Institutional Countermeasures - The Legality of Collective Countermeasures taken by International Organisations based on their Member States’ Rights
(2025) JURM02 20251Department of Law
Faculty of Law
- Abstract
- In response to the attacks carried out by the Houthi rebels in the Red Sea and the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the European Union has been using restrictive and coercive measures potentially violating international law. Since the Draft Articles on the Responsibility of International Organisations do not offer any provisions on the use of countermeasures by international organsiations against states, this thesis aims to investigate whether these kinds of measures could be justified in the form of institutional countermeasures. More specifically, the purpose of the thesis is twofold. First, the thesis aims to establish the legality of international organisations’ use of institutional countermeasures against responsible states,... (More)
- In response to the attacks carried out by the Houthi rebels in the Red Sea and the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the European Union has been using restrictive and coercive measures potentially violating international law. Since the Draft Articles on the Responsibility of International Organisations do not offer any provisions on the use of countermeasures by international organsiations against states, this thesis aims to investigate whether these kinds of measures could be justified in the form of institutional countermeasures. More specifically, the purpose of the thesis is twofold. First, the thesis aims to establish the legality of international organisations’ use of institutional countermeasures against responsible states, within the framework of international law, based on the rights given to it by a) an injured member state’s right to use countermeasures, and b) a non-injured member state’s possible right to use collective countermeasures following the breach of an obligation erga omnes or an obligation erga omnes partes. Second, the thesis aims to establish what conditions apply for the use of institutional countermeasures. In order to answer these questions, the legal dogmatic method is applied, with the sources mentioned in Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice. Due to the extensive use of institutional countermeasures by the European Union, the international organisation is used as an example throughout the thesis.
The thesis finds that the use of institutional countermeasures requires both that collective countermeasures are legal and that international organisations have been granted the power to use such measures. Due to the large controversy surrounding the legality of collective countermeasures, and the lack of opinio juris, the legality of such measures cannot be established. Regarding the powers of an international organisation, the thesis finds that such powers can be conferred to its constitutive instrument. If the constitutive instrument does not state whether an international organisation has a certain power or not, the doctrine of attributed powers or the doctrine of implied powers can be used for interpretation of the relevant instrument. An international organisation may have the right to use institutional countermeasures based on rights given to it by an injured member state’s right to use countermeasures, if the internationally wrongful act has violated an obligation erga omnes or an obligation erga omnes partes. The same applies when based on the rights given to it by a non-injured member state. For the use of institutional countermeasures, the same conditions apply as for the use of countermeasures by states as found in the Articles on the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts. However, when applying these on the use of institutional countermeasures, the nature of an international organisation needs to be considered. Institutional countermeasures might further be subject to further conditions found within the framework of the international organisation employing them. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9189022
- author
- Blomberg Grantinger, Klara LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- JURM02 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
- subject
- keywords
- Public International Law, Institutional Countermeasures, International Responsibility, International Organisations, Collective Countermeasures
- language
- English
- id
- 9189022
- date added to LUP
- 2025-06-09 10:22:38
- date last changed
- 2025-06-09 10:22:38
@misc{9189022,
abstract = {{In response to the attacks carried out by the Houthi rebels in the Red Sea and the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the European Union has been using restrictive and coercive measures potentially violating international law. Since the Draft Articles on the Responsibility of International Organisations do not offer any provisions on the use of countermeasures by international organsiations against states, this thesis aims to investigate whether these kinds of measures could be justified in the form of institutional countermeasures. More specifically, the purpose of the thesis is twofold. First, the thesis aims to establish the legality of international organisations’ use of institutional countermeasures against responsible states, within the framework of international law, based on the rights given to it by a) an injured member state’s right to use countermeasures, and b) a non-injured member state’s possible right to use collective countermeasures following the breach of an obligation erga omnes or an obligation erga omnes partes. Second, the thesis aims to establish what conditions apply for the use of institutional countermeasures. In order to answer these questions, the legal dogmatic method is applied, with the sources mentioned in Article 38 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice. Due to the extensive use of institutional countermeasures by the European Union, the international organisation is used as an example throughout the thesis.
The thesis finds that the use of institutional countermeasures requires both that collective countermeasures are legal and that international organisations have been granted the power to use such measures. Due to the large controversy surrounding the legality of collective countermeasures, and the lack of opinio juris, the legality of such measures cannot be established. Regarding the powers of an international organisation, the thesis finds that such powers can be conferred to its constitutive instrument. If the constitutive instrument does not state whether an international organisation has a certain power or not, the doctrine of attributed powers or the doctrine of implied powers can be used for interpretation of the relevant instrument. An international organisation may have the right to use institutional countermeasures based on rights given to it by an injured member state’s right to use countermeasures, if the internationally wrongful act has violated an obligation erga omnes or an obligation erga omnes partes. The same applies when based on the rights given to it by a non-injured member state. For the use of institutional countermeasures, the same conditions apply as for the use of countermeasures by states as found in the Articles on the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts. However, when applying these on the use of institutional countermeasures, the nature of an international organisation needs to be considered. Institutional countermeasures might further be subject to further conditions found within the framework of the international organisation employing them.}},
author = {{Blomberg Grantinger, Klara}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Institutional Countermeasures - The Legality of Collective Countermeasures taken by International Organisations based on their Member States’ Rights}},
year = {{2025}},
}