A New Fish in the Sea? The Collocation of the New NATO Mission Appeals Tribunal among International Administrative Tribunals

Abstract The Mission Appeals Tribunal, established in 2022, is a new international administrative tribunal designed to provide judicial relief for NATO -led mission personnel challenging administrative decisions affecting their service conditions. However, the peculiarities of its founding instrument and the military context in which it operates raise questions about its precise classification as an international administrative tribunal. This article will shed light on the reasons for establishing this Tribunal, its constitutive process, and the most relevant rules governing its procedure in order to determine how it compares to its counterparts already established in other international organizations. It concludes that, despite this sui generis context, the MAT is a full-fledged international administrative tribunal capable of fostering a level of protection no less intense than that provided by other fora operating in different organizations.