Inequality of opportunity: the plight of foreign workers in South Africa

Migration can be a hazardous venture, particularly if carried out clandestinely. Evidence indicates that foreigners working without formal authorisation, i.e. 'irregular migrant workers', are in a particularly vulnerable position primarily because of their irregular immigration status. They are more likely to be subjected to exploitative and unsafe employment practices in terms of benefits and conditions. This study examines the protection available to this category of migrant workers in South Africa, particularly their right of access to work-related social protection. South Africa is a major migrant-receiving country in Southern Africa because of its relatively stronger economy and political stability. However, the employment of foreign nationals without work permits, or foreigners working contrary to visa requirements, raises a series of policy issues. These issues, against the background of fairness and equity discourses pertaining to socio-economic entitlements, become exacerbated. This study examines the adequacy of domestic, constitutional and legislative frameworks that offer work-related social protection to foreign workers in South Africa. In the context of international, continental, and regional instruments that provide similar protection to irregular migrants, it could be argued that South Africa's restrictive legislative framework compromises equality in the right of access to social protection for some migrants. Although effective migration management depends on careful juxtaposition of myriad policies, emerging evidence suggests conflicting interplay between key South African policies intended to manage the rights of workers specifically and labour migration in the country generally. Critical analysis of relevant national immigration, labour, and social security laws indicates inconsistency with international human rights principles concerning the equality of opportunity or treatment of irregular migrants vis-àvis regular migrants and nationals regarding social protection. Yet, inequalities in the actual processes or opportunities (means) embedded in these policies disentitle many vulnerable foreign workers from important constitutionally entrenched fundamental rights because their presence and/or employment violates existing immigration laws. The study concludes by recommending policy interventions that may help remedy these problems

Safeguarding the illegal rethinking the interface between labour and immigration laws

Includes bibliographical references.The rendering of work by foreigners without the authorization to work is a contentious issue in South Africa. South Africa possesses one of the most progressive Constitutions, yet many are left at the fringes of the economy with little protection. Despite constitutional entrenchment of fundamental labour rights, many well-deserving workers are disentitled from important labour protections because their employment contract violates immigration laws. Unauthorized workers are formally excluded from access to certain legal institutions and economic benefits as most of the protective labour laws are centred on an existing employer-employee relationship

Experiences of Nonincarcerated African American Male Youth With an Incarcerated Male Sibling

Approximately half of all incarcerated individuals in the United States are young African American men. Researchers have documented that nonincarcerated siblings may commit a crime when their sibling is in prison. The current study addressed literature regarding the experiences, and coping strategies of nonincarcerated young African American men who live in the inner city, and have a male sibling in prison. Guided by Bronfenbrenner\u27s ecological systems theory, this interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) study explored the lived experiences and coping strategies of African American male youth with a brother in incarceration. Purposive sampling was used to select 3 nonincarcerated African American young men aged 18 to 24 years living in the inner city of a large city in southern Connecticut for in-depth interviews. Overall findings showed that while having an incarcerated sibling was a profoundly negative experience for study participants, and their families, the study participants also developed some positive coping strategies as a result of their experiences. These results could help policymakers, social workers, counselors, and criminal justice professionals understand the impacts of sibling incarceration, and learn how to deal more effectively with youth affected by it.

V5: Coordination and Change

The Coordination Project V5 will ensure coherence amongst the other 4 Volta BDC Projects, manage their interdependence and data protocols in such a way to allow smooth running of the program and also monitor and evaluate the quality of research outputs. Through communication strategies to be developed, V5 will assist in linking projects with policy makers and other stakeholders to create opportunities that will enrich the research process and subsequently the uptake of research output

Analysis of smartphone model identification using digital images

This paper is focused on smartphone model identification using image features. A total of 64 image features - broadly categorized into colour features, wavelet features and image quality features - are extracted from high-resolution smartphone images. A binary-class turned to multiclass support vector machine (SVM) is used as the classifier. Experimental results based on 1800 images captured with 10 different smartphone/tablet devices are promising in correctly identifying source smartphone model. Image quality metrics and wavelet features are shown to contain the most useful device/model information compared to colour features. However, compared to colour features, quality and wavelet features are highly sensitive to simple image modifications. The combined set of colour, quality and wavelet features achieves the overall best identification accuracy

African American Women in New York State Who Overcame Barriers to Become Superintendents of Schools

African American women educators who possess the leadership characteristics to become superintendents of schools in New York State are not rising to top positions at the same rate as women of other racial and ethnic groups. There is limited research on the barriers and challenges experienced by African American women as well as the strategies that aided in their maintenance of the position. This phenomenological qualitative research study examined the perceptions of African American women who successfully obtained the position of superintendents of schools in New York State at suburban public schools, the barriers and challenges they overcame, and the strategies that made them successful. The findings aimed to highlight the barriers, the challenges, and the strategies as well as to offer recommendations to school boards and educational institutions to aid in increasing the numbers of African American women superintendents of schools in order to ensure a more diverse workforce

Design and Implementation of a Cloud Based Decentralized Cryptocurrency Transaction Platform

Trading in the crypto-currency market has seen rapid growth and adoption, as well as the interest in crypto related technologies like blockchain and smart contracts. Smart contracts have gained popularity in building so called Decentralized Applications (dApps) and Decentralized Finance (DeFi) apps, mainly because they are more secure, trustworthy, and largely distributed (removes centralized control). DeFi applications run on the blockchain technology and are secured by blocks (nodes) connected by cryptographical hash links. DeFi applications have a great potential in the crypto-currency trading domain, providing more secure and reliable means of trading, and performing transactions with crypto-currencies. Only verified transactions are added to the blockchain after being approved by miners through a consensus mechanism and then it is replicated (distributed) among the nodes on the blockchain network. This research paper proposes a DeFi Crypto Exchange by integrating a numerous-signature stamp with a crypto API. A numerous-signature stamp solves the issue of transaction verifiability and authenticity. A crypto API provides the data about each crypto currency with which trades and transactions will be performed. This paper also discusses the technical background of the technology and a few related works. Decentralization of transactions through smart contracts on the blockchain will improve trust, security and reliability of transactions and trades

Trace Metal Concentrations in Commercially Important Fishes from some Coastal and Inland Waters in Ghana

An assessment was conducted on the concentrations of zinc, copper, manganese, iron, lead and cadmium in 10 different fish species caught from some coastal and inland waters in Ghana, as part of a project on monitoring of pollution in water bodies in Ghana. Shellfish species (Egeria paradoxa galanata and Atya gabonensis) caught from inland waters had higher elemental concentrations than those caught from coastal waters. Mean concentrations of Fe and Mn were higher in E. paradoxa galanata, A. gabonensis and Trachiurus trachiurus, while Panulirus regius and Sardinella eba had higher mean concentrations of Cu. T. trachiurus, Dentex congoensis and T. ovatus had higher mean concentrations of Pb, while T. trachiurus and S. eba had higher mean concentrations of Zn. Mean Cd concentrations in the fish species were relatively low, with mean concentrations of Cynoglossus cadenati, D. congoensis and T. ovatus below detection limits. The mean concentrations of Zn, Cu, Pb and Cd for shell fishes were comparable to those obtained from previous studies in Ghana. However, they were lower than those reported in other areas of the sub-region. The mean concentrations of Zn, Cu, Pb and Cd in fin fishes were higher than those obtained from previous studies in Ghana. However, these values were comparable to those obtained from other areas in the sub-region. Compared to WHO limits, the levels of Zn, Pb, Cu and Cd in the fish species were lower, and, therefore, safe for human consumption. The study also showed that all the fish species except S. eba, Solar crumophthalmus and P. regius are safe for human consumption with respect to Zn, Cu and Fe.West African Journal of Applied Ecology Vol. 13 2008: pp. 27-3

Exploring intersections between gender-based violence and adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights in West Africa: A review of the literature produced in the sub-region

This review, commissioned by the Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC), explores the intersection between gender-based violence (GBV) and adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights (ASRHR) in the Economic Community of West African States. It is imperative to understand this intersection for research, policy, and practice purposes in a sub-region characterized by high youthful populations with significant reproductive health challenges. A mapping exercise, literature review, and gap analysis were conducted. Findings indicate that several stakeholders and organizations exist, though few are youth-led or centred. Legislation and policies are not comprehensive or necessarily enforced in a context of legal pluralism where institutions and infrastructure in place for providing services are weak. There was minimal knowledge production from the region on the GBV-ASRHR intersections, uneven attention to the issues among countries, and intersections mainly focused on female genital mutilation and child marriage. Opportunities for addressing gaps and implications for research, policy, and practice, arising from the findings are discussed.   Cette revue, commandée par le Centre canadien de recherches pour le développement international (CRDI), explore l'intersection entre la violence sexiste (VBG) et la santé et les droits sexuels et reproductifs des adolescents (ASRHR) dans la Communauté économique des États de l'Afrique de l'Ouest. Il est impératif de comprendre cette intersection à des fins de recherche, de politique et de pratique dans une sous-région caractérisée par des populations très jeunes avec des défis importants en matière de santé reproductive. Un exercice de cartographie, une revue de la littérature et une analyse des lacunes ont été menés. Les résultats indiquent qu'il existe plusieurs intervenants et organisations, bien que peu soient dirigés ou centrés sur les jeunes. La législation et les politiques ne sont pas complètes ou nécessairement appliquées dans un contexte de pluralisme juridique où les institutions et les infrastructures en place pour fournir des services sont faibles. Il y avait une production minimale de connaissances de la région sur les intersections GBV-ASRHR, une attention inégale aux problèmes entre les pays et des intersections principalement axées sur les mutilations génitales féminines et le mariage des enfants. Les opportunités de combler les lacunes et les implications pour la recherche, les politiques et la pratique, découlant des résultats sont discutées

Appraising the Use of Computer Technology in Garment Production Firms in Accra/Tema Metropolis

The main objective of the study is to investigate the activities of garment production in relation to computer technology, expose garment producers to some useful computer applications and also to sensitize them to take advantage of the advancement in Computer Technology. The findings of the study revealed the plight and burden of the garment producers. Most of the garment producers had the basic equipments that are just necessary to stay in business but not sophisticated machinery that can be used to produce to meet international standards. Three major problems confronting the garment producers were (a) inability to produce on a large scale (b) inability to produce at competitive prices and (c) inability to satisfy quality standards. Garment producers found in the Accra-Tema metropolis did not have much knowledge of computer technology, but they were delighted about the information that would relieve them of their problem of speed and productivity. Although they listed some disadvantages that may be related to CAD, the advantages outweighed the disadvantages. The study makes recommendation to incorporate computer technology in the fashion curriculum to equip students with the skills ready for the world of work. Keywords: African Growth and Opportunity Act, Computer Aided Design,