State Responsibility, Climate Change and Human Rights under International Law
State Responsibility, Climate Change and Human Rights under International Law

Author: Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2019-03-21

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13: 1509918450

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The last decade has witnessed an increasing focus on the relationship between climate change and human rights. Several international human rights bodies have expressed concern about the negative implications of climate change for the enjoyment of human rights, and the Paris Agreement is the first multilateral climate agreement to refer explicitly to states' human rights obligations in connection with climate change. Yet despite this, there are still significant gaps in our understanding of the role of international human rights law in enhancing accountability for climate action or inaction. As the Paris Agreement has shifted the focus of the climate change regime towards voluntary action, and the humanitarian impacts of climate change are increasingly being felt around the world, accountability for climate change has become an increasingly salient issue. This book offers a timely and comprehensive analysis of the legal issues related to accountability for the human rights impact of climate change, drawing on the state responsibility regime. It explains when and where state action relating to climate change may amount to a violation of human rights, and evaluates various avenues of legal redress available to victims. The overall analysis offers a perceptive insight into the potential of innovative rights-based climate actions to shape climate and energy policies around the world.

Extracting Accountability from Non-State Actors in International Law
Extracting Accountability from Non-State Actors in International Law

Author: Lee James McConnell

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-11-10

Total Pages: 339

ISBN-13: 1317220560

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The human rights of communities in many resource-rich, weak governance States are adversely affected, not only by the acts of States and their agents, but also by powerful non-State actors. Contemporary phenomena such as globalisation, privatisation and the proliferation of internal armed conflict have all contributed to the increasing public influence of these entities and the correlative decline in State power. This book responds to the persistent challenges stemming from non-State actors linked to extractive industries. In light of the intersecting roles of multinational enterprises and non-State armed groups in this context, these actors are adopted as the primary analytical vehicles. The operations of these entities highlight the practical flaws of existing accountability regimes and permit an exploration of the theoretical challenges that preclude their direct legal regulation at the international level. Drawing insights from discursive democracy, compliance theories and the Pure Theory of Law, the book establishes a conceptual foundation for the creation of binding international obligations addressing non-State actors. Responding to the recent calls for a binding business and human rights treaty at the UN Human Rights Council, and the growing influence of armed non-State actors, the book makes a timely contribution to debates surrounding the direction of future developments in the field of international human rights law.

State Responsibility in the International Legal Order
State Responsibility in the International Legal Order

Author: Katja Creutz

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2020-09-24

Total Pages: 379

ISBN-13: 1108788696

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State responsibility in international law is considered one of the cornerstones of the field. For a long time it remained the exclusive responsibility system due to the primacy of States as subjects of international law. Its unique position has nonetheless been challenged by several developments both within and outside the international legal order, such as the rise of alternative responsibility ideas and practices, as well as globalization and its consequences. This book adopts a critical and holistic approach to the law of State responsibility and analyzes the functionality of the general rules of State responsibility in a changed international landscape characterized by the fragmentation of responsibility. It is argued that State responsibility is not equally relevant across the broad spectrum of international obligations, and that alternative constructions of responsibility, namely international criminal law and international liability, have increased in standing.

Collective Responsibility and Accountability under International Law
Collective Responsibility and Accountability under International Law

Author: Shane Darcy

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2007-03-30

Total Pages: 424

ISBN-13: 9047431286

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Collective Responsibility and Accountability under International Law examines the extent to which the basic principle of individual responsibility accommodates liability for the acts of others. It examines the debates and legal developments surrounding collective responsibility under international law. The philosophical debates on collective responsibility provide an introduction to the examination of whether collective responsibility is ever appropriate or even lawful under international law. As the international criminal justice project begins to flourish, it is of paramount importance that the extent of the potential liability of individuals for the acts of others is clarified and held up to rigorous scrutiny. It is of equal importance that there is a clear understanding of whether the means of responding to ongoing violations of international humanitarian law can include measures based on collective responsibility. Global events have created an impetus for the parameters of responsibility to be clearly defined. The rise of non-State actors within the international legal regime raises complex questions surrounding their status, power and the means for holding them accountable. Published under the Transnational Publishers imprint.

Accountability for Human Rights Atrocities in International Law
Accountability for Human Rights Atrocities in International Law

Author: Steven R. Ratner

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 534

ISBN-13: 0199546665

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This book explores the promise and limitations of international criminal law as a means of enforcing international human rights and humanitarian law. It analyses the principal crimes, such as genocide and crimes against humanity, and appraises the mechanisms developed to bring individuals to justice.

Transnational Terrorism and State Accountability
Transnational Terrorism and State Accountability

Author: Vincent-Joël Proulx

Publisher:

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13: 9781472566195

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Every State has an obligation to prevent terrorist attacks emanating from its territory. This study addresses the scope of this obligation of prevention and the legal consequences flowing from its violation, so as to provide greater clarity on governments' counterterrorism duties and to enhance State accountability for preventable wrongs.

Corporate Environmental Accountability in International Law
Corporate Environmental Accountability in International Law

Author: Elisa Morgera

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 0198738048

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"This book explores the evolving role of international law in directing and controlling the conduct of business enterprises, in particular multinational corporations, with respect to the protection of the environment, the sustainable use of natural resources, and the respect of inter-related human rights. It assesses the progress and continuing limitations in the identification of international standards of corporate environmental accountability and responsibility, and their implementation by international organizations. This assessment shows the extent to which the international community has conceptually and operationally clarified its expectations about acceptable corporate conduct. This second edition of Elisa Morgera's book reflects the intensified convergence of international standard-setting efforts on corporate environmental accountability, with parallel international developments on business and human rights and the environment. It also explores the recent emergence of substantive international standards of corporate environmental responsibility, which have arisen from a growing number of sectoral guidelines. Equally, it points to the remaining divergences in the content of international standards of corporate environmental accountability and responsibility, which reflect differing views among States of their international obligations to ensure the protection of the environment and the respect of human rights.?--Provided by publisher.

Accountability for Violations of International Humanitarian Law
Accountability for Violations of International Humanitarian Law

Author: Jadranka Petrovic

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-06-26

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13: 1317669797

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International criminal adjudication, together with the prosecution and appropriate punishment of offenders at a national level, remains the most effective means of enforcing International Humanitarian Law. This book considers the various issues emanating from present-day breaches of norms of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and the question of how impunity for such breaches can be tackled. Honouring the work of Timothy McCormack, Professor of International Law at the University of Melbourne and a world renowned expert on IHL and International Criminal Law, contributors of the book explore the interplay between the rules governing accountability for violations of IHL and other areas of law that impact the prosecution of war crimes, including international criminal law, human rights law, arms control law, constitutional law and national criminal law. In providing a contemporary consideration of the various issues emerging from present-day breaches of norms of IHL, especially in light of growing interest in ‘fragmentation’ and ‘normative pluralism’, this book will be of great use and interest to students and researchers in public international law, international law, and conflict studies.

State Accountability under International Law
State Accountability under International Law

Author: Lisa Yarwood

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2010-11-24

Total Pages: 330

ISBN-13: 1136871152

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This book considers the extent to which States are held accountable for breaches of jus cogens norms under international law. The concept of State accountability is distinguished from the doctrine of State responsibility and refers to an ad hoc practice in international relations that seeks to ensure States do not escape with impunity when they violate norms that are considered fundamental to the interests of the international community as a whole. State Accountability under International Law sets forth a definition of State accountability and establishes a threshold against which the existence, or not, of State accountability can be determined. Using a Foucauldian influenced interpretive methodology, this book adopts a novel construction of State accountability as having legal, political and even moral characteristics. It argues that the international community seeks to hold States accountable utilising a variety of traditional and non-traditional responses that cumulatively recognise that the institutions that comprise and legitimise the State were instrumental in the particular breach. Using case studies taken from State practice from throughout the twentieth century and covering a range of geographic contexts, the conclusion is that there is evidence that State accountability, as it is conceptualised here, is evolving into a legal principle. The book draws together the many academic theories relating to accountability that have arisen in various areas of international law including environmental law, human rights and trade law before going on to examine an emerging practice of State accountability. A variety of ad hoc attempts and informal mechanisms are assessed against the threshold of State accountability established, with emphasis being given to practical examples ranging from the accountability of Germany and Japan after World War Two to the current attempts to seek accountability from Russia for former crimes of the USSR.

The Accountability of Armed Groups under Human Rights Law
The Accountability of Armed Groups under Human Rights Law

Author: Katharine Fortin

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017-08-11

Total Pages: 465

ISBN-13: 0192536060

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Today the majority of the armed conflicts around the world are fought between States and armed groups, rather than between States. This changed conflict landscape creates an imperative to clarify the obligations of armed groups under international law. While it is generally accepted that armed groups are bound by international humanitarian law, the question of whether they are also bound by human rights law is controversial. This book brings significant new understanding to the question of whether and when armed groups might be bound by human rights law. Its conclusions will benefit international law academics, legal practitioners, and political scientists and anthropologists working on issues related to rebel governance and civil wars. This book addresses the debate on this topic by employing a theoretical, historical, and comparative analysis that spans international humanitarian law, international criminal law, and international human rights law. Embedding these different perspectives in public international law, this book brings several key points of clarification to the legal framework. Firstly, the book draws upon social science literature on armed conflict to present a new viewpoint on the role that human rights law plays vis-à-vis international humanitarian law in non-international armed conflicts. Secondly, the book sheds light on the circumstances in which armed groups acquire obligations under human rights law. It brings illumination to these topics by combining historical and comparative research on belligerency, insurgency, and international humanitarian law with a theoretical analysis of legal personality under international law. In the final part of the book, the author tests the four most utilised theories of how armed groups are bound by human rights law, examining whether armed groups can be bound by virtue of (i) treaty law (ii) control of territory (iii) international criminal law and (iv) customary international law. In the book's conclusions, the author presents final remarks that are designed to provide concrete guidance on how the issue of armed groups and human rights law can be dealt with more thoroughly in practice.