Convention on Privileges and Immunities of the Specialized Agencies of the United Nations
Type of Document: Treaties
International Organization: United Nations
Year: 1947
Country: Albania, Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chile, China, Comoros, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czechia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Guinea, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Laos, Latvia, Lesotho, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritius, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Norway, Oman, Palestine, Pakistan, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Samoa, San Marino, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Saint Lucia, South Korea, Spain, Ivory Coast, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 21 November 1947 and entered into force on 2 December 1948, the Convention regulates the privileges and immunities of the Specialized Agencies of the United Nations.
The Convention provides that the specialized agencies shall possess juridical personality. They shall have the capacity (a) to contract; (b) to acquire and dispose of immovable and movable property; (c) to institute legal proceedings and shall enjoy immunity from every form of legal process except in so far as in any particular case they have expressly waived their immunity.
Officials of the specialized agencies and Experts on Mission shall be immune from legal process in respect of words spoken or written and all acts performed by them in their official capacity. The executive head of each specialized agency, including any official acting on his behalf during his absence from duty, shall be accorded in respect of himself, his spouse and minor children, the privileges and immunities, exemptions and facilities accorded to diplomatic envoys, in accordance with international law.
Each specialized agency shall have the right and the duty to waive the immunity of any official in any case where, in its opinion, the immunity would impede the course of justice and can be waived without prejudice to the interests of the specialized agency. They shall cooperate at all times with the appropriate authorities of Member States to facilitate the proper administration of justice, secure the observance of police regulations and prevent the occurrence of any abuses in connection with the privileges, immunities and facilities.
Each specialized agency shall make provision for appropriate modes of settlement of: (a) Disputes arising out of contracts or other disputes of private character to which the specialized agency is a party; (b) Disputes involving any official of a specialized agency who by reason of this official position enjoys immunity, if immunity has not been waived in accordance with the provisions of Section 22.