Should the International Law Commission take International Organizations more seriously?
This topic was the central focus of a workshop held on 15 September 2026 in the Senate Room of the Academy Building and organized by Niels Blokker, Fernando Lusa Bordin and Jakob Kats Cogan (University of Cincinnati).The International Law Commission’s task is to promote the progressive development of international law and its codification.
This two-fold mission is defined in Article 15 of the ILC Statute, as follows: “In the following articles the expression ‘progressive development of international law’ is used for convenience as meaning the preparation of draft conventions on subjects which have not yet been regulated by international law or in regard to which the law has not yet been sufficiently developed in the practice of States. Similarly, the expression ‘codification of international law’ is used for convenience as meaning the more precise formulation and systematization of rules of international law in fields where there already has been extensive state practice, precedent and doctrine.” These definitions refer twice to the practice of states and not to international organizations. This may be understandable as the ILC Statute was adopted in 1947, when most international organizations were only in their early years of existence and when the law of international organizations was only at the beginning of its development and was hardly recognized as a separate branch of law.
The ILC and the growing role of International Organizations
But times have changed since 1947. Many new international organizations have been created, and their work nowadays deals with almost all human activities. The law of international organizations has evolved and is recognized as a separate field. The key question for the workshop was whether the work of the ILC over the years reflects the increasing activities of international organizations and the development of their law since 1945. Has the ILC taken international organizations seriously enough? Should it do better in the future?
'ILC has a state centric structure’
Some of the work of the ILC concerns specific topics of international organizations law, such as the preparation of the 1975 Vienna Convention on the Representation of States in their Relations with International Organizations of a Universal Character, the Vienna II Convention on the Law of Treaties concluded by International Organizations, and the 2011 Articles on the Responsibility of International Organizations, as well as its ongoing work on the settlement of disputes involving international organizations. But the ILC has also dealt with the role and activities of international organizations in its work on other topics, such as ‘Identification of Customary International Law’ and ‘Subsequent agreements and subsequent practice in relation to interpretation of treaties’. Even with respect to topics that seem to deal purely with state activities, the relevance of international organizations (law) has emerged.
Should the ILC develop more rules for International Organizations?
A wide variety of speakers, from academia and from practice, gave presentations at the workshop. It was clear that the development of international organizations and their law have affected the work of the ILC. No clear overall conclusion emerged. It was mentioned that the reality is that the 'ILC has a state centric structure’. But another speaker concluded that ‘state centrism produces blind spots in the work of the ILC’. In its work on several topics, the ILC first prepared an instrument (a draft convention or non-legally binding text) applicable to states, after which it prepared a somewhat similar instrument for international organizations.
‘state centrism produces blind spots in the work of the ILC'
Some speakers questioned whether such a modus operandi is appropriate. Another key question was to what extent further general rules should be drafted for international organizations, given the wide diversity of their functions, aims, membership and powers. Most speakers will prepare written versions of their contributions that should be published in the International Organizations Law Review next year.