Reparation for Injuries Suffered in the Service of the United Nations (Advisory Opinion)

Facts

• Count Folke Bernadotte, a UN mediator in Palestine, was assassinated in Jerusalem in September 1948
• The assassination was carried out by members of the Stern Gang (Lehi), a Zionist paramilitary group
• The GA asked the ICJ whether the UN had capacity to bring an international claim for reparation for injuries suffered by its agents
• The question arose because only states were traditionally considered subjects of international law
• The GA also asked whether the UN could bring a claim against a non-member state

Issue

1. Whether the UN had international legal personality enabling it to bring a claim for reparations against a state (including a non-member state) for injuries to its agents.

Held

• The UN possesses international legal personality
• It is a subject of international law capable of possessing rights and bearing duties on the international plane
• The UN has capacity to bring international claims for reparation for injuries to its agents
• This capacity exists even against non-member states (the UN's objective personality is opposable erga omnes)
• The Charter confers functions and rights that necessarily imply international personality (doctrine of implied powers)

Ratio Decidendi

The Organisation was intended to exercise functions and rights which can only be explained on the basis of the possession of a large measure of international personality. Under international law, the Organisation must be deemed to have those powers which, though not expressly provided in the Charter, are conferred upon it by necessary implication as being essential to the performance of its duties. Fifty states, representing the vast majority of the international community, had the power to bring into being an entity possessing objective international personality.