Mr. Andrew Clapham Professor of Public International Law Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva
Biography
International Law
Non-State Actors
Rethinking the Role of Non-State Actors
under International Law
In this lecture I am suggesting we need a radical rethink – we need to see international law not only in terms of obligations for governments but also for non-state actors. To those who say that international law is traditionally about the relationship between States, and human rights law is traditionally about the relationship between the individual and the State, I say that traditions change and it is time to change these traditional assumptions as they no longer reflect what is actually happening, nor what ought to happen. I think it is time to start to engage in a radical rethink so that international law is reconceived in ways that mean it can fulfill its promise of ensuring justice and protecting human dignity, whether the threats to that dignity come from States or non-state actors.
Clapham, Andrew, 'Old Objections and New Approaches' - Chapter 1 of Human Rights Obligations of Non-State Actors (Oxford University Press, 2006).
Clapham, Andrew, 'Human Rights Obligations of Non-State Actors in Conflict Situations', International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 88 No. 863 - September 2006.
R. Hofmann, (ed) Non-State Actors as New Subjects of International Law: International Law - From the Traditional State Order Towards the Law of the Global Community, (Berlin: Dunker and Humblot, 1999).
P. Alston, 'The 'Not-a-Cat' Syndrome: Can the International Human Rights Regime Accommodate Non-State Actors?', in P. Alston, (ed), Non-State Actors and Human Rights, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005) 3-36.
