and Main Bodies

• General Assembly: Main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ, with each member state having one vote.
• Security Council: Responsible for maintaining international peace and security, capable of imposing sanctions and authorizing the use of force.
• Secretariat: Conducts the day-to-day work of the UN, led by the Secretary-General, who serves as the spokesperson and diplomat of the UN.

The United Nations: Subsidiary Organs and Specialized Agencies

• Subsidiary Organs: Bodies established to support the main UN organs (e.g., Human Rights Council, UNDP).
• Specialized Agencies: Independent organizations with specific mandates that coordinate with the UN (e.g., WHO, IMF).

Week 3: Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations

• Inviolability: UN headquarters and offices cannot be entered without consent.
• Exemption from Taxes: UN is exempt from most local and national taxes.
• Immunity from Legal Process: UN is protected from being sued in domestic courts.
• Freedom of Communication: UN has the right to communicate freely with member states and other IOs.
• The 1946 Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations governs these privileges and immunities.

International Courts: Jurisdiction and Procedures

• The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the UN, and its jurisdiction is based on the consent of states.
• Parties to a dispute can recognize ICJ's compulsory jurisdiction.
• The ICJ's jurisdiction can be based on special agreements or clauses within treaties.
• The ICJ can also issue advisory opinions on legal questions.

Week 5: Reservations to Treaties

• Reservations: Unilateral statements made by a state when signing, ratifying, accepting, or approving a treaty, excluding or modifying the legal effect of certain treaty provisions for that state.
• Validity conditions: Reservations must be compatible with the object and purpose of the treaty and expressed clearly to other parties.

Week 6: Successive Treaties

• Successive Treaties: When two or more treaties address the same subject, the later treaty typically prevails if it's intended to replace or modify the earlier one.
• Conflict situations: The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) addresses conflicts between treaties, and later treaties generally prevail over earlier ones, especially when the specific treaty provisions suggest a replacement or conflict. However, this is complex, and it frequently requires examination of specific treaty terms, legal arguments, and, sometimes, political context.

Week 7: The Reception of International Law in Domestic Legal Orders

• Monism/Dualism: Two contrasting theories on the relationship between international and domestic law.
• Monism: International law is automatically part of domestic law.
• Dualism: International law must be transformed into domestic law to be applicable.
• Self-executing obligations are treaty provisions that domestic courts can directly enforce without further legislation.
• Different states adopt different approaches to incorporating international law into their domestic systems.

Week 8: International Responsibility and Sanctions

• International Responsibility: A secondary legal concept that arises when a state violates a primary obligation under international law, often leading to consequences such as reparations.
• Wrongful Acts: International law principles, treaties, and customary law define when states breach their obligations toward other states.
• Sanctions: Measures taken by international organizations like the UN Security Council to induce a state to comply with international law, potentially involving economic or other measures, that do not involve the use of force.

Week 9: The International Court of Justice

• Organization and structure of the ICJ, including the judges and the judicial processes.
• Jurisdiction of the ICJ, and its procedures for filing cases, pleadings, hearings and judgments.
• Importance of the ICJ's decisions in interpreting and developing international law, and factors impacting the enforcement of decisions, given its lack of direct authority or executive power to compel states.

Week 10: Introduction to Administrative Law

• Administrative Law: A branch of public law that governs the activities of administrative agencies and public authorities.
• Scope and sources: Includes statutes, regulations, case law, and conventions; principles like legality, proportionality, and accountability are central to this branch of law.
• Procedural fair hearing and public input, to ensure legitimacy, and the role of judicial review.

Week 11: Procedural Principles of Administrative Law

• Procedural principles: Crucial for administrative law, involving fairness, transparency, the right to be heard, and transparency.
• Scope of administrative authorities: In international cases, these concerns of transparency and fairness are magnified concerning the potential impacts on individual rights.
• Transparency requirements: Essential for legitimacy and accountability, particularly in global governance where a democratic deficit might exist.

Week 12: Substantive Principles of Administrative Law

• Substantive principles: Criteria for evaluating the content of administrative decisions. These rules cover the appropriate limits of administrative power, fairness, and proportionality.
• Judicial review role: The reviewing of administrative decisions, ensuring that they respect legal limitations and fundamental rights.

Week 13: The Precautionary Principle

• The precautionary principle is a framework of legal decision-making that allows for actions to prevent potential future harms that have not been definitively proven and/or require action before full scientific evidence concerning the issue has been ascertained.
• This principle is critical as many global regulations, especially environmental and public health ones, require preventive and anticipatory action due to the complexity and scale of risks in global issues, often in the absence of definitive scientific certainty.