ASIL Reports on International Organizations




Welcome to the first issue of ASIL's Reports on International Organizations, to be known as ASIL RIO. The Reports are a production of ASIL's Interest Group on International Organizations. Each report is written by an Interest Group member, many of whom work in and with the organizations about which they write.

These biannual reports are intended to highlight the work of IOs -- both regional and subject-specific -- whose actions are not well-known to international lawyers. Many electronic resources now exist giving updates on legal developments at organizations such as the United Nations, the European Union, and the World Trade Organization. Few, if any report on the work of the Commonwealth, INTERPOL, the Southern African Development Community, the United Nations Environment Program, and Pacific Islands Forum, to name just a few of the organizations we report on in this first edition.

We believe information on these under-reported organizations will assist international lawyers in two ways. First, the reports will make plain the enormous breadth of issues now addressed by international organizations. Second, the reports attempt to highlight legal questions that cut across the work of many IOs and will thus be of interest to those who study this area of law, though not the particular organization involved.

RIO is modeled on the Recent Developments section of the American Journal of International Law. The first section summarizes important legal developments in each IO. The second section analyzes their significance. The context given in this second section is intended to help readers who may not be familiar with the organization. But it is also where reporters will make links to broader issues of international law and compare the reported developments with similar developments in other IOs.

Because this is a new initiative, some aspects of the reports may change in the future as we iron out the kinks. We certainly welcome your feedback on how RIO can be improved. But we hope you find it an innovative and useful research tool.




Click here for a searchable index of keywords.

Legal developments in the following organizations are discussed in this set of reports:



In this space, we will list organizations discussed in previous editions of RIO.



Click on a keyword below to browse reports that are related to the topic:




Are you interested in being a reporter for ASIL RIO? If so, please contact Greg Fox, Co-Chair of the ASIL International Organizations Interest Group at: gfox@wayne.edu.




Are you interested in learning more about the International Organizations Interest Group? Visit our portal here.

To see upcoming events sponsored by the Interest Group, click here.




The Reports on International Organizations (RIO) is a publication of the International Organizations Interest Group of the American Society of International Law (ASIL). The views expressed in the publication are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Interest Group, the ASIL, or the international organizations profiled.


ASIL is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, educational membership organization founded in 1906 and chartered by Congress in 1950. ASIL holds Category II Consultative Status to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations and is a constituent society of the American Council of Learned Societies. The Society is headquartered at Tillar House in Washington, D.C.

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