Accountability for human rights violations by international organisations.

International Organisations have proliferated enormously and over the years they have unfolded an unprecedented scope and intensity of activities in a wide range of policy fields. Inevitably situations multiply in which individual human rights (political, civil, but also economic, cultural and social) may be threatened or violated through the actions, operations or policies of such Organisations. The project is designed to explore the mechanisms through which accountability can be realised for violations of human rights committed by, or attributable to, International Organisations and their staff. In a first phase, one has to analyse transversal issues and notably whether International Organisations are bound by Human Rights which are typically contained in international treaties to which only States are a party. A positive answer to this question implies that International Organisations have to respect Human Rights. Do they also have a positive obligation to promote and fulfil human rights standards on the grounds? What mechanisms are available for individuals at the international and national level to hold International Organisations accountable in cases of human rights violations (with, at the international level, the general problem that dispute settlement systems almost always exclusively focus on disputes between States; and, at the national level, the serious practical stumbling block that International Organisations almost invariably enjoy immunities)? Could an additional liability of the Member States for acts of the Organisation be considered? A second phase of the project analyses these questions in different domains of activities through case-studies. For instance, risk of violations of human rights by International Organisations is especially high when they exercise direct operational command and/or power, such as in the case of peacekeeping operations. Sometimes, International Organisations have been entrusted with international territorial administration. Beyond these situations in which one easily recognises that the risk of violations of human rights may be important, one notices that this phenomenon is even broader and more complex. Many International Organisations operate mainly through policies in the areas of their specific mission, from development financing to the promotion of culture, health, justice, labour standards, monetary stability, trade and so on. Their particular focus on their own specialized mission may bring them to inadvertently or even consciously neglect of prejudice human rights protection in specific areas. Another part of the study concerns the staff of International Organisations. Quite obviously, in the employment relationship with their own staff, International Organisations are likewise in a position of direct authority in which infringements of human rights can take place. In the third phase, the results of both theoretical and practical analyses are translated in recommendations aiming to provide satisfactory answers to all these questions.

Keywords:International rights

Disciplines:Law