The UN Special Procedures in the field of human rights. Institutional history, practice and conceptual framework
Abstract
The Special Procedures established by the Human Rights Commission, which entail the appointment of international experts to deal with human rights questions in specific issues, has received little scholarly attention regarding conceptual and methodological definition. This study tries to fill the gap in the analysis of SPs by developing and putting forward a conceptual definition of the UN mechanisms in question. To this aim it will turn on three main questions: Are there some «constitutional elements» of SPs? What are the main features of SPs’ human rights activity? What is the significance of such activity in terms of Human Rights Protection and Monitoring?
Published online: 11 December 2017