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Jan Klabbers is a Dutch Professor at the University of Helsinki. He is a Member of the Finnish Academy of Sciences and Letters, a member of the editorial board of the European Journal of International Law. Klabbers is the author of The Concept of Treaty in International Law (1996), An Introduction to International Institutional Law (2002, 3rd edition 2015), co-editor of Towards Responsible Global Governance (2018). Professor Klabbers has also published around 200 book chapters and articles (in the European Journal of International Law, International Organizations Law Review etc.) He is famous for delivering lectures during visiting positions at NYU Law School (2009-10), the Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies (2008, 2013, 2015), and the University of Paris-II and Paris-I (2011, 2017).

This article suggests that the autonomy of international organisations stems not so much – or not only – from intentional action on the part of international organisations and their member states, but also results well-nigh inevitably from the exercise of autonomy by international organisations. Whenever organisations act, they affirm their autonomy, and their autonomy is affirmed by their audiences. This is illustrated by brief discussions of the three main settings in which international organisations operate: vis-à-vis their member states (discussing the proposed expulsion of Liberia from the League of Nations), their staff (discussing manifestations of McCarthyism in unesco), and the outside world (discussing the immunities of the un in relation to the Haiti cholera affair).