IMMUNITY OF AN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION VERSUS THE IMMUNITY OF ITS OFFICIALS

International organizations play a very important role in the modern society. To ensure their proper functioning on the level of domestic law, they are granted various privileges and immunities which are included in different sources o f international law. However, it is not undisputable whether international customary law has been developed in this area. The legal form o f the immunity performs the key role in defending the organization’s rights before national courts. Contrary to state immunity, immunity o f international organizations has a wider scope. Many authors do not agree with this interpretation and are of the opinion that it needs to be restricted in some way. Furthermore, in certain specific situations, for example when a person has suffered damage from the organization and an alternative settlement of the dispute is not available, human rights, and in particular the right of access to courts, may be infringed. Sometimes it may be easier to sue officials of international organizations rather than the organization itself because the immunity that protects them is strictly functional. However, it is still difficult to draw a clear line between their official and non-official acts. The legal situation of those who work for international organizations in Polish law is rather complicated and not always consistent with international regulations. This may cause various problems in the interpretation of the applicable law. It is worth mentioning that in numerous cases it is not possible to apply the reciprocity rule to the relations between a state and an international organization