Sixth Committee (Legal) — 78th session
Responsibility of international organizations (Agenda item 85)
- Authority:
Documentation
- — Report of the Secretary-General on the responsibility of international organizations: Comments and information received from Governments and international organizations
- — Report of the Secretary-General on the responsibility of international organizations: Compilation of decisions of international courts and tribunals
- — Draft resolution
Summary of work
Background (source: )
At its sixty-sixth session, in 2011, the General Assembly, under the item entitled “Report of the International Law Commission on the work of its sixty-third session”, considered chapter V of the report of the Commission, which contained the draft articles on responsibility of international organizations together with a recommendation that the Assembly take note of the draft articles and that it consider, at a later stage, the elaboration of a convention on the basis of the draft articles. The Assembly took note of the articles, the text of which was annexed to resolution , commended them to the attention of Governments and international organizations without prejudice to the question of their future adoption or other appropriate action and decided to include in the provisional agenda of its sixty-ninth session an item entitled “Responsibility of international organizations” (resolution ).
The Assembly has considered the item triennially since its sixty-ninth session (resolutions , and ).
At its seventy-fifth session, the Assembly allocated the item to the Sixth Committee, where statements in the debate were made by 14 delegations (see ). The Assembly requested the Secretary-General to update the compilation of decisions of international courts, tribunals and other bodies referring to the articles and to invite Governments and international organizations to submit information on their practice in that regard, as well as written comments on any future action regarding the articles, and also requested the Secretary-General to submit that material well in advance of its seventy-eighth session (resolution ).
Consideration at the seventy-eighth session
The Sixth Committee considered the item at its 19th and 37th meetings, on 19 October and 17 November 2023, respectively (see and ).
Statements were made by the representatives of the European Union (the candidate countries Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova and potential candidate country Georgia aligned themselves with the statement), Finland (on behalf of the Nordic Countries: Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland), Singapore, the United States of America, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Belarus, Portugal, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mexico, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Colombia, Egypt, Cuba, Cameroon, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, the Russian Federation and Viet Nam.
Delegations took note of the increasing relevance of international organizations in international relations. A number of delegations recalled that international organizations enjoyed international legal personality and thus had the capacity to be responsible for violations of their respective obligations under international law. Some delegations also raised the importance of addressing excesses of power or jurisdiction by such organizations as well as abuses of the privileges and immunities they may enjoy. Delegations generally welcomed the articles on the responsibility of international organizations, as adopted by the International Law Commission in 2011 (“the articles”), as an important step towards addressing such questions. Several delegations expressed the view that the articles represented, in many aspects, a proposal for the progressive development of international law, while others expressed the view that the articles reflected existing customary international law. A number of delegations highlighted relationship between the articles and the articles on responsibility of States for internationally wrongful acts, as adopted by the Commission in 2001 (“the 2001 articles”).
A number of delegations expressed support for the negotiation of a convention on the basis of the articles. Some of them noted that a convention would promote legal certainty in this important field of law and would be an important step towards ensuring that international organizations are accountable for their acts. Some delegations considered that a dedicated forum for the substantive discussion of the articles was needed. The possibilities of holding a resumed session or establishing a working group to this effect were raised. Some delegations expressed a desire for the Committee to reform its approach to products of the International Law Commission in general to overcome a cycle of inaction that had characterized the debates in recent years.
Several other delegations were against the conclusion of a convention at this stage. Among those delegations, a number highlighted the scarcity of practice regarding the articles, and others highlighted the desirability of reaching consensus on the 2001 articles before considering the present articles. Some delegations expressed the view that the reports of the Secretary-General did not suggest a material change in the legal status of the articles. In this connection, the view was expressed that the articles should remain in their current form until there was more practice that could justify a different course of action.
Open questions relating to the substance of the articles were raised, including those on necessity, countermeasures and self-defence. The need to study the definition of “international organization” in light of the ongoing work of the Commission on the topic “Settlement of disputes to which organizations are parties” was noted. The relevance of the provision on lex specialis in article 64 was also highlighted, and a need for consideration of questions relating to succession of international organizations was raised. Some delegations also highlighted the distinction between the respective responsibility of international organizations and their member States.
Delegations generally welcomed the updated compilation of decisions of international courts and tribunals as well as the compilation of comments and information received from Governments and international organizations. Several delegations requested the Secretariat to continue updating the two reports. A proposal was also made to create a working document to facilitate more focused discussions on the topic, identifying aspects where there are disagreements by the delegations, as a means to address the content of the articles beyond the disagreements on the procedural options. The need to find an agreed way forward was noted. However, other delegations considered that no further action was necessary and that consensus on the topic was unlikely to be reached. Several delegations favoured that the item “Responsibility of international organizations” be kept on the agenda of the General Assembly, while some delegations considered that it should be removed from the agenda.
Archived videos and summaries of plenary meetings
(19 October 2023, 10:00am – 1:00pm) | Summary
(17 November 2023, 10:00am – 1:00pm) | Summary
Action taken by the Sixth Committee
At the 37th meeting, on 17 November 2023 the representative of Brazil, on behalf of the Bureau, introduced a draft resolution entitled “Responsibility of international organizations” (). At the same meeting, the Committee adopted draft resolution A/C.6/78/L.18 without a vote.
Under the terms of the draft resolution, the General Assembly would, inter alia, request the Secretary-General to update the compilation of decisions of international courts, tribunals and other bodies referring to the articles, and invite Governments and international organizations to submit information on their practice in this regard well in advance of its eighty-first session. The Assembly would also invite States to engage in substantive dialogue on the topic on an informal basis during the intersessional periods. Finally, the Assembly would decide to include the item in the provisional agenda of its eighty-first session, with a view to further examining the recommendation of the Commission on the topic or any other appropriate action and would invite the Sixth Committee to consider at a later stage the framework, if any, in which it could continue its examination of the topic.
Subsequent action taken by the General Assembly
- Report of the Sixth Committee:?
- GA resolution:
This agenda item will be considered at the eighty-first session of the General Assembly (2026).
Full texts of submissions ()
| State | Original submission | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| Mali | French | |
| Netherlands (Kingdom of the) | English | |
| Russian Federation | Russian | English |
| United States of America | English |
