Refugee Protection as Human Rights Protection: International Principles and Practice in India

This article focuses on the relationship between international human rights standards and refugee protection. The foundational status of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights treaties are surveyed in light of India's international legal obligations. The authors argue that international human rights law and practice have had a significant impact on the protection activities of the Ofice of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) both in countries of asylum, countries of origin and in relation to the United Nations and other human rights actors. In this context, courts and national human rights institutions are important players in safeguarding the rights of refugees. As none of the countries of South Asia is party to the international refugee instruments nor have any of them adopted a national refugee law or procedure, the activities of the Indian National Human Rights Commission stand out as a positive example of national institution expanding the legal protection of refugees in the region.Cet article porte sur la relation entre critères internationaux en matière de droits humains et protection des réfugiés. Les statuts fondateurs de la Déclaration Universelle des droits de l'Homme et d'autres traités sur les droits humains sont analysés à la lumière des obligations juridiques internationales de l'Inde. Les auteurs développent une argumentation selon laquelle les lois et pratiques internationales en matière de droits humains ont un impact significatif sur les activités de protection assurées par l'Office du Haut Commissariat des Nations Unies aux réfugiés, autant dans les pays asiles, que dans les pays d'origine, et ce dans toute interaction entre les Nations Unies et les autres intervenants en matière de droits humains. Dans un tel contexte, les tribunaux et les institutions nationales traitant des droits humains sont des acteurs cruciaux en ce qui concerne la protection des droits des réfugiés. Comme aucun des pays d'Asie du Sud n'est engagé dans les grands mécanismes internationaux en matière de droit des réfugiés, et comme aucun d'entre eux n'a adopté de loi ou procédure nationale en matière de droit des réfugiés, les activités de la Commission Nationale Indienne des droits de l'Homme s'avèrent représenter un exemple positif d'institution nationale assurant le progrès de la protection légale des réfugiés dans cette région du monde

The Living Archive of Aboriginal Art: Expressions of Indigenous Knowledge Systems through Collaborative Art-Making

In 2019, southeast Australian Aboriginal artist Maree Clarke was commissioned to create two stunning supersized eel traps. Both were made for very different sites: one for a gallery at an elite university, the other for an inner-city community arts organisation. Both, however, told stories about the enduring nature of Indigenous knowledge. In this article, the eel traps form part of the story for a project we are calling the Living Archive of Aboriginal Art (LAAA). The LAAA aims to encapsulate Maree’s art world and her generosity, which emerges from her backyard (arts studio), and includes intergenerational and intercultural exchanges. The backyard is where the concepts and practice for her art-making begin, and where her work to reclaim the knowledge and practice of her Ancestors from the colonial archive, via art-making, has been bought back to life. Such endeavours form part of the archive-making we are working towards encapsulating as living, dynamic and ongoing. El Living Archive of Aboriginal Art: Expresiones de los Sistemas de Conocimiento Indígena a través de la Creación Artística ColaborativaEn 2019, la artista aborigen del sureste de Australia, Maree Clarke, recibió el encargo de crear dos impresionantes trampas para anguilas de gran tamaño. Ambas fueron hechas para sitios muy diferentes: una para una galería en una universidad de élite, la otra para una organización de arte de la comunidad del centro de la ciudad. Ambas, sin embargo, contaron historias sobre la naturaleza perdurable del conocimiento indígena. En este artículo, las trampas para anguilas forman parte de la historia de un proyecto que llamamos Archivo Viviente de Arte Aborigen (LAAA por sus siglas en inglés). El LAAA tiene como objetivo encapsular el mundo artístico de Maree y su generosidad, que surgen de su patio trasero (estudio de artista), e incluyen intercambios intergeneracionales e interculturales. El patio trasero es donde comienzan los conceptos y haceres para su creación artística, y donde su trabajo para recuperar el conocimiento y la práctica de sus Ancestros del archivo colonial, a través de la creación artística, ha vuelto a la vida. Tales esfuerzos forman parte de la creación de archivos que estamos trabajando para encapsular como vivos, dinámicos y continuos

A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Practices Exposing Humans to Avian Influenza Viruses, Their Prevalence, and Rationale

Almost all human infections by avian influenza viruses (AIVs) are transmitted from poultry. A systematic review was conducted to identify practices associated with human infections, their prevalence, and rationale. Observational studies were identified through database searches. Meta-analysis produced combined odds ratio estimates. The prevalence of practices and rationales for their adoptions were reported. Of the 48,217 records initially identified, 65 articles were included. Direct and indirect exposures to poultry were associated with infection for all investigated viral subtypes and settings. For the most frequently reported practices, association with infection seemed stronger in markets than households, for sick and dead than healthy poultry, and for H7N9 than H5N1. Practices were often described in general terms and their frequency and intensity of contact were not provided. The prevalence of practices was highly variable across studies, and no studies comprehensively explored reasons behind the adoption of practices. Combining epidemiological and targeted anthropological studies would increase the spectrum and detail of practices that could be investigated and should aim to provide insights into the rationale(s) for their existence. A better understanding of these rationales may help to design more realistic and acceptable preventive public health measures and messages

Cost of illness for severe and non-severe diarrhea borne by households in a low-income urban community of Bangladesh: A cross-sectional study

The illness cost borne by households, known as out-of-pocket expenditure, was 74% of the total health expenditure in Bangladesh in 2017. Calculating economic burden of diarrhea of low-income urban community is important to identify potential cost savings strategies and prioritize policy decision to improve the quality of life of this population. This study aimed to estimate cost of illness and monthly percent expenditure borne by households due diarrhea in a low-income urban settlement of Dhaka, Bangladesh. We conducted this study in East Arichpur area of Tongi township in Dhaka, Bangladesh from September 17, 2015 to July 26, 2016. We used the World Health Organization (WHO) definition of three or more loose stool in 24 hours to enroll patients and enrolled 106 severe patients and 158 non-severe patients from Tongi General Hospital, local pharmacy and study community. The team enrolled patients between the first to third day of the illness (≤ 72 hours) and continued daily follow-up by phone until recovery. We considered direct and indirect costs to calculate cost-per-episode. We applied the published incidence rate to estimate the annual cost of diarrhea. The estimated average cost of illness for patient with severe diarrhea was US$27.39 [95$ 6.36 [95% CI: 5.19, 7.55] (499 BDT), 4% of the average monthly income of households. A single diarrheal episode substantially affects financial condition of low-income urban community residents: a severe episode can cost almost equivalent to 4.35 days (17%) and a non-severe episode can cost almost equivalent to 1 day (4%) of household’s income. Preventing diarrhea preserves health and supports financial livelihoods

Factors influencing chicken farmers' decisions to implement prevention and control measures to reduce avian influenza virus spread under endemic conditions

The ongoing circulation of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1 poses a threat to both poultry and public health. Adapting the constructs of the Health Belief Model (HBM) framework, we investigated perceptions of backyard, commercial broiler and layer chicken farmers to implement HPAI prevention and control measures in Bangladesh. Two cross‐sectional studies were conducted in 2016 and 2017 on 144 backyard, 106 broiler and 113 layer chicken farms. Using Structural Equation Modelling, we modelled the direct and indirect effects on farmers' perceptions on taking HPAI prevention and control actions. Our results indicate that farmers of different chicken production systems have different decision‐making processes. While perceived barriers to the implementation of prevention and control measures (e.g. wearing protective equipment when handling chickens) prevented both broiler and backyard farmers to adopt interventions, perceived benefits of measures (e.g. maintaining high biosecurity will reduce the risk of birds becoming sick) strongly influenced commercial farmers' decisions, but not backyard farmers' decisions. Information provided on HPAI through media, meetings or via information campaigns played an important role in farmers' decision‐making in all production systems. Outcomes of this research can be used to tailor advice on HPAI control and prevention to different poultry farming groups by accounting for specific factors influencing their decision‐making, instead of using one‐size‐fit‐all communication approach

Reconstructing community-based arts: cultural value and the neoliberal citizen

© 2011 Dr. Rimi KhanThe relationship between ‘community’ and ‘culture’ is an increasingly important one in the context of contemporary neoliberal policy strategies. Within this policy context, ‘culture’ is routinely argued for in terms of its usefulness and its opposition to instrumental rationales; while the notion of ‘community’ serves as a locus of resistance to the perceived dangers of modern life, and acts on populations by invoking their autonomy. This thesis examines how community-based arts have been drawn into these policy agendas through case studies of Footscray Community Arts Centre and Multicultural Arts Victoria. The study is informed by the Foucauldian perspective of governmentality, as well as the broad approach of ‘everyday multiculturalism’. It examines the rationales underpinning community-based arts. Specifically, it considers the relations that these organisations invoke between ‘community’, ‘culture’, and notions of cultural value. The thesis also examines the implications of these relations for the subject of community-based arts, who is variously conceived as ‘citizen’, ‘consumer’, ‘audience’ and ‘artist’. Contemporary community-based arts activity complicates prevailing relations between artists, audiences, cultural institutions and ‘communities’. The exclusionary tendencies of the aesthetic ethos are heightened in the current policy climate where economic value is attached to art and creativity. However, the forms of subjectification that take place through the norms of the neoliberal cultural economy are tied up with other norms of self-government, including affirmative practices of self-styling. This dual character of the aesthetic suggests that the ‘intrinsic’ value of ‘culture’, and its instrumentalisation are interrelated, rather than opposed, and it requires that we rethink the relationship between the cultural ‘margins’ and the ‘mainstream’

Developing a Local Cultural Indicator Framework in Australia: A Case Study of the City of Whittlesea

This paper critically examines the cultural planning agenda of the City of Whittlesea, a local government municipality in Australia, and considers its impact on the region‟s multicultural communities. Located on the metropolitan fringe, the City is geographically one of the largest and most diverse municipalities in greater Melbourne, with more than half of the residents from non-Anglo-Celtic backgrounds. First, the paper shows how sustainability is achieved through a structure of inter-departmental collaboration as well as in a cultural planning focus on community cultural development. Next, it examines how sustainability is implemented in its policies and programs through the development of cultural citizenship. Finally, it evaluates two community events to consider the extent of cultural participation. Combining empirical data and theoretical research, this paper aims to produce a working model for developing local cultural indicators to measure the cultural participation of non-Anglo Celtic communities. Specifically, this paper hopes to establish cultural indicators with direct policy relevance for local government, and incorporate a detailed consideration of the „use-context‟ of the cultural indicators in the City in order to provide a template for best practice at municipal program levels. A localized cultural indicator framework will enable robust tools of measurement to account for thick narratives of multicultural participation that can continue to enhance well-being, place making, and belonging.Cet article examine les pratiques de planning culturel de la ville de Whittlesea, une localité Australienne, et considère l'impact de cette planification sur le tissu social multiculturel de la région. Située en marge d'une région métropolitaine, la ville compte parmi les localités les plus vastes et les plus diversifiées du grand Melbourne, avec plus de la moitié de ses résidents issus de communautés d'origines culturelles autres qu'anglo-celtique. Premièrement, cet article illustre comment le développement durable est rendu possible par une structure de collaboration interdépartementale ainsi que par un focus de planification orienté vers la culture et le développement durable. Ensuite, cet article aborde les enjeux de la mise en oeuvre du développement durable à travers ces politiques et programmes, notamment ceux de citoyenneté culturelle. Enfin, cet article a pour objectif d'évaluer deux événements communautaires afin de mesurer la portée de la participation culturelle. En combinant les données empiriques et une analyse théorique de la littérature, cet article vise à produire un modèle de développement culturel local basé sur des indicateurs afin de mesurer le niveau de participation des communautés d'origines culturelles autres, qu'anglo-celtique. En particulier, cet article tente d'établir des indicateurs culturels ayant une forte valeur pour la planification culturelle locale. Il s'agit par ailleurs de fournir un gabarit qui permettrait de développer des indicateurs utiles pour les administrateurs locaux. Un cadre d'analyse et des indicateurs locaux nous permettront de développer des outils robustes afin de mesurer et de saisir les différents aspects de la citoyenneté culturelle locale dans un contexte multiculturel

Substituted 3-<i>E-</i>Styryl‑2<i>H</i>‑chromenes and 3-<i>E-</i>Styryl‑2<i>H</i>‑thiochromenes: Synthesis, Photophysical Studies, Anticancer Activity, and Exploration to Tricyclic Benzopyran Skeleton

A series of densely substituted 2<i>H</i>-chromenes and 2<i>H</i>-thiochromenes were synthesized in good yield through cyanuric chloride-dimethylformamide mediated cleavage of different spiro-4-hydroxychroman-3,1′-cyclopropanes and similar thiochroman analogues. This protocol involves operationally very simple, facile and cost-effective reactions using easily accessible reagents under mild reaction condition with tolerance of a variety of sensitive moieties. Results of steady state and time-resolved absorption and emission spectroscopy highlighted the potential of these compounds as fluorescence probes and designated the suitability for subcellular bioimaging. The prepared 2<i>H</i>-chromenes demonstrated profound cytotoxic activity against MCF-7 cell line. DFT calculations were done on a representative compound where the results indicated promising reactivity of the title compounds as electron-donating dienes. As a continuation, some of these compounds underwent [4 + 2] Diels–Alder cycloaddition with electron-deficient dienophiles in the absence of any activator or catalyst, which provided an easy access to an array of hitherto unreported molecular frameworks related to bioactive cannabinoid skeletons. These newly constructed Diels–Alder adducts also bear substantial antiproliferative properties