Lex Specialis and the Responsibility of International Organizations

Lex Specialis was a topic of much discussion during the ILC debates on the Responsibility of International Organizations.  The central issue was this:  how broad is the provision, and does it give IOs carte blanche to derogate from or contract around the residual rules of responsibility?   I’ve just posted an article on SSRN here that gives my take.  Here is the abstract:

The International Law Commission’s recent endeavor to progressively develop principles of responsibility applicable to international organizations reignited an old debate: do international organizations share a common set of core attributes? Or are they fundamentally sui generis, given their great variations in mandate, size, and power vis–à– vis member States? The comments submitted by international organizations to the Commission demonstrate that there is very little consensus on the genus of international organizations, and consequently on the application of general rules to these increasingly important and pervasive bodies. Indeed, most organizations took the position that the founding premise of the international legal framework applicable to them should be speciality not generality.

The article is part of a forthcoming book edited by Dr. Maurizio Ragazzi entitled The Responsibility of International Organizations.   The book contains a block buster list of authors.  Keep an eye out – it will be published by Brill.