Author: Frédéric Dopagne

B.A.M. v Republic of Indonesia

On By In Labour Court of Appeal
Brussels Labour Court of Appeals, B.A.M. v Republic of Indonesia, Nr. 2018/AB/868, 2 November 2021

The plaintiff, a former member of the service staff at the Indonesian embassy in Brussels, was challenging his dismissal. Affirming the appealed judgment, the Brussels Labour Court of Appeals upheld Indonesia’s State immunity from jurisdiction. With a view to determining the applicable rules of customary international law, the Court relied upon the United Nations Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and Their Property. More specifically, it focused on Article 11(2)(e), which maintains the immunity where the employee is a national of the employer State – the plaintiff had indeed Indonesian citizenship. The Court considered that the limitation in Article 11(2)(e), that sets immunity aside where the employee has its permanent residence in the State of the forum, does not reflect an existing rule of customary international law. The Court went on to add that, in any event, the plaintiff had failed to demonstrate a permanent residence in Belgium at the time when the proceedings were instituted.

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N.A. v African Union

On By In Labour Court
Brussels Labourt Court, N.A. v African Union, Nr. 16/7777/A, 10 January 2018

The plaintiff, who had worked for the Permanent Mission of the African Union in Brussels based on successive short-term contracts, was disputing the termination of his appointment. The Brussels Labour Court upheld the African Union’s immunity from jurisdiction pursuant to a 1985 headquarters agreement concluded with Belgium. The plaintiff had sought to challenge the immunity based on the individual’s right of access to a court (Art. 6 ECHR). However, the Court held that neither the African Union nor its Member States are bound by the ECHR; that the Belgian State, by approving the headquarters agreement and the immunity it provides for, had intended to depart from Article 6 of the (previously ratified) ECHR; and that, at any rate, the restriction on the plaintiff’s right of access to a court was not disproportionate since he had several reasonable alternative remedies available to him – including an appeal before the African Union’s Administrative Tribunal – which he refrained from using.

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