Non-state actors Flashcards
What are 3 challenges posed by non-state actors in the human rights regime?
There is a resistance to claims that non-actors have int. legal obligations. However, it is now clear that individual non-state actors will be procecuted for certain int. crimes. Furthermore, corporations and armed groups are increasingly expected to respect not only int. criminal law but human rights obligations as well.
2nd challenge concerns the development of monitoring and accountability,. While int. courts and treaty bodies may be limited to hearing complaints against states, national judges in the US and Canada have indicated that they may exercise jurisdiction over corporations violating int. law abroad. When it comes to armed non-state actors, the UN and NGOs have developed their own ways of monitoring these groups of human rights observance.
Lastly, it suggests that a further challenge is to question our own assumptions about what it means to talk about human rights and who has human rights obligations. It is hoped that those readers who hae reached this point may be starting to meet this last challenge.
What is corporate social responsibility? And why would this be something businesses engange in?
- it is a business model by which companies make a concerted effort to operate in ways that enhance rather than degrade society and the environment
- businesses could have a desire to protect their reputation, reduce risk of disruption through strikes, protests, and boycotts, enhance their attractiveness for furture and current employees, and because it is ‘the right thing to do’ (leading to a greater attention to the human rights implications of corporate activity)
