CYIL 2014

268

MARTIN FAIX

CYIL 5 ȍ2014Ȏ

1. Introduction

1.1 The goal and scope of this contribution

The topic of this article interconnects and reflects on two of the most important

developments in international law in the last century – the rise of international

organisations and the mainstreaming of human rights in practically all aspects of

life of the international community. If one takes into account the hardly measurable

scope of their influence on international relations and on international law as

a system, the need to bring light into the murky waters of their steadily ongoing and

expanding intertwinement cannot be doubted. Despite the existence of some relevant

international judicial decisions and the bursting amount of academic writing on both

topics, their interconnection cannot be considered as being sufficiently clarified in

legal terms.

This can be seen as an unavoidable result of the nature of the current

international legal system, which was created and thus still is designed to fit the fact

of being State-focused. This is true also for the area of human rights, where the lack

of answers became visible especially with regard to the issues of the accountability of

international organisations for human rights violations. However, the crucial question

(not only for accountability) is whether international organisations can have human

rights obligations, and, if so, what are their sources.

It is the aim of this article is to determine whether, and to what extent, international

law norms relating to human rights apply to international organisations. This aim

will be pursued with a focus on general applicability of human rights, thus not

focusing on specific regimes or application of human rights in specific situations,

such as military operations. Also accountability of international organisations, which

is often the focal point of academic contributions on this topic, shall not be the prism

through which the application of human rights to international organisations will be

regarded, as even for ensuring full legal accountability it is of utmost importance to (as

most of the literature does only very briefly and in part insufficiently) clarify the legal

basis for the international organisations’ obligations to comply with human rights.

In the search for the answer I will first delineate the two tendencies, i.e. the

Humanisation and the Institutionalisation of international law. In the second

step, preliminary issues will be addressed: the definition of the term

international

organisation

, but mainly the aspect of the legal status of international organisations

under international law, as it first needs to be established whether international

organisations have the legal capacity to be bound by human rights norms. The core

of the contribution is the third section, which will address the issue of whether there

exist international human rights obligations applicable to international organisation,

and, if yes, what their sources are. I will discuss international treaties (with a brief

There are also a few attempts in the legal literature in this regard; see for example McCORQUODALE,

Robert. International Organisation and International Human Rights Law: One Giant Leap for

Humankind, In: KAIKOBAD, K.H. and BOHLANDER, M. (eds.).

International Law and Power:

Perspectives on Legal Order and Justice.

BRIL, 2009, pp. 141-162;