Restricting loans of money to Hong Kong civil servants: social censure or violation of human rights?

Obtaining a loan is an individual’s private business and such a right should be free from interference. However, if Government officers obtain a loan from undesirable persons, they may be lured into committing an act which they would not otherwise have done but for the favours having been shown by the lenders. Section 3 of Hong Kong’s Prevention of Bribery Ordinance attempts to limit such behaviour of Government officers. Since the power of this provision is draconian, it may possibly violate human rights. This paper attempts to use a Social Censure perspective to explain why this provision was put in place in the 1970s and why it was not repealed in the 1990s in line with the rise of human rights standards in Hong Kong. It argues that the then British colonial government used a high-hand legal code to fight against corruption in the civil service to win its legitimacy in face of the rise of Red China in the 1970s. A review of twenty-one Section 3 cases suggests that most of the loans were not distributed for mere friendship but involved a wide range of culpability. Thus the coercion generated by Section 3 was approved by the masses, resulting in the reinforcement of a draconian but efficient legal provision in the service of the colonial administration.     

New assisted reproductive technology laws in Victoria: a genuine overhaul or just cut and paste?

A new Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act was passed in Victoria on December 2008 and came into effect on 1 January 2010. The new legislation changed who was eligible for assisted reproductive technology (ART) and the types of services that clinics could provide. This article reports on interviews with service providers in Victoria who experience first hand the impact of legislation on clinical practice and patients, as well as regulators who are able to provide insight into the values underpinning the regulatory framework. The new legislation was viewed by all participants as an improvement on the old Act because of the removal of discriminatory and ambiguous aspects. The authors argue that while some of the details of the legislation have changed, the underlying principles and the framework have not.     

Evolving issues in police and immigrants’ relation in Finland: is it towards a structural interpretation?

The relation between police and immigrants has become a topic of scholarly fields of research as immigration has increased the number of new residents and people from a variety of countries and cultures into Finland. This new phenomenon has slowly changed the country to a multicultural society, thus requiring government agencies to adapt and adjust in the ways they provide services to the citizenry. Moreover, empirical research studies on minorities’ and immigrants’ perceptions of the police posit that certain factors are responsible for minorities’ lack of trust in the police. Little attention has been given to this issue in Finland. The aim of this study is to analyse and explore as well as add to the growing scholarly research on the perception and cooperation between immigrants and the police in Finland in order to address the factors that could possibly be responsible for immigrants’ lack of trust in the police. To address these issues, the study uses the experiences of 23 out of the 65 Africans whose ages range from 28 to 50+ who have resided in the country for five or more years. The findings indicate a depth of troublesome cross-cultural understanding between the participants and the police owing to differences in the policing styles in Finland and the respondents’ countries of origin. The concept of over-policing is analysed with a view to ensure the effective protection of the human rights of the participating immigrants within the country’s criminal justice system.     

Reconciliation of women’s rights and cultural practices: polygamy in Ghana

The article analyzes women’s rights and the practice of polygamy in Ghana. The various justifications given for the practice and the colonial attitude towards the practice are examined. The article focuses on how polygamy impacts the attainment of substantive equality for Ghanaian women. As the total abolition of polygamy would be a challenging and problematic objective at this stage, due to the entrenched nature of the practice, it is instead recommended that law be used to protect women in polygamous marriages from domestic violence and ensure their property rights.     

An exploratory study of women prisoners’ attitudes towards their self-harm and the use of medical skin camouflage

Self-harm is a growing problem in UK prisons with women self-harming more than men. Self-harm can leave permanent scarring. Research on scarring suggests that living with scars can lead to psychological difficulties; however, there is little research on the specific effects of self-harm scars. Medical skin camouflage (MSC) can be used to cover numerous skin conditions. The use of MSC for women in prison with self-harm scars has not been examined previously. A focus group involving 10 women prisoners aimed to (1) explore feelings about self-harm scars, (2) examine effects that scars have on life in prison and (3) examine thoughts on using MSC in prison. This group formed part of a larger project designed to test the feasibility and acceptability of MSC for women who self-harm in prison. A topic guide was created with two service user researchers with experience of self-harm in prison. The results have been divided into three themes: (1) feelings about self-harm scars, (2) covering self-harm scars and (3) attitudes towards MSC. Our findings indicate that women in prison tend to feel embarrassed and self-conscious about their scars, and the presence of scars affects their relationships within prison. The women were enthusiastic about MSC, suggesting that it has the potential to affect women’s well-being and ability to engage with others.     

Gangs in the DRC and El Salvador: towards a third generation of gang violence interventions?

The phenomenon of gangs in El Salvador and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has already been researched, but a comparative study of gangs and gang policies is lacking. In this paper we discuss several gang violence prevention initiatives regarding the Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18 in El Salvador, and the kuluna and bashege in Kinshasa, DRC. In order to analyze the different gang interventions, we implement the typology of first and second gang violence prevention initiatives (Rodgers et al. 2009), and propose the evolution towards a third generation of gang violence prevention interventions. While first generation initiatives are security and law-enforcement driven, and second generation initiatives socio-preventive driven, third generation initiatives are more politically driven. The latter indicates a shift towards a vision of dialogue and negotiations to deal with gang violence. However, the different generations are not predefined within time and third generation initiatives can also be followed up by first generation initiatives, which was for example the case in the gang truce in El Salvador. Also, comparative gang research includes challenges, especially when the gang phenomenon in one country is better researched and documented than in other countries. As such, we were unable to identify politically-driven initiatives in the DRC to compare with the ones in El Salvador. Further research is thus required. With this paper we not only aim to contribute to the literature on gang violence prevention and reduction initiatives, we also want to push researchers, practitioners and policymakers to look beyond the borders when setting up gang (violence) prevention and rehabilitation projects, and to learn from other regions where similar initiatives have been implemented to deal with comparable issues of gang violence.     

Enforceability of foreign copyright in Nigeria: a review of the Court of Appeal’s decision in Microsoft v Franike

With globalization and the rise of information and communications technology (ICT), the protection of intellectual protection in software and indeed foreign copyright has never been more paramount. The absence of statutory provisions in Nigeria’s main copyright legislation specifically protecting the intellectual protection in software has not helped. This article examines the Court of Appeal’s recent decision dealing with the protection of copyright in Microsoft’s software. The author is of the considered view that the approach adopted by the courts in the case is not in the overall interest of encouraging foreign ICT companies and the protection of foreign copyrights in Nigeria.     

Child-related leave and women’s labour market outcomes: towards a new paradigm in the European Union?

The current European Union (EU) legislative framework on child-related leave is facilitating an imbalance in the take-up of leave by women over men. There is a consolidated EU right to maternity leave for mothers but there is no parallel EU right to paternity leave for fathers. The EU right to parental leave is for both working mothers and fathers, but its design does not encourage an equal take-up by women and men. The aim of this article is to gain insight into the effects of child-related leave on women’s labour market outcomes. On the one hand, it reviews and analyses economic literature which points to the adverse consequences of leave on women’s earnings, and even on women’s labour market participation when the absences from work are very prolonged. On the other hand, it underlines the new direction followed by the European Commission towards greater equality between men and women at home and at work.     

Looters or Heroes? Production of Illegality and Memories of ‘Looting’ in Mali

My paper proposes an ethnographical perspective of the clandestine trade in antiquities in Mali by showing on one side the social organization (techniques, hierarchies, trade chains) of farmers-diggers; on the other side, by analyzing the rhetorics of illegality driven by officially-mandated cultural heritage policies. In particular the paper stresses the function of visuality in the construction of ‘illegal’ subjects and iconographies of ‘plunder’ circulated through national and international press. It shows that such an iconic power of images does befog self-representations of farmers-diggers (risk, courage, loneliness) which constitute the ethical cosmos of digging activities. In such a perspective, the debate over the looting of archaeological objects has become a reiterative product of national rhetorics of legality and illegality opposed to narratives of self-representations of marginality and heroization produced by ‘illegal’ actors.     

When Love is a Crime: Is the Criminalisation of Same Sex Relations in Nigeria a Protection of Nigerian Culture?

Even though studies suggest that people do not have a choice about their sexual orientation since it is innate in them, some African countries including Nigeria continue to criminalise same sex conduct between two consenting adults. Before the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan passed the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act 2014 into law in Nigeria, there have already been laws in the country criminalising sexual relations between persons of the same sex. It appears that the Act of 2014 was motivated to show a resolve by the Nigerian government to clearly point out to certain sections of the international community, who at that time were lobbying for the decriminalisation of same sex relations in the country, that there was no intention by the Nigerian state to cave into any such demand. This paper re-examines the prohibition of same sex relations in Nigeria with a focus on whether the laws protect the culture of the Nigerian people or the moral ideals introduced by religion.     

Understanding service users’ and therapists’ experiences of pharmacological treatment for sexual preoccupation and/or hypersexuality in incarcerated sex offenders

This research comprises two qualitative studies understanding the experiences of (1) convicted sex offenders voluntarily receiving pharmacological treatment to reduce sexual preoccupation and (2) therapists working with these offenders. The studies form part of a research programme evaluating the use of pharmacological treatment with sexual offenders. In study one, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 sexual offenders receiving selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. In study two, interviews were conducted with eight intervention staff with varying levels of experience of working with offenders taking anti-libidinals. Thematic analysis was used and in study one, two main themes emerged: (i) the impact of the pharmacological treatment on prisoners’ daily functioning; (ii) barriers to compliance/engagement. In study two, three main themes emerged: (i) offenders’ reluctance to engage with pharmacological treatment; (ii) challenges for therapists; (iii) pharmacology: ‘just another piece of the puzzle’. Findings are discussed in relation to practice and future research.