ABSTRACT
This chapter explores two main observations regarding the rights and obligations of non-state actors (NSAs) under international law. First, there is considerable disagreement as to what the position of the NSA is under international law; and second, flowing from that and from the fragmented state of international law, that there is an urgent doctrinal need for an integrated and comprehensive assessment of the status of the NSA in international law. Because it is indisputable that the NSA has already been recognized as enjoying a set of rights and being bound by certain obligations in international law, the chapter examines the desirability of charting international legal development towards further enhancement of the legal status already secured by the NSA. Since the legal system is essentially a social system which governs relations between and among social actors, rights and duties are meaningful only as reciprocal between these actors.
