Human rights activists increasingly address the activity of multinational corporations, the policies of international oganizations 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.

Andrew Clapham worked as the Representative of Amnesty International at the United Nations in New York from 1991 to 1997. Since 1997 he has been teaching human rights law and public international law at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva. He has worked as an Adviser to the UN High Commissioners for Human Rights Mary Robinson and Sergio Vieira de Mello. His other published work includes: Human Rights in the Private Sphere (1993) and International Human Rights Lexicon (2005) (with Susan Marks). He is an academic associate member of Matrix Chambers in London.

• Introduction


• 1: Old Objections and New Approaches


• 2: Thinking Responsibly About the Subject of Subjects


• 3: Characteristics of International Human Rights Law


• 4: The United Nations


• 5: The World Trade Organization and the European Union


• 6: Corporations and Human Rights


• 7: Non-State Actors in Times of Armed Conflict


• 8: Selected UN Human Rights Treaties


• 9: Regional Human Rights Bodies


• 10: National Legal Orders


• 11: Dignity and Democracy


• 12: Complexity, Complicity, and Complementarity