El Omari v. International Criminal Police Organization

Mr El Omari, a citizen of the United States, filed a legal action against the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) before the District Court for the Eastern District of New York, complaining negligent infliction of
emotional distress by INTERPOL, which had refused to delete a “red notice” identifying him as a convicted criminal in the United Arab Emirates. The District Court dismissed the case, finding that the respondent organization enjoy immunity from the jurisdiction of national courts pursuant to the International Organizations Immunity Act (IOIA).

The applicant appealed the judgment of first instance, arguing that INTERPOL cannot be considered as an international organization within the meaning of the IOIA. Alternatively, he argued that INTERPOL had waived its immunity by the terms of the Headquarters Agreement concluded between INTERPOL and France in 2008. Article 24 of the agreement provides that “any dispute between INTERPOL and a private party shall be settled in accordance with the Optional Rules for Arbitration between International Organizations and Private Parties of the Permanent Court of Arbitration” by a tribunal of “members appointed by the Secretary General of the Permanent Court of Arbitration”.

The Court of Appel rejected the appellant’s arguments and declared that national courts lacked jurisdiction to hear a claim against the respondent organization. As it stressed, the notion of “public international organization”, contained in the IOIA, includes any international organization that is composed of States as its members, “regardless of whether it has been formed by international treaty”. As stressed by the Court of Appeal, the IOIA’s legislative history confirms this point.

The Court of Appeal also clarified that the Headquarters Agreement concluded between France and INTERPOL has no bearing on the question of INTERPOL’s jurisdictional immunity in the United States. Indeed, the Headquarter Agreement aims at regulating the status, privileges and immunities granted to INTERPOL in France. International organizations’ immunity from the jurisdiction of the United States courts is exclusively governed by the IOIA. Under the IOIA, international organizations are entitled to the same immunities granted to States, except in case of waiver of immunity. As ascertained by the Court, INTERPOL did not waive its immunity in the instant proceeding. According the Court, Article 24 of the Headquarters Agreement does not envisage a waiver of immunity. In this regard, the Court clarified that “even assuming that the right to arbitration in the Headquarters Agreement applied to the present suit, that right to arbitration would not act as either an explicit or implicit immunity wavier permitting El Omari to bring the present suit against Interpol in a federal district court”.