Addressing economic and social rights violations by non-state actors through the role of the state : a comparison of regional approaches to the 'Obligation to protect'.

Abstract

This article centres on the state's obligation to ensure that third party non-state actors do not interfere with the enjoyment of economic and social rights (ESR) by rights-holders. In it, the author analyses and compares the different ways in which regional bodies deal with the obligation to protect ESR, seeking to account for the variety in their approaches. Amongst other things, the article highlights the way in which the regional bodies in question have referred to, and relied on, the jurisprudence of other international and regional human rights entities in fleshing out the state's obligation to protect ESR under their own legal frameworks. While focusing on the obligation to protect ESR in particular, the author's findings cast light more generally on the interpretation and application of ESR by the regional human rights bodies under consideration.