GSP+ and Human Rights::Is the EU's Approach the Right One?

Among the purposes of the EU’s GSP+ programme is to link human rights to trade incentives, with the idea of using such incentives to promote developing countries’ adoption of the values found in core human rights treaties. With the re-renewal of the GSP (and GSP+) programmes to take effect in January 2014, it is fruitful to examine their efficacy and consistency with WTO law. In this article, I argue the GSP+ programme is not only ineffective in obtaining an improvement in human rights conditions for the vast majority of the world’s population, but it is also incompatible with WTO law. A stick-based regime where human rights abuses are linked to trade sanctions is a better way to proceed. After outlining the GSP+ system, and its linkage of human rights and trade, I analyse its efficacy and WTO consistency. Having shown that it is ineffective and contrary to WTO law, I argue that trade sanctions based on a PPM distinction and/or GATT XX(a) may be the appropriate means of linking trade and human rights. The article ends with some concluding remarks on the need for the careful design of such a system.

Supernova 2013fc in a circumnuclear ring of a luminous infrared galaxy: The big brother of SN 1998S

We present photometric and spectroscopic observations of SN 2013fc, a bright type II supernova (SN) in a circumnuclear star-forming ring in the luminous infrared galaxy ESO 154-G010, observed as part of the Public ESO Spectroscopic Survey of Transient Objects. SN 2013fc is both photometrically and spectroscopically similar to the well-studied type IIn SN 1998S and to the bright type II-L SN 1979C. It exhibits an initial linear decline, followed by a short plateau phase and a tail phase with a decline too fast for ⁵⁶Co decay with full γ -ray trapping. Initially, the spectrum was blue and featureless. Later on, a strong broad (~8000 km s^-1) H α emission profile became prominent. We apply a STARLIGHT stellar population model fit to the SN location (observed when the SN had faded) to estimate a high extinction of A_V = 2.9 ± 0.2 mag and an age of 10⁺³ _-2 Myr for the underlying cluster.We compare the SN to SNe 1998S and 1979C and discuss its possible progenitor star considering the similarities to these events. With a peak brightness of B = -20.46 ± 0.21 mag, SN 2013fc is 0.9 mag brighter than SN 1998S and of comparable brightness to SN 1979C.We suggest that SN 2013fc was consistent with a massive red supergiant (RSG) progenitor. Recent mass loss probably due to a strong RSG wind created the circumstellar matter illuminated through its interaction with the SN ejecta. We also observe a near-infrared excess, possibly due to newly condensed dust.

’Letting the right one in’: provider contexts for recruitment to initial teacher education in the United Kingdom

We exploit policy differences within the UK to investigate provider context and recruitment to initial teacher education (ITE). We identify three dimensions of variation: conceptions of professionalism, universal or context specific preparation and costs and benefits to providers. University-led ITE programmes used similar criteria and processes in each jurisdiction, but there were differences between university-led and school-led recruitment. Our study suggests that the current shortfall in recruitment to ITE in England may be a product of the contextual constraints which schools experience. It also suggests that school-led recruitment may tend to emphasise short-term and school-specific needs.