“Braxton Hick’s” or the birth of a new era? Tracing the development of Ireland’s abortion laws in respect of European Court of Human Rights Jurisprudence

In Ireland, Article 40.3.3° of Bunreacht na hÉireann (the Irish Constitution) guarantees the right to life of the unborn child and the equal right to life of the mother. Abortion in Ireland is permissible only where there is a real and substantial risk to the mother’s own life. Since Ireland became a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights in 1950, there have been concerns that it could result in Ireland being compelled to introduce a right to abortion. This article commences with a review of the extant law on abortion in Ireland, tracing the Constitutional protection afforded to the unborn child. The article will discuss the impact of the European Court of Human Rights’ jurisprudence in regard to access to abortion and to information on abortion services in Ireland in an effort to ascertain if it really has resulted in a radical change to Irish abortion laws. As such, it will also be necessary to examine the more recent decisions of the ECtHR such as Tysiac v. Poland, and A, B, and C v. Ireland, to determine both the approach of the ECtHR to access to abortion in general and also to consider if it has resulted in a liberalisation of abortion law in Ireland

Building biodiversity data infrastructure for science and decision-making: information needs and information-seeking patterns in South Africa

Biodiversity information is critical to inform science-based policy development as well as to support responsible and accountable land-use planning and decision-making practices. The uptake of available information for these uses is, however, not yet quantified or understood. Here, the extent to which the needs of biodiversity information end-users in South Africa are supported via existing information sources was investigated, at the science, practice and policy interface, using the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI's) online conservation mapping service users as a case study. A quantitative investigation of the information needs of end-users of biodiversity information was made, their information-seeking patterns analysed and the various uses of information by different user groups in South Africa investigated. This allowed for the implications of these needs and behaviour on system design and information provision to be formulated to better design the envisaged National Biodiversity Information System at SANBI. Based on a representative sample of end-users from policy, implementation and research backgrounds, a questionnaire was used and the responses were examined to determine which content was most useful, what barriers and enablers they face when trying to access biodiversity information, and what degree of interdisciplinary information is needed in addressing environmental problems. A sample of 778 (13%) respondents from a total of 5977 biodiversity information users was analysed from across the country. The study found that the lack of appropriate or available information remains one of the three highest unmet needs of biodiversity information end-users. The absence of good prior knowledge of sources of biodiversity information and unreliable and inaccurate information are two additional factors that hinder respondents in finding biodiversity information and achieving their goals. The major implication of information deficiency identified by respondents related to uncertain and/or inaccurate outcomes resulting in ill-informed decision-making. A key outcome of the analysis of the survey results are a series of recommendations on how these issues might be addressed, and it is envisioned that these may be used to help guide the development of a National Biodiversity Information System. A broad range of recommendations have been proposed, principally that the interoperability of information from various adjacent and disparate fields of study be combined with biodiversity information as a means of addressing environmental problems

Developing a dialogue on the theory and practice of international peace mediation

This note describes a workshop on International Peace Mediation hosted by Dublin City University in 2010. The workshop was an output of the project “Mediating Peace Agreements: The Capacity of the European Union as Multi-track Mediator”, funded by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences and the Department of Foreign Affairs. It was intended to deepen understanding of the conceptual framework of international peace mediation and facilitate lesson learning from past practice of mediation initiatives. It provided participants with an insight into how international peace mediation can be used effectively and successfully as a conflict resolution tool

Resolving Armed Conflict: The Acehnese Experience of Mediation

A growing number of armed conflicts are ending in negotiated and mediated settlements. While mediation has been acknowledged as an effective means of dispute resolution in many areas, such as family law, medical law and commercial law, it has only quite recently been employed for the resolution of armed conflicts. It is the aim of this article to analyze how mediation was successfully employed in resolving conflicts in the region of Aceh in Indonesia. After 25 years of armed conflict, a peace deal was signed in 2005 between the government of Indonesia and an armed Acehnese group, the Gerekan Aceh Merdeka(GAM). This article will detail the history of the conflict and the mediation process, focusing on the mediation strategies and characteristics

Conceptualising International Peace Mediation - Bring Back the Law

Mediation has been acknowledged and utilised for a number of decades as an effective method of alternative dispute resolution in a variety of areas of law, including family law, commercial law and medical law. A uniform, standardised framework exists within legal discourse which clearly identifies and categorises three main styles of mediation as facilitative, evaluative and transformative mediation. In the post-Cold War period, mediation has also emerged as an important resolution tool in armed conflict situations,2 and this type of mediation has become known as international peace mediation. However, there is significant discord within international peace mediation discourse regarding its conceptualisation and categorisation.3 This paper considers whether the extant legal framework of traditional mediation is readily applicable to international peace mediation. The paper proposes to explain how the legal framework of traditional mediation can influence the development of international peace mediation as a more effective and successful, conflict resolution tool. The first part of this paper examines the mediation framework which has been firmly established in legal studies, and analyses the different categories of mediation identified within legal discourse. The paper then discusses the conceptualisation of international peace mediation underlining the lack of consensus that exists in the literature

International peace mediation through a legal lens

Mediation has recently emerged as a suitable method of resolving armed conflicts (international peace mediation), with a significant increase in the amount of conflicts being resolved by "negotiated settlement" as opposed to military dominance. Development of the international peace mediation discourse has, however, been ad hoc and disjunctive, resulting in a significant disparity regarding its conceptualisation, a lack of established accountability mechanisms, and the absence of a pragmatic coherent framework. This article highlights how the application of the extant framework on mediation in legal discourse can provide clarity in defining and developing an understanding of international peace mediation. It focuses on the case study of the international peace mediation efforts in the Acehnese region of Indonesia

International peace mediation through a legal lens

Mediation has recently emerged as a suitable method of resolving armed conflicts (international peace mediation), with a significant increase in the amount of conflicts being resolved by "negotiated settlement" as opposed to military dominance. Development of the international peace mediation discourse has, however, been ad hoc and disjunctive, resulting in a significant disparity regarding its conceptualisation, a lack of established accountability mechanisms, and the absence of a pragmatic coherent framework. This article highlights how the application of the extant framework on mediation in legal discourse can provide clarity in defining and developing an understanding of international peace mediation. It focuses on the case study of the international peace mediation efforts in the Acehnese region of Indonesia