Confronting the impunity of non-state actors: New fields for the promotion of human rights

The human rights movement has much to offer the struggle against poverty, but it must first move beyond its unnecessarily narrow vision of human rights. The domination of Western nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and governments has produced a model of human rights advocacy that is limited to civil liberties and state action. While the narrow focus on civil liberties has been widely criticized and an increasing number of NGOs are now addressing economic, social, and cultural rights (ESCR), the singular focus on state action endures. This focus fails to address the roots of many violations-particularly violations of ESCR-that increasingly lie beyond national borders. This article suggests a fuller interpretation of human rights obligations, making them more relevant and truer to international realities. Moving human rights beyond its state-centric paradigm will potentially serve two purposes. First, it will challenge the reigning neo-liberal extremism that infects much of the public discourse about development and poverty, providing a rhetoric and vision to suggest that entrenched poverty is neither inevitable nor acceptable. Second, it will provide a legal framework with which to begin holding the most influential non-state actors-corporations, financial institutions, and third-party states3-more accountable for their role in creating and sustaining poverty. This article will outline the role of these sectors in ESCR violations and the extent to which they are governed by human rights instruments. The focus on impact and accountability is meant to demonstrate the importance of, and the legal basis for, broadening human rights advocacy to address additional actors.