SOGI-Related Forced Migration in East Africa: Fleeing Uganda After the Passage of the Anti-Homosexuality Act

Over the past decade, lesbian, gay, bisexualand transgender (LGBT) Ugandans have sought safety and asylum in various countries, but never in such numbers or with such a high degree ofvisibility as following the passage of the Anti-Homosexuality Act in December 2013. When reports of LGBT Ugandans seeking refuge in Kenya began to surface in the months following, many international donors and LGBT activists in the region felt at a loss for how to respond. Stories of LGBT Ugandans in the Kakuma refugee camp and Nairobi highlighted difficult living conditions, harassment, arrests and violence. Refugee service providers, including the United Nations High Commissionerfor Refugees (UNHCR), struggled to respond to the unexpected influx, one that coincided with agovernment crackdown on refugees in Kenya. It seemed that the Ugandans had left one hostile and insecure environment for another, yet the numbers continued to grow. Instead of slowing, following the Anti-Homosexuality Act's nullification in August 2014, the stream of asylum seekers from Uganda continued and even increased.Donors and activists alike felt that they lacked the full picture of what was occurring, why, and what the range of possible and appropriate interventions could be. This research sought to gain a greater understanding of the LGBT Ugandans who fled their country following the bill's passage, to determine (to the extent possible) their numbers and characteristics, and to capture some of their experiences of asylum seeking. It examines the constellation and interaction of push and pull factors underlying this unprecedented outflow. It also looks at the impacts of this migration on service providers, pre-existing refugee communities, LGBT led organizations and the LGBT rights movements in Uganda and Kenya.The research engaged more than 100 respondents from a broad cross-section of stakeholders. These included LGBT Ugandan asylum seekers in Kenya and abroad; LGBT-led organizations in Uganda, Kenya and the Ugandan diaspora; organizations focused on legal aid, protection and security, and refugee service provision; UNHCR in Kenya; international funders and other actors providing emergency assistance.It is important to note that this is not an exhaustiv eexamination of all the contexts in which LGBT Ugandans are seeking refuge. Because the greatest number of LGBT Ugandan forced migrants appears to have sought safety in Kenya, much ofthe research focused there. Many individuals have fled to other places, particularly in North America and Europe, and some limited information on these situations has been integrated into the report.The findings of the research are intended to inform the individuals and organizations who have been responding or wish to respond to this complex situation; to help strengthen protection mechanisms within Uganda and Kenya; and to support proactive and sustainable interventions to address LGBT forced migration. While the recommendations are focused on the situation related to Uganda, it is hoped that they have relevance to the region more broadly and wherever similar situations may arise

La respuesta a las migraciones forzadas del colectivo LGBT en África Oriental

Cientos de miembros del colectivo LGBT huyeron a Kenia en busca de seguridad tras la aprobación en Uganda de la Ley contra la Homosexualidad en diciembre de 2013. Es necesario llevar a cabo diversas intervenciones en Uganda y en Kenia para responder de forma efectiva

We Are Real: The Growing Movement Advancing the Rights of Intersex People

Intersex issues lie at the intersection of many human rights concerns. If your work touches on health rights, sexual and reproductive rights, social justice or civil rights, it is connected to the human rights of intersex people. If you are focused on the human rights of women, children, people with disabilities or LGBT people, you are already working on the issues that concern intersex people. It's time to explicitly recognize these connections and support intersex activists' struggles to affirm their rights

Hierarchical control of complex manufacturing processes

The need for changing the control objective during the process has been reported in many systems in manufacturing, robotics, etc. However, not many works have been devoted to systematically investigating the proper strategies for these types of problems. In this dissertation, two approaches to such problems have been suggested for fast varying systems. The first approach, addresses problems where some of the objectives are statically related to the states of the systems. Hierarchical Optimal Control was proposed to simplify the nonlinearity caused by adding the statically related objectives into control problem. The proposed method was implemented for contour-position control of motion systems as well as force-position control of end milling processes. It was shown for a motion control system, when contour tracking is important, the controller can reduce the contour error even when the axial control signals are saturating. Also, for end milling processes it was shown that during machining sharp edges where, excessive cutting forces can cause tool breakage, by using the proposed controller, force can be bounded without sacrificing the position tracking performance. The second approach that was proposed (Hierarchical Model Predictive Control), addressed the problems where all the objectives are dynamically related. In this method neural network approximation methods were used to convert a nonlinear optimization problem into an explicit form which is feasible for real time implementation. This method was implemented for force-velocity control of ram based freeform extrusion fabrication of ceramics. Excellent extrusion results were achieved with the proposed method showing excellent performance for different changes in control objective during the process --Abstract, page iv

The Effectiveness of Schema Therapy- based Training on Generalized Anxiety, Intolerance of Uncertainty and Cognitive Distortion in University Students

Background: Mental health experts have examined the effect of schema therapy on a wide range of disorders. Identification of factors effective on the psychological and physical health of individuals, especially students, is important. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of training based on schema therapy on generalized anxiety, intolerance of uncertainty and cognitive distortion in university students. Methods: The method of this research was quasi-experimental with pretest-posttest and control group. The study population included all students in Islamic Azad University, West Tehran Branch. 30 students were selected and randomly divided into 2 groups of control (N=15) and experiment (N=15). Then, schema therapy-based training was performed as the intervention. Data gathering tools were the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale, Intolerance of Uncertainty Questionnaire and Interpersonal Cognitive Distortions Scale. Descriptive statistics (mean & standard deviation) and t-test were used for data analyses. Results: After schema therapy training, there was a significant difference (P<0.01) between the two groups in mean of generalized anxiety, intolerance of uncertainty and its components (self-referential implications and unfair and corrosive properties) and cognitive distortions and its components (interpersonal rejection, unrealistic expectation and misunderstanding in interpersonal communication). Conclusion: Schema Therapy-based training can serve as an effective approach to improve generalized anxiety, intolerance of uncertainty and cognitive distortion in students

Meet the Moment: A Call for Progressive Philanthropic Response to the Anti-Gender Movement

In early 2020, Global Philanthropy Project worked with our member organizations and philanthropic partners to develop two related pieces of private research: 1) a report mapping the funding of the global "anti-gender ideology" or "anti-gender" movement, and 2) a report mapping the progressive philanthropic response. We offer the following public document in order to share key learning and to offer additional analysis gained in the comparison of the two reports. Additionally, we share insights based on comparing global and regional LGBTI funding data as documented in the 2017-2018 Global Resources Report: Government and Philanthropic Support for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex Communities.These findings offer a clear call to action: progressive movements and their philanthropic partners are being outspent by hundreds of millions of dollars each year, and the institutions providing that opposition funding have developed sophisticated and coordinated systems to learn, co-fund, and expand their influence. The philanthropic community is called to recognize the scale of the fight and to be both rigorous and creative in our response. Let us seize this remarkable opportunity to work together and engage our collective learning, spending power, and institutional knowledge to help transform the conditions of our communities. Together we can leverage the collective power that this generational crisis demands.

Instrument development to measure critical care nursing values and behaviors when providing end-of-life care

Background and Purpose: Although critical care nurses are expected to focus on life sustaining measures, many intensive care patients receive end-of-life care. The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument to measure nursing values and behaviors when providing end-of-life care. Methods: This study consisted of three phases. Phase I consisted of item development from a content analysis of the literature and qualitative interviews. Phase II consisted of content validity assessment and pilot testing and Phase III consisted of field testing, factor analysis, and reliability estimation. Results: Participants in all three phases were critical care nurses employed throughout the U.S. Items generated in Phase I were evaluated in Phase II by content experts (n = 8) and pilot participants (n = 12).Two instruments were the result of the first two phases. In Phase III, the Values of Intensive Care Nurses for End-of-Life (INTEL-Values) was subjected to an exploratory factor analysis (n = 695). A four factor model was selected --- Self-appraisal, Appraisal of Others, Emotional Strain, and Moral Distress. Individual item alphas were acceptable at .59 - .78, but the inter-item (.12 - .78) and item total correlations (.31 - .48) were often low. Reliability testing over a two week period yielded low Kappa values (.05 - .30) although the Pearson's correlations (.68 - .81) and intra-class correlation coefficients were high (.65-.79). The Behaviors of Intensive Care Nurses for End-of-Life (INTEL-Behaviors) was also examined through a factor analysis (n = 682). A two factor model was selected --- Communication and Nursing Tasks. Individual item alphas were acceptable (.67 and .78), but the inter-item (.20 - .35) and item total correlations (.30 - .61) were also often low. Reliability testing produced low Kappa values (.02 - .40) but high Pearson and intra-class correlations (.77 - .81). Conclusions: The INTEL-Values was problematic in terms of item to item correlations and test-retest reliability. This might be partially attributable to the recognized difficulty in measuring attitudes. The INTEL-Behaviors had higher factor loadings, possibly because behaviors are more concrete. Future work will consist of continued refinement of the instruments and construct validity testing