Binding International Organisations to Member State Treaties or Responsibility of Member States for Their Own Actions in the Framework of International Organisations

This contribution briefly discusses two aspects of the responsibility of Member States in the context of international organizations. In the first part, the question is analysed whether international organizations are bound by treaties which bind their Member States because such a binding might be one way of ensuring that Member States do not evade their obligations by acting, in one way or another, through international organizations. Under this heading, attention will be paid to (1) general considerations; (2) the European Communities (EC) and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) as well as Customs Agreements; (3) the EC/European Union (EU) and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR); (4) the EC/EU and other Member State Treaties, including the United Nations (UN) Charter; and (5) other international organizations. In the second part, some reflections are offered on the responsibility of Member States for their own actions in the framework of international organizations – i.e. linked to a Member State’s own conduct, in particular (1) responsibility for the actions of an international organization resulting from the establishment of an international organization and (2) responsibility of a Member State for its own subsequent conduct in the framework of an international organization.

ISBN:978-90-5095-746-5

Publication year:2010