Duration
24h Th
Number of credits
Lecturer
Language(s) of instruction
English language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the second semester
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
Although particular consideration is devoted - due to their respective peculiarities - to the United Nations as well as integration organizations (EU), the course does not consist of an analysis of individual international organizations. It rather deals with legal issues common to all international organizations, or particulary important or controversial. Against this backdrop, the main topics to be addressed are :
In the first part of the course, dedicated to the legal status of the organization :
- Creation and membership;
- International legal personality, legal capacities (in the international legal order and in domestical legal orders) and competence;
- International responsability of organizations and of its members;
- Privileges and immunities of the organization, of its civil servants and of permanent representatives of its members.;
- Dissolution and succession.
In the second part of the course, dedicated to the activities of the organizations :
- Adoption of legal acts (including treaties between members)
- Monitoring and controlling multilateral regimes (environment, nuclear weapons, ect.);
- Sanctions;
- International administration of territories;
- Specific operational activities (e. g., peace-keeping, financial assistance, etc.).
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
Law and practice of International organizations is an advanced cours that aims at enabling students to acquire a thorough knowledge of the main legal issues revolving around both the status and activities of international organizations. Whilst focusing on specific technical questions of public international law, it highlights the stakes behind the increasing "institutionalization" of international relations.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
Although the necessary background will be provided, to some extent, on questions of general public international law arising during the course (law of treaties, international responsibility, etc.), students must have previously attended a course on general public international law, in the framework of legal studies.
Students must have a good knowledge of English, enabling them to follow the lectures - which involves taking the appropriate notes - and to answer questions during the exam.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
The course consists of lectures of 2h/week. Students are provided with a detailed outline of the course via ecampus. They are called upon to prepare a limited number of lectures, on the basis of the case-law or other material that will be circulated beforehand and discussed during the lectures.
Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)
The course is taught in the second semester, on Wednesday from 8.00 am to 10.00 am.
Recommended or required readings
There is no particular textbook. Students are urged to take appropriate notes during the lectures, based on the abovementioned detailed outline of the course and reading material.
Whilst not being mandatory, reading the following textbook can be useful: J. KLABBERS, An Introduction to International Institutional Law, Cambridge University Press, 2nd ed., 2009.
Any session :
- In-person
oral exam
- Remote
oral exam
- If evaluation in "hybrid"
preferred remote
Additional information:
The exam is an oral one, in English. One or several of the questions may be presented as a pratical case or call for a critical comment on a court decision or another document.
Students are allowed to bring only relevant international instruments (treaties, resolutions, etc.) and case-law, as well as a dictionary where necessary. Underlining, highlighting, cross-references to articles and bookmarks are permitted as long as they do not contain other notes.
The exam does not require a perfect command of legal English although students must, as usual, be able to present theirs answers with the necessary supporting arguments and adequate nuances.