Jurisdictional Immunities of International Financial Organizations in Courts and Arbitrations

International financial organizations, such as the International Monetary Fund, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Development Association, international development banks, and others, enjoy judicial and other immunities in the jurisdictions where they operate. These immunities include immunity from lawsuits, enforcement of award and attachment against their property. They are enshrined in their founding documents, bilateral and other supplementary agreements, and are generally recognized by states and courts. The statutory documents of international financial organizations establish the procedure and grounds for filing claims against them, the place and other details of the settlement of such disputes, which significantly complicates the process of protecting the national interests of the relevant states from the harmful consequences of the activities of these financial organizations, and make impossible the enforcement of award or attachment against their property in order to receive compensation for the damage caused. The immunities of international financial organizations also remain in force in labor disputes with employees. The article shows that attempts to challenge the jurisdictional immunities of international financial organizations in the national courts of developing countries, as well as in the courts of the United States and several other developed countries, have so far led to the formation of a tendency to recognize these immunities as limited. The methods of analysis, synthesis, and comparative law were used in the work. The author concludes that, as a result of a number of lawsuits, including labor disputes, against international financial organizations, developing countries, as well as dismissed employees of these organizations, did not receive either financial or property satisfaction, but only legal and moral. Nevertheless, the theory of the inviolability of pro‑Western financial institutions has been shaken — a trend that may further develop in the context of the transformation of the global financial legal order.