Chilenye Nwapi

Abstract

Penelope Simons and Audrey Macklin's book, The Governance Gap: Extractive Industries, Human Rights, and the Home State Advantage is a valuable contribution for researchers on the extraterritorial activities of the extractive sector, and in particular its impacts on the environment and human rights. The authors question what the development of domestic and international regulation would look like if governments took seriously the duty to protect human rights from the activities of their extractive sector corporations. The proposal outlined in the book will be of interest to academics, politicians, and public servants working towards establishing a governing framework aligned with the much discussed and debated United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. However, certain aspects of the authors' proposal are impracticable and not the best alternative for addressing the problem of extraterritorial wrongdoing by the extractive sector. A more comprehensive analysis of private law strategies would have benefited the readers in communicating a thorough account of this fundamentally important issue of legal regulation. Keywords: Extractive Industries, United Nations Guiding Principles, Human Rights