Adverse Possession and Article 1 of the European Convention

In the post-human rights era the question has arisen on several occasions as to whether the automatic and arbitrary termination of the registered owner’s title through the common law and statutory principles governing adverse possession of land is contrary to the Article 1, Protocol 1 of the European Convention. The matter fell to be decided in J.A. Pye (Oxford) Ltd v United Kingdom ([2005] 3 EGLR 1) where the European Court of Human Rights held that the automatic termination of a registered owners title after 12 years possession was indeed a violation of Article 1, Protocol 1. More recently, the decision of the European Court has been overturned by the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights where the Grand Chamber has held that a squatters’ right to another persons land are not disproportionate (J. A. Pye (Oxford) Ltd and Another v United Kingdom, The Times, October 1st 2007). This short article examines the decision of the Grand Chamber.

Mainstreaming gender in refugee protection

The issues of gender-related persecution and violence against women have been put onto the international agenda, largely thanks to lobbying by feminist NGOs and transnational networks. There is a question, however, of how successfully this agenda-setting has translated into effective policy-making and policies that will increase the protection of women who are victims of gender-related persecution. One of the problems with policies to support women refugees and asylum seekers lies in a failure of transmission of the goals of gender sensitivity through all the various bureaux and representatives of a large bureaucratic organization such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). For nearly twenty years, since the early 1990s, the UNHCR has identified ‘refugee women’ as a policy priority, and yet, despite this prioritization of concerns about women refugees and gender issues in the asylum and refugee process, it could be argued that little progress has been made in implementation of policies on refugee women. This article will examine the way in which the concept of gender has been adopted within the UNHCR and the processes that have been put in place to mainstream gender within refugee protection activities. How far has mainstreaming managed to move policies to protect women beyond a mere focus on ‘vulnerable’ groups, and to integrate a gendered understanding of the global processes that produce refugees, and of the protection needs of these refugees?     

Peer Group Similarity in Perceptions of Pubertal Timing

Self-report measures of perceived pubertal timing correspond only weakly with clinical measures of “objective” physical development. Peer and school contexts shape adolescents’ self-perceptions of pubertal timing. The current study examined associations between perceived pubertal timing and the pubertal timing reported by nominated friends and schoolmates. Participants included 2817 adolescents (M_age = 16.6; 49 % female; 16 % Black; 20 % Hispanic) from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Three measures of pubertal timing were included: age-standardized ratings of body changes, comparisons of development relative to peers (relative timing), and, in females, age at menarche. It was hypothesized that relative timing, which explicitly asks adolescents to compare themselves to their peers, would be related to the age-standardized pubertal timing of nominated friends and schoolmates. Surprisingly, there were no associations between relative timing and age-standardized pubertal timing reported by peers, suggesting that pubertal self-perceptions do not fluctuate in response to the average level of development in a friend group. Instead, males were similar to nominated friends and schoolmates in age-standardized ratings of body changes, and females were similar to nominated friends in relative timing, controlling for race, ethnicity, and age. Different self-report measures of pubertal timing index different underlying constructs, and the social processes that influence adolescents’ perceptions of pubertal maturation may differ between genders.     

Youth-Guided Youth Engagement: Participatory Action Research (PAR) With High-Risk,Marginalized Youth

Engaging youth who live with high-risk, marginalized conditions presents a significant challenge in our society, considering the prevalence of disconnect and distrust they often experience within their social environments/systems. Yet, meaningful youth engagement is a key concept not only for youth development, but also for a systems change to more effectively support high-risk youth and families. This article presents a framework of youth engagement developed over 9 months, using participatory action research (PAR) with 16 youth leaders in a community-based research team. Although this framework has incorporated the youth leaders’ lived experiences, talents, and voices, positive youth development (PYD) and social justice youth development (SJYD) have theoretically contextualized our research. Youth leaders guided the framework's development, including the identification of key themes/dimensions, definitions, and practical examples. The framework's three components—“Basis” (philosophy and principles), “What” (goals/outcomes), and “How” (actions/processes/pathways to change)—are supported by nine themes described in this article.     

Mary Bridges Adams and education reform, 1890-1920: an ethics of care?

This article uses biographical inquiry to piece together the political career of Mary Bridges Adams, who made a name for herself through her work as an educator-activist, a hundred years ago. The objective is to rethink and re-see the place of the personal in academic study and research in the field of education. After briefly reviewing recent developments in theoretical and research uses of auto/biography, the discussion revolves around three main issues: (1) the values and practices of a woman who moved from earning and learning as a pupil-teacher to elementary teaching to political action; (2) her entry into labour politics; and (3) her educational activism. It is argued that the organised activism of the socialist profiled here can be analysed in terms of the idea of the caring subject. Her story not only contributes to an understanding of what it meant to be a socialist woman in this period but shifts our understanding of the left and educational politics itself.     

Scholarship—the new dimension to equity issues for academic women

Over the last 25 years, Canadian women have made significant inroads to the academy as students, faculty, and administrators. Their contribution is reflected in curriculum that now addresses women and through the development of undergraduate and graduate programs in women's studies. Above all, certain aspects of women's work in the academy have challenged masculinist notions of research methodology and pedagogy. In spite of these gains and contributions, women largely remain in the “A” ranks in academe—assistant, associate, acting. This article argues, and demonstrates through personal accounts, that current definitions of scholarship, widely held in the academy, prevent the advancement of women precisely because some feminist models of research and pedagogy present a challenge to academic hierarchy. Hence, the new equity challenge facing academic women is found in definitions of scholarship used for evaluation in tenure and promotion cases.     

An analysis of mechanisms used by CSOs in the promotion of community participation in governance in Kenya

Civil society organizations (CSOs) are often perceived to provide the magic bullet to complex societal problems including alternative approaches that ensure good governance. Fresh new research is therefore needed due to the prevailing paradox of escalating governance challenges in Kenya despite CSOs efforts to address the same. This paper specifically seeks to understand mechanisms that CSOs use as they seek to intervene in governance issues in Kenya. It links persistent poor governance happening at the counties to inadequate mechanisms used by CSOs. It argues that CSOs have not been bold enough to confront poor governance but, instead, have used superficial mechanisms with little outcomes. They have particularly focused on providing trainings and creating awareness and have shied away from more direct engagement with poor governance such as monitoring utilization of public funds. The study methodology involved a survey, focus group discussions, and in-depth face to face interviews. The tools used included a survey questionnaire, Focus Group Discussion guide and In-depth Interview guide. Among the recommendations are that CSOs need to go beyond creating awareness and trainings and engage with governance issues more directly using well-tried mechanisms.