Bakker, Christine; Vierucci, Luisa --- "Introduction: A Normative or Pragmatic Definition of NGOs?" [2008] ELECD 144; in Dupuy, Pierre-Marie; Vierucci, Luisa (eds), "NGOs in International Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2008)

Book Title: NGOs in International Law

Editor(s): Dupuy, Pierre-Marie; Vierucci, Luisa

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847205605

Section Title: Introduction: A Normative or Pragmatic Definition of NGOs?

Author(s): Bakker, Christine; Vierucci, Luisa

Number of pages: 18

Extract:

Introduction: a normative or pragmatic
definition of NGOs?
Christine Bakker and Luisa Vierucci

NGOS AND MAINSTREAM INTERNATIONAL LAW
It is today beyond doubt that Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) play
a prominent role in international law-relevant fields, from treaty making to
rule implementation; from support to courts to aid delivery. However, the
increasingly active stance of these organizations on the international plane still
raises questions concerning their position under international law, which is the
subject of a continuing debate amongst legal scholars. In the last decade this
debate has focused especially on the question whether NGOs have interna-
tional legal personality.
In legal doctrine an entity with international legal personality is usually
described as an entity endowed with legal rights and/or obligations and legal
capacities directly conferred on it under international law. Sometimes the legal
capacities are specified as including procedural capacity and/or treaty-making
capacity. While states clearly enjoy all aspects of international legal personal-
ity, this is not necessarily the case for other entities. For instance whereas
International Governmental Organizations (IGOs) usually have treaty-making
capacities, they cannot invoke the contentious jurisdiction of the International
Court of Justice (ICJ) or of regional human rights courts. Legal scholars have
not reached a consensus on the question whether NGOs also enjoy (some
components of) international legal personality. Moreover some authors have
examined the legal status of NGOs, rather than their legal personality. The
term `legal status' has been efficaciously defined as `a broad concept, which
embraces all kinds ...