Smokes and mirrors at the United Nations’ universal periodic review process

Purpose: In 2006, the United Nations’ Human Rights Council was tasked to establish a new human rights monitoring mechanism: the Universal Periodic Review Process. The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of discussions held in the process, over the two cycles of review in relation to women’s rights to access health care services. Design and Methodology: This investigation is a documentary analysis of the reports of 193 United Nations’ state reports, over two cycles of review. Findings: The primary findings of this investigation reveal that despite an apparent consensus on the issue, a deeper analysis of the discussions suggest the dialogue between states is superficial in nature, with limited commitments made by states under review in furthering the protection of women’s right to access health care services in the domestic context. Practical Implications: Considering the optimism surrounding the UPR process, the findings reveal that the nature of discussions held on women’s rights to health care services is at best a missed opportunity to make a significant impact to initiate, and inform, changes to practices on the issue in the domestic context; and at worst, raises doubts as to whether the core aim of the process, to improve the protection and promotion of all human rights on the ground, is being fulfilled. Originality/Value: Deviating from the solely technocratic analysis of the review process in the existing literature, this investigation has considered the UPR process as a phenomenon of exploration in itself, and will provide a unique insight as to how this innovative monitoring mechanism operates in practice, with a particular focus on women’s right to access health care services

Rereading the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: plurality and contestation, not consensus

In this paper I examine the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. My analysis counters conventional narratives of consensus and imposition that characterize the development of the UN human rights regime. The central argument is that within the founding text of the contemporary human rights movement there is an ambiguous account of rights, which exceeds easy categorization of international rights as universal moral principles or merely an ideological imposition by liberal powers. Acknowledging this ambiguous history, I argue, opens the way to an understanding of human rights as an ongoing politics, a contestation over the terms of legitimate political authority and the meaning of “humanity” as a political identity

Monetary Compensation for Survivors of Torture: Some Lessons from Nepal

The Nepali Compensation Relating to Torture Act (1996) is one of the earliest pieces of specific anti-torture legislation adopted in the global South. Despite a number of important limitations, scores of Nepalis have successfully litigated for monetary compensation under the Act, on a scale relatively rare on the global human rights scene. Using a qualitative case study approach, this article examines the conditions under which survivors of torture are awarded compensation in Nepal, and asks what lessons does this have for broader struggles to win monetary compensation for torture survivors? We end by suggesting that there can be practical tensions between providing individual financial compensation and addressing wider issues of accountability

Using smart pumps to help deliver universal access to safe and affordable drinking water

It is estimated that broken water pumps impact 62 million people in sub-Saharan Africa. Over the last 20 years, broken handpumps have represented US$1·2–1·5 billion of lost investment in this region, with 30–40% of rural water systems failing prematurely. While the contributory factors are complex and multi-faceted, the authors consider that improved post-construction monitoring strategies for remote water projects, which rely on smart pumps to monitor operational performance in place of physical site visits, may address some of these problems and help reduce the heavy time and resource demands on stakeholders associated with traditional monitoring strategies. As such, smart pumps could play a significant role in improving project monitoring and might subsequently help deliver universal access to safe and affordable drinking water by 2030, which constitutes one of the key targets of United Nations sustainable development goal 6 and is embedded in some national constitutions

Forecasting scenarios for UK household expenditure and associated GHG emissions : Outlook to 2030

Peer reviewedPreprin

Agriculture and the Generation Problem: Rural Youth, Employment and the Future of Farming

Youth unemployment and underemployment are serious problems in most countries, and often more severe in rural than in urban areas. Small?scale agriculture is the developing world's single biggest source of employment, and with the necessary support it can offer a sustainable and productive alternative to the expansion of large?scale, capital?intensive, labour?displacing corporate farming. This, however, assumes a generation of young rural men and women who want to be small farmers, while mounting evidence suggests that young people are uninterested in farming or in rural futures. The emerging field of youth studies can help us understand young people's turn away from farming, pointing to: the deskilling of rural youth, and the downgrading of farming and rural life; the chronic neglect of small?scale agriculture and rural infrastructure; and the problems that young rural people increasingly have, even if they want to become farmers, in getting access to land while still young

Giving substance to ‘the best interpretation of will and preferences’

In General Comment No. 1, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities calls for ‘the best interpretation of will and preferences’ to replace best interests determinations in decision-making law, but it has given little guidance on the content of this new standard. As a result, ‘best interpretation’ is sometimes treated as synonymous with ‘true interpretation’. On this reading, ‘the best interpretation of will and preferences’ is just whatever interpretation most accurately represents the interpreted person’s will and preferences. This article shows that the conflation of the word ‘best’ with the word ‘true’ must be avoided. Interpretative processes contribute to changes in the interpreted person, including changes in their will and preferences. There are both supportive and abusive forms of these contributions, but conflating ‘best interpretation’ with ‘true interpretation’ removes both from view. An alternative reading of ‘best interpretation’ should therefore be preferred: one that requires the process of interpretation to be responsive to both truth and the detailed substantive rights found in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Physical restraint in residential child care : the experiences of young people and residential workers

There have long been concerns about the use of physical restraint in residential care. This paper presents the findings of a qualitative study which explores the experiences of children, young people and residential workers about physical restraint. The research identifies the dilemmas and ambiguities for both staff and young people, and participants discuss the situations where they feel physical restraint is appropriate as well as their concerns about unjustified or painful restraints. They describe the negative emotions involved in restraint but also those situations where, through positive relationships and trust, restraint can help young people through unsafe situations