Due Diligence Obligations in International Human Rights Law

Abstract

With the importance of non-State actors ever increasing, the traditional State-centric approach of international law is being put to the test. In particular, significant accountability lacunae have emerged in the field of human rights protection. To address these challenges, this book makes a case for extraterritorial due diligence obligations of States in international human rights law. It traces back how due diligence obligations evolved on the international plane and develops a general analytical framework making the broad and vague notion of due diligence more approachable. The framework is applied to different fields of international law which provides guidance on how due diligence obligations can be better conceptualized. Drawing inspiration from these developments, the book analyses how extraterritorial human rights due diligence obligations could operate in practice and foster global human rights protection.

Containing the Containment

“…33 The duty to carry out due diligence entails the obligation to take all reasonably available means to prevent harm if a State knows or ought to have known of risks. 34 It is driven by the idea that, to an appropriate degree, States should carry responsibility for spheres under their control, resulting in the threefold criteria of foreseeability, capacity, and reasonableness. 35 In the human rights context, responsibility for the failure to adhere to due diligence was first imposed in the landmark decision Velásquez Rodríguez before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR).…”

Preventing long-term risks to human rights in smart cities: A critical review of responsibilities for private AI developers

“…One way to clarify the matter would be to borrow from States' due diligence obligations under international and European human rights law, a key aspect of which is reasonableness. What is reasonably to be expected of States is assessed alongside their knowledge/foresight of risks, their capacity, the interests at stake and the control of the State in a given situation (Malaihollo, 2021;Monnheimer, 2021). While not directly transposable to AI businesses, these parameters could provide inspiration for defining what is a "reasonably foreseeable" risk or misuse of smart city AI.…”

The International Legal Obligation Of Due Diligence In Cyberspace

“…Numerous studies comment on the due diligence obligation in particular branches of international law -international environmental law (Yotova, 2016), the law of armed conflict (Berkes, 2018), international human rights law (Monnheimer, 2021). Since there are special due diligence rules in certain areas, their relationship with the general due diligence standard is widely discussed (although there is also an opinion that international law does not contain a general principle of due diligence (McDonald, 2019)).…”