@article{2025:thin:proxy_s,
title = {‘Proxy States’ as Champions of the Common Interest? Implications and Opportunities},
year = {2025},
note = {During the 2022 preliminary objections proceedings in the case of
Gambia v. Myanmar before the International Court of Justice (ICJ),
Myanmar argued that the state initiating proceedings – the Gambia
– was merely a ‘proxy state’, and that the ‘real’ applicant
was the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The OIC had
appointed the Gambia, had ‘tasked’ it to bring the case, and had
provided all the necessary resources to do so. As a result, Myanmar
contended, the case was inadmissible. This argument was summarily
dismissed by the ICJ, yet the question of proxy statehood deserves
further inquiry. The ICJ’s permissive approach has potentially
important implications, including for the promotion of common
interests through international adjudication. This article critically
examines the phenomenon of ‘proxy states’ through the lens of the
integration and furtherance of common interests in and through ICJ
proceedings. First, it outlines and analyses Myanmar’s ‘proxy
state’ argument and the ICJ’s response. This allows a picture to
be painted of the ‘proxy-state model’ and the legal landscape in
this regard, at least insofar as it has been interpreted by the ICJ.
Section II. then delves into the potential of the proxy-state model to
provide new routes for bringing issues of common interest before the
ICJ. It critically examines the role of international organisations in
furthering such interests, and highlights some key potential
advantages that they can provide within this dynamic. Finally, section
III. assesses three key concerns that have been raised in relation to
cases being brought to by states acting as a proxy for an
international organisation or other entity. Section IV. offers some
conclusions on the implications and opportunities presented by the
proxy-state phenomenon.},
journal = {Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht / Heidelberg Journal of International Law},
pages = {69--96},
author = {Thin, Sarah},
volume = {85},
number = {1}
}