On 16 November 2023, a workshop on ‘Settlement of disputes to which international organizations are parties’, was organised by Professor August Reinisch and Professor Michael Waibel.
The workshop drew upon salient issues concerning the respective ILC topic. It intended to analyse changes and trends in the types of disputes arising, the frequency of such disputes and the modes of settlement, why some methods of dispute settlement are preferred, whether they encompass all potential types of disputes, and how these methods may be improved.
To stimulate debate, participants presented short statements on a range of interesting questions concerning the subject-matter which provided the starting point for insightful discussions in the workshop. Such questions were, inter alia, ‘how IOs have settled their international disputes with other organizations and States in practice’, ‘what methods of settlement IOs have used for “other disputes of a private law character” and based on which applicable law’, ‘what would be the appropriate methods of dispute settlement for tort or employment-like claims’, or whether ‘“other disputes of a private law character” encompass all disputes (other than those arising from contracts)’. Extensive reference was made to the previous and current work of the ILC as well as to the practice of IOs as witnessed by senior legal officers of IOs and other practitioners in the field.
The workshop was attended by legal scholars and practitioners specialising in the field of international law and dispute resolution, the law of IOs, and international administrative law. The speakers and workshop participants were Christiane Ahlborn (Trinity College Dublin), Eyal Benvenisti (University of Cambridge), Niels Blokker (Leiden University), Kristen Boon (University of Ottawa), Fernando Lusa Bordin (University of Cambridge), Gian Luca Burci (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, WHO), Kristina Daugirdas (University of Michigan), Carla Ferstman (University of Essex), Rishi Gulati (King’s College London), Thomas Henquet (ICC, The Hague), Holger Hestermeyer (Diplomatische Akademie Wien), Stian Øby Johansen (University of Oslo), Ian Johnstone (The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy), and Elisabetta Morlino (Suor Orsola Benincasa University, Naples, Italy), joined by Jan Klabbers (University of Helsinki).
