27. Responsibility of International Organisations

This advisory report discusses the relationship between immunity and (individual) legal protection in regard to international organisations, and makes recommendations in this connection.

Assessment of the doctrine of the immunity of international organisations has undergone a change as a result of both case law and academic insights. Although immunity based on headquarters agreements and constituting treaties is still inviolable, both European and national case law increasingly indicate that this inviolability may be at odds with other international obligations, notably the obligations to ensure right of access to a court and the right to a fair trial. The report identifies ways of dealing with the tension between immunity and legal protection.