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Schmalenbach, Kirsten --- "Dispute Settlement" [2011] ELECD 526; in Klabbers, Jan; Wallendahl, Åsa (eds), "Research Handbook on the Law of International Organizations" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Research Handbook on the Law of International Organizations

Editor(s): Klabbers, Jan; Wallendahl, Åsa

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847201355

Section: Chapter 10

Section Title: Dispute Settlement

Author(s): Schmalenbach, Kirsten

Number of pages: 34

Extract:

10 Dispute settlement
Kirsten Schmalenbach



INTRODUCTION
Where there is a law, there is a dispute; where there is a dispute, there is ­ by
some means or other ­ a dispute settlement mechanism. Admittedly, the inter-
national legal order is not renowned for providing sophisticated dispute settle-
ment mechanisms. There is no denying, though, that a multitude of dispute
settlement mechanisms operate on the international plane these days. Chapters
VI and VIII of the UN (United Nations) Charter dedicate themselves to this
topic in all its aspects and, at the same time, support the key role of interna-
tional organizations in this field; the role in question being that of an `objec-
tive' conciliator in a dispute between at least two parties, who are advocating
opposing views concerning a matter of policy or of law (Merrills, 2005: 1).
Not particularly in the focus of public interest, and understandably ignored by
the UN Charter, international organizations themselves may also be parties to
a dispute (as applicant or respondent) and therefore subjected to dispute settle-
ment mechanisms in one form or another.

International Dispute Settlement: A Sketch

As a result of the principle of free choice of means, as stipulated in Art. 33 of
the UN Charter, the models of international dispute settlement are manifold.
On closer examination, however, they basically comprise various combina-
tions of different institutional settings, methods of dispute resolution and
assigned powers.1 Referring to the institutional setting, two major forms of
dispute settlement can be distinguished: in the course ...