Incidentally diagnosed placenta accreta managed conservatively in a primigravida: case report and review of literature

Placenta accrete spectrum (PAS) disorder is rarely reported in primigravida woman without recognisable risk factors. It can be encountered intraoperatively without prior suspicion. Massive obstetric haemorrhage and increased maternal morbidity and mortality is often associated with emergency caesarean hysterectomy. We presented a 26-year-old primigravida who was presented to our institute as post-dated pregnancy in labour with no other comorbidities. She was taken up for cesarean section in view of prolonged labor. After birth of the baby, the placenta failed to separate on its own and could not be delivered with gentle controlled cord traction and uterine massage. Placenta was seen bulging out at left cornuo-fundal site as boggy mass in serosa of uterus as bluish distended placental bulge suggestive of placenta accreta. Placenta was left in situ and postoperatively uterine artery embolisation was done. Post-operatively patient did not develop any complications and follow up period of 6 months was uneventful. Conservative management of PAS can be judiciously contemplated in primiparous women desirous of fertility preservation and uterus conservation. The woman needs to be emphasised upon need for close follow up and risk of haemorrhage and sepsis till complete resorption of placenta occurs

Power and rights in the community: paralegals as leaders in women's legal empowerment in Tanzania

What can an analysis of power in local communities contribute to debates on women’s legal empowerment and the role of paralegals in Africa? Drawing upon theories of power and rights, and research on legal empowerment in African plural legal systems, this article explores the challenges for paralegals in facilitating women’s access to justice in Tanzania, which gave statutory recognition to paralegals in the Legal Aid Act 2017. Land conflicts represent the single-biggest source of local legal disputes in Tanzania and are often embedded in gendered land tenure relations. This article argues that paralegals can be effective actors in women’s legal empowerment where they are able to work as leaders, negotiating power relations and resisting the forms of violence that women encounter as obstacles to justice. Paralegals’ authority will be realised when their role is situated within community leadership structures, confirming their authority while preserving their independence

Abstracts from the 8th International Conference on cGMP Generators, Effectors and Therapeutic Implications

This work was supported by a restricted research grant of Bayer AG

The Value of International-National Interactions and Norm Interpretations in Catalysing National Prosecutions of Sexual Violence

This article examines the unexplored potential for the International Criminal Court&rsquo;s (ICC) direct engagement with States to influence national prosecutorial priorities for international crimes, and how this may be leveraged to improve criminal prosecutions for crimes of sexual violence in particular. The article focuses on the intersection of two phenomenona: first, how international norms can influence national behaviour; and second, how systemic failures to prosecute crimes of sexual violence can be challenged. The article centres on engagement between the ICC and States pursuant to the principle of complementarity in The Rome Statute, as manifested in preliminary examinations. Drawing on the transnational legal process (TLP) framework, the article suggests how complementarity can be utilized to promote national compliance with the international norm of criminal accountability for international crimes. By examining ICC documents and practice, the article contends that exposing the gendered dimensions of State de-prioritization of sexual violence crimes will enable the ICC, as an international institution interacting with these regimes, to better facilitate gender-sensitive criminal justice responses to international crimes. Este art&iacute;culo analiza el potencial inexplorado del compromiso directo entre la Corte Penal Internacional (CPI) y los estados para influir en las prioridades nacionales procesales por cr&iacute;menes internacionales, y c&oacute;mo esto se puede aprovechar para mejorar en particular los procesos penales por delitos de violencia sexual. El art&iacute;culo pone el acento en en la intersecci&oacute;n de dos fen&oacute;menos: en primer lugar, c&oacute;mo pueden influir las normas internacionales en el comportamiento nacional; y en segundo lugar, c&oacute;mo se pueden impugnar los fallos sist&eacute;micos para enjuiciar los cr&iacute;menes de violencia sexual. El art&iacute;culo se centra en el compromiso entre la CPI y los estados, en virtud del principio de complementariedad del Estatuto de Roma, tal y como se manifiesta en su pre&aacute;mbulo. Tomando como referencia el marco del proceso legal transnacional (PLT), el art&iacute;culo sugiere que se puede utilizar la complementariedad para promocionar el cumplimiento nacional de la norma internacional de la responsabilidad criminal ante delitos internacionales. Analizando los documentos y la pr&aacute;ctica de la CPI, el art&iacute;culo defiende que si se expone la dimensi&oacute;n de g&eacute;nero de la falta de prioridad de los estados sobre delitos de violencia sexual, la CPI podr&aacute;, como instituci&oacute;n internacional que interact&uacute;a con estos reg&iacute;menes, ofrecer una mejor respuesta de la justicia penal ante delitos internacionales, que sea sensible a la circunstancia de g&eacute;nero. DOWNLOAD THIS PAPER FROM SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2608397</p

Catch-22 : The Role of Development Institutions in Promoting Gender Equality in Land Law – Lessons Learned in Post-Conflict Pluralist Africa

This article explores the contours of development policies as they have been applied to pluralistic legal systems, with a specific focus on their effects on women in post-conflict African countries. Drawing on research that firmly establishes the importance of women\u27s social, economic and political participation in post-conflict development, it identifies the flaws in gender-neutral land titling initiatives introduced and encouraged by development institutions. It then describes the gender-sensitive laws enacted as a response to continuing gender discriminatory practices in Rwanda, Mozambique and Uganda. While taking into account the existence of customary law, these laws explicitly affirm women\u27s rights with respect to land, property and inheritance. However, the central government\u27s reliance on local informal governance structures to apply and enforce these laws creates a Catch-22 situation, whereby the local elites with the power to enforce the law are precisely the people who continue to apply gender-discriminatory customary norms, particularly with respect to land rights. The experiences of the three progressive societies mentioned above are analyzed to provide insight into how statutory and customary systems can develop from divergent conflicting legal orders into a more synthesized union of laws which protects women\u27s land rights and is universally enforced

Exploring the catalytic potential of the International Criminal Court in preliminary examinations: the role of norm-interpretive interactions in catalysing national prosecutions of sexual violence in Colombia and Guinea

The problem investigated by this thesis is the continuing impunity for international crimes of sexual violence, notwithstanding States’ international legal obligations to investigate and prosecute these crimes and the creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) intended to end their impunity. Operating on a complementary basis to national jurisdictions, the ICC’s goal is that States comply with their international obligations to exercise criminal jurisdiction over those responsible for international crimes. To promote this goal the ICC Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) has pursued a policy of positive complementarity to encourage and catalyse genuine national investigations of international crimes. Using a qualitative case-study methodology including desk and empirical research in Colombia and Guinea, this thesis offers both a theoretical and empirical contribution to the literature. First, it offers a theoretical explanation, based on Koh’s Transnational Legal Process (TLP) theory, of how the OTP could catalyse national investigations and prosecutions of international crimes of sexual violence. Second, it contributes to empirical literature through field research on national proceedings regarding international crimes of sexual violence in two States under preliminary examination: Colombia and Guinea. The data demonstrates that TLP does generally explain how the OTP’s engagements with various actors may induce or affect State investigations for crimes under OTP scrutiny. However, the discrepant lack in competence, frequency and adequacy between State responses for sexual violence crimes compared to other crimes was not well explained by TLP. As predicted by the thesis and consistent with feminist critiques of international and criminal law, TLP, as a gender-neutral compliance theory, could not account for this disparity. The empirical trends emerging from the two contrasting contexts indicate that explicit prioritisation of sexual violence crimes and a more nuanced gender-sensitive strategy by the OTP will yield more—and better quality—national investigations and prosecutions for international crimes of sexual violence. These findings inform recommendations on how to improve TLP’s explanatory capacity in relation to gender-based international obligations and the OTP’s catalytic influence on national proceedings for international crimes of sexual violence