The Administrative Tribunal of the Council of Europe: Some Observations with Regard to Procedural and Substantive Guarantees

Abstract

In order to ensure independent functioning of their powers, international organisations are furnished with privileges and immunities conferred upon them by their constituent statute or a general treaty. That effectively means that they will be immune from the jurisdiction of national courts in matters including employment disputes of their staff. In order to enjoy this functional immunity and to provide their staff a means to resolve their disputes with the administration, international organisations have either set up their own internal administrative tribunals or have submitted to the jurisdiction of another existing international administrative tribunal. Whether or not an international organisation’s jurisdictional immunity will be recognised by domestic courts or the European Court of Human Rights (“ECtHR”) depends on the existence and effectiveness of an internal dispute mechanism alternative to the jurisdiction of national courts.