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Statelessness, Trauma and Mental Wellbeing: Implications for Practice, Research, and Advocacy
Get PDFIn 2016, the UNHCR estimated that about 10 million people, globally, were stateless. The issue of statelessness is inextricably linked to the psychosocial wellness and is a crucial mental health factor to consider in the holistic care, protection of stateless persons. There is a dearth of research examining the mental health implications for stateless persons and their exposure to multiple and ongoing rights violations. In addition, there is limited literature on the mental health impacts of statelessness. This paper describes the systematic human rights violations as linked to statelessness and how these contribute to individual trauma and stress – subsequently affecting wellbeing. The paper utilises a trauma-focused approach in understanding statelessness and presents a novel contribution to the research, advocacy and practice interventions addressing statelessness especially when drawing on the link between trauma and systemic rights violations.
Findings from the document study reveal statelessness-linked stressors. Historic systematic human rights violations, traumatic events and situations, and previous and daily stressors become mental health burdens and challenges for those experiencing statelessness. Service providers working with stateless persons should be aware of the impact of statelessness on mental health and should refer cases to mental health practitioners who can provide services that reduce socio-emotional distress whilst strengthening resilience and coping strategies. The findings emphasize the promotion of stateless persons psychosocial wellbeing – looking at both curative and preventative strategies, towards the establishment of just and inclusive societies
Statelessness in Protracted Refugee Situations: Former Angolan and Rwandan Refugees in Zambia
Get PDFAmong migrant populations, refugees form one group that is at high risk of becoming stateless. As those responsible for their wellbeing seek to find durable solutions to their plight, identity documents play a critical role. Without proper identity documents, former refugees are at risk of becoming stateless and face many difficulties in accessing various livelihood opportunities including employment, and services such as health care and education. However, acquiring these documents is sometimes wrought with many challenges including administrative, financial and legal challenges. Legal challenges largely arise from the lack of a comprehensive and coordinated approach of how to deal with such cases especially in states that operate outside the UN Conventions on statelessness. Using case studies of former Angolan and Rwandan refugees in Zambia, I argue that in the absence of a clear guiding framework as provided under the UN Conventions provide, former refugees are at risk of becoming stateless even when they are hosted under very hospitable conditions
South-South Cross-Border Marriage Between Chinese Men and Ethiopian Women
Get PDFThis article develops an ideal type of South-South cross-border marriage. Based on an eight-month multi-sited ethnography in Ethiopia and China, I identified an unusual conjuncture of global forces, connections, and imaginations that facilitated cross-border marriages between Chinese men and local women in Ethiopia, which should be considered a novel ideal type. Its theoretical novelty is not only defined by the unique dynamics among Sino-Ethiopian spouses vis-à-vis the “segregated” Chinese documented in existing studies but also by these marriages’ distinct formation mechanisms. Sino-Ethiopian marriage is not formed due to China being an attractive destination but is associated with China’s incompatible hard and soft power as forces, Chinese factories and accumulated Sino-Ethiopian social networks in local communities as connections, and localized imaginations. Furthermore, this study calls for a paradigm shift in examining cross-border marriages between a developing South and a rising South in this dramatically changing global capitalist world system
Higher Education Policy and Access for South Sudanese from Bidi Bidi, Uganda
No full textGlobally, refugee-hosting states are required to have a higher education (HE) policy that incorporates refugees, in order to raise refugees’ HE access to 15% by 2030. This paper explores the influence of HE policy formulation and implementation on refugee access and resilience among South Sudanese from the Bidi Bidi settlement in Uganda. The study adopted a qualitative approach, an exploratory case study design, and an advocacy world view. The researcher collected data from 27 participants– 12 undergraduates from two private Ugandan universities, 13 government and non-governmental organization (NGO) officials, two officials from public and private universities – all involved in refugee education. Additionally, the researcher obtained data through a literature review, in-depth interviews with key informants and students, and a focus group discussion. The findings reveal that in principle, HE policy formulation in Uganda is incorporated in the development of the Education Response Plan (ERP) for refugees and host communities, through a multi-stakeholder approach. However, neither students nor higher education institutions (HEIs) were part of the ERP formulation process. The HE policy formulation process in Uganda traverses a value chain with intersecting complexities. These include: supra-state and national policy, refugee demographics, preferences for basic education and emergency interventions, negative perceptions of HE returns, hostility and refugee exclusion, and students’ personal challenges. Relatedly, support for refugees is largely provided by HEIs and NGOs, using silo, independent guidelines. Ultimately, the findings indicate that the HE policy formulation and implementation do not address the intersecting complexities adequately, with implications for student access and resilience. This study identifies areas that could inform HE policy formulation and implementation, and enhance refugee access and resilience, especially in light of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR) 15by30 Roadmap
DORA NKEM AKUNYILI (1954-2014): A PRINCIPLED ANTI-CORRUPTION WARRIOR
Get PDFThis paper argues that corruption remains one of the major social evils plaguing the Nigerian nation. The country faces also a range of other socio-economic and infrastructure problems which citizens complain about almost daily. However, the vice of corruption reigns supreme, jeopardising the very foundations of the state. Some ethicists argue that corruption has manifested itself as a universal phenomenon, one which stifles the economy and impedes Nigeria’s progress towards attainment of the Millennium Developmental Goals, let alone the present Millennium Sustainable Goals. Nigeria’s anti-corruption bodies seem incapable of stopping what many have described as the “Nigerian factor” or the “Nigerian way”. This article submits that, notwithstanding this depressing state of affairs, there is a glimmer of hope that public trust is redeemable, especially when having regard to the ethical values that marked the public life of Dora Nkem Akunyili, the erstwhile Nigerian academic and civil servant. It analyses the role she played in the Federal Government of Nigeria, in particular from an ethical perspective. In spite of her human weaknesses, it lauds her exemplary conduct as a crusader to implement anti-corruption international best-practice in Nigeria
Corruption in Kenya during the Covid-19 pandemic and the right to health: Lessons learnt and future prospects
Get PDFKenya has made positive strides in fighting corruption through signing and ratifying the United Nations Convention Against Corruption and the African Union Convention on Prevention and Combating Corruption. These Conventions oblige Kenya to take measures to prevent and criminalise corruption and related offences. In addition, Kenya has enacted vast anti-corruption laws and established independent agencies like: the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations. These agencies play a role in investigating and prosecuting allegations of corruption with the aim of preventing and punishing corruption, and enforcing the anti-corruption laws
THE THREAT OF TRADE-BASED MONEY LAUNDERING TO THE AFRICAN CONTINENTAL FREE TRADE AREA*
Get PDFAfrica has dedicated considerable effort to establishing a Continental Free Trade Area to facilitate intra-African trade and deepen economic integration. However, the liberalisation and facilitation of trade on the continent would increase trade openness significantly in the markets for goods and services, thereby expanding the threat of trade-based money laundering (TBML) and undermining the potential benefits the agreement would bring to economic growth, industrialisation and sustainable development in Africa. This paper focuses on the threat of TBML to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), typically perpetrated through trade mis-invoicing as the main vehicle for illicit financial flows. It deduces that increases in the volume of trade across the continent potentially increase the vulnerability of the AfCFTA to TBML
CYBERCRIMINALS AND NIGERIAN CYBERCRIMES ACT 2015: CONCEPTUALISING COMPUTERS FOR CYBERCRIME JUSTICE
Get PDFCybercrime being an act committed through the use of the computer either as a tool or target makes the computer an indispensable tool for almost all cybercrimes. The increasing number of persons utilizing computers, the different purposes for which they are put, coupled with the intractable problems of defining what is and what is not a computer under the Nigerian Cybercrimes Act 2015 is central to the determination of guilt or otherwise of cybercriminals brought before the court for prosecution. The conceptualization of computers under the Nigerian Cybercrimes Act 2015 provides the trial judge with so much discretion and little or no guidanceas to whether a particular device is, or is not a computer. Moreover, considering the development of information and communication technology, the concept is continuously challenged