Non-State Actors and Human Rights »

Philip Alston is Professor of Law at New York University Law School.

Can transnational corporations ignore human rights as long as governments don't hold them accountable? If the UN is put in charge of a territory, is it bound by human rights law? Under traditional approaches to human rights, non-state actors cannot be parties to the relevant treaties and so they are only bound to the extent that obligations accepted by States can be applied to them by governments. This situation threatens to make a mockery of much of the international system of accountability for human rights violations. The contributors to this volume examine the different approaches that might be taken in order to ensure some degree of accountability. Making space in the legal regime to take account of the role of non-State actors is one of the biggest and most critical challenges facing international law today.

Part I: Introduction
1. The 'Not-a-cat' Syndrome: Can the International Human Rights Regime Accommodate Non-State Actors?, Philip Alston
2. The Changing International Legal Framework for Dealing with Non-State Actors, August Reinisch
Part II: Non-Governmental Organizations and International Organizations as Non-State Actors
3. The Evolving Status of NGOs under International Law: A Threat to the Inter-State System?, Menno T. Kamminga
4. Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Monetary Fund, François Gianviti
Part III: Corporations
5. Catching the Conscience of the King: Corporate Players on the International Stage, Celia Wells and Juanita Elias
6. Corporate Responsibility and the International Law of Human Rights: The New Lex Mercatoria, Ralph Steinhardt
7. The Accountability of Multinationals for Human Rights Violations in European Law, Olivier de Schutter
8. The Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises With Regard to Human Rights, David Weissbrodt and Muria Kruger
Bibliography on Non-State Actors in International Law, Mary Rumsey