Doctrinal Reconstruction of HIPC in a Public International Law Perspective

The International Monetary Fund and the organizations of the World Bank Group are specialized agencies under Art. 57 of the UN Charter. As specialized agencies, they have been established by treaty under public international law. Their founding instruments generate their organizational structure and confer certain competences on them. Thus, the Articles of Agreement of IMF, IDA and IBRD constitute the primary law of the organizations. In this setting, the member states remain the masters of the organization's primary law, although they may have transferred some authority to alter or to amend it to the plenary organ, the Board of Governors. Like all international organizations, the World Bank and IMF can enact binding regulations on the organizational level.³¹⁵

International organizations have the power to engage in treaties under international law and may accept international obligations within the framework of powers conferred on them by their member states.316 Thus, they have the power to enter into treaties with other organizations or with states. As for their legal relation with the United Nations, IMF, IBRD and IDA have agreed upon relationship agreements with the United Nations based on Art. 63 of the UN Charter.³¹⁷