Contextualisation of humanitarian assistance and its shortcomings in International Human Rights Law

This article challenges the idea that contextualisation of humanitarian aid affects the principle of universality of human rights as well as the principles of neutrality and impartiality. It seeks to demonstrate that contextualisation will not only improve access, delivery and protection: contextualising a mission also enables aid workers to respect the local context without impacting negatively upon universal human rights. The author argues that affecting the societies in which aid is delivered is inevitable. The key then becomes to avoid endorsing indirect cultural relativism. This is why the article puts forward the idea of creating a yardstick or a test that would help in deciding which beliefs and values are to be included when considering the context, and which should be excluded. The process of selection of values and beliefs is to be operated by an empowered local population. The filter suggested in the case at hand is the Muslim legal instrument of maslaha, which protects the public interest. The use of this filter can be efficient only if Islamic authoritative sources are interpreted differently, in a reformist fashion, to try and match universal human rights law. This is possible through the Muslim theories advocating change. Muslim beneficiaries who are vulnerable as a result of a disaster or during a conflict provide an opportunity to test the filter of maslaha, looking at how an empowered community can change and influence the agendas of aid agencies

What if? An experiment to include a religious narrative in the approach of the European Court of Human Rights

According to some interpretations of Islam supported by gender activists, the veil can be perceived as a passport that enables women to participate in public affairs. This argument has been overlooked by the courts, including the European Court of Human Rights. The latter has adopted a discourse that considers the veil to be a threat to public order and gender equality, and more recently, an obstacle to social cohesion. By doing so, the Court has excluded veiled European Muslim women from the public sphere. The Court has justified curbing freedom of religion by granting states a wide margin of appreciation on the basis of the concept of “living together.” I argue that the Court needs to take the “passport veil” into account to be consistent with its argument on living together. A shift of approach and discourse would constitute a new way of understanding integration through the veil

Quantification of cytoskeletal deformation in living cells

In order to get a better insight in the mechanisms causing tissue damage there is an interest from within the biology community to quantify cellular deformations upon external loading. The cytoskeleton plays an important role in the transmission of forces throughout the cell. This study aims to quantify deformation by applying image matching algorithms on confocal microscopy images

Children’s sensitivity to speaker accuracy and explanatory competence with biological concepts

This thesis investigated children’s selective trust in contexts that extend beyond a direct comparison of a distinctly accurate labeller with a distinctly inaccurate labeller in the domain of artifacts. First, it was examined whether children’s evaluations of informant trustworthiness is similar across the biological domain and the domain of artifacts. Second, it was investigated how children interpret novel labellers when compared to accurate and inaccurate labellers. Finally, children were presented with informants who provided functional or surface information for body parts to determine whether they prefer learning from informants who provided functional explanations. Across five experiments, children aged between 3 and 8 years of age (N = 379) were tested. The main findings were as follows: (a) 4- and 5-year-olds knew more about external body parts than internal organs; (b) 5-year-olds began to appreciate that speakers offering novel information were more trustworthy than those offering inaccurate information; (c) 4- to 8-year-olds had difficulty with distinguishing between informants who provided either functional explanations or obvious descriptions for highly unfamiliar organs; (d) however, when presented with informants who provided either functional or obvious information for highly familiar body parts, 8-year-olds (and to some extent, 5-year-olds) showed better recall of which informant provided a particular type of explanation, but they did not consider either informant to be a more trustworthy source. These findings indicate that children demonstrate selective trust in the biological domain, as well as in contexts that go beyond comparing accurate and inaccurate labellers. It is apparent that children are balanced in their evaluations of informants who provide new information, as well as those provide information that varies in explanatory depth. However, they are yet to fully consider functional explanations to be superior to superficial descriptions

Brief Report: Eye Movements During Visual Search Tasks Indicate Enhanced Stimulus Discriminability in Subjects with PDD

Subjects with PDD excel on certain visuo-spatial tasks, amongst which visual search tasks, and this has been attributed to enhanced perceptual discrimination. However, an alternative explanation is that subjects with PDD show a different, more effective search strategy. The present study aimed to test both hypotheses, by measuring eye movements during visual search tasks in high functioning adult men with PDD and a control group. Subjects with PDD were significantly faster than controls in these tasks, replicating earlier findings in children. Eye movement data showed that subjects with PDD made fewer eye movements than controls. No evidence was found for a different search strategy between the groups. The data indicate an enhanced ability to discriminate between stimulus elements in PDD

Study of odd-mass N=82 isotones with realistic effective interactions

The microscopic quasiparticle-phonon model, MQPM, is used to study the energy spectra of the odd $Z=53 - 63$, N=82 isotones. The results are compared with experimental data, with the extreme quasiparticle-phonon limit and with the results of an unrestricted $2s1d0g_{7/2}0h_{11/2}$ shell model (SM) calculation. The interaction used in these calculations is a realistic two-body G-matrix interaction derived from modern meson-exchange potential models for the nucleon-nucleon interaction. For the shell model all the two-body matrix elements are renormalized by the $\hat{Q}$-box method whereas for the MQPM the effective interaction is defined by the G-matrix.Comment: Elsevier latex style espart, 26 pages, submitted to Nuclear Physics

« Ending sexual abuse and exploitation: a guide for child protection in Iran ». Wittier Journal of Child and Family Advocacy, Vol. 29, N°1, automne 2007, pp. 63-107.

L’A. propose une série de recommandations pour améliorer la situation des droits de l’enfant en Iran. Elle prend pour illustration les abus sexuels commis à l’encontre des enfants. Elle suggère de briser le tabou qui entoure ce sujet et de ce fait l’ignorance des Iraniens. Elle analyse les conséquences émotionnelles et physiques ainsi que l’impact sur le développement de l’enfant. Son projet vise à alerter le gouvernement de la situation actuelle pour que le droit soit réformé en accord avec ..

« The Conservative Wave Rolls On ». Journal of Democracy, vol. 16, n° 4, october 2005, pp. 9-22.

L’A. fait le bilan de l’élection présidentielle de 2005 et de son déroulement. Il s’inquiète du résultat : l’élection d’un conservateur populiste non religieux ne peut que participer à la consolidation du pouvoir conservateur et va à l’encontre des désirs de la société civile exprimés lors de l’élection présidentielle de 1997. La thèse de l’article est que l’élection présidentielle de 2005 marque une transition de pouvoir des post islamistes aux post révolutionnaires et post khomeynistes. Il ..

« Quel Avenir pour l’Afghanistan ». Etudes, vol. 407, N° 4, 2007, pp. 297-307.

L’A. analyse la situation dans laquelle se trouve le gouvernement afghan et le président Karzai. Selon lui, le président a jusqu’en 2009, date des prochaines élections présidentielles, pour appliquer son programme, mais il ne peut le faire seul. Il doit notamment travailler à la nouvelle gouvernance, la remise en route de l’économie et la sécurité

« Female Inmates in Afghanistan ». Compendium, vol. 32, N° 5, September-October 2007, pp. 32-34.

Cet article est le résultat d’une étude menée pour les Nations Unies. L’objet est de faire le point sur la situation des femmes détenues en Afghanistan et d’analyser les opportunités de réinsertion après leur libération. L’A. propose la création d’un programme de réhabilitation ainsi qu’un programme de réinsertion sociale. La majorité de ces femmes ont commis des crimes qui n’en sont pas pour les nations occidentales (comme celui de prendre la fuite après avoir été battue). L’article attire d..