Abstract
Both the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights mark a shift of paradigm by bypassing the screen of diplomatic protection and the State monopoly that involves an exclusive relation between the State and its “national”. The individual is no more a “subject” of the State, and becomes a legal subject. But it is necessary to invert the perspective: while the place of non-State actors is not fully defined by international norms, it is the impact of non-State actors that redefines the nature of international law. In other words, it would be necessary to move from a static conception, stuck in an apparent balance, in view of considering an active and dialectic approach: the movement tracing, on the way, new tracks. In a global system, open to various stakeholders, non-State actors contribute to the elaboration of international law, through guidelines and voluntary commitments, as well as to new forms of international responsibility, especially for human rights’ violations.
Emeritus Professor of Public Law, Panthéon-Assas University, Paris, France.
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Notes
- 1.
Aron (1962).
- 2.
Burdeau (1966).
- 3.
Saint-Simon (2014).
- 4.
- 5.
- 6.
PCIJ, Lotus, Judgment of 7 September 1927, Series A No. 10. Cf. Société française de droit international (2005).
- 7.
Spiropoulos (1929).
- 8.
Scelle (1932).
- 9.
Jessup (1956).
- 10.
Cassin (1950), p. 67.
- 11.
Virally (1970), p. 323.
- 12.
Gherari and Szurek (2003).
- 13.
UN General Assembly, UN Doc A/RES/53/144, 9 December 1998.
- 14.
De Frouville (2006), p. 391.
- 15.
UN General Assembly, UN Doc. A/RES/48/134, 20 December 1993.
- 16.
UN General Assembly, UN Doc. A/RES/47/135, 18 December 1992.
- 17.
UN General Assembly, UN Doc. A/RES/61/295, 13 September 2007.
- 18.
RIAA, vol. XIX, 2006, p. 199.
- 19.
- 20.
Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, E/CN.4/Sub.2/2003/L.8, 7 August 2003.
- 21.
Human Rights Council, A/HRC/RES/17/4, Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises, 16 July 2011.
- 22.
Rapport du Point de contact national sur la mise en œuvre des principes directeurs de l’OCDE dans la filière textile-habillement (2014).
- 23.
ICJ, Ahmadou Sadio Diallo (Republic of Guinea v. Democratic Republic of the Congo), Judgment of 19 June 2012, ICJ Reports 2012.
- 24.
Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights: E/CN.4/2005/102/Add.1, 8 February 2005; E/CN.4/Sub.2/1997/20/Rev.1, 2 October 1997.
- 25.
UN General Assembly, UN Doc. A/RES/60/147 of 16 December 2005.
- 26.
ECtHR, Cyprus v. Turkey, Judgment of 10 May 2001, Reports 2001-IV.
- 27.
ECtHR, Cyprus v. Turkey, Judgment of 12 May 2014, Reports 2014.
- 28.
ICJ, Armed Activities on the Territory of the Congo (Democratic Republic of the Congo v. Uganda), Judgment of 19 December 2005, ICJ Reports 2005, Dissenting Opinion of Judge ad hoc Joe Verhoeven.
- 29.
ICJ, Armed Activities on the Territory of the Congo (Democratic Republic of the Congo v. Uganda), Order of 6 December 2016, ICJ Reports 2016, Separate Opinion of Judge Cançado Trindade, para. 20.
- 30.
Ibid., para. 21.
- 31.
Bourgeois (1913).
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Decaux, E. (2018). The Impact of Individuals and Other Non-State Actors on Contemporary International Law. In: Pisillo Mazzeschi, R., De Sena, P. (eds) Global Justice, Human Rights and the Modernization of International Law. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90227-2_1
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