Lifting the veil on legal immunity to multilateral institutions

Even if the immunity remains unchallenged in India, the accountability pressure on multilateral institutions will increase, said experts

Multilateral institutions working across various geographies could now be open to scrutiny because of a protest group that challenged the legal immunity enjoyed by the World Bank arm, International Finance Corporation (IFC), right up to the US Supreme Court. 

In a February order, the apex US federal court ruled that the International Organizations Immu­nities Act (IOIA) of 1945 grants international organisations the “same immunity” from suits “as is enjoyed by foreign governments” at any given time. However, the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 governs the immunity of international organisations. “IFC is, therefore, not absolutely immune from suits,” the court said.