Getting to Peace? Negotiating with the LRA in Northern Uganda

Getting to peace is not a straightforward process. In Uganda, internal conflict has raged for more than 20 years between the Government and the Lord’s Resistance Army. The construction of a comprehensive negotiated settlement is at the mercy of conflicting ideologies and influences at the international, national and grassroots levels. This paper examines the Juba peace talks, the major actors in the negotiation process, and tension between prosecution and amnesty.

Peace in Northern Ireland and the Remaining Issue of the “On-the-Runs”

The return of devolution to Northern Ireland in May 2007 marks an important turning point in the Northern Ireland peace process, but there remains the issue of the “on-the-runs”—a term used to describe persons suspected of committing a range of terrorist acts during the Troubles, who were never arrested, charged, prosecuted, or tried. It is thought that the On-the-Runs want to return to Northern Ireland, but determining the conditions for their return is a difficult and controversial issue, raising legal and moral concerns and causing strong and painful reactions among the victims of terrorist violence on all sides of the Northern Ireland conflict. It is also an issue that is complicated by the fact that while the Belfast Agreement of 1998 did not address expressly the situation of the On-the-Runs, it did provide for the accelerated release of a significant number of paramilitaries, both republican and loyalist, from prisons in both Ireland and Northern Ireland. This paper reviews the possible options in law for addressing the situation of the On-the-Runs, including extradition and prosecution, as well as trial and amnesty, and pardons. While the paper makes clear that the political offence exception to extradition is no longer the obstacle it once was, it also concludes that politics, rather than law, or simply the passage of time is more likely to offer the solution to the problem posed by the On-the-Runs.

The wall in the ballot box: The Berlin election of 1995

The Berlin election of October 1995 produced very different results in the eastern and western halves of the city, and although the end result was a continuation of the Grand Coalition, it was the PDS and Bündnis 90/Die Grünen who stole the limelight once the votes were counted. This article attempts to account for the performance of the parties in each half of the city and considers the political consequences for them. It concludes by considering what the election can tell us about the public mood in Berlin and about political trends in the Federal Republic in general. What emerges is a ‘wall in the ballot box’, a practical manifestation of die Mauer im Kopf which clearly continues to exist five years after the first all‐German election.     

The Influence of Future Certainty and Contextual Factors on Delinquent Behavior and School Adjustment Among African American Adolescents

This study examined the ability of future certainty—an individual's perception of future stability, operationalized as the likelihood of certain life outcomes–to explain variance in delinquency and school adjustment, while controlling for economic, neighborhood, and family factors, among a cross-sectional sample of 1422 male and 1562 female African American adolescents drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Three kinds of future certainty were examined: future life certainty (e.g., life expectancy), marriage certainty, and college certainty. In hierarchical multiple regression analyses, future certainty and family functioning were stronger predictors than economic and neighborhood variables: neighborhood disorganization and family socioeconomic status. Future life certainty and expectations of attending college were stronger predictors of delinquency among males than females. Marriage certainty was the weakest predictor of the three certainty variables.     

Detection and use of salivary hemagglutinins for forensic blood grouping

A sensitive method for the detection of anti-A and anti-B hemagglutinins in fresh saliva has been developed. The method utilizes a bromelin treated erythrocyte suspension as indicator cells and includes a simple procedure to concentrate these hemagglutinins. Antiserum directed against immunoglobulin A enhances the hemagglutination assay. We find that these salivary hemagglutinins are present in over 90% of the population and that their titer remains stable over a period of two months. These hemagglutinins can be used to blood type the donor of a saliva sample and can be used in a confirmatory test that complements the commonly used absorption-inhibition test which is used to detect salivary blood group agglutinogens. In preliminary studies we have determined that hemagglutinins can be successfully isolated and analyzed from dried saliva stains.     

Australia: Supreme Court of Western Australia orders retrial in case of man convicted of infecting girlfriend with HIV

On 3 October 2002, the District Court convicted an HIV-positive man, Houghton, of unlawfully causing grievous bodily harm to his girlfriend for having unprotected vaginal and anal intercourse with her. Houghton had not told her of his HIV status prior to intercourse. He had been aware of his status for some years before meeting the woman, but testified at his trial that he believed that he could not transmit HIV if he did not ejaculate inside the woman. The woman became HIV-positive as a result of the sexual intercourse. The question put before the jury was twofold: whether there had been bodily injury caused by the applicant to the complainant; and whether that injury was of sufficient severity to constitute grievous bodily harm. The jury found Houghton guilty and in doing so made a finding that the transmission of HIV constitutes grievous bodily harm.