Synopses & Reviews
Human rights activists increasingly address the activity of multinational corporations, the policies of international organizations such as the World Bank and World Trade Organization, and international crimes committed by entities such as armed opposition groups and terrorists. This book presents an approach to human rights which goes beyond the traditional focus on states and outlines the human rights obligations of non-state actors. It finishes with examples of how non-state actors can be held legally accountable for their actions in various jurisdictions and suggests a framework for understanding the limits of human rights in this context.
Review
"The book is a product of prodigious research. No document is left unexamined, no statement unread. Andrew Clapham delivers a thorough and insightful study the new, significantly expanded, work can be said to have two main qualities. First, it is a resourceful manual for aspiring claimants of human rights breaches by non-state actors or, for that matter, any non-state actor seeking to refute such claims. Second, it is a brave piece of human rights advocacy and accepting its principal conclusions requires, as the author points out, a change in the way we think about international law." -- Vladimir Pavlovic, Global and European Law Books
"The book is a product of prodigious research. No document is left unexamined, no statement unread. Andrew Clapham delivers a thorough and insightful studythe new, significantly expanded, work can be said to have two main qualities. First, it is a resourceful manual for aspiring claimants of human rights breaches by non-state actors or, for that matter, any non-state actor seeking to refute such claims. Second, it is a brave piece of human rights advocacy and accepting its principal conclusions requires, as the author points out, a change in the way we think about international law." -- Vladimir Pavlovic, Global and European Law Books
"Andrew Clapham's book provides a realistic, comprehensive and excellently documented portrait of the changing status of protection of human rights against the novel threats posed by non-state actors." -- EUI Review
Table of Contents
Introduction 1. Old Objections and New Approaches
2. International Legal Personality and, Capacity and Responsibility
3. Varieties of International Human Rights Law
4. The UN and the World Bank as Non-State Actors
5. The WTO and the European Community as Non-State Actors
6. Corporations as Non-State Actors
7. Non-State Actors in Times of Armed Conflict
8. UN Human Rights Treaties
9. Regional Human Rights Law Through the Cases
10. National Legal Orders
11. Dignity and Democracy
12. Complicity, Complexity and Complementarity