Human Rights Obligations of Non‐State Actors by Andrew Clapham
| Author | Robert McCorquodale |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.2007.00677.x |
| Date | 01 November 2007 |
| Published date | 01 November 2007 |
REVIEWS
Andrew Clapham, Human Rights Obligations of Non-State Actors,613 pp, hb
d60.00, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006
The impact of non-state actors on violations of human rights is avitally important
area of international law. The growing awareness of this importance is re£ected in
the recent initiatives within the international legal system to respond to actions by
terrorists, trans national corporations, international organis ations and individuals.
This book examinesthese initiatives, andprovides an intelligentand detailedanaly-
sis of the human rights obligations of non-state actors, as well as o¡ering ways for-
ward to reconceptualise human rights and to apply international human rights law.
AndrewClapham, whois highly regardedfor his workon human rights in the
private sphere, aims to show in this book that ‘the existing general rules of inter-
national human rights law, created and acknowledged by states [and traditionally
only applied to states] now ¢x on non-state actors so that they may be held
accountable for violations of this law’ (28). He provides excellent arguments to
counter the key criticisms of this approach, from exposing the limitations of the
view that only states need to respect human rights and that non-state actors do
not have i nternational legal obligations, to showing the fallacies in the views that
governmentswill seek to de£ectfrom their own responsibilities or thatthere will
be a legitimisingof the actions by non-state actors if such an approachwere taken.
Instead, he shows how international law has expanded its scope and how tradi-
tional approaches to international human rights law are no longer appropriate.
In addition, Clapham acknowledges the contexts within which the human
rights obligations of non-state actors arise and why this represents an increasingly
important phenomenon. He considers that this context includes: globalisation,
especially in relation to the power of large corporations; the privatisation of many
sectors that used to be within the traditional functions of the state, such as water,
prisons and health sectors; the fragmentation of states and intra-statecon£ict; and
the feminisation of human rights that has ledto the recognition that there should
not be a public/private divide on international human rights issues.
The book is divided into 12 chapters, including an introduction and conclu-
sion. Chapter 2 examines the issues of international legal personality, with the
focus on the capacityof non-state actors to exercise rights and undertake respon-
sibilities in international law. Chapter 3 aims to provide a summary of the core
aspects of interaction between customary and treaty-based international law, as
well as other sources of international law. The next two chapters explore speci¢c
international organisations:the United Nations (UN), theWorldBank, theWorld
Trade Organisation (WTO) and the EuropeanUnion (EU). After a chapter look-
ing at the various documents created to deal with the responsibilities of corpora-
tions, the following two chapters examine non-state actors within armed
r2007 The Authors.Journal Compilation r2007 The Modern Law Review Limited.
Published by BlackwellPublishing, 9600 Garsington Road,Oxford OX4 2DQ,UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA
(2007) 70(6) 1023^1043
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