International actors and traditional justice in Sub-Saharan Africa :policies and interventions in transitional justice and justice sector aid

Due to a number of important differences between transitional justice and justice sector aid, this book explored how international actors address ‘traditional justice’ in these fields in two distinct parts, which has led to separate analyses. Justice sector aid is often part of broader development cooperation programmes, which may or may not take place in a ost-conflict country. Transitional justice processes are part of conflict-related international interventions, such as peacebuilding programmes, which are often implemented before the wheels of more longterm development cooperation programmes are set in motion. Chronologically speaking, both kinds of programmes – support for transitional justice and justice sector aid – often do not run parallel, although there can be overlaps. It also turns out that the international actors are not necessarily the same. Although in principle the same donor countries are involved, justice sector aid is often provided by bilateral or multilateral development organisations, while transitional justice interventions are more often – but certainly not exclusively – initiatives of specific agencies aimed at post-conflict reconstruction, which are established by several donor countries. Although respect for human rights is heavily emphasised in both domains, policy and interventions regarding transitional justice also need to take international norms regarding the criminal prosecution of international crimes into account. In spite of these differences, this concluding chapter formulates a number of mutual findings and recommendations. First, it discusses common elements at the level of policies, then it identifies a number of trends regarding interventions, and finally it examines the way in which linternational actors handle the tension between traditional justice and human rights

How international is bioethics? A quantitative retrospective study

BACKGROUND: Studying the contribution of individual countries to leading journals in a specific discipline can highlight which countries have the most impact on that discipline and whether a geographic bias exists. This article aims to examine the international distribution of publications in the field of bioethics. METHODS: Retrospective quantitative study of nine peer reviewed journals in the field of bioethics and medical ethics (Bioethics, Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, Hastings Center Report, Journal of Clinical Ethics, Journal of Medical Ethics, Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal, Nursing Ethics, Christian Bioethics, and Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics). RESULTS: In total, 4,029 articles published between 1990 and 2003 were retrieved from the nine bioethical journals under study. The United States (59.3%, n = 2390), the United Kingdom (13.5%, n = 544), Canada (4%, n = 160) and Australia (3.8%, n = 154) had the highest number of publications in terms of absolute number of publications. When normalized to population size, smaller affluent countries, such as New Zealand, Finland and Sweden were more productive than the United States. The number of studies originating from the USA was decreasing in the period between 1990 and 2003. CONCLUSION: While a lot of peer reviewed journals in the field of bioethics profile themselves as international journals, they certainly do not live up to what one would expect from an "international" journal. The fact that English speaking countries, and to a larger extent American authors, dominate the international journals in the field of bioethics is a clear geographic bias towards the bioethical discussions that are going on in these journals

The effects of lime on the decomposition of buried human remains. A field and laboratory based study for forensic and archaeological application.

The inclusion of lime in burials is observed in historical and archaeological records, in contemporary mass graves and forensic cases. Clearly there are controversies within the literature and there is a general misconception of the effects of lime on decomposition. Recent casework in Belgium and the UK involving the search for human remains buried with lime, have demonstrated the need for a more detailed understanding of the effect of different types of lime on cadaver decomposition and its micro-environment. Field and laboratory experiments using pigs as human body analogues were undertaken to obtain a better understanding of the taphonomic processes that govern lime burials. The changes observed in the experiments were related back to archaeological parallels in which white residues have been found. The combined results of these studies demonstrate that despite conflicting evidence in the literature, hydrated lime and quicklime both delay the initial stages of the decay process but do not arrest it completely. The end result is ultimately the same: skeletonisation. Furthermore this study stresses the importance of the specific microenvironment in taphonomic research and highlights the need for chemical analysis of white residues when encountered in a burial. Not all white powder is lime. White residue could be identified as calcium carbonate, building material, body decomposition products, minerals or degraded lead. This study has implications for the investigation of clandestine burials and for a better understanding of archaeological plaster burials. Knowledge of the effects of lime on decomposition processes also have bearing on practices involving the disposal of animal carcasses and potentially the management of mass graves and mass disasters by humanitarian organisation and DVI teams.Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the University of Bradfor

Traditioneel recht en internationale actoren in Sub-Sahara Afrika: beleid en interventies op het vlak van 'transitional justice' en ontwikkelingshulp aan de justitiesector

Dit boek onderzoekt hoe internationale actoren in Sub-Sahara Afrika omgaan met traditionele rechtsinstellingen en mechanismen voor geschillenbeslechting in het kader van transitional justice en ontwikkelingshulp aan de justitiesector. Daartoe werden het beleid en de interventies van internationale actoren in zes landen (Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Oeganda, Sierra Leone en Zambia) ganalyseerd. Donoren blijken geen specifiek beleid te hebben inzake het gebruik van traditionele machanismen in transitional justice en laten zich vooral leiden door het belang van lokaal eigenaarschap en respect voor mensenrechten, hetgeen tot spanningen leidt. In ontwikkelingshulp aan de justitiesector is er al wat meer aandacht voor traditioneel recht, alhoewel dit beperkt blijft tot officiële traditioneelrechtelijke structuren, terwijl interventies inzake onofficieel recht aan actoren van het maatschappelijke middenveld worden overgelaten. Het boek analyseert de problemen die hieruit voortvloeien en formuleert voor elk domein en voor beide domeinen samen een reeks aanbevelingen voor toekomstige interventies

African perspectives on tradition and justice

This volume aims to produce a better understanding of the relationship between tradition and justice in Africa. It presents contributions of six African scholars related to current international discourses on access to justice and human rights and on the localisation of transitional justice. The contributions suggest that access to justice and appropriate, context-specific transitional justice strategies need to consider diversity and legal pluralism. In this sense, they all stress that dialogical approaches are the way forward. Whether it is in the context of legal reforms, transitional processes in post-war societies or the promotion of human rights in general, all contributors accentuate that it is by means of cooperation, conversation and cross-fertilization between different legal realities that positive achievements can be realized. The contributions in this book illustrate the perspectives on this dialectal process from those operating on the ground, and more specifically form Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Malawi, South-Africa, Uganda and Rwanda,. Obviously, the contributions in this volume do not provide the final outcome of the debate. Rather, they are part of it

Detecting grave sites from surface anomalies: A longitudinal study in an Australian woodland.

Forensic investigations of single and mass graves often use surface anomalies, including changes to soil and vegetation conditions, to identify potential grave locations. Though numerous resources describe surface anomalies in grave detection, few studies formally investigate the rate at which the surface anomalies return to a natural state; hence, the period the grave is detectable to observers. Understanding these processes can provide guidance as to when ground searches will be an effective strategy for locating graves. We studied three experimental graves and control plots in woodland at the Australian Facility for Taphonomic Experimental Research (Sydney, Australia) to monitor the rate at which surface anomalies change following disturbance. After three years, vegetation cover on all grave sites and control plots had steadily increased but remained substantially less than undisturbed surroundings. Soil anomalies (depressions and cracking) were more pronounced at larger grave sites versus the smaller grave and controls, with leaf litterfall rendering smaller graves difficult to detect beyond 20 months. Similar results were observed in two concurrent burial studies, except where accelerated revegetation appeared to be influenced by mummified remains. Extreme weather events such as heatwaves and heavy rainfall may prolong the detection window for grave sites by hindering vegetation establishment. Observation of grave-indicator vegetation, which exhibited abnormally strong growth 10 months after commencement, suggests that different surface anomalies may have different detection windows. Our findings are environment-specific, but the concepts are applicable globally

Multi-sensor non destructive assessment of peach quality: a collaborative approach

Soluble solids content and firmness are some of the most important attributes of peach quality. These attributes are usually measured by destructive methods, but in the last decades non destructive techniques have given good results in the evaluation of different aspects of quality of fruits. However reliable information about these techniques and their capability to evaluate peach quality is still needed. During 2006, 2007 and 2008, the quality of Ryan Sun, Rich Lady and O’Henry peaches was evaluated in collaborative experiments as part of the European ISAFRUIT project, involving destructive measurements and non destructive tests. Changes in references parameters (MT firmness, SSC, flesh colour, diameter and weight) were related to the data given by different non destructive techniques (NIR Tromblon, Acoustic Firmness Sensor, IQ Sinclair, NIR Gun, NIR Case, Minolta Chromameter, Lateral Impactor) to establish the relationships