Horizontal Human Rights Law

John H. Knox, Wake Forest University

Abstract

One of the most controversial issues in human rights law today is whether it should place duties on individuals, corporations, and other private actors. The usual view of human rights law is that it applies vertically, to protect individuals from governments. Increasingly, however, that view is coming under attack. A UN special rapporteur has drafted a Declaration on Human Social Responsibilities, which would set out duties on all individuals, and a UN body of independent experts has adopted Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with regard to Human Rights, which would set out duties on all businesses. Although Western governments have opposed both, many other governments have supported them, and scholars and activists have urged the imposition of duties on corporations. This article argues that much of the support for these proposals is based on a failure to understand how human rights law already addresses private duties. Proposals for private duties are not new; indeed, human rights law has grappled with such proposals since its inception sixty years ago. Advocates misunderstand or misconstrue why human rights law does not impose many direct private duties, and how it nevertheless brings its weight to bear on private actors. They therefore urge human rights law towards dangers that it has avoided until now, and overestimate how much their proposals would improve the current regime.