The Blockade of Qatar: Where Coercive Diplomacy Fails, Principles of Law Should Prevail

شهد القانون الدولي العام تطوّرًا موازيًا وحذرًا لتطوّر العلاقات الدولية، وخصوصًا فيما يتعلّق بالدبلوماسيّة القسرية القائمة على استخدام الدول للعقوبات الاقتصادية، في شكل مقاطعة أو حظر أو حصار، لدول أخرى ذات سيادة. إنّ استخدام مثل هذه التدابير القسرية بشكل أحادي، أو بشكل جماعي لكن بغياب قرار أممي بذلك، باء بفشل تحقيق الأهداف المرجوّة منه في معظم الأحيان، حيث لم تنتج هذه السياسات القسرية أي تغيير يذكر في منهج أو سياسات الدول المستهدفة. وعلى وجه الخصوص، أثبتت العقوبات الاقتصادية عدم فعاليتها في تحقيق النتائج المرجوة منها، متسببة بدلًا من ذلك بعواقب جسيمة على مسرح الاقتصادي العالمي وإن كانت غير مقصودة. فعلى سبيل المثال، ثبت أنّ للعقوبات الاقتصادية آثار سلبية شديدة على التجارة الدولية ما أدّى في معظم الأحيان لانتهاك الركائز الأساسية لحقوق الإنسان ولركائز السياسة والأخلاق، في الوقت الّذي يظهر فيه أنّ اللجوء إلى مثل هذه العقوبات لا يحقق إلّا نجاحات ضئيلة لا تذكر في تصحيح الأمور المتنازع عليها بين الدول. في هذا الإطار، يأتي هذا البحث لنقاش مدى إمكانية وضع إطار قانوني محدد بشأن استخدام العقوبات الاقتصادية وبالذات في ضوء الأزمة الخليجية المتمثّلة بحصار دولة قطر، وتبيّن أن العقوبات الاقتصادية المفروضة على قطر هي تمثيل واقعي لعقوبات دولية اقتصادية وتثير جدلًا سياسيًا وقانونيًا لا بد من سبر غوره، وذلك باعتباره يمثّل حصارًا فعليًا (نظرًا لجغرافية المنطقة وشدة الإجراءات المتخذة)، ويمثل خرقًا للمبادئ القانونية الدولية العرفية والتعاقديّة. Contemporary international law has developed a cautious attitude toward the use of coercive diplomacy, specifically in the deployment of economic sanctions in the form of boycotting or blockading one sovereign state by another. If used unilaterally or collectively, particularly in the absence of a UN mandate, such coercive measures have often failed to change the policies of target states. In particular, economic sanctions have proven ineffectual in achieving the desired results and have instead caused unintended consequences on the complex global economic stage. Economic sanctions have had severe negative impacts on international trade and they often infringe on the basic pillars of human rights, politics, and morals. Indeed, resorting to such sanctions has achieved little success in rectifying disputed matters between opponent states. As such, the debate surrounding the possibility of producing a specific legal framework on the use of economic sanctions continues. To this end, and in light of what the state of Qatar has recently suffered from its neighboring states, this paper argues that the economic sanctions imposed on Qatar are a clear case of an extraterritorial application of sanctions that has generated immense political controversy and international resentment. Furthermore, this dubious application of sanctions and the resulting blockade of Qatar (it is undoubtedly a “blockade”, given the geography of the region and the intensity of actions taken) represent a breach of international legal norms embedded in both customary and treaty law

Health care design: Middle East rural areas

A study of healthcare problems in developing countries in particular the Middle East. It concerns child health care and the inability of rural people especially mothers to understand instructions for the application of medicines. Other problems incorporated are high infant mortality, lack of adequate health care facilities, high illiteracy and ignorance of the importance of hygiene. As a result of my questionnaire to medical students in Jordan, the extent to which they are trained to cope with child health care and health problems of rural areas was revealed. Another questionnaire aimed at female university students revealed their attitudes towards pregnancy and child healthcare. Bearing in mind the nature of the Middle Eastern patient, I have adopted a visual design for reading medicine instructions which is very easy to understand and overcomes any language or literacy problems

Accommodating Artificial Intelligence in International Law: An Overview and New Frontier

Within vivacious international relations, human rights dictums developed whilst racing to advance offensive and defensive capacities. Lately, artificial intelligence (AI) systems have been utilized in the spectrum of these advancements. This has led to a new form of arms race and human rights abuses whilst resisting any attempt to conclude a binding regulation in developing or using AI technology, and although AI has been a frontline issue in many disciplines from various angles, it nonetheless has not been as much in the legal profession, and specifically in international law. The unprecedented AI technology changes, despite the many advantages, alarms the need to continuously explore its impact within various aspects of international law. The absence of a conclusive international threshold for AI development and use might cause hindering international relations if international law orthodoxies in humanitarian law and human rights become improperly effected. Accordingly, this paper examines whether there is a need to develop the existing international legal order, whether directly or indirectly, and suggest establishing an IGO entity with a mandate to reshape rules and embedded values in the face of a rapid AI technological advancement.</p

The Rights of Innovation during Man’s life and Demise.

Innovation owns various rights, where the Muslim Jurists and the law jurists set forth in details and divided such various rights into several divisions under different names, which in the end revert to be three types and they are: Copyright, Patent right (industrial innovations), Trade name and Trademark. Copyright, is considered in Islamic Law as a financial right, cannot be substituted by compensation, and should not one infringe upon such right or to dispose without the approval and authorization granted by the owner. Invention is as authorship, both are mental creativity, and can be measured on the base of (absolute interests and benefit) as the interest here; is that to establish the protection of such right to encourage invention and creativity, so the one who exerts efforts in such issues shall only be the one who will invest and be accordingly benefited therefore. Meantime, the invention will be protected from the one who is trying to take over such and grab the advantages of the innovation, and compete in exploiting it.  Also the patent and copyrights are awarded the same judgments, since both are mental creativity. As for the trade name, title and the trademark, they are considered a intellectual properties which should be referred to the owners only, and should be deemed to have financial value in the contemporary customs and norms. These rights are significantly legal, should not be violated, the respective owners have the right to dispose of the trade or title name  and can sell or cause assignment to the favor of other parties and so on. Thus, the rights of innovation (financial and moral rights) including copyrights are financial rights, liable to be inherited by the legitimate successors, unless otherwise be willed, therefore the heritage will  go to the party as stated in the will, that is to show respect to the deceased owner desire, without specifying a certain period

The "Right to Privacy" v. telecommunications interception and access: International regulations and implementation in the Arab Region

The right to privacy is a complex and controversial issue. Concerns pertaining to the 'Right to Privacy' have often become a stumbling block when preparing draft laws on telecommunication, specifically those that relate to governmental interception and access, and can prompt governments to cancel the drafting of the law. Governments attempting to defend the right to invade citizens' privacy in communication, whilst at the same time adhering to international obligations, habitually have to face opposition. Recently though, the dual concerns of national security and public security have repeatedly been used as tools to shift away from privacy protection toward allowing telecommunications interception and access by governments when needed. Some Arab states have enacted interception and access laws, but only in an intermittent fashion, making it difficult to refer to it as a complete template for implementing an interception and access law. It is accepted that new, hi-tech systems are required to regulate the use of telecommunication tools so as to be in line with developed countries. The Arab states seem to be behind in introducing telecommunication legislations, or at least have not amended their laws to comprise interception and access in telecommunication. These states should be directed to securing a balanced approach between the rights of citizens and the necessary security needs. This paper seeks to outline the gaps in existing legislative order in Arab countries. It also attempts to draw some guidelines towards introducing effective regulatory systems for telecommunications interception and access law in the Arab world.qscienc

Opthalmic drug abuse and misuse in Jordan: An Observational Study from Community Pharmacies in Amman.

Background: There has been a trend in the past five years in Jordan for ophthalmic anticholinergic preparations to be misused or abused. This is done mainly to experience mental altering effects such as mood changes, euphoria or hallucinations. Such products are mostly obtained from community pharmacies without a prescription. Objectives: This study aimed to observe the requests of ophthalmic preparations in community pharmacies in Amman, Jordan, and evaluating the most popular and frequently requested ophthalmic drops suspected of abuse. Also, it aimed to describe the current methods that Jordanian community pharmacists use to manage such requests. Methods: A prospective cross-sectional observational study was conducted between November 2016 and January 2017 at sixteen different community pharmacies in Amman. All ophthalmic products requested were observed during this period. Results: A total of 140 ophthalmic product requests for 130 customers were observed. Dry eye was the most common complaint for which the customer requested the medication (n = 30, 23.1%) and direct self-medication (ie-requesting the product by name), was the most frequent method of purchase (n = 63, 48.5%). In 19 cases (14.6%), product requests were suspected to be for non-medical (ie-abuse) purposes. Most of the suspected cases were for Pentolate® (n = 11, 57.9%), whereas 7 were for Prisoline® (36.8%) and 1 for Naphcon-A® (5.3%). The majority of observed cases were for products requested without a prescription (n = 16, 84.2%), and in 12 cases out of which, sale was refused (63.2%). Conclusion: More effort and enforcement of pharmacy regulation for safe dispensing is needed to reduce the abuse of ophthalmic products. Educating pharmacists and ophthalmologists would help raise awareness and control the type of drug abuse

Closing the Gap between Research Evidence and Clinical Practice: Jordanian Nurses’ Perceived Barriers to Research Utilisation

Background: The nursing profession is a combination of theory and practical skill, and nurses are required to generate and develop knowledge through implementing research into clinical practice. Considerable number of barriers could hind implementing research findings into practice. Barriers to research utilisation are not identified in the Jordanian context. Aims and Objectives: To explore Jordanian nurses’ perception of the barriers to research utilisation in clinical practice. Design: A quantitative descriptive survey design was used. Methods: The sample consisted of 239 Jordanian nurses from one university hospital and three governmental hospitals. Nurses were conveniently recruited. Data was collection using the Barriers to Research utilisation questionnaire. Results: The majority of the participants were males (54%) and 53% of the participants were under the age of 30. The mean total score of barriers to research utilisation (BRU) was high at 2.97 (SD) out of 4 (the highest possible barriers score). The top three barriers were: “research results are not generalizable to their settings”, “lack of authority to change patient care procedures”, and “research articles are not published fast enough”. Conclusions: Barriers to research utilisation are high and were related to all aspects of research utilisation. These barriers need to be eliminated to improve the provided nursing care. To enhance research utilisation, a national-level guidance development system is needed. This will has the sole responsibility is to develop clinical guidelines, which are informed by the research, which practitioners and health services are then responsible for implementing into practice. Hence, hospital policies need to be reformed to address the procedure and activities of keeping the patients care up to date with current advances in healthcare disciplines. Keywords: Research utilisation, barriers, Jordan, Nurses, clinical practic

The Misuse and Abuse of Ophthalmic Preparations:a Scoping Review of Clinical Case Presentations and Extant Literature

The emergent trend of misuse and abuse of ophthalmic drugs is a public health concern. Common ophthalmic preparations contain anticholinergics, antihistamines, decongestants, anesthetics, and vasoconstrictive and topically applied nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Misuse and abuse relates to their effect in causing euphoria, relaxation, hallucination, and reduction of depression symptoms. A scoping review of literature was conducted using Arskey and O’Malley (International Journal of Social Research Methodology 8(1):9–32, 2005) framework for mapping extant literature on the current knowledge of the issue. Four themes emerged: abuse of cycloplegics and mydriatics, misuse and abuse of topical ophthalmic anesthetics, misuse of topical ophthalmic vasoconstrictive and topically applied nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), and public and pharmacist views on ophthalmic drug abuse/misuse. The review underscores the complex motives for misuse and abuse, availability of ophthalmic products, self-medication practices, presence of co-morbidities, and low public awareness which harms the important role of health professionals regarding suspected misuse of these common products

Ophthalmic drug abuse: An observational study from community pharmacies

Background: There has been a trend in the past five years in Jordan for ophthalmic anticholinergic preparations to be misused or abused. This is done mainly to experience mental altering effects such as mood changes, euphoria or hallucinations. Such products are mostly obtained from community pharmacies without a prescription. Objectives: This study aimed to observe the requests of ophthalmic preparations in community pharmacies in Amman, Jordan, and evaluating the most popular and frequently requested ophthalmic drops suspected of abuse. Also, it aimed to describe the current methods that Jordanian community pharmacists use to manage such requests. Methods: A prospective cross-sectional observational study was conducted between November 2016 and January 2017 at sixteen different community pharmacies in Amman. All ophthalmic products requested were observed during this period. Results: A total of 140 ophthalmic product requests for 130 customers were observed. Dry eye was the most common complaint for which the customer requested the medication (n = 30, 23.1%) and direct self-medication (ie-requesting the product by name), was the most frequent method of purchase (n = 63, 48.5%). In 19 cases (14.6%), product requests were suspected to be for non-medical (ie-abuse) purposes. Most of the suspected cases were for Pentolate® (n = 11, 57.9%), whereas 7 were for Prisoline® (36.8%) and 1 for Naphcon-A® (5.3%). The majority of observed cases were for products requested without a prescription (n = 16, 84.2%), and in 12 cases out of which, sale was refused (63.2%). Conclusion: More effort and enforcement of pharmacy regulation for safe dispensing is needed to reduce the abuse of ophthalmic products. Educating pharmacists and ophthalmologists would help raise awareness and control the type of drug abuse. © 2019 Elsevier Inc

Spiritual Well-Being, Depression, and Stress Among Hemodialysis Patients in Jordan

Purpose: The spiritual dimension of a patient’s life is an important factor that may mediate detrimental impacts on mental health. The lack of research investigating spiritual well-being, religiosity, and mental health among Jordanian hemodialysis patients encouraged this research. This study explored levels of spiritual well-being and its associations with depression, anxiety, and stress. Design: A quantitative, cross-sectional correlational study. Method: A sample of 218 Jordanian Muslim hemodialysis patients completed a structured, self-administered questionnaire. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and linear multivariate regression models. Findings: The hemodialysis patients had, on average, relatively low levels of spiritual well-being, moderate depression, severe anxiety, and mild to moderate stress. The results of the regression models indicated that aspects of spiritual well-being were negatively associated with depression, anxiety, and stress, but only existential well-being consistently retained significant associations after controlling for religious well-being, religiosity, and sociodemographic variables. Conclusions: Greater spiritual and existential well-being of Jordanian hemodialysis patients were significantly associated with less depression, anxiety, and stress. It appears that these patients use religious and spiritual beliefs and practices as coping mechanisms to overcome their depression, anxiety, and stress. The implications for holistic clinical practice are explored