## Facts

- The United Nations General Assembly requested an advisory opinion concerning injuries to UN agents incurred while performing official duties.
- The request followed the 1948 assassination of Count Folke Bernadotte, the UN Mediator in Palestine, and the killing or serious injury of other UN agents, including Colonel André Serot.
- The General Assembly submitted questions under U.N. Charter art. 96 and ICJ Statute art. 65 about whether the UN could bring international claims for reparation against a responsible state or government.
- Multiple UN Member States and the Secretary-General provided written and oral statements to the Court.
- The questions asked whether the UN could claim reparation for (a) damage to the UN and (b) damage to the victim (or beneficiaries), and, if so, how that action relates to the national state’s rights of diplomatic protection.

## Issues

1. Whether the United Nations has international legal personality and capacity to bring an international claim for reparation for damage caused to the Organization when a UN agent is injured in circumstances engaging state responsibility.
2. Whether the United Nations has capacity to bring an international claim for reparation for damage suffered by the injured agent or persons entitled through the agent, including against responsible states that are not UN Members.
3. If the United Nations may claim for damage to the agent, how that action is reconciled with the diplomatic protection rights of the agent’s state of nationality.

## Decision

- The Court unanimously concluded the UN has capacity to bring an international claim to obtain reparation for damage caused to the UN itself.
- By 11–4, the Court concluded the UN also has capacity to bring an international claim for damage suffered by the agent (or beneficiaries), whether or not the responsible state is a UN Member.
- By 10–5, the Court concluded reconciliation with the national state’s rights generally requires the UN to base its claim on breach of obligations owed to the UN; remaining overlap is addressed case-by-case and by agreements between the UN and states.

## Legal Principles

- The United Nations is a subject of international law capable of holding rights and duties and maintaining its rights through international claims.
- An international organization may possess implied powers not expressly stated in its constituent instrument when those powers are essential to performing assigned functions.
- The UN’s operational need to protect agents performing missions supports its capacity to seek reparation for injuries connected to official duties.
- The UN’s claim for injury to an agent is grounded in obligations owed to the UN, not a wholesale replacement of the national state’s diplomatic protection.
- The UN’s capacity to present claims is not confined to situations involving responsible UN Member States.
- Potential conflicts or duplication between UN claims and diplomatic protection can be reduced through general conventions or specific agreements.

## Conclusion

The Court recognized the UN’s international legal personality and, as an implied power necessary to perform its functions, its capacity to bring international claims for reparation for injuries to its agents, while directing that such claims be framed as breaches of obligations owed to the UN to limit conflict with diplomatic protection by the agent’s national state.


Reparation for Injuries Suffered in the Service of the United Nations, Advisory Opinion, 1949 I.C.J. 174 (Apr. 11)