Reconciling Privatization with Human Rights (49) (Human Rights Research Series)

Under the influence of globalization many countries have been compelled to privatize the provision of a number of State and public services. This trend towards privatization has been met with skepticism from the human rights world. In this study, the privatization phenomenon is analyzed with the aim of establishing whether it can be reconciled with the human rights obligations of States. The dynamic nature of privatization and the role of the various actors involved in the privatization process are examined together with the legal obligations stemming from international and human rights law. The study addresses the issue of accountability for the conduct of entities exercising governmental functions and discusses the need for a new paradigm for holding privatized entities directly accountable for human rights abuses. It also focuses on two case studies involving privatization in two different sectors: the alleged abuses of contractors from two private military and security companies in Abu Ghraib, Iraq, and the privatization of water in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

This study offers a paradoxical insight. One of the goals of privatization is to reduce the size of the State. However, the concerns for privatization’s effects on human rights may lead to reaffirming the need for an active role of the State through regulation.


About this book
‘This book offers a fascinating look to the future of the (international) legal control of states’ regulation of markets.’
Juan M. Amaya-Castro in Rechtsgeleerd Magazijn Themis (2014) 59

Dr. Antenor Hallo de Wolf (born in Quito, Ecuador) is currently assistant professor in international law and international human rights law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Groningen. He obtained his law degree at the University of Maastricht and after a short stint at a human rights NGO, Africa Legal Aid, went on to lecture and obtain his PhD at Maastricht University. Between 2006 and 2009 he was a research associate at the University of Bristol working on a research project involving the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention Against Torture. At the University of Groningen he has been involved in the organization of a series of seminars on the issue of essential public services and human rights.

Dr. Hallo de Wolf’s main research and academic interests include human rights and privatization, the prohibition and prevention of torture, the role of non-state actors in international law and human rights and their regulation, the implementation of human rights through regulation and investment treaties, as well as more general subjects such as the law of the sea, and the use of force under international law.