Human rights through the backdoor: the contribution of special procedures to the normative coherence and contradictions of International Human Rights Law

This chapter explores the contribution of mandate-holders of special procedures to the development of international human rights standards, using as a paradigm their diverse interpretation of the legal framework, which serves as the basis of their operations. It evaluates the extent to which the human rights norms developed by the special procedures are consonant with other international efforts to regulate the same matters

The Universal Periodic Review - is there life beyond naming and shaming in human rights implementation?

This article examines the traditional manner in which human rights implementation has been focused on confrontational approaches, in particular on the practice of “naming and shaming”, while more cooperative models have been traditionally overlooked. Through the prism of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) it tests the effectiveness of non-confrontational approaches to human rights implementation. The article challenges the conventional wisdom among human rights advocates that non-confrontational mechanisms are synonymous with lack of efficiency and impact, and suggests that some of the commitments made by states during the UPR process could be interpreted as potential sources of obligations under international law

History of the special procedures: a ‘learning-by-doing’ approach to human rights implementation

The existence of UN Special Procedures is the unintended result of the competence accorded to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and the Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities in the 1967 Economic and Social Council Resolution 1235 (XLII). The Resolution authorised both bodies ‘to examine information relevant to gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms’. The lack of foresight in the creation of such mechanisms, now known as ‘special procedures’, is a fundamental factor in explaining the evolution of methods of work developed by different mandate holders. The ‘soft’ legal basis and geo-political factors surrounding the creation and renewal of mandates explains the freedom and flexibility they have enjoyed in establishing innovative monitoring activities that are more intrusive upon state sovereignty than any other UN human rights mechanism. As the significance of the Special Procedures’ work has grown, attempts to curtail their autonomy and impact have increased accordingly, facilitated precisely by what has been seen as, until recently, their major strength: the lack of a strong institutional and coherent legal framework regulating their activities. This chapter analyses this evolution and outlines the major challenges mandate holders face in maintaining their relevance

Universalism or fragmentation: United Nations treaty-bodies and affirmative actions in Latin-America, the United Kingdom, South Africa, China and India

The absence of uniform terminology or criteria to decide whether specific groups should receive different treatment with the aim of achieving greater equality, hinders the attempt to frame the issue beyond the boundaries of individual States in a coherent manner, especially from a legal perspective, because their implementation becomes particularly unpopular when States enforce them by law. This chapter addresses whether the international human rights regime contributes to harmonize regulatory frameworks and principles concerning affirmative actions or, conversely, whether it merely reflects on the diversity of State practices in this area. For this purpose, this chapter explains and updates the arguments and conclusions drawn from previous research analysing the relevant activity of UN human rights monitoring mechanisms and treaty provisions in this field. It then focuses specifically on the recommendation on affirmative actions issued by the United Nations treaty-bodies to the States covered by this book. It evaluates the different engagement of committees with relevant State parties and identifies common trends and inconsistencies of the UN human rights mechanisms in their treatment of special measures

Integral relations and the adiabatic expansion method for 1+2 reactions above the breakup threshold: Helium trimers with soft-core potentials

The integral relations formalism introduced in \cite{bar09,rom11}, and designed to describe 1+$N$ reactions, is extended here to collision energies above the threshold for the target breakup. These two relations are completely general, and in this work they are used together with the adiabatic expansion method for the description of 1+2 reactions. The neutron-deuteron breakup, for which benchmark calculations are available, is taken as a test of the method. The s-wave collision between the $^4$He atom and $^4$He$_2$ dimer above the breakup threshold and the possibility of using soft-core two-body potentials plus a short-range three-body force will be investigated. Comparisons to previous calculations for the three-body recombination and collision dissociation rates will be shown.Comment: To be published in Physical Review

General integral relations for the description of scattering states using the hyperspherical adiabatic basis

In this work we investigate 1+2 reactions within the framework of the hyperspherical adiabatic expansion method. To this aim two integral relations, derived from the Kohn variational principle, are used. A detailed derivation of these relations is shown. The expressions derived are general, not restricted to relative $s$ partial waves, and with applicability in multichannel reactions. The convergence of the ${\cal K}$-matrix in terms of the adiabatic potentials is investigated. Together with a simple model case used as a test for the method, we show results for the collision of a $^4$He atom on a \dimer dimer (only the elastic channel open), and for collisions involving a $^6$Li and two $^4$He atoms (two channels open).Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review

Variational description of continuum states in terms of integral relations

Two integral relations derived from the Kohn Variational Principle (KVP) are used for describing scattering states. In usual applications the KVP requires the explicit form of the asymptotic behavior of the scattering wave function. This is not the case when the integral relations are applied since, due to their short range nature, the only condition for the scattering wave function $\Psi$ is that it be the solution of $(H-E)\Psi=0$ in the internal region. Several examples are analyzed for the computation of phase-shifts from bound state type wave functions or, in the case of the scattering of charged particles, it is possible to obtain phase-shifts using free asymptotic conditions. As a final example we discuss the use of the integral relations in the case of the Hyperspherical Adiabatic method.Comment: 34 pages, 7 figures, accepted in Phys. Rev.

Advances in solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell technology with low-platinum-loading electrodes

The Gemini Space program demonstrated the first major application of fuel cell systems. Solid polymer electrolyte fuel cells were used as auxiliary power sources in the spacecraft. There has been considerable progress in this technology since then, particularly with the substitution of Nafion for the polystyrene sulfonate membrane as the electrolyte. Until recently the performance was good only with high platinum loading (4 mg/sq cm) electrodes. Methods are presented to advance the technology by (1) use of low platinum loading (0.35 mg/sq cm) electrodes; (2) optimization of anode/membrane/cathode interfaces by hot pressing; (3) pressurization of reactant gases, which is most important when air is used as cathodic reactant; and (4) adequate humidification of reactant gases to overcome the water management problem. The high performance of the fuel cell with the low loading of platinum appears to be due to the extension of the three dimensional reaction zone by introduction of a proton conductor, Nafion. This was confirmed by cyclic voltammetry