Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Dignity Takings In Leviathanic Immigration Proceedings, Christopher Mendez

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Current immigration law in the United States is rife with racially motivated biases necessitating immediate correction. Among the many problems with current law, constitutional rights are withheld from a large populace. This article reflects upon the history of immigration law in the United States, noting key decisions which have formed the status quo. This article also proposes remedies such as the cessation of infringement by government agents on the property rights that affected immigrants have on their own bodies and a modern-day amnesty reflective of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. This article also introduces Bernadette Atuahene’s concept …

Ensuring Victims’ Rights And Inspiring Hope Through Community Collaboration, Evelyn Rodriguez Martinez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Numerous crime victims who qualify for Victim Witness Assistance Program services through the San Benito County District Attorney's office are not accessing the resources. Research done to support this project revealed that countless crime victims did not utilize the services offered by the program during the time of their victimization. The project conducted was an outreach presentation, which included all the services provided by the Victim Witness Assistance Program, victims’ legal rights, and the qualifications for the California Victim Compensation Board. The outreach presentation was developed to increase awareness of victims’ rights and the Victim Witness Assistance Program to community …

Refugee Resettlement In The U.S.: The Hidden Realities Of The U.S. Refugee Integration Process, Bienvenue Konsimbo

Master of Science in Conflict Management Final Projects

From the 1946 to the 1980 Act, more than two million refugees have resettled in the U.S. (Eby, Iverson, Smyers, & Kekic, 2011p.). This has made the U.S. the largest of the 10 resettlement countries (Xu, 2007, p. 38). The U.S. department of state (DOS)’ hope is to give “the refugee a leg up on their journey to self-sufficiency” (Darrow, 2015, p. 92). For these millions of refugees, their expectations are to find “employment, education, to provide a better environment for their children, and to integrate into the community” (Xu, 2007p.38).

However, this pre-package deal is not without repercussions or …

European Union Integration And National Self-Determination, Mare Ushkovska

New England Journal of Public Policy

Recent demands for secession in several EU member states bring the issue of self-determination to the forefront of the debate about the future of the European Union. This article explores the European Union’s attitudes toward the international right to self-determination in the context of the rising salience of the greater political union between member states. The focus of the European project, in direct contrast to the glorification of nationhood, is on consensual decision-making rather than sovereignty, making self-determination obsolete in a reality of EU integration. This research finds that recognition of, or references to, the right to self-determination of peoples …

Communicative Justice And Reconciliation In Canada, Alice Neeson

New England Journal of Public Policy

Communicative justice co-exists with other dimensions of justice and emphasizes the importance of fair communicative practices, particularly after periods of direct or structural violence. While intercultural dialogue is often assumed to be a positive, or even necessary, part of reconciliation processes, there are questions to be asked about the ethicality of dialogue when one voice has been silenced, misrepresented, and ignored for decades. This article draws on twelve months of ethnographic research with reconciliation activists and organizations in Canada and considers the potential for communicative flows to help compensate for structural inequalities during processes of reconciliation.

Self-Determination And Psychological Adaptation In Forcibly Displaced People, Numan Turan, Bediha İpekçi, Mehmet Yalçın Yılmaz

New England Journal of Public Policy

According to the UN Refugee Agency, as of 2018 approximately 70 million people were forcibly displaced because of intrastate and interstate conflicts. A majority of those people endured significant hardships, and a consensus is growing among researchers that forcibly displaced people have gone through potentially traumatic experiences that challenge their well-being and health. Consequently, a large amount of research focuses on their mental health concerns, whereas research focusing on their will to normalize their lives and grow after a traumatic migration is scarce. In this article, we highlight the efforts by forcibly displaced people to normalize their lives, pointing out …

Climate Change And Human Rights: Shaping The Narrative For Reflexive Responses From Civilization’S Leadership To Counter And Abate Climate Change And Enhance The Role Of Human Rights In The Rule Of Law, Michael Donlan

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article offers a bold new legal process for enhancing and upgrading the rule of law to enable civilization to cope with and counter the mounting damage and injustice caused by climate change. Climate change, once an unimaginable threat, is now a brutal, ubiquitous game changer that is leading inexorably to the demise of all humanity. Only by enhancing the rule of law and melding international law with domestic law can civilization fashion a coherent, global action plan for survival.

For almost three centuries greenhouse gases have been emitted around the world by the burning of fossil fuel, and—most alarming—these …

Prevention And Protection Interventions For Stateless Non-Refugee And Force Displaced Children, Tanya Herring

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article advances a general theory of law and justice that would expand the Palermo Trafficking and Smuggling Protocols to a wider application in human rights jurisprudence. The aim of the research reported here is to close the gaps in member-state policy and scholarship that addresses prevention measures and protection mechanisms for forcibly displaced children seeking self-determination in states that have not ratified the UN Convention on Refugees and the UN Conventions on Statelessness. The research is based on the premise that a stateless nonrefugee status constructs an extremely vulnerable state for children during forced migration and when they are …

Language, Indigenous Peoples, And The Right To Self-Determination, Noelle Higgins, Gerard Maguire

New England Journal of Public Policy

Language has always played a significant role in the colonization of peoples as an instrument of subjugation and homogenization. It has been used to control nondominant groups, including Indigenous peoples, often leading to their exclusion or assimilation. Many Indigenous groups, however, use language as a tool to connect the members of their community, to assert their group identity, and to preserve their culture. Thus, language has been used both as a means of oppression and as a mobilizer of Indigenous groups in their struggles for national recognition. Recognizing the significance of language in the identity and culture of Indigenous peoples, …

Editor’S Note, Padraig O’Malley

New England Journal of Public Policy

The articles in this issue of the New England Journal of Public Policy have their origins in presentations at a Chatham House conference titled “Rethinking Self-Determination,” February 2019, hosted by the International Communities Organization and the journal.

Among the many aspects of self-determination they address: the elasticity of the concept as a human right in the context of “peoples” (Freeman); individual rights versus collective self-determination (Summers); Biafra as an early case of internal self-determination—the territorial integrity of the state and the right of secession when “the right of a people to participate in the decision-making processes of a country is …

The Right To Self-Determination: Philosophical And Legal Perspectives, Michael Freeman

New England Journal of Public Policy

Why do we need to rethink self-determination? In this article I argue that self-determination is a necessary feature of the human condition and a human right but that it is in part illusory and is potentially dangerous. We need to rethink self-determination because our collective thinking has been very confused, and bad thinking about self-determination costs many lives.

Finding Foreign Friends: National Self-Determination And Related Norms As Strategic Resources During The Biafran War For Independence, 1967–1970, Christopher Brucker

New England Journal of Public Policy

The study analyzes how the government of the Republic of Biafra used international norms to win foreign support during its 1967–1970 campaign to secede from Nigeria. Secession conflicts occur at the intersection of international and domestic politics. For independence movements, support from outside is crucial. But, as Bridget Coggins has asked, how can secession movements find “friends in high places”? International support for unilateral secession attempts is strictly prohibited. Domestic and international asymmetry are limiting secessionist foreign policy instruments to intangible means. Legitimacy is a central concept to illuminate the phenomenon. In international politics, legitimacy depends on the external perception …

Foreword, James Holmes

New England Journal of Public Policy

The International Communities Organisation (ICO) is a self-determination research and innovation center and a not-for-profit organization based in London. Guided by its vision of self-determination and the values of development and human rights, ICO aims to empower communities. It strives to foster an environment where organizations within these communities can overcome the barriers they face, allowing them to fulfill their potential and develop and create positive change for their local communities through local action, collaboration, and decision making.

To enhance our vision and our credibility as an international organization that works for peoples, we organized the February 2019 London conference …

The Right Of Peoples To Self-Determination In Article 1 Of The Human Rights Covenants As A Claimable Right, James Summers

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article looks at the potential for individual communications under common article 1 of the Human Rights Covenants, in particular, under the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. It first outlines the problems posed by the drafting of common article 1, in particular, the identity of peoples. It then considers how individuals might be able to claim peoples’ rights through representation and the collectivization of individual rights.

Raising Indigenous Women’S Voices For Equal Rights And Self-Determination, Grazia Redolfi, Nikoletta Pikramenou, Rosario Grimà Algora

New England Journal of Public Policy

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples states that the right to self-determination for Indigenous peoples involves their having the right to freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social, and cultural development. The implementation of this right is linked to the ability and freedom to participate in any decision making that relates to their development. Current laws and practices are considered “unfair to women,” because they sustain traditional and customary patriarchal attitudes that marginalize Indigenous women and exclude them from decision-making tables and leadership roles. Despite the many challenges Indigenous women face in …

Critical Reviews Of Flawed Research On Prostitution, Donna M. Hughes

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Indonesian Term Of Address Ustad In Film Utterances: Forms, Functions, And Social Values, Sandy Nugraha, Wiwin Triwinarti

International Review of Humanities Studies

This study analyzes the term of address ustad in Indonesian culture. Indonesia’s religious-themed movies may represent the use of the term of address ustad in daily conversation. In particular, this study aims to describe the patterns of form, the patterns of use, and the social values of the term of address ustad in film utterances. The data of the term of address ustad and its contexts are collected from the utterances in Indonesia’s four Islamic-themed movies. This descriptive qualitative study uses sociopragmatics approach in identifying the functions of the term of address in film discourse. The context of the utterances …

Qualitative Methods In Human Rights Research, Brian K. Gran Phd

Societies Without Borders

No abstract provided.

Introduction: Qualitative Methods In Human Rights Research, Lacey Caporale

Societies Without Borders

No abstract provided.

Living On The Border: Three Generations' Biographies, Ana Kralj Phd, Tanja Rener Phd

Societies Without Borders

Borders of nation states are the embodiment of junction between system and lifeworld. They manifest the translation of social into physical spaces and vice versa. The authors reflect the meaning of distinctions and oppositions (us and them, here and there, safety and danger, included and excluded etc.) in construction, maintenance and disappearance of boundaries in space. In the case of borders of nation states the distinctions are identified within and grounded solely upon the political sphere, the same sphere that needs borders and distinctions in order to constitute itself. A qualitative study about the experience and meaning of Yugoslav-Slovenian-Italian border …

#Reclaimingmytime: Black Women And Femme Movement Actors’ Experiences With Intra-Movement Conflicts And The Case For A Transformative Healing Justice Model, Shaneda Destine Phd

Societies Without Borders

This research utilizes focus groups to evaluate the intra-movement conflicts and political praxis of Black women and femme movement actors in the United States as a case for implementing a Transformational Healing Justice Model (THJM). Black women and femmes are used in this study to explain the gender expressions, identities and sexual orientations presented in this study. This model expands the Consciousness Vision and Strategy Model (CVS) by incorporating the implications of the #Sayhername Policy Booklet, the Movement for Black Lives Platform (2016), and the United States Social Forum Healing Justice Report (2014) -- to outline how Black women and …

Zero Tolerance And The Impossibilities Of Discipline--Findings From The Field, Anne Scheer Phd

Societies Without Borders

At School James, a high-poverty, high-minority inner-city elementary school in the Midwestern United States, a highly detailed system of rules and punishments is supposed to control students. The official rationale underlying this system of zero-tolerance discipline is to create environments conducive to learning. In practice, however, the meticulous system of rules, rewards, and punishments fails to achieve the desired levels of control and the realities at the school are dominated by disorder. My research sought to explain this failure and explore the consequences it has for this already marginalized student population. The present article outlines how the design of the …

Thinking Globall, Acting Locally: Cedaw And Women's Human Rights In San Francisco, Susan Hagood Lee Phd

Societies Without Borders

While the United States has ratified many of the international human rights treaties, some have been left languishing in the Senate including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). In response to Senate failure to ratify the women's treaty, the city of San Francisco passed its own CEDAW ordinance in 1998 to implement the principles of women's human rights in its jurisdiction. Several factors contributed to the successful passage of the CEDAW ordinance, including a sturdy base of feminist institutions developed over three decades of women's activism, determined leadership with the commitment, skills, and …

Stories Of Syrian Refugees From Za'atari-The Second Largest Refugee Camp In The World: A Review Of Salam Neighbor, Christine A. Wernet Phd

Societies Without Borders

Salam Neighbor is a moving documentary which explores the human rights issues plaguing Syrian refugees. Two young film makers, Zach Ingrasci and Chris Temple, immerse themselves in Za’atari, the second largest refugee camp in the world, located just across the Syrian border in Jordan and home to over 85,000 refugees. They provide the viewer with an inside understanding of how refugee camps work and they humanize Muslim refugees. They are warmly welcomed into the camp and they are befriended by refugees like Ismail, Raouf, and Ghoussoon. The despair and vulnerability of these individuals who have chosen peace over war is …

Revisiting The Role Of Education In Global Society: Relevance Of The Concept Of “Value Generalization” In An Educational Context, Matteo Tracchi Phd

Societies Without Borders

Interpreting global society through the morphogenetic approach, the article looks at education as one of the dimensions of social change brought about by the plural process of globalization. The role and vision of education will therefore be questioned to finally claim that education has to be revisited in culturally diverse and complex global societies. Necessary steps include moving from a market- to a human-centred approach to education and taking the paradigm of human rights as the universal point of departure. Indeed, framing the concept of “value generalization” (Joas 2013) within an educational context, the paper argues that human rights should …

Diminishing Global Power, Downgrading Human Rights: Making Sense Of American Foreign Policy Under Donald Trump, Timothy M. Gill Phd

Societies Without Borders

Scholars have remained puzzled about the direction that President Donald Trump might take the U.S. at the global level. Throughout his campaign, Trump often articulated contradictory ideas concerning his foreign policy approach. Trump evidenced warmth towards authoritarian leaders in Eastern Europe, but condemned them in Latin America. The purpose of this paper is to make sense of Trump’s foreign policy approach, and its novelties and continuities, by putting his administration into comparative-historical focus alongside Bush II and Obama. I analyze their foreign policy approach by using Michael Mann’s IEMP model of power to draw out their distinctive qualities. Similar to …

Toward A Human Rights Impact Assessment Tool, Mona Younis

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Human rights organizations are increasingly questioned about impact, which is particularly challenging for overextended and under-resourced groups that tackle complex issues requiring a long view to be achieved. They would greatly benefit from a manageable assessment tool to capture how well they are doing on key dimensions that are essential for that long-view impact. Building on my experience with the Ford Foundation’s Organizational Mapping Tool designed to assess organizational capacity, I propose to develop a tool to assess human rights impact.

The tool will enable any human rights organization to assess how it is doing in areas that are essential …

Rehumanization Among Veterans Of The Yugoslav Wars: Rethinking Reconciliation And Post-Conflict Justice, Jordan N. Kiper

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Rehumanization is a central element in powerful social movements after war. Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork in the Balkans, I consider the convergence and divergence between notions of rehumanization found in human rights literature and the role of rehumanization among veterans in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia. Rehumanization plays a prominent role among these veterans because of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which has had varied social effects on Balkan communities. By supporting the ICTY, veteran associations have vetted themselves of potential war criminals, and thereby developed overlapping justice discourses that converge on the notion of reconciliation. There are …

“Water Is A Human Right”: Exploring The Paradox Of Framing Water As A Human Right In A Hostile Political Climate, Sabrina Kozikis

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Many communities across the United States experience challenges in accessing clean and affordable water. In response, civil society and grassroots organizations are using a human rights framework to advocate for safe and affordable services for all. This is a curious trend, given that the United States is a country in which human rights, specifically socio-economic rights, are not recognized as relevant for domestic policy and even met with hostility. This study explores this tension: why do civil society actors, grassroots organizers, and national level advocates in the United States use a human rights framework to advocate for access to clean …

How Can Human Rights Activism Help Tackle Economic Inequality? Lessons From Mining Affected Communities In South Africa, Allison Corkery

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

The dramatic rise in socioeconomic inequality produced by neoliberal globalisation has provoked a crisis of confidence in the human rights community and inspired a wave of debate about whether human rights have anything meaningful to offer in advancing economic justice. The pessimistic view argues human rights are inadequate for challenging socioeconomic inequality because they are too closely aligned to Western liberalism and too uncritical of the rise of capitalism. The more optimistic view does not dismiss these critiques entirely. It argues that they are only valid for particular (arguably dominant) types of human rights praxis, however. Failing to acknowledge this …