| III. | The International Court of Justice |
| 2. | THE JURISDICTION OF THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE |
| 2.2. | Conditions for a Decision on the Merits |
| 2.2.1. | Exhaustion of Local Remedies |
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Applicability of the Obligation to Arbitrate
under Section 21 of the United Nations
Headquarters Agreement of 26 June 1947
Advisory Opinion of 26 April 1988
I.C.J. Reports 1988, p. 12
[p. 29] The Court must further point out that the alleged dispute
relates solely to what the United Nations considers to be its rights under the
Headquarters Agreement. The purpose of the arbitration procedure envisaged by
that Agreement is precisely the settlement of such disputes as may arise between
the Organization and the host country without any prior recourse to municipal
courts, and it would be against both the letter and the spirit of the Agreement
for the implementation of that procedure to be subjected to such prior recourse.
It is evident that a provision of the nature of section 21 of the Headquarters
Agreement cannot require the exhaustion of local remedies as a condition of its
implementation.
