The impact of the EU human rights system on operations of private military and security companies

This chapter assesses the impact of the activities carried out by PMSCs on the enjoyment of human rights under the European Union's (EU) human rights regime. It argues that the state of nationality of a PMSC is bound to remedy the latter's violations of fundamental rights, even if the operation and the major activities of the PMSC in question fall outside the scope of the EU's competence. As to the European Courth of Human Rights, the historically narrow interpretation of jurisdictional limits may be expanding. Relevance of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights in protecting the victims of human rights violations is also questioned. As to the addressees of human rights obligations, the EU's standard of protection is not uniform in all contexts. Further, where the activities of PMSCs have human rights implications, attribution of their acts to any of the Member States will be almost impossible. By contrast, human rights can be indirectly applicable to private relations.Published version of EUI AEL WP 2009/1

The role of human rights in the regulation of private military and security companies general report – the European system

This report assesses the impact of the activities carried out by PMSCs on the enjoyment of human rights under the EU human rights regime. It is submitted that that the state of nationality of a PMSC is bound to remedy the latter’s violations of fundamental rights, even if the operation and the major activities of the PMSC in question fall outside the scope of EU’s competence. As to the ECtHR, the historically narrow interpretation of jurisdictional limits may be expanding. Relevance of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and EU’s secondary legislation of anti-discrimination in protecting the victims of human rights violations is questioned primarily because of the scope of the respective provisions and the difficulties related to their extra-territorial application. As to the addressees of human rights obligations, it is observed that although the EU’s standard of protection is not uniform in all contexts. Further, where the activities of PMSCs have human rights implications, attribution of their acts to any of the Member States will be almost impossible. By contrast, human rights can be indirectly applicable to private relations, viz. individuals. The EU human rights regime is relevant for the availability of judicial remedies chiefly insofar as it may be hoped that with the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty way will be paved for an eventual EU legislation imposing an obligation on the Member States with respect to the licensing of PMSCs as well as criminalization of their illegal conduct outside the EU

Rigid Polyurethane Foam Thermal Insulation Protected with Mineral Intumescent Mat

One of the biggest disadvantages of rigid polyurethane (PU) foams is its low thermal resistance, high flammability and high smoke production. Greatest advantage of this thermal insulation material is its low thermal conductivity (λ), which at 18-28 mW/(m•K) is superior to other materials. To lower the flammability of PU foams, different flame retardants (FR) are used. Usually, industrially viable are halogenated liquid FRs but recent trends in EU regulations show that they are not desirable any more. Main concern is toxicity of smoke and health hazard form volatiles in PU foam materials. Development of intumescent passive fire protection for foam materials would answer problems with flammability without using halogenated FRs. It is possible to add expandable graphite (EG) into PU foam structure but this increases the thermal conductivity greatly. Thus, the main advantage of PU foam is lost. To decrease the flammability of PU foams, three different contents 3%; 9% and 15% of EG were added to PU foam formulation. Sample with 15% of EG increased λ of PU foam from 24.0 to 30.0 mW/(m•K). This paper describes the study where PU foam developed from renewable resources is protected with thermally expandable intumescent mat from Technical Fibre Products Ltd. (TFP) as an alternative to EG added into PU material. TFP produces range of mineral fibre mats with EG that produce passive fire barrier. Two type mats were used to develop sandwich-type PU foams. Also, synergy effect of non-halogenated FR, dimethyl propyl phosphate and EG was studied. Flammability of developed materials was assessed using Cone Calorimeter equipment. Density, thermal conductivity, compression strength and modulus of elasticity were tested for developed PU foams. PU foam morphology was assessed from scanning electron microscopy images