As prerrogativas da Organização Marítima Internacional (IMO)

Abstract

It presents as a central proposal the understanding of the work of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) as a subject of rights and duties in the international legal order for the seas and the ocean. It was appreciated the institutional structure of the Organization, in order to visualize that the entity underwent modifications from its creation, when it was still denominated OMCI, until its current composition, already as IMO. All this remodeling was aimed at demonstrating the progressive legitimacy of the Organization and its organs in the issues related to its area of activity. After internal adjustments, the Organization gradually sought to include its member states in the institution's decision-making and regulatory process, in order to become a "competent international organization", in the manner intended by the UNCLOS, in the various themes related to its scope, later strengthened by the publication of the United Nations Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (DOALOS). After recognizing the Organization's active legitimacy to regulate the themes pointed out by DOALOS, it was also highlighted the increasing ownership by IMO of the demands related to maritime security. It was observed that the IMO took on the legitimacy for the regulation of these matters, demonstrating an institutional extension, by taking actions in non-originating subjects to its scope of action, while at the same time is promoting the expansion of its international legitimacy. For the developing of this research, the main multilateral instruments related to IMO were analyzed, together with a general theory of international organizations and the Organization's own prerogatives. The research has concluded that in view of the prerogatives of IMO as a subject of international law, it is not enough for the Organization to expand its international standing to active action, but it is also necessary for the Organization to assume its passive legitimacy, to support the fulfillment of the specific obligations conferred by UNCLOS or any other violation of the Convention, within the scope of its competencies, as well as in the other matters incorporated by it. The relevance of the study is to consolidate the understanding that if the Organization takes on new responsibilities, it must also assume its duty of due diligence over them.