RESCIND THE IOIA OF 1945

REPEAL THE STATUTE. REVOKE ITS DESIGNATIONS. END THE SPECIAL IMMUNITIES.

MUGWUMPS · JUSTICE · POLITICAL JUSTICE

Published by Langhorne P. Breedlove

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2026 · 5:43 PM ET

THE MANDATE

Repeal the International Organizations Immunities Act of 1945 (IOIA) in full. Rescind the executive orders, designations and administrative grants that depend exclusively on the Act. Reject any substitute statute that simply recreates the same blanket domestic privileges under a new name.

International cooperation does not require a permanent statutory exemption from ordinary legal accountability. Organizations that enter contracts, employ workers, hold property or undertake activities affecting people in the United States should face applicable law, accessible remedies and judicial process, subject to the Constitution and independently binding international obligations.

ROOTS

Congress enacted the IOIA on December 29, 1945, as Title I of Public Law 79-291, principally codified at 22 U.S.C. §§ 288 and following. The Act authorizes the president to designate qualifying international organizations and to grant, condition or withdraw associated privileges, exemptions and immunities.

It includes organization-level immunities linked to those of foreign governments; privileges relating to property, archives, taxes and customs; and function-related protections for qualifying representatives, officers and employees. Its privileges are neither identical for all organizations nor categorically unlimited.

In Jam v. International Finance Corporation (2019), the U.S. Supreme Court concluded that the IOIA ties covered organizations' immunity to the restrictive immunity that foreign governments enjoy under contemporary law, rather than a fixed, near-absolute 1945 standard. The ruling narrowed one interpretation of the IOIA; it did not repeal the Act.

THE PROBLEM

The statute places international organizations in a distinct domestic legal category, complicating access to remedies for people who allege contractual, employment, environmental or other injury. Whether a particular claim is barred depends on the precise organization, legal theory, immunity, exceptions and other governing instruments.

A legal system should distinguish an institution's legitimate independence from immunity for conduct unrelated to necessary international functions. Repeal would remove the IOIA as the blanket statutory starting point, while retaining ordinary defenses and due process. Allegations would still require proof in an appropriate court.

POLICY · FULL STATUTORY REPEAL

01 · REPEAL TITLE I OF PUBLIC LAW 79-291. Congress shall expressly repeal the International Organizations Immunities Act of 1945 and direct legislative counsel to enumerate and conform the affected provisions of Title 22, as well as later extensions, amendments and cross-references in other titles.

02 · RESCIND DERIVATIVE EXECUTIVE ACTIONS. All presidential designations and agency rules granting privileges solely under the repealed IOIA shall cease to have independent effect after the law's effective date. The president and agencies shall formally revoke or conform those orders and regulations.

03 · END IOIA-BASED ORGANIZATIONAL IMMUNITIES. Organizations shall no longer invoke the IOIA itself as a defense against otherwise available civil, employment, contract, environmental or other proceedings. Courts shall still apply ordinary jurisdiction, procedure, constitutional protections and any independently governing treaty or statute.

04 · END IOIA-BASED PERSONNEL IMMUNITIES. Repeal privileges derived solely from the IOIA for covered officers, employees, representatives and associated persons. Distinguish separate diplomatic or consular protections created by other laws and treaties.

05 · END IOIA-BASED TAX AND PROPERTY EXEMPTIONS. Repeal special tax, customs, archives and property provisions arising from the IOIA, while making conforming changes and recognizing that a different statute or treaty might independently provide a similar benefit.

06 · PRESERVE ORDINARY LEGAL CAPACITY. International organizations should continue to be able to contract, hold property, employ people, maintain accounts, sue and be sued under generally applicable law. If a technical registration mechanism is needed, it must confer capacity—not renewed immunity.

07 · REQUIRE ACCESSIBLE ACCOUNTABILITY. Federal agencies shall identify available courts, service-of-process arrangements and existing claims procedures. Claims remain subject to ordinary statutes of limitation, jurisdiction, sovereign immunity rules where independently applicable, evidentiary burdens and procedural protections.

08 · REQUIRE OPEN REPORTING. The departments of State, Justice, Treasury and Homeland Security shall issue a public implementation report addressing remaining privileges, costs, possible litigation effects, compliance issues and any necessary legislation.

TREATIES · THE NON-NEGOTIABLE LEGAL DISTINCTION

Congress can repeal the IOIA as domestic legislation. That act alone does not automatically cancel separate treaty obligations or headquarters agreements.

Article 105 of the United Nations Charter provides for privileges and immunities necessary for the UN's functions and the independent exercise of officials' duties. Other international agreements can create independent protections. The United States must not claim that erasing one statute erases every binding commitment.

Within 180 days, the State Department should publish an inventory of privileges surviving under treaties, headquarters agreements and unrelated laws, identifying legal sources and available remedies. Where lawful and appropriate, the United States should seek renegotiation, narrower protections, enforceable dispute resolution, or lawful withdrawal from conflicting commitments. All steps must respect constitutional authority and applicable international law.

LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK

SECTION 1 · SHORT TITLE — International Organizations Immunities Act Repeal and Accountability Act.

SECTION 2 · REPEAL — Repeal Title I of the Act of December 29, 1945 (Public Law 79-291; 59 Stat. 669), commonly known as the International Organizations Immunities Act. Identify and conform later amendments and references.

SECTION 3 · TERMINATION OF DERIVATIVE DESIGNATIONS — No presidential executive order or administrative designation may continue to confer a privilege solely under the repealed Act.

SECTION 4 · ORDINARY-LAW PARTICIPATION — Provide a narrow mechanism for service of process and organizational legal capacity where generally applicable law is insufficient; confer no new immunity.

SECTION 5 · TREATY INVENTORY — Require the Secretary of State, with the Attorney General, to identify independently surviving treaty and statutory privileges and potential lawful means of revision.

SECTION 6 · TRANSITION — Make repeal effective 180 days after enactment, prohibit new IOIA designations upon enactment, and protect final judgments and vested rights as required by law. Do not create indefinite grandfathering.

SECTION 7 · OVERSIGHT — Require implementing regulations, a publicly accessible agency report and a nonpartisan fiscal estimate.

WHAT REPEAL WILL NOT DO

Repeal is not an automatic money judgment, a universal authorization to sue in federal court, a cancellation of diplomatic immunity, or a nullification of every treaty. Courts will still decide jurisdiction and liability. It will not end international organizations' existence or U.S. participation in them by itself.

REAL-WORLD TRADEOFFS

Some international organizations may face higher litigation or operating costs, reconsider headquarters locations or dispute how surviving treaty obligations apply. Administrative changes to payroll, tax treatment, contracts and service of process could be substantial. Those effects require legal and fiscal analysis, not an invisible replacement for the same 1945 statutory privileges.

ACCOUNTABILITY TEST

The IOIA is repealed and no longer supplies domestic immunity authority. Every dependent executive order has been rescinded or conformed. Surviving treaty-based privileges have been identified publicly. People with claims can identify the responsible entity, legal forum and process. Federal agencies explain the fiscal and administrative consequences.

FACTION ISSUE LENSES

Federalists · Congressional control of statutory privileges, judicial authority and constitutional limits.

Anti-Epsteins · Transparent scrutiny of special legal exemptions and concentrated institutional power.

Progressives · Worker protections and meaningful access to civil remedies.

Stalwarts · Legally orderly implementation, transparent treaty review and institutional accountability.

Libertarians · Skepticism toward unnecessary legal immunities and exceptional governmental privileges.

ROOTS · SIMILAR TO · LESS LIKE

ROOTS · Postwar international organization law and the contemporary shift to restrictive sovereign immunity.

SIMILAR TO · Equal legal process, open government, fair contracting and ordinary remedies.

LESS LIKE · Cosmetic revisions, discretionary waivers, automatic grandfathering and wholesale replacement with another blanket immunity regime.

SOURCES

01 · International Organizations Immunities Act, Public Law 79-291 (1945)

https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/comp2/F079-291.html

02 · 22 U.S.C. § 288 — Presidential designation and withdrawal authority

https://uscode.house.gov/us/usc/119-124/t22/s288/

03 · Title 22, chapter 7, subchapter XVIII — Privileges and immunities

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2024-title22/html/USCODE-2024-title22-chap7-subchapXVIII.htm

04 · U.S. Supreme Court, Jam v. International Finance Corporation (2019)

https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/17-1011_mkhn.pdf

05 · United Nations Charter, Article 105

https://www.un.org/about-us/un-charter/chapter-16

WE ARE ONE. · E PLURIBUS UNUM.