The human Rights responsibilities of international organizations as procuring authorities

In time of increasing cooperation among States, the impact of international organizations’ (IOs) procurement on human rights’ protection must not be underestimated. As the volume of public procurement is significantly growing, some organizations have developed policies and rules aimed at directing the potential of their contractual relations toward sustainable development and human rights. This paper offers an insight into this sector of international practice, which is still mostly unexplored. It analyses the law developed by some prominent IOs, such as those within the UN family, the OSCE, the OECD and the EU and shows that, in spite of their different mission, there are similar human rights clauses, which apply to public contracts. While these clauses should reduce the human rights risks underlying their public procurement process, some legal questions challenge their efficacy. The selective human rights coverage, the weakness of monitoring mechanisms and the uncertain legal nature of these rules (to be defined as international or “global administrative” law?) are among the main challenges which could undermine the incidence of IOs practice on the development of international law on public procurement and human rights.