Acusações de Bruxaria Como Perseguição Baseada no Gênero no Direito dos Refugiados

A violência relacionada à bruxaria (VRB), particularmente direcionada a mulheres e crianças, tem se tornado uma fonte de crescente preocupação para organizações de direitos humanos neste século. Contudo, para aqueles que fogem de VRB, tal preocupação não tem se refletido no reconhecimento da condição de refugiado. Esta pesquisa examina como alegações de VRB foram abordadas em todas as decisões de refúgio disponíveis em inglês, oriundas de cinco jurisdições. Argumentamos que VRB é uma manifestação de violência relacionada ao gênero, que expõe graves falhas na aplicação da jurisprudência sobre refúgio. A desatenção aos elementos religiosos e organizacionais de práticas de bruxaria, combinada com uma análise insensível ao gênero, demonstra que as solicitações foram frequentemente reconfiguradas por decisores como rancores pessoais ou disputas familiares ou comunitárias, de forma que elas não foram consideradas ofensas reconhecidas pela Convenção de 1951, ou foram simplesmente desmerecidas e tidas como inverossímeis. A taxa de sucesso das solicitações foi baixa, comparada às médias disponíveis, e, quando bem-sucedidas, as solicitações foram universalmente aceitas sob algum outro fundamento que não fosse o elemento de bruxaria do caso. Este artigo foca particularmente nos casos em que a/o solicitante temia perseguição por ser acusada/o de ser bruxa/o, enquanto um segundo artigo relacionado a este aborda as pessoas temendo perseguição por bruxas/os ou pelo meio de bruxaria

Keeping doors open: transnational families and curricular nationalism

This paper reviews sociological literature to explore the challenge transnational populations pose for nation-based curriculum, and vice versa. With increasing access to dual citizenship and temporary migration, more people are living transnational lifestyles. This poses new challenges in raising the transnational child. Transnationalism has emerged ‘bottom-up’ from individualised choices and circumstances rather than ‘top-down’ through institutional strategy. As a result, education sectors are yet to respond with a reoriented curriculum that can accommodate polycentric lives. This paper adapts Beck’s critique of methodological nationalism and proposes a parallel concept in the curricular nationalism underpinning much official curriculum. It then reviews literature reporting on three curricular experiments that seek to cultivate citizenships above and beyond the nation. While such transcendent designs on citizenship unsettle curricular nationalism, they fail to address the specificities of transnational child’s memberships both here and there. The pedagogic principle of ‘connectedness’ is retooled as a pragmatic way forward

Beyond altruism: A case for compensated surrogate motherhood

Commercial surrogacy is prohibited in many countries, and there are a number of convincing reasons why it should remain so. We accept the reasons, but argue that fairness requires that surrogates be compensated for their labour as well as the risks they undertake. It is a mistake to equate compensated surrogacy with commercial surrogacy. In order to safeguard against the risk of exploitation and other harmful and unethical practices, we propose organizing surrogacy along the lines of professions such as nursing and teaching. This would involve establishing a professional body, which will be charged with the task of regulating fees , licensing, and monitoring clinics that offer surrogacy services, and screening and registering surrogates. We think a similar model can be used in the case of live organ donation as well as gamete and embryo donation

Recent developments in genetics and medically assisted reproduction : from research to clinical applications

Two leading European professional societies, the European Society of Human Genetics and the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology, have worked together since 2004 to evaluate the impact of fast research advances at the interface of assisted reproduction and genetics, including their application into clinical practice. In September 2016, the expert panel met for the third time. The topics discussed highlighted important issues covering the impacts of expanded carrier screening, direct-to-consumer genetic testing, voiding of the presumed anonymity of gamete donors by advanced genetic testing, advances in the research of genetic causes underlying male and female infertility, utilisation of massively parallel sequencing in preimplantation genetic testing and non-invasive prenatal screening, mitochondrial replacement in human oocytes, and additionally, issues related to cross-generational epigenetic inheritance following IVF and germline genome editing. The resulting paper represents a consensus of both professional societies involved.Peer reviewe

Isotopic analysis of cyanobacterial nitrogen fixation associated with subarctic lichen and bryophyte species.

Dinitrogen fixation by cyanobacteria is of particular importance for the nutrient economy of cold biomes, constituting the main pathway for new N supplies to tundra ecosystems. It is prevalent in cyanobacterial colonies on bryophytes and in obligate associations within cyanolichens. Recent studies, applying interspecific variation in plant functional traits to upscale species effects on ecosystems, have all but neglected cryptogams and their association with cyanobacteria. Here we looked for species-specific patterns that determine cryptogam-mediated rates of N-2 fixation in the Subarctic. We hypothesised a contrast in N-2 fixation rates (1) between the structurally and physiologically different lichens and bryophytes, and (2) within bryophytes based on their respective plant functional types. Throughout the survey we supplied N-15-labelled N-2 gas to quantify fixation rates for monospecific moss, liverwort and lichen turfs. We sampled fifteen species in a design that captures spatial and temporal variations during the growing season in Abisko region, Sweden. We measured N-2 fixation potential of each turf in a common environment and in its field sampling site, in order to embrace both comparativeness and realism. Cyanolichens and bryophytes differed significantly in their cyanobacterial N-2 fixation capacity, which was not driven by microhabitat characteristics, but rather by morphology and physiology. Cyanolichens were much more prominent fixers than bryophytes per unit dry weight, but not per unit area due to their low specific thallus weight. Mosses did not exhibit consistent differences in N-2 fixation rates across species and functional types. Liverworts did not fix detectable amounts of N-2. Despite the very high rates of N-2 fixation associated with cyanolichens, large cover of mosses per unit area at the landscape scale compensates for their lower fixation rates, thereby probably making them the primary regional atmospheric nitrogen sink

Control of urea hydrolysis and nitrification in soil by chemicals - Prospects and problems

A review is made of the recent work to assess the prospects of regulating urea hydrolysis and nitrification processes in soils by employing chemicals that can retard urea hydrolysis and nitrification. The possible benefits from control of nitrogen transformations in terms of conserving and enhancing fertilizer nitrogen efficiency for crop production and the problems associated with their use with regard to N metabolism of plants have also been discussed with examples. Prospects of using cheap and effective indigenous materials and chemicals for control of urea hydrolysis and nitrification under specific soil situations appear eminent in improving the fertilizer nitrogen efficiency. Urease inhibitors may be helpful in reducing problems associated with ammonia volatilization if this is not offset by leaching of urea. On the other hand retardation of nitrification appears useful in reducing losses that accompany nitrification due to leaching and denitrification, and with the plants that metabolize equally well with relatively higher amounts of NH4–N may be more effective in improving the utilization of fertilizer N under these situation

Witchcraft Accusations as Gendered Persecution in Refugee Law

© The Author(s) 2018. Witchcraft-related violence (WRV), in particular directed towards women and children, has become a source of increasing concern for human rights organizations in the current century. Yet for those fleeing WRV, this heightened attention has not translated across into refugee status. This research examines how claims of WRV were addressed in all available asylum decisions in English, drawn from five jurisdictions. We argue that WRV is a manifestation of gender-related harm; one which exposes major failings in the application of refugee jurisprudence. Inattention to the religious and organizational elements of witchcraft practices, combined with gender insensitivity in analysis, meant that claims were frequently reconfigured by decision makers as personal grudges, or family or community disputes, such that they were not cognizable harms within the terms of the Refugee Convention; or they were simply disbelieved as far-fetched. The success rate of claims was low, compared to available averages, and, when successful, claims were universally accepted on some basis other than the witchcraft element of the case. This article focuses in particular upon cases where the applicant feared harm as an accused witch, while a second related article addresses those fearing persecution from witches or through the medium of witchcraft