OUVRAGE : A. Nolan, R. Freedman, T. Murphy (eds.), The United Nations Special Procedures System

Aoife NOLAN, Rosa FREEDMAN, Thérèse MURPHY

The United Nations Special Procedures system is a key element of the evolving international framework for human rights protection and promotion. However, despite the system’s expansion, the range of roles and functions performed by mandate holders, and the mounting evidence of its strengths and limitations, there has been very little academic interrogation or analysis of Special Procedures. This lacuna is ever-more problematic given the growing profile and effectiveness of the Special Procedures’ work, as well as the increasing attention and challenges that they face, both externally from States and internally from within the UN system. Given the current ‘state of play’ of Special Procedures, it is essential that scholarly attention be focussed upon the system. How does it contribute to international human rights protection? How, when and why does it fail to do so? What steps can and should be taken to address shortcomings both within the system and in terms of the legal and political context within which it operates? Featuring expert contributions from key players within, and expert commentators on, the Special Procedures system, this volume addresses these questions in an in-depth and rigorous scholarly manner.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of figures

Notes on contributors
Acknowledgements
Acronyms

Aoife Nolan, Rosa Freedman, Thérèse Murphy, Introduction 

Elvira Domínguez-Redondo, The History of the Special Procedures: A ‘Learning-by-Doing’ Approach to Human Rights Implementation 

Jane Connors, Special Procedures: Independence and Impartiality 

Felice Gaer, Picking and Choosing? Country Visits by Thematic Special Procedures 

Najat Maalla M’jid, The UN Special Procedures System: The Role of the Coordination Committee of Special Procedures 

Marc Limon, Strengthening Cooperation: The Key to Unlocking the Potential of the Special Procedures 

Ahmed Shaheed, Rose Parris Richter, Coping Mechanisms for State Non-Cooperation 

Inga T. Winkler, Catarina de Albuquerque, Doing It All and Doing It Well? A Mandate’s Challenges in terms of Cooperation, Fundraising and Maintaining Independence 

Olivier de Frouville, Working Out a Working Group: A View from a Former Working Group Member 

Ella McPherson, Thomas Probert, Special Procedures in the Digital Age 

Jessie Hohmann, Principle, Politics and Practice: The Role of UN Special Rapporteurs in the Development of the Right to Housing in International Law 

Surya Subedi, Life as a UN Special Rapporteur: The Experience of the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Cambodia 

Daria Davitti, Business and Human Rights in the United Nations Special Procedures System 

Paul Hunt, The Challenge of Non-State Actors: The Experience of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health (2002–08) 

Malcolm Evans, The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture in the Developing Architecture of UN Torture Protection 

Danielle Beswick, Jonathan Fisher, The African State and Special Procedures: Agency, Leverage and Legitimacy 

Rosa Freedman, François Crépeau, Supporting or Resisting? The Relationship between Global North States and Special Procedures 

Phil Lynch, Ending Reprisals: The Role and Responsibilities of the Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council

Aoife NOLAN, Rosa FREEDMAN, Thérèse MURPHY (eds.), The United Nations Special Procedures System, Leiden, Brill/Nijhoff, 2017 (472 pp.)