Implementation of the duty of care by the OSCE

Abstract

This chapter offers a comprehensive overview on the implementation of the duty of care within the OSCE. Stepping into the debate concerning the international legal personality of international organizations, the author discusses recent practice and argues that, especially in the 2014 and 2017 cases of injuries involving officials, the OSCE reacted in the international arena as an independent subject. Starting with this premise, this chapter analyses how the OSCE, as an international subject, complies with the duty of care. To this end, the internal rules defining the status of staff and the correlating mechanisms of enforcement are illustrated. Special attention is paid to Staff Regulation 2.07-which entitles OSCE officials to functional protection in the external relations of the organization-and to its implementation in the recent practice of the organization. The chapter concludes that, in addition to the development of the international standing of the OSCE, the proper realisation of the duty of care requires that the OSCE and its participating States take a further step toward recognising the legal personality of the organization and its officials within their domestic legal order.