Name, Shame, and Then Build Consensus? Bringing Conflic Resolution Skills to Human Rights

This Article examines the reasons behind the tensions that continue to make integration of human rights theory and dispute resolution so difficult. It seeks to interrogate the status quo, with a focus on law school clinics. We believe that many complex human rights problems that would traditionally be addressed separately by human rights and dispute resolution practitioners would benefit from a more integrated approach. As a consequence, the training of practitioners would also benefit from a pedagogy that incorporates elements of both disciplines. By taking a step back from the existing structure of clinics and turning to the goals that they seek to achieve, we argue for a new model that brings together skills and approaches from traditional human rights and conflict resolution approaches to develop a hybridized model of practice.12 This Article recognizes the inroads that human rights discourse and practice have already made in conflict resolution. It thus focuses primarily on the contributions that conflict resolution can make to human rights approaches. This year, at Stanford Law School, the authors of this Article have begun the process of launching just such a human rights and conflict resolution clinic. This Article seeks to explain the background, objectives, and future prospects for this and similar clinics. The Article considers three representative case studies. These cases come from the authors‘ personal experience working in Non- Governmental Organizations (NGOs) or clinics devoted to either human rights or conflict resolution. We chose the examples not only to illustrate typical scenarios in which a hybridized practice of human rights and conflict resolution proved to be either absent or effective, but also to highlight three prominent tensions that we believe any human rights project incorporating conflict resolution skills will face: (1) the tension between skepticism vs. optimism; (2) the tension between signaling strength vs. inviting collaboration; and (3) the tension between maintaining relationships vs. demanding critical selfanalysis. Our analysis of the three case studies provides a description of how we managed these tensions in our projects and proposes several benefits from the perspective of a human rights practitioner on an integrated approach. The Article concludes by outlining the structure and pedagogy of our clinic, the type of projects we select, and the ways we hope to document our success (and shortcomings) as the years progress

When Prosecution Is Not Enough: How the International Criminal Court Can Prevent Atrocity and Advance Accountability by Emulating Regional Human Rights Institutions

In 1998, a half-century after the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals, a diplomatic conference finalized the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). 1 Only four years later, that treaty entered into force following its ratification by sixty states. The creation of a permanent, global tribunal to prosecute those responsible for the worst international crimes fulfilled a dream kept alive throughout the Cold War

Towards a Governance Model of Ungovernable Prisons: How Recognition of Inmate Organizations, Dialogue, and Mutual Respect Can Transform Violent Prisons in Latin America

Study of informal organizations in prisons in Latin America focuses on the exercise of control over daily life inside detention centers, including the extreme example of ‘self-government’ of and by those incarcerated. In Latin America, self-government occurs in the dangerous context of severe overcrowding, limited resources and poor services, aggravated by high levels of violence and illicit markets within prisons. The combination is highly volatile and poses grave dangers to the lives and wellbeing of detainees, authorities and often the larger society beyond prisons. This article considers one pioneering effort to overcome the unfettered control of prison by detainees: the Peruvian Prison Reform Process of 2011-2019. The article examines the situation before the ReformProcess, one marked by high levels of violence, riots, escapes and inmate self-rule. The transformation of Peruvian prisons considered here managed to end self-government, replacing it with a system based on peaceful dialogue, recognition of legitimate representatives of inmate organizations, and restoration of order and non-violence. The ReformProcessreduced and eliminated prison riots, shootings, the taking of hostages and strikes by workers. The Reform Process led to a drastic reduction in the number of violent deaths and prison escapes. Based on the success of the Peruvian model and a review of other experiences in Latin America, the article proposes four models of prison management. For ungovernable detention centers, it proposes recognition of legitimate inmate organizations, dialogue and respect for human rights as the most effective means of reducing violence and lawlessness. Study of informal organizations in prisons in Latin America focuses on the exercise of control over daily life inside detention centers, including the extreme example of ‘self-government’ of and by those incarcerated. In Latin America, self-government occurs in the dangerous context of severe overcrowding, limited resources and poor services, aggravated by high levels of violence and illicit markets within prisons. The combination is highly volatile and poses grave dangers to the lives and wellbeing of detainees, authorities and often the larger society beyond prisons. This article considers one pioneering effort to overcome the unfettered control of prison by detainees: the Peruvian PrisonReform Process of 2011-2019. The article examines the situation before the ReformProcess, one marked by high levels of violence, riots, escapes and inmate self-rule. The transformation of Peruvian prisons considered here managed to end self-government, replacing it with a system based on peaceful dialogue, recognition of legitimate representatives of inmate organizations, and restoration of order and non-violence. The Reform Process reduced and eliminated prison riots, shootings, the taking of hostages and strikes by workers. The Reform Process led to a drastic reduction in the number of violent deaths and prison escapes. Based on the success of the Peruvian model and a review of other experiences in Latin America, the article proposes four models of prison management. For ungovernable detention centers, it proposes recognition of legitimate inmate organizations, dialogue and respect for human rights as the most effective means of reducing violence and lawlessness

Hacia una visión crítica y práctica de la eficacia de las instancias e intervenciones internacionales de los derechos humanos en las Américas

Programa de Doctorado en Derechos Humanos y DesarrolloEsta tesis por compendio presenta un conjunto de artículos y capítulos de libros ya publicados que cuestionan la eficacia de desarrollar los derechos humanos dentro del ámbito puramente jurídico. En particular, la tesis recoge las características principales de los modelos dominantes en el área de los derechos, y cuestiona la capacidad de estos modelos para lograr una verdadera emancipación popular en las Américas. Los artículos defienden un modelo más complejo, en el cual los instrumentos de derechos humanos sirven como una herramienta, entre varias, y enfatizan la necesidad de estudiar de forma empírica, las consecuencias reales, inclusive las consecuencias negativas no deseadas, de los desarrollos jurídicos de los derechos humanos, especialmente cuando estos siguen modelos jurídicos y descontextualizados. El proyecto se encuadra dentro de un marco teórico que enfatiza la comprensión de que los derechos humanos se deben comprender como un espacio de lucha y no sólo una cuestión jurídica. Los artículos y capí tulos aquí reconocen que los derechos humanos, a en nivel de concepto, se han logrado conquistar una cierta legitimidad en las relaciones internacionales, en el discurso político y hasta en la opinión pública de muchos países. Sin embargo,los derechos humanos siguen siendo ideas o proyectos que sólo adquieren relevancia y contenido en la medida que los ciudadanos y ciudadanas, las organizaciones de la sociedad civil y los movimientos sociales los conquisten en la práctica. La tesis pretende apoyar a esta visión crítica a través de estudios que se enfocan en dos temas:A) el sistema interamericano y las presiones e intervenciones de la comunidad internacional y su eficacia; y B) la justicia transicional y las comisiones de la verdad, con enfoques también en las Américas. Todos los textos abordan el tema de la relevancia de las instancias internacionales desde una perspectiva que reconoce elpotencial de los mecanismos internacionales de protección a los derechos humanos así como los peligros inherentes en la fe ciega en conceptos vagos como '"la comunidad internacional"' y "'los derechos humanos."' Los textos buscan problematizar el tema de los derechos humanos en las Américas a través del análisis empírico de la eficacia de distintas intervenciones en el sistema interamericano y en las comisiones de la verdad en los procesos transicionalesUniversidad Pablo de Olavide. Departamento de Derecho Públic

Effects of Water Saturation and Low Temperature Coupling on the Mechanical Behavior of Carbon and E-Glass Epoxy Laminates

An experimentally based study has been conducted to quantify the effects of coupled water saturation and low temperatures on the quasi-static and dynamic mechanical behavior of E-Glass and Carbon Epoxy laminates. The relative performance of the materials as a function of water saturation and decreasing temperature was characterized through detailed experiments, specifically in-plane (tensile/compressive) and shear material properties, static and dynamic Mode-I fracture, and impact/flexure after impact strength. In the investigation temperatures from Room Temperature (20°C) down to arctic seawater and extreme ocean depth conditions (-2°C) were evaluated. The materials utilized in the study, Carbon/Epoxy and E-glass/Epoxy, are chosen due to their primary interest to the underwater vehicle and marine industry communities. The results of the quasi-static and dynamic material experiments show that all properties are affected by both water saturation and decreasing temperature, although the trends are specific to the property under consideration

Semantic representation of reported measurements in radiology

Background In radiology, a vast amount of diverse data is generated, and unstructured reporting is standard. Hence, much useful information is trapped in free-text form, and often lost in translation and transmission. One relevant source of free-text data consists of reports covering the assessment of changes in tumor burden, which are needed for the evaluation of cancer treatment success. Any change of lesion size is a critical factor in follow-up examinations. It is difficult to retrieve specific information from unstructured reports and to compare them over time. Therefore, a prototype was implemented that demonstrates the structured representation of findings, allowing selective review in consecutive examinations and thus more efficient comparison over time. Methods We developed a semantic Model for Clinical Information (MCI) based on existing ontologies from the Open Biological and Biomedical Ontologies (OBO) library. MCI is used for the integrated representation of measured image findings and medical knowledge about the normal size of anatomical entities. An integrated view of the radiology findings is realized by a prototype implementation of a ReportViewer. Further, RECIST (Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumors) guidelines are implemented by SPARQL queries on MCI. The evaluation is based on two data sets of German radiology reports: An oncologic data set consisting of 2584 reports on 377 lymphoma patients and a mixed data set consisting of 6007 reports on diverse medical and surgical patients. All measurement findings were automatically classified as abnormal/normal using formalized medical background knowledge, i.e., knowledge that has been encoded into an ontology. A radiologist evaluated 813 classifications as correct or incorrect. All unclassified findings were evaluated as incorrect. Results The proposed approach allows the automatic classification of findings with an accuracy of 96.4 % for oncologic reports and 92.9 % for mixed reports. The ReportViewer permits efficient comparison of measured findings from consecutive examinations. The implementation of RECIST guidelines with SPARQL enhances the quality of the selection and comparison of target lesions as well as the corresponding treatment response evaluation. Conclusions The developed MCI enables an accurate integrated representation of reported measurements and medical knowledge. Thus, measurements can be automatically classified and integrated in different decision processes. The structured representation is suitable for improved integration of clinical findings during decision-making. The proposed ReportViewer provides a longitudinal overview of the measurements