Non-state Actors, State-Centrism and Human Rights Obligations

2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 191-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
ERIC DE BRABANDERE
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Relations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Private Sphere ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Scholarly Research ◽  
The Public ◽  
Relevant Topic ◽  
State Actors

Despite its not being an entirely new debate in international law and international relations, the nexus between human rights and non-state actors has become a highly relevant topic of scholarly research, as witnessed by the three works under review, published in 2005 and 2006. When Andrew Clapham published in 1993 Human Rights in the Private Sphere, in which he already questioned the public/private divide of human rights law, the book was then categorized as both ‘adventuresome and timely’. Some fifteen years later, an analysis of this topic can no longer be called ‘adventuresome’, but the timeliness remains beyond doubt.

Can Armed Non-state Actors Exercise Jurisdiction and Thus Become Human Rights Duty-bearers?

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-305
Author(s):  
Amrei Müller
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
State Actors ◽  
The Right ◽  
Political Understanding ◽  
Normative Logic

Abstract Recent literature and United Nations documents advocate that most armed non-state actors (ANSAs) should be bound by human rights law. This article takes a more critical stance on this issue. It argues that only a limited number of ANSAs should potentially become human rights duty-bearers: those that exercise de facto (human rights) jurisdiction and thus have considerable institutional and military capacities, as well as particular normative characteristics. It specifies these capacities and characteristics with an analysis of ANSAs’ practice that tentatively indicates that some of these entities may indeed exercise de facto jurisdiction. The argument is justified by highlighting the broader consequences that recognising ANSAs as human rights duty-bearers will entail. It will also endow them with privileges that will legitimise their authority over time. This is grounded in the normative logic of human rights law that emphasises the interrelationship between human rights, equality and democracy that also permeates the notion of jurisdiction and is further supported by a political understanding of the right to self-determination. The article closes with a brief sketch of two complementary ways to develop international law binding ANSAs to be further explored in future research: the so-called ‘responsibilities for human rights’ and an adapted law of occupation.

scholarly journals International Courts and Tribunals – the New Environmental Sentinels in International Law

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 17-33
Author(s):  
Bharat H. Desai ◽  
Balraj K. Sidhu
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Relations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Courts ◽  
Peaceful Settlement ◽  
The Common ◽  
Common Future

This study examines the role of international courts and tribunals (ICTs) as important agents for the peaceful settlement of international disputes through the instrumentality of law. The rapid upswing in the number of specialised international courts and tribunals (in areas such as trade, human rights, law of the sea, criminal justice and environment) can be perceived as an attempt by sovereign States to maintain the viability of ICTs in light of perplexity in international relations, growing recognition of peaceful co-existence, quest for institutionalised cooperation and emergence of some of the “common concerns of humankind”, as well as the “duty to cooperate”. The article has sought to make sense of the emergence of ICTs as the “New Environmental Sentinels” and what it portends for our common future. Do we need a specialised international environmental court?

International law and armed non-state actors in Afghanistan

2011 ◽  
Vol 93 (881) ◽  
pp. 47-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annyssa Bellal ◽  
Gilles Giacca ◽  
Stuart Casey-Maslen
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Legal Responsibility ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
International Human ◽  
State Actors ◽  
Peremptory Norms

AbstractAn effective legal regime governing the actions of armed non-state actors in Afghanistan should encompass not only international humanitarian law but also international human rights law. While the applicability of Common Article 3 of the 1949 Geneva Conventions to the conflict is not controversial, how and to what extent Additional Protocol II applies is more difficult to assess, in particular in relation to the various armed actors operating in the country. The applicability of international human rights law to armed non-state actors – considered by the authors as important, particularly in Afghanistan – remains highly controversial. Nevertheless, its applicability to such actors exercising control over a population is slowly becoming more accepted. In addition, violations of peremptory norms of international law can also directly engage the legal responsibility of such groups.

scholarly journals The Expulsion of Resident Colombian Nationals during the Colombia-Venezuela Border Dispute: An “Under the Radar” Case for Diplomatic Protection of Human Rights?

Vniversitas ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 68 (138) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Joseph-Blaise MacLean ◽  
Walter Arévalo Ramírez
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Due Process ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Public International Law ◽  
The Public ◽  
Diplomatic Protection ◽  
Border Dispute ◽  
Colombian Government ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights

While International Humanitarian, Refugee and Human Rights Law are frequently resorted to in the search for remedies for human rights violations, the Public International Law remedy of Diplomatic Protection is often forgotten, perhaps because there are few cases fitting the legal requirements for that remedy. The Venezuelan expulsions and property confiscations in 2015 and 2017 of Colombian residents without due process and, frequently, with violence may provide a useful example of an appropriate case for Diplomatic Protection arising within the context of a forced expulsion of an identifiable nationality. The following article, result of a research project regarding international law enforceability, reviews the current law on Diplomatic Protection and, within the context of a factual survey of the treatment of Colombian nationals by Venezuela, undertakes an analysis as to whether the facts of the case in fact give rise to a remedy of Diplomatic Protection. Effectively, the article argues in favour of the availability of this remedy as an option for the Colombian government.

scholarly journals Transnational Corporations and Human Rights

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 285
Author(s):  
Muhammed Hamid Muhammed
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Transnational Corporations ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
State Actors ◽  
Contemporary Practice

International trade has introduced many features in its classical or contemporary practice wherein peoples respectfully exchanged goods and ideas. Unfortunately, the legacy of large multinational corporations, concerning human rights, has generally been dismal. It is recognised that states are the primary bearers of responsibility to respect, protect, fulfill, and promote human rights and freedoms. Current developments in the field of international human rights law, however, designated transnational corporations (hereafter TNCs), organisations, and individuals in a diagonal and/or horizontal responsibility on the respect and protection of human rights. The need to make these non-state actors, especially TNCs, responsible under international law is originated from their ever-increasing influence on state actors and their impact on the individuals’ enjoyment of their social, political, and economic rights. This article deals with the multidimensional influence of TNCs on the respect, protection, and fulfilment of fundamental human rights and demonstrates the possibilities of building legal obligation over them by reviewing existing literature.

Part III Conceptual Pillars, Ch.21 Public Participation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ebbesson Jonas
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
International Law ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Multilevel Governance ◽  
International Review ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
The Public ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
International Obligations

This chapter outlines key concepts and contexts in relation to public participation. Few areas of international law have developed so rapidly as that on public participation in environmental matters. With some exceptions, this notion hardly existed in international law until the early 1990s. The development since then stems from two disciplines of international law: environmental law and human rights law. It pertains to public participation in decision-making at the national as well as international level, and involves important elements of multilevel governance. One important feature for this legal development, and also for the continuing vitality of the discourse, is the possibility in some environmental and human rights regimes for members of the public to access independent international review mechanisms. These bodies take the form of courts, committees, or commissions, with the mandate of examining whether state parties live up to their international obligations of ensuring participatory rights in their national jurisdictions.

Reckoning with the past

2006 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 334-336
Author(s):  
Peter M. Siavelis
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Relations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Global Justice ◽  
Scholarly Research ◽  
The Past ◽  
Subsequent Trial ◽  
Head Of State ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Rare Opportunity

Augusto Pinochet's unexpected 1998 London arrest provided a rare opportunity for a trial of a former head of state outside his own country for crimes committed while in office. The drama and visibility of the arrest and subsequent trial also prompted a wave of scholarly research on the case and its consequences. Among a crowded field, Naomi Roht-Arriaza's book stands out for doing much more than simply recounting the Pinochet story or discussing its significance for international law. Her meticulously researched book goes beyond a simple focus on the Pinochet case per se, to artfully weave together the series of interactions that helped the case possibly transform transnational global justice. In the process, she provides insights for students of law, democratization, human rights, and international relations.

Decriminalising Consensual Heterosexual Conduct outside Marriage: The Women's Case under International Human Rights Law

2002 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-314
Author(s):  
Livio Zilli
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Sexual Activity ◽  
International Law ◽  
Capital Punishment ◽  
Male Dominance ◽  
Private Sphere ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Course Of Action ◽  
The World

In many countries all over the world, women's real or alleged engagement in consensual sexual activity outside marriage can give rise to a criminal conviction, leading to the imposition of a sentence of imprisonment and/or corporal or even capital punishment. Criminalising women because of their real or alleged involvement in adultery or fornication is a form of discrimination against women and it serves to reinforce patriarchal dominance in the so-called ‘private sphere’ and contributes to women's vulnerability to abuse. Because of male dominance of law-making and its enforcement, traditional human rights discourses have – in the main – reflected societal attitudes and values as far as the criminalisation of adultery and fornication is concerned. As a result, human rights scholarship, monitoring and advocacy have largely ignored the plight of women accused of these ‘offenses’. However, as demonstrated by a feminist reformulation of human rights in international law, as well as by arguments pertaining to the prohibition of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, it is possible to map out a course of action for scholars, advocates and campaigners to spearhead efforts to decriminalise consensual sexual activity outside marriage using human rights law as a more responsive tool.

The Idea of International Human Rights Law

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Wheatley
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Moral Concept ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
Human Rights Treaties ◽  
International Human ◽  
Fragmentation Of International Law

International Human Rights Law has emerged as an academic subject in its own right, separate from, but still related to, International Law. This book explains the distinctive nature of the new discipline by examining the influence of the moral concept of human rights on general international law. Rather than make use of moral philosophy or political theory, the work explains the term ‘human rights’ by examining its usage in international law practice, on the understanding that words are given meaning through their use. Relying on complexity theory to make sense of the legal practice in the United Nations, the core human rights treaties, and customary international law, The Idea of International Human Rights Law shows how a moral concept of human rights emerged, and then influenced the international law doctrine and practice on human rights, a fact that explains the fragmentation of international law and the special nature of International Human Rights Law.

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