At its fifty-second
session, in 2000, the Commission, on the basis of the recommendation
of a Working Group on the long-term programme of work, concluded
that the topic “Responsibility of international organizations”
was appropriate for inclusion in its long-term programme of
work. [1]
The General Assembly, in resolution 55/152 of 12
December 2000 (E,
F,
S,
R,
C,
A), took note of the Commission’s report concerning its long-term programme
of work. In resolution 56/82 of 12 December 2001 (E,
F,
S,
R,
C,
A),
the Assembly requested the Commission to begin its work on the
topic.
At its fifty-fourth session,
in 2002, the Commission decided to include the topic in its
programme of work, to appoint Giorgio Gaja as Special
Rapporteur for the topic, and to establish a Working Group
on the topic. [2] The Working Group
considered the following issues: (a) the scope of the topic,
including the concepts of responsibility and international organizations;
(b) relations between the topic of responsibility of international
organizations and the articles on State responsibility; (c)
questions of attribution; (d) questions of responsibility of
member States for conduct that is attributed to an international
organization; (e) other questions concerning the arising of
responsibility for an international organization; (f) questions
of content and implementation of international responsibility;
(g) settlement of disputes; and (h) the practice to be taken
into consideration. The Working Group recommended that the Secretariat
approach international organizations with a view to collecting
relevant materials, especially on questions of attribution and
the responsibility of member States for conduct that is attributed
to an international organization. [3] The Commission
adopted the report of the Working Group. [4]
The General Assembly, in resolution 57/21 of 19
November 2002 (E,
F,
S,
R,
C,
A), took note of the Commission’s decision to include the topic in its
programme of work.
At its fifty-fifth session,
in 2003, the Commission had before it the first report
[5] of the Special
Rapporteur dealing with the scope of the work and general principles
concerning the responsibility of international organizations.
The Special Rapporteur proposed the following draft articles:
1 (scope of the draft articles), 2 (use of terms) and 3 (general
principles). The Commission referred draft articles 1 and 3
to the Drafting Committee and established a Working Group to
consider draft article 2. The Commission considered the report
of the Working Group on draft article 2 and referred the text
of that article, as formulated by the Working Group, to the
Drafting Committee. [6]
At the same session, the Commission provisionally adopted the following
three draft articles as well as the commentaries thereto: 1
(Scope of the present draft articles), 2 (Use of terms) and
3 (General principles). The Commission also decided to establish
a Working Group to assist the Special Rapporteur with regard
to his next report. The Commission further decided to request
the Secretariat to circulate, on an annual basis, the chapter
of the Commission’s report on this topic to the United Nations,
its specialized agencies as well as other international organizations
for comment. [7]
At the
fifty-sixth session,
in 2004, the Commission considered the second report [8] of the Special Rapporteur dealing
with attribution of conduct to international organizations for
which he proposed four draft articles: article 4 General
rule on attribution of conduct to an international organization,
article 5 Conduct of organs placed at the disposal of
an international organization by a State or another international
organization, article 6 Excess of authority or contravention
of instructions, and article 7 Conduct acknowledged
and adopted by an international organization as its own.
The Commission referred draft articles 4 to 7 to the Drafting
Committee. The Commission subsequently considered and adopted
the report of the Drafting Committeee on draft articles 4 (General
rule on attribution of conduct to an international organization),
5 (Conduct of organs or agents placed at the disposal of an
international organization by a State or another international
organization), 6 (Excess of authority or contravention of instructions),
and 7 (Conduct acknowledged and adopted by an international
organization as its own), and adopted commentaries on those
articles. [9]
At the
fifty-seventh session,
in 2005, the Commission had before it the comments of Governments
and international organizations, [10] as well as the third report
of the Special Rapporteur [11] which dealt with the existence
of a breach of an international obligation on the part of an
international organization and with the responsibility of an
international organization in connection with the act of a State
or another international organization. The Special Rapporteur
proposed draft articles 8 to 16: article 8 Existence of
a breach of an international obligation, article 9 International
obligation in force for an international organization,
article 10 Extension in time of the breach of an international
obligation, article 11 Breach consisting of a composite
act, article 12 Aid or assistance in the commission
of an internationally wrongful act, article 13 Direction
and control exercise over the commission of an internationally
wrongful act, article 14 Coercion of a State or
another international organization, article 15 Effects
of the preceding articles, and article 16 Decisions,
recommendations and authorizations addressed to member States
and international organizations.
The Commission
considered the third report of the Special Rapporteur, and subsequently
established a Working Group to consider draft articles 8 and
16. The Commission referred draft articles 9 to 15, and 8 and
16 (on the basis of the oral report of the Wokring Group) to
the Drafting Committee. The Commission, subsequently considered
and adopted the report of the Drafting Committee on draft articles
8 (Existence of a breach of an international obligation), 9
(International obligation in force for an international organization),
10 (Extension in time of the breach of an international obligation),
11 (Breach consisting of a composite act), 12 (Aid or assistance
in the commission of an internationally wrongful act), 13 (Direction
and control exercised over the commission of an internationally
wrongful act), 14 (Coercion of a State or another international
organization) and 15 (Decisions, recommendations and authorizations
addressed to member States and international organizations),
and adopted commentaries on those articles. [12]