GURU GOBIND SINGH INDRAPRASTHA UNIVERSITY

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW AND LEGAL STUDIES

LAW AND JUSTICE IN A GLOBALIZED WORLD

ASSIGNMENT 3

SUBMITTED TO: DR. ANUJ VAKSHA

SUBMITTED BY: DIKSHA [LL.M. (REGULAR) 2022-23]
 ROLE OF NON-POLITICAL INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS IN A
GLOBALIZED WORLD: WHO, ILO, UNHCR, WORLD BANK & IMF, WTO
International organizations play an important role in the international arena, with power in
mediation, dispute resolution, peacekeeping, applying sanctions, global governance etc. They
also help in tackling key areas of international concern or global issues such as global health
policy, monetary policies around the world, climate change, resource depletion and
management of “global commons”. International organizations today play an important role in
almost all the political and economic challenges of the 21st century. The most important
attribute of international organizations is their neutrality, impartiality and independence.

Role of International Organizations

Role of various international organizations can be gauged from the treaties under which they
are established.

1. Expertise in specific matters: One of the main reasons why states want to establish or
participate as members of independent international organizations is that such
organizations have and can delegate authority in those matters which require knowledge,
expertise, information, time and resources that are not available at all times. International
organizations perform actions that enjoy legitimacy and affect the legitimacy of the State
activity.
2. Political neutrality with no vested interests: International organizations provide a platform
for depoliticised and specific unbiased discussions in a much more effective way than any
other arrangement. They delineate the specific terms of ongoing interactions between States
and strive to balance the relationships between stronger and weaker nations, between
interests and knowledge. This is because International organizations participate as
independent and neutral actors on the global stage and this helps in increasing the efficiency
and legitimacy of their individual or collective decisions Thus, International organizations
are instrumental in ensuring international cooperation.
3. However, the main aim of international organizations continues to be to facilitate
negotiations and implement agreements and treaties, dispute resolution, and offering
technical assistance and monetary assistance and developing rules. Specific International
organizations cater to a specific problem or issue faced by the global community.
4. Peaceful dispute settlement: One of the fundamental ways in which international
organizations can contribute and uphold International law is by a peaceful settlement of
disputes. Without such a mechanism, the global world which is always in a constant state
of anarchy and will descend into the Hobbesian “State of nature”, which is a state of war
of everyone against everyone and the life in it will be “nasty and brutish”. All such
organizations subscribe to the UN Charter, according to which all member states should
settle their international disputes by peaceful means so that international peace and security
and justice is not endangered. Thus, the UN Charter provides for Pacific settlement of the
dispute through the instrumentality of the Security Council and establishment of the
International Court of Justice. Further, there is a Permanent Court of Arbitration, under
the Hague Convention of 1899 and 1907.
5. Legislative functions: International organizations perform various specialised legislative
and supervisory functions, which involves developing a framework for cooperation,
treaties, developing rules etc. However, it does not act as a world parliament. For instance,
resolutions passed by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) are binding on member
states. Similarly, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), World Health
Organisation (WHO), International Labour Organisation (ILO) perform specialised
legislative and regulatory functions.

Role of WHO (World Health Organization)

The World Health Organization (WHO) is the body of the United Nations (UN) responsible
for directing and coordinating health. As such WHO has come to play a vital role as an actor
in the field of international public health and international public health policy.
Since its inception in 1947, WHO has been at the forefront of many breakthroughs in the field.
The constitution of the World Health Organization entered into force on the 7th April 1948.
The constitution of the World Health Organization also addresses its structures. These
structures are complex, with three levels of organization at an international level, the World
Health Assembly (WHA), comprising representatives of every WHO member state, The
Executive board, which comprises members elected by the WHA and The
Secretariat comprised of WHO’s Director-General and technical and administrative staff. The
constitution also specifies provisions to create regional organizations and “committees
considered desirable to serve any purpose within the competence of the organization”.
The organization’s Eleventh General Programme of Work 2006-2015 details the six core
functions it is focusing on between 2006 and 2015. These functions are:

1. Providing leadership on matters critical to health and engaging in partnerships where joint
action is needed;
2. Shaping the research agenda and stimulating the generation, translation and dissemination
of valuable knowledge;
3. setting norms and standards and promoting and monitoring their implementation;
4. Articulating ethical and evidence-based policy options;
5. Providing technical support, catalysing change, and building sustainable institutional
capacity;
6. Monitoring the health situation and addressing health trends.

Role of ILO (International Labour Organization)

The main aims of the ILO are to promote rights at work, encourage decent employment
opportunities, enhance social protection and strengthen dialogue on work-related issues. Its
unique tripartite structure gives an equal voice to workers, employers and governments to
ensure that the views of the social partners are closely reflected in labour standards and in
shaping policies and programmes. The ILO was founded in 1919, in the wake of a destructive
war, to pursue a vision based on the premise that universal, lasting peace can be established
only if it is based on social justice. The ILO became the first specialized agency of the UN in
1946.

The ILO promotes a people-centred and sustainable approach to enterprise development, which
aligns enterprise growth and the creation of productive employment and decent work with
sustainable development objectives. It builds its approach around three mutually reinforcing
pillars:

1. Creating an enabling environment for sustainable enterprises and employment, which

encourages investment and entrepreneurship;
2. Helping entrepreneurs to start and build successful enterprises;
3. Linking productivity improvements to better working conditions, good industrial relations
and good environmental practices.
The ILO works with individual companies and foundations and with employers and their
organizations to tackle important global labour market issues; to support sustainable enterprises
and entrepreneurs; to enhance value in supply chains; to promote social protection; and to
resolve specific problems in the world of work.

Role of UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees)

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a subsidiary organ of the
UN General Assembly, which created it in 1949. It began operating in 1951, and its
headquarters are in Geneva.
UNHCR’s goal is to guarantee the fundamental rules accepted by all States concerning the
right of individuals to flee their country and seek asylum in another. To this end, it helps States
face the administrative, legal, diplomatic, financial, and human problems that are caused by the
refugee phenomenon.
UNHCR has several functions:

1. To promote the rights of refugees and to monitor the implementation of the Refugee
Convention by its States Parties;
2. To protect refugees by working with States on the examination of administrative and legal
problems related to the granting of refugee status and to the defence of the right of asylum.
3. UNHCR also works with governments to search for durable solutions for refugees. Being
a refugee is a transitory condition for an individual. To protect such individuals or groups
of individuals, States must grant them a stable and lasting legal status. To this effect,
UNHCR favours various forms of voluntary repatriation, integration into the State of
asylum, and third country resettlement.
4. To provide material assistance: international solidarity—in the form of interstate
cooperation and support, but also with the support of intergovernmental and
nongovernmental organizations—is necessary so as to allow for a sharing of the financial
and other burdens that refugees may represent for the host State. Concretely, this support
translates into assistance programs for refugees that are run by UNHCR. States contribute
financially to these programs on a voluntary basis.
5. To provide “good offices” services to governments to help them solve problems resulting
from population movements that are to provide assistance to groups outside its mandate
(e.g., internally displaced persons), when requested to do so by the UN Secretary-General
or the General Assembly.

Role of World Bank and IMF

The IMF and the World Bank share a common goal of raising living standards in their member
countries. Their approaches to achieving this shared goal are complementary: the IMF focuses
on macroeconomic and financial stability while the World Bank concentrates on long-term
economic development and poverty reduction.
The World Bank Group

The World Bank Group is one of the world’s largest sources of funding and knowledge for
developing countries. Its five institutions share a commitment to reducing poverty, increasing
shared prosperity, and promoting sustainable development.
Together, IBRD and IDA form the World Bank, which provides financing, policy advice, and
technical assistance to governments of developing countries. IDA focuses on the world’s
poorest countries, while IBRD assists middle-income and creditworthy poorer countries.

IFC, MIGA, and ICSID focus on strengthening the private sector in developing
countries. Through these institutions, the World Bank Group provides financing, technical
assistance, political risk insurance, and settlement of disputes to private enterprises, including
financial institutions.

The International Monetary Fund

The IMF works to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate
international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce
poverty around the world.

The IMF's primary purpose is to ensure the stability of the international monetary system—the
system of exchange rates and international payments that enables countries and their citizens
to transact with each other. It does so by keeping track of the global economy and the
economies of member countries, lending to countries with balance of payments difficulties,
and giving practical help to members.

Role of WTO
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is one of the three international organisations (the other
two are the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group) which by and large
formulate and co-ordinate world economic policy.
It can be argued that the WTO plays a particularly significant role in the promotion of free
international trade. The organisation acts as an umbrella institution, that is an organisation
covering the agreements concluded at the Uruguay Round. The Uruguay Round was the
preparatory stage for the launch of the WTO. The Round was based on the General Agreement
on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).

The crucial role of the WTO is to provide a common institutional framework for the
implementation of those agreements. The organisation is the result of the Uruguay Round of
negotiations (1986-1994) and was formally created in 1995.
The significance of the WTO for globalisation is that more than 130 countries must jointly
open up their economies to each other and abide by common rules making it easier to trade and
invest. The WTO also brings a wide range of economic sectors into the ambit of the global
economy.
WTO members have to implement a series of agreements and obligations which they
negotiated in the Uruguay Round:

1. The agreement on trade in goods: tariff cuts and liberalisation of industrial products;
liberalisation of textile and clothing imports in the industrialised countries over 10 years;
reform of trade and domestic policies in agriculture with some reduction in government
export subsidies; prohibition of conditionality on investment measures that restrict trade
(Trade Related Investment Measures-TRIMs); tightened rules on subsidies, safeguard
measures (which allow a country to halt imports if an industry is in danger) and anti-
dumping (against sales below production cost).
2. The agreement on trade in services (GATS): a series of obligations such as making
information on laws that concern services easily accessible (transparency); market access
and application of the GATS obligations to foreign companies in the service sectors
selected by a given country from a list.
3. The agreement on trade related intellectual property rights (TRIPs): enforcement in all
WTO member countries, during a specified period, of copyrights, trademarks, industrial
designs, patents, trade secrets, etc. registered in one of the member countries.