In 1948 the United Nations Mediator in the Middle East, Count Bernadotte, a Swedish diplomat, was murdered by terrorists in territory under the control of the provisional government of Israel. Although this action was immediately disowned and deplored by the Israeli government, the question arose whether the United Nations possessed the capacity to make an international claim against Israel for reparation in respect of the damage suffered by the United Nations as the result of Count Bernadotte’s death.
The General Assembly of the United Nations requested an advisory opinion on this question from the International Court of Justice. The court unanimously answered the question in the affirmative. In particular, after consideration of the Charter of the United Nations and the purposes and powers of the organization, the court held that the test of functional necessity required the attribution to the United Nations of a legal personality separate from the legal personalities of its member states. Thus, as a subject of public international law, the United Nations was capable of possessing rights and duties, including the capacity to maintain its rights by bringing an international claim against a sovereign state.