The Role of Non-State Actors: A Response to Professor Ryngaert

A short article by Professor Ryngaert in an earlier issue of the NILR is here examined and criticised, in particular the suggestion there made that certain Non-State Actors (NSAs) seek an international status similar or equal to that of States, and that this might be conceded. The position of States is not, it is here argued, simply the result of historical assertion, but of their uniqueness through sovereign possession of a territory, and thus being spatially established. The limited role of NSAs in conferences and as contributing by practice to custom is noted in this context. Similarly, the suggestion that States should not be the only ‘gatekeepers’, for admission to the category of international legal persons, is contested.