47. Settlement of disputes to which international organisations are parties
On 16 March 2024, the Minister of Foreign Affairs requested the Advisory Committee on Issues of Public International Law (CAVV) to prepare an advisory report on the ILC topic of settlement of disputes to which international organisations are parties, devoting specific attention to disputes of a private law character to which international organisations are parties. The Minister expressed the expectation that the CAVV’s input could be of particular value in preparing ‘the commentary on this topic to be submitted by the Dutch government to the ILC in due course’.
[The original advisory report has been published on August 13, 2024. The English translation has been available since December 10, 2024.]
The issue of the settlement of disputes of a private law character to which international organisations are parties has already been partially addressed by the CAVV in previous advisory reports, in particular in reports no. 13 (2002) and no. 27 (2015).
Part I of the present report sets out the key points of these previous reports. Part II outlines the systems provided by the United Nations for the settlement of disputes of a private law character to which it is a party, and then provides a critical assessment of these systems and makes recommendations for institutional development. Although the CAVV has chosen to pay special attention to one specific universal organisation, namely the UN, its considerations also have broader application as other international organisations, in particular the specialised agencies of the UN, have been inspired by the manner in which the UN settles disputes of a private law character. Nonetheless, international organisations can deal with disputes of a private law character in various ways. Part III describes the arrangements which the EU, as a regional organisation, has made in this regard. Finally, the report provides a summary of its recommendations.