The Immunity of International Organizations Before Domestic Courts: Recent Trends

This article addresses the international organizations' immunity defence before domestic courts, and its relationship with the organizations' internal dispute settlement mechanisms. The focus of the article lies primarily on private law disputes between international organizations and individuals, and on (employment) disputes between organizations and their staff in particular. It draws inductively on cases that have recently been decided or made available, and that draw attention to three main issues: 1. the legal nature of the immunity of international organizations, 2. the weighing of the individual's right to a remedy and the organization's immunity and, to a lesser extent, 3. the relationship between the immunity from jurisdiction and the immunity from enforcement.