Phylogeny and Biogeography of Hawkmoths (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae): Evidence from Five Nuclear Genes

The 1400 species of hawkmoths (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) comprise one of most conspicuous and well-studied groups of insects, and provide model systems for diverse biological disciplines. However, a robust phylogenetic framework for the family is currently lacking. Morphology is unable to confidently determine relationships among most groups. As a major step toward understanding relationships of this model group, we have undertaken the first large-scale molecular phylogenetic analysis of hawkmoths representing all subfamilies, tribes and subtribes.The data set consisted of 131 sphingid species and 6793 bp of sequence from five protein-coding nuclear genes. Maximum likelihood and parsimony analyses provided strong support for more than two-thirds of all nodes, including strong signal for or against nearly all of the fifteen current subfamily, tribal and sub-tribal groupings. Monophyly was strongly supported for some of these, including Macroglossinae, Sphinginae, Acherontiini, Ambulycini, Philampelini, Choerocampina, and Hemarina. Other groupings proved para- or polyphyletic, and will need significant redefinition; these include Smerinthinae, Smerinthini, Sphingini, Sphingulini, Dilophonotini, Dilophonotina, Macroglossini, and Macroglossina. The basal divergence, strongly supported, is between Macroglossinae and Smerinthinae+Sphinginae. All genes contribute significantly to the signal from the combined data set, and there is little conflict between genes. Ancestral state reconstruction reveals multiple separate origins of New World and Old World radiations.Our study provides the first comprehensive phylogeny of one of the most conspicuous and well-studied insects. The molecular phylogeny challenges current concepts of Sphingidae based on morphology, and provides a foundation for a new classification. While there are multiple independent origins of New World and Old World radiations, we conclude that broad-scale geographic distribution in hawkmoths is more phylogenetically conserved than previously postulated

Train The Trainer Manual : A Training Resource Based On The Human Rights In Australia Booklet Series

These materials were developed as part of an ARC Funded research project, in response to the frustration reported by many refugee communities in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria who find the laws and rights relating to family life in Australia confusing and challenging. They requested more information about rights and laws in Australia, in a format that was easily accessible to people whom have had few educational opportunities, or who are pre-literate. Refugees from eight different community groups participated in the development of the booklets, upon which the community training modules are based,and trialled the materials with their communities. They are designed to provide people from diverse refugee backgrounds with an introduction to international human rights, the protections human rights can give to people, and the way human rights are reflected in Australian lawand society

Freedom from persecution or continued abuse? an analysis of the meaning of rights in refugee communities

The resettlement of refugees from a place of danger to a safe country brings an assumption of security, peace and access to human rights. It should herald the beginning of a fulfilling life in a new homeland. Australia has a resettlement programme of about 13,000 people per year. Many of these people settle extremely well and successfully establish themselves and their families in the Australian community. However, research over the past decade into settlement experience has highlighted the fact that not all newly arrived refugees have a positive settlement experience, and many put the blame for the problems they experience on 'human rights'. Funding was obtained from the Australian Research Council by the authors to explore what exactly the concept of 'human rights' meant to diverse refugee communities. The research identified that the rights that were causing the majority of concern were women's rights and children's rights. They became the focus of all problems experienced in settlement, and named as the reason for the loss of dreams of a new and happy life. At the base was confusion and lack of understanding about the meaning of human rights and their links to Australian domestic law. This lack of knowledge was often shared by both refugees and the community members and settlement service providers who were endeavouring to assist them to settle successfully. The research identified that the problem was complex and intersectional. It was obvious that a sophisticated analysis was needed to explore the issue and to identify solutions. Klug's suggested analytical framework of human rights as part law, part philosophy, and part political movement was found to be extremely appropriate, facilitating the application of three very different lenses. It was used as a tool to unpack the different interpretations of rights, and to identify potential solutions

Enhancing the protection of women and girls through the Global Compact on Refugees

The consultative process involved in drafting the Global Compact on Refugees presents an ideal opportunity to ensure that gender equality is integral to this new international policy framework

“What happens there ... follows us here”: Resettled but Still at Risk: Refugee Women and Girls in Australia

UNHCR’s Women at Risk Program is designed to identify and respond to refugee women at extreme risk in countries of asylum who are in desperate need of resettlement. Many women who have been resettled under this program have been raped or faced forced engagement in survival sex, forced marriage, pregnancy, and childbirth as a result of rape. Drawing on a decade of research undertaken by the authors across 18 international sites, this article explores the experience of refugee women at risk resettled to Australia. It discusses the impacts of sexual violence on their settlement, including those of shame and stigma. It identifies that, while for some women at risk, resettlement offers hoped for safety and protection, for others the abuses they faced prior to resettlement resurface and are compounded by new risks and violations of their rights. It introduces a risk assessment tool designed to assist service providers to identify and respond to these risks

Refugee women and Girls in the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework

Recommendations from the University of New South Wales Forced Migration Network, (Australia) and the Australian National Committee on Refugee Women, for amendments to Annex I: Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF), from the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, UNGA September 19 2016, with suggested models of implementation

The Glue that Binds: an exploration of the way resettled refugee communities define and experience social capital

This article is a result of collaboration between the NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors, a refugee torture and trauma rehabilitation agency, and the UNSW Australia Centre for Refugee Research. The research used a participatory methodology and established a community advisory group to explore how resettled refugees explore and experience social capital. Consistent with other studies, it found that refugees’ experience of social capital is shaped by both the destruction of social capital in their home countries as a result of war and persecution, and by the socio-political environment of the resettlement country. The article articulates a definition of social capital from a refugee perspective, including social capital ‘enablers’, which are the individual capacities, community capacities and socio-political factors identified by refugee participants in the research that are critical for enabling refugee individuals and communities to access existing social capital, and to build and strengthen social capital by extending social connections and networks and establishing new links in settlement. Implications for community development practice are discussed