Sanctions adopted by international organizations in the defence of the general interestTekavčič Veber, Maruša (Avtor) Sancin, Vasilka (Mentor) d'Aspremont, Jean (Komentor) international organizationssanctionsgeneral interestentitlementcapacitycompetenceserga omnes obligationsexpulsion and suspension from organizationsattributioncountermeasurestermination and suspension of treatiesThe adoption of sanctions in international law has become a common phenomenon, not only by States, but increasingly also by international organizations (IO). What is more, sanctions are progressively adopted not for the pursuance of an individual interest, but for the protection of the general interest, including in response to grave and systemic violations of human rights, apartheid, military coups and the prohibited use of force. Regardless of its expansion, the sanctioning practice of IOs has been left unaddressed in doctrine, whereby various aspects of entitlement and the limitations that restrict the adoption of sanctions by IOs remain unsettled. The aim of this study is to demonstrate that IOs, as autonomous subjects of international law, actively contribute to the protection of the general interest. This study identifies existing international legal regimes that frame and limit the adoption of sanctions by IOs in the general interest and explains the general and specific conditions for the application of these regimes to IOs. While States enjoy general capacities and competences, which are territorially (and not substantially) limited, the entitlement of IOs to adopt sanctions in a concrete situation depends on a variety of concepts, including: international legal personality, capacity, competence and attribution. In this study, these are understood as the general conditions for the adoption of sanctions by IOs. To accommodate the specific dichotomous nature of IOs - whereby they are creations of international law and are to a large extent dependent on their members, while at the same time autonomous subjects of international law, creating their own internal legal system - it is essential to distinguish between various aspects of their activities, which determine their positioning within the system of international law. In particular, making the distinction between capacities and competences on the one hand and the internal and external relations of IOs on the other, helps us understand how specific conditions, deriving from concrete regimes governing the adoption of sanctions (international institutional law, the general international legal regime of countermeasures, specific treaty-based regimes and the general regime of treaties) apply to IOs. In addition, by mapping the existing international legal regimes and the analysis of the corresponding practice under them, this study outlines the plurality of regimes, presupposes different types of interactions between them and simultaneously also delineates their possible convergences and conflicts.20222022-07-13 09:00:04Doktorsko delo/naloga138250sl