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12 Harv. Hum. Rts. J. 267 (1999)
Transnational State Responsibility for Violations of Human Rights

handle is hein.journals/hhrj12 and id is 273 raw text is: Transnational State Responsibility for Violations of Human Rights Mark Gibney* Katarina Tomagevski** Jens Vedsted-Hansen*** I. INTRODUCTION This text examines a paradox in international human rights law. Human rights are declared to be universal, yet state responsibility for their violations is limited by territoriality as well as by citizenship. Each state is responsible for human rights violations occurring in its own territory. In contrast, state responsibilities with regard to citizens of other states are vague and weak. Individuals can claim and enforce rights against their own state (in theory, at least). However, non-resident non-citizens can only claim and enforce rights against other states through their own state and under strictly defined con- ditions-if they can claim them at all. International law is designed to make each state responsible for the hu- man rights protection of its own population; this includes litigation for vio- lations targeting another state. This text posits that broadening state respon- sibility to include violations of human rights in other states as well as to- wards citizens of other states is not only desirable and feasible, but also nec- essary. Territoriality of law conflicts with the postulated universality of human rights because individuals cannot hold a state other than their own responsi- ble for violating their rights; it is their state that should hold another re- sponsible. This, however, seldom happens. Either the state that intervenes does so because of inequality of power (and a legal challenge involves a risk of retaliation that the previously victimized state can ill afford), or in order to promote the purposes and goals of the ruling government in this other country, but not necessarily the interests of the citizens of this state. The limitation upon universal human rights stemming from territoriality of law is complemented by the institution of citizenship as the basis of the individual's legal relationship with a particular state. Although individual * Belk Distinguished Professor, University of North Carolina-Asheville and the Danish Centre for Human Rights. -* Professor of International Law and International Relations, Lund University. *** Associate Professor, University of Copenhagen.

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