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 Periodical article |
 Leiden University catalogue |
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| Title: | Non-state actors and legal accountability |
| Author: | Lundsgaard, Thorbjørn Waal |
| Year: | 2015 |
| Periodical: | East African Journal of Peace and Human Rights (ISSN 1021-8858) |
| Volume: | 21 |
| Issue: | 1 |
| Pages: | 183-191 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic terms: | world Nigeria |
| Subjects: | human rights multinational enterprises |
| Abstract: | As a branch of public international law, human rights law has historically been state-centric, with governments and public authorities traditionally understood as its exclusive subjects. However, in recent decades, there has been a development in human rights law towards the possible relaxation or extension of this norm to include also certain non-state actors (NSA). NSAs include non-governmental organizations (NGOs), paramilitary groups, terrorists, national liberation movements, intergovernmental organizations and private actors generally, including business entities. Taking the latter, and particularly the case of multinational corporations (MNCs), as its focus, this article will first present evidence of the increasing application to MNCs of human rights law norms and standards. From this basis, it will then argue that while this trend entails a degree of reconceptualization, it is still incomplete, which means that MNCs as non-state actors are not yet fully accountable to human rights standards. In conclusion, it argues that expectations that MNCs should or will be held accountable by identical mechanisms and to an identical standard as state actors are probably misplaced. The article uses the example of Shell in Nigeria to clarify its arguments. Notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract, edited] |