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We convened a conference funded by the National Science Foundation at Arizona State University in April 2021. The 40 papers presented at the conference, a subset of which form this special issue, together demonstrated that, far from collapsing in the face of duress, law is a malleable tool that is deployed in novel ways to promote human rights. Collectively, the conference participants illustrated that the power of human rights lies not in their essentialized transcendence of time, culture, and context, but in their enduring promise that a more just world can emerge from sustained and creative struggle through, against, and at the margins of states, laws, and institutions. Ultimately, the key questions to emerge are not whether human rights law and practice will survive, but rather, what are the forces that continue to sustain, revitalize, and transform them? And what are human rights in the process of becoming? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is perhaps the most telling passage of this book: by opposing Human Rights principles, Canada feared being lumped in with the Apartheid regime, the António Salazar dictatorship in Portugal, and communist China. This is a rather embarrassing publication: undoubtedly coherent, interesting, original, and timely, it also presents a sharp contrast with the usual - and idealized - image of Canada as an unconditional promoter of "bonne entente" and an uncontested harbor of Peace, Blue Helmets, and Human Rights. [Extracted from the article]

Artificial intelligence (AI) policy, innovation, and practice are moving ahead in rapid fashion. There is a growing mismatch between technological innovations in AI, which are advancing at a rapid rate, and normative and regulatory frameworks, which are lagging, particularly when it comes to protecting democratic values and human rights principles. National governments and multilateral institutions are attempting to catch up. At least 175 countries, firms and other organizations have produced documents listing ethical principles for AI. These efforts have proceeded in a somewhat fragmented manner, yet there are emerging signs of consolidation as the United States, Europe, and other countries begin to coalesce around shared principles. Europe, in particular, has raced ahead to draft comprehensive legislation, the Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA), to oversee these technologies and systems. What has motivated the European Union to pursue this approach? And how will this effort influence AI norms globally? This paper describes how Europe's AI norm-building process represents an effort to ensure EU priorities are reflected in the AI governance landscape. Europe's approach faces uncertainty. While it is likely that the AIA will meaningfully influence global AI norms, several factors may hinder its global diffusion and adoption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research presents a critical theoretical and practical re-examination of the link between human rights' issues and politics at national and international levels. The study of human rights is an inherently multidisciplinary enterprise. The paper provides an insight into the relations between diplomacy and human rights and discusses how the latter are exploited for political and commercial aims. This study focuses on the case and constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI), and the problem of hostage taking. An internationally-oriented study and based on theoretical arguments and an empirical research approach-notably by using several real cases of ordinary individuals of foreign and dual nationalities who became hostages and the subject of political games and financial conflicts between Iran and the Western countries-the paper highlights the issue of hostage taking of individuals by a state as a political policy and prisoner swaps involving financial and commercial deals. The paper provides evidence of the substantial suffering of the hostages and their families. The paper makes an academic contribution to the literature-the unlawful act of hostage taking involving a state has rarely been discussed -and addresses the legal vacuum in international law and human rights conventions regarding the topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of the European Parliament as an international moral tribune for the promotion of human rights through a qualitative case-study design. It focuses on the emblematic Ayotzinapa case, which involved the enforced disappearance of 43 young rural students and the killing of other six civilians in Mexico in September 2014. The paper innovatively analyses the parliamentary diplomacy activity of four Members and their respective political groups: Franziska 'Ska' Keller (Greens/EFA, Germany), Josep-Maria Terricabras i Nogueras (Greens/EFA, Spain), Estefanía Torres Martínez (GUE/NGL, Spain) and Teresa Jiménez-Becerril Barrio (EPP, Spain), during the 8th parliamentary term (2014–2019). It addresses: How does the European Parliament, acting as an international moral tribune, exercise its role in promoting human rights in practice? Importantly, how do individual members and their political groups contribute to fulfilling this role? The research findings reveal that the phenomenon of parliamentary diplomacy on human rights is highly complex, challenging the mainstream notion that the European Parliament is a monolithic player acting as a moral tribune in international relations. Results also provide important insight for understanding the (micro-)processes of parliamentary diplomacy and their relevance for human rights advocacy within the European Union's external relations and its Member States'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The committee shared why they chose Haines, Leiby, Krain, and Murdie's outstanding paper: This article examines whether popular framing strategies used to garner support for human rights campaigns can also generate support for violence against the perpetrators of the abuse. We are pleased to announce the winner of our annual International Interactions Best Paper Award: "Two sides of the same coin: can campaigns generate support for both human rights and retributive violence?" Haines, Leiby, Krain and Murdie (2020) conduct a survey experiment in the US that tests whether a personal frame that emphasizes a humanizing narrative of the subject increases support for retributive violence, as well as support for a corresponding human rights campaign. [Extracted from the article]

In 2021, the President of Uganda suspended the "Democratic Governance Facility" (DGF), which is a European basket fund aimed at providing financial support in areas such as democracy, human rights, and rule of law. Paradoxically, the DGF had explicitly adopted a new "politically smart framework", which is a development approach that promises to deliver aid more effectively and sustainably in contentious environments. This raises the question: what went wrong? Informed by post-development theoretical arguments and through a discursive analysis of the DGF's implementation of this new aid framework, this paper argues that this framework itself does not allow proper understanding of what makes aid "political"; in casu that it does not allow appreciation of local viewpoints of democracy, representation, and ownership. Then, rather than improving the status quo, this paper argues in favour of making aid "political" through a fundamental reconsideration of the very substance and infrastructure of aid itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the recent cases of the European Court of Human Rights (the ECtHR, the Court) in which the Court offered legal protection to vulnerable groups. For this purpose, the paper will first discuss the vulnerability paradigm before the ECtHR and draw the list of groups recognised by the Court as vulnerable. It will then turn to the case law to trace the recent trends and developments in the Court's focus when protecting vulnerable groups. In particular, the research covers the Court judgements rendered in the last four years (from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2022). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper delves into the evolving research area of emotions and norms within international relations, focusing on the EU-Turkey dynamics amid the Syrian refugee crisis. Utilizing Emotion Discourse Analysis (EDA), it examines discourses from key EU and Turkish leaders between 2011 and 2023 to understand how their emotional responses to Syrian refugees influence the universal norm of human rights. Since the specific interconnection between leadership emotions and human rights norms remains largely unexplored, this study seeks to fill this gap by examining how emotions expressed by leadership in Turkey and the EU variously challenge, protect, or construct human rights norms related to Syrian refugees. Preliminary findings reveal contrasting emotional expressions: while President Erdoğan's discourse often aligns with the protection and construction of human rights norms, EU leaders' emotions reflect a tension between human rights commitments and border security priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of European Journal of Social Work is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper aims to explore the intricate relationship between religio-political influence and its impact on social work in contemporary India. The escalating trends of majoritarianism, homogeneity, the instrumentalization of religion for political power, growing inequality, and the prevalence of caste-based violence have contributed to an alarming increase in intolerance among various religious, ethnic, and linguistic groups. These challenges, primarily driven by religio-political factions in India, pose significant obstacles to effective social work practice and intervention. The question arises: Can social work disentangle itself from religion and religio-political influence, or should a new narrative be developed within social work practice to address these concepts? This article underscores the pressing need for a fresh perspective that integrates religion, religiopolitics, and their influence on social work. New narrative can facilitate the development of effective strategies and interventions that mitigate the adverse effects of religio-political factions while promoting social justice and inclusivity. In conclusion, this paper emphasizes the necessity of reimagining the relationship between religion, religio-politics, and social work in India. Thus, social work can play a crucial role in fostering positive societal change, addressing inequality, and countering the rising tide of intolerance fueled by religio-political influences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the interplay between international human rights law and international biomedical law as two specialised regimes within international law. The focus lies specifically on the anticipatory duties arising under the human right to benefit from science and its applications on the one side and under international biomedical law on the other. International biomedical law instruments adopt a human rights-based approach to the regulation of biology and medicine, so one of the questions is whether the anticipatory duties in biomedical law are indeed a specific application of the corresponding duties in international human rights law, modified, expanded and elaborated further to better address the distinctive subject matter, namely, the interface between the individual and science and technology in a medical context? Or whether the anticipatory duties in international biomedical law draw from international environmental law and/or general international law? The main question that this paper aims to address concerns the precise scope and content of the anticipatory duties under international biomedical law and their relationship to human rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates intersecting rights and ways of thinking in faith-based schools. It outlines current legislative attempts to manage anti-discrimination in Australian schools and proposes a dialogic model of reciprocal anti-discrimination for educational leaders and administrators. This paper proposes that reciprocal anti-discrimination will require rigorous clarity in organisational beliefs, values and philosophies of education. Differences of power, prejudice and assumptions are also addressed. The goal of the proposed model is to find a way forward where rights and values intersect while supporting student and staff wellbeing and preserving religious and moral conscience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parents and guardians in child protection systems are in unequal power relationships with child protection practitioners. This relationship is experienced as exclusionary or even oppressive by many parents and guardians. For families and communities in the child protection system who experience intersectional discrimination and disadvantage, such as people with intellectual disabilities and First Nations people, this unequal relationship and subsequent potential exclusion and oppression can be even more profound. A growing body of literature indicates that advocacy can assist in addressing unequal relationships in other contexts, such as involuntary mental health. This paper explores the role of representational advocacy in supporting parents in child protection settings through a case study of an advocacy service in Victoria, Australia. Using a human rights framework to guide the analysis, the paper highlights how advocacy can help support rights, but that broader structural change will be required to consistently uphold the rights of parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developmental Clinical Social Work (DCSW) involves the integration of social development approaches to the prevention, assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of psychological, behavioral, emotional, and medical disorders through social work methods. In doing so, it also covers the predispositions that occur over time in one's life course. Utilising the thinking of Developmental Clinical Social Work, the paper explores the effects of substance use disorders from a human rights perspective. The human rights to health, adequate housing, food and nutrition, development, clean and healthy environment, occupational health and safety, education, parental and children rights have been discussed considering the effects of substance use disorders. The article stimulates the realization that investment in the prevention of substance use disorders advances for the attainment and enjoyment of the above-mentioned human rights. To its end, the paper contradicts with the notion that the use of drugs is a "human right". It justifies the need for court sanctioned substance use disorder treatment facilities that are evidence-based and adhere to human rights. It should be noted that this is a conceptual reflection of three academics, two of whom have taught on the advanced substance use and treatment course and one has taught on developmental social work courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Arab world faces serious challenges in the protection of human rights. Merely criticising government policies towards human rights has long meant risking one's freedom, if not life. Yet despite the myriad threats, there is a long and powerful history of efforts to address human rights from multiple perspectives that has largely been ignored outside the region (and even by many human rights scholars and practitioners within it), in good measure because most of it occurs in Arabic, which most international human rights scholars do not read. This paper critically reviews Arab human rights publications written in Arabic as a first attempt towards elucidating the diversity and depth of human rights literature in the Arab world for the broader field of human rights studies. Bringing this knowledge to the international human rights community is crucial to helping develop a human rights discourse in and for the Arab world that can positively impact research, advocacy and governance despite the broad environment of authoritarian retrenchment across the region. In so doing, our research offers new knowledge for developing human rights studies in trajectories that can have more direct impact on human rights struggles on the ground globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This theoretical paper describes a classification with accompanying analysis of the main forms of social conduct at the end of life that goes beyond our usual understanding of sociological characterisations of dying. A taxonomy of end-of-life conduct is presented that illustrates and categorises past and contemporary sociological studies of end-of-life conduct and experiences. The categories include embodiment-led dying, systems-led dying, criticism-led dying, endangerment, and anti-dying. Discussion of this spectrum of behaviour is compared with current research and theory in the sociology of dying resulting in critical observations about limitations and omissions in the current work of this field. The paper ends with identification of theoretical limitations before discussing implications for future theory, research, and policy development for the sociology of dying and for end-of-life studies more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThe notion of ‘sexual justice’ has gained traction in academic and policy arenas in recent years. This paper presents a scoping literature review of the regimes of truth, following Foucault, of ‘sexual justice’ appearing in the scientific literature from 2012 to 2022. Thirty-eight papers were coded using (1) content analysis of the studies’ central problematics, the programmes referred to, and institutional location(s); and (2) thematic analysis of how the notion was deployed. Central problematics centred on (1) critiques of, or alternatives to, dominant approaches to sexual and reproductive health; and (2) highlighting injustices. As such, ‘sexual justice’ is fighting for legitimacy in the truth stakes. There is a distinct paucity of papers tackling the translation of ‘sexual justice’ into practice. South Africa dominates as the site in which papers on ‘sexual justice’ have been produced, but there is a lack of South-South collaboration. Two themes were apparent around which conceptions of sexual justice cohere. Firstly, sexual justice is seen as a vital, yet politically ambivalent goal, with neoliberal co-optation of progressive rights agendas being warned against. Secondly, sexual justice is viewed as a means, in which sexual justice is described as having potential to repair established frameworks’ shortcomings and oppressive legacies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper undertakes a select survey of international literature to identify the points of convergence that support common understanding – and debate – amongst youth workers, researchers and policy makers in regards to definitional commonalities in professional youth work. We find that non-formal education, framed by human rights, appears to offer definitional common ground for youth work practice globally. Drawing on the Australian context to ground the discussion, the paper considers how revision of key definitional documents to reflect the pedagogic basis of youth work could inform the tertiary level training and preparation of youth work students and the state-based codes of ethics that inform and regulate professional youth work practice. This is important for professional youth work in Australia as the only nationally agreed statement on youth work currently lacks a pedagogical definition. While precisely categorizing the practices and programs used by youth workers remains a challenge, there is much common ground found amongst the non-formal and informal education conceptualisations of youth work internationally. While there are differences in the way professional youth work is delivered across countries and jurisdictions, there appears to be an agreed underpinning pedagogical framework, often referred to as social pedagogy, which is commonly applied, and informs the practices and programs delivered to the diverse and complex young people who benefit from them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As homophobia, transphobia and biphobia continue to permeate local and global contexts, the role of allies has been recognized as beneficial in supporting equity for LGBTQI+ communities. The concept of LGBTQA+ allyship has also been controversial, with some stakeholders disagreeing about who is an ally and what this role entails. In the academic literature, there is also a scarcity of knowledge examining the interrelation between LGBTQA+ allyship and activism. This paper focuses on deepening historical and cultural understandings regarding the nexus between LGBTQA+ allyship and activism. Underpinned by queer, trans, feminist and intersectional lenses, the paper delineates the LGBTQA+ ally movement and the importance of moving beyond reductionist paradigms to adopt a systemic approach to inclusion, especially in school communities. The paper unpacks diverse definitions of allyship, from those associated with mobilizing the power and privilege of straight, cisgender individuals, to the concept of allyship which includes resilient leadership within LGBTQA+ communities, as well as those, which negotiate and transform fixed and reductive boundaries of gender and sexuality. Recommendations are made for developing LGBTQA+ ally intersectional programmes, characterized by collaborative, expansive and affirmative work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an analysis of statements issued by the Polish Ministry of Family and Social Policy, relating to care homes and the threat to the health and lives of their inhabitants during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the declared intention by the government to carry out the transition from residential care to community-based support, the results of the study reveal that under the slogans of care, safety, and commitment, the traditional vision of disability that promotes the operation of segregated institutions is reinforced. Ensuring safety is understood as strengthening the institution of a care home by emphasizing its importance, allocating additional resources, and introducing organized isolation practices that do not necessarily account for subjectivity and residents' rights. The authors, using the critical approach, point to elements of the discourse that may be remembered most by recipients. The paper is focused on an approach presented by the Polish Ministry of Family and Social Policy during the COVID-19 pandemic regarding care homes. While the discussion about transition from residential care to community-based support in Poland seems to be advanced, there are still facilities for over 100 inhabitants. In the face of the COVID-19 crisis, the Ministry's communication related to facilitating the transition to independent living was pushed aside, while the traditional institutional-oriented approach came to the fore. The communication by the Ministry is transmitting to the public a strong message that presents care homes as safe places that should be supported and developed as a key housing option. The lack of attention to issues such as transition from residential care to community-based support and a human-rights approach in communication led us to formulate the concept of a turbo-institutional approach implicit in the Ministry's communiques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inclusive education is a key global agenda that is primarily driven by concern for children's rights. In China, the term is a translated, introduced, foreign concept. The localised practice of inclusion is encapsulated in the policy of Learning in Regular Classrooms, which not only adopts the narrow sense of inclusion for children with disabilities, but it is also dominated by the medical model of disability. An explicit rights-based philosophical foundation for inclusion that is widely accepted and internalised by local Chinese teachers and schools appears largely absent. This paper explores how Confucianism as a moral philosophy may be compatible with the rights discourse and may provide the necessary moral strengths and philosophical base to support inclusion in Chinese schools. The conclusion highlights the needs to pay attention to how teachers' deeper values, motivation, and drives can facilitate inclusive efforts, and also calls for a more explicit human rights discourse to develop in China in the long term. This paper explores the possibility of using the moral philosophy of Confucianism, rather than relying on the explicit language of human rights, to offer theoretical advocacy for inclusion in China. The rich legacy of Confucianism may offer the necessary moral strengths and philosophical convictions for Chinese teachers and schools to become inspired and empowered to take more inclusive initiatives in a bottom-up approach. Confucianism as a moral philosophy is compatible with the international human rights discourse. While a more explicit human rights discourse in China needs time to develop, Confucian principles such as datong (great harmony), ren (benevolence), as well as its educational believes and human rights ideas, may offer readily-available and more accessible inspiration and support for the inclusive education for children with disabilities in line with the social and human rights models. Re-examining traditional cultural values may shed light on modern effective teaching practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the development of indicators measuring attacks on education through a case study of the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA). As GCPEA and its partners have brought the problem of attacks on education to the attention of global civil society, they have engaged in contestation to define attacks on education and construct indicators to track the relevant violations. These debates are significant in that indicators are a tool of global governance that shape policymaking and resource allocation. The discussion draws on the author's decade of experience working among groups focused on the protection of education, including direct involvement developing indicators on attacks on education, and on three sets of qualitative interviews. It analyses how resource limitations, organisational agendas, challenges of measurement and verification, and global power dynamics exert pressure towards a more narrow understanding of attacks on education. This limits the transformative potential of the protecting education agenda. The discussion illustrates that EiE actors must consider the ways that they measure their work in ongoing conversations about creating a decolonial and more equitable field of practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International human rights institutions and scholars are debating whether established human rights suffice to address challenges raised by neurotechnologies which measure or alter brain activity; UNESCO intends developing a novel standard-setting instrument for neurotechnologies. This paper analyses how core human rights pertain to neurotechnologies and might be interpreted in this context. Contrary to claims about gaps in the law, several rights, especially the underexplored rights to mental integrity and freedom of thought, as well as some features of human dignity provide resources to protect persons against reading their minds or tampering with their brains against their will. Proposals for the construction of these rights are submitted. They specify and actualise the multi-layered protection of the person that core human rights provide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a critical assessment of the role that the media, and in particular peace and conflict-sensitive journalism, can play in peacebuilding in African countries with a primary focus on the history and roles of the media in Nigeria. The theoretical lenses offered by post-colonial and southern criminologies, along with emancipatory peace, global, and human rights journalism are deployed to engage with the prospects and challenges for peace and conflict-sensitive journalism in Nigeria. Overall, this paper aims to serve as a resource material for further research on the role of the media in Nigeria's conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to understand how subjective perceptions of human rights influence the justifiability of terrorism at the individual level, net of individual and country-level controls. Utilizing the seventh wave of World Values Survey data and 65,668 respondents from 52 countries, this study finds those who report greater interference in their lives from security agents and those who see the country as being run more democratically are more likely to find terrorism justified, while those who perceive less respect for human rights are less likely to do so. The effect of state terror on the justifiability of terrorism is moderated by perceived democracy, with those perceiving the country as being run more democratically being more likely to find terrorism justified when state terror is high. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regulatory capture reflects a phenomenon in which a regulatory agency, initially established to cater the interests of the public, formulates a policy based on private or 'special' interests. Actors within the legislative process are influenced by external parties or may even fall for regulatory capture as they have engraved a mindset that sides with the regulated industry. Regulatory capture is more likely to occur when there is a lack of public participation, transparency, and imbalance access to information. It is also much more prominent when the regulation is made to govern a profitable sector. Although regulatory capture has been numerously addressed, this paper focuses specifically on the challenges posed by regulatory capture in Indonesia's energy sector, particularly with respect to one of its profitable sectors – the coal-fired power plant industry. Despite Indonesia's expressed intention to transition to renewable energy and the apparent environmental impacts of coal-fired power plants, regulations regarding such a sector are still made to favour businesses. This relates to the fact that many political actors who hold positions as legislators and regulators also wield important positions in Indonesia's coal-fired power plant companies. This paper illustrates the tension and struggle between the two contrasting interests of businesses and the public by looking into the theoretical framework of regulatory capture and public interests. Subsequently, it extracts the elements of regulatory capture and utilizes it to identify whether regulatory capture is inherent in Indonesia's coal-fired power plant industry. Ways to prevent regulatory capture are further explored. In doing so, this paper resorts to a doctrinal and normative method. The analysis conducted leads to the conclusion that there are apparent signs of political influence in the coal-fired power plant industry, indicating the existence of regulatory capture. As such, measures to prevent and eradicate regulatory capture should be implemented by the government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last two decades, UNICEF has led efforts to measure Child Poverty globally as well as in various regions and countries. These efforts have been explicitly grounded on a human rights perspective and guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In this paper, some of the issues raised by these endeavours are analysed. The paper explicitly uses, and expands, Sally Engle Merry's framework of vernacularisation to assess these efforts. Thus, it is organised in three sections. First, a review of criticisms to the broader project of 'human rights measurement' is offered. This includes aspects of vernacularisation, paradoxes of measurement, and the tension between universal standards and particular specificities. Secondly, a brief description of Child Poverty measurement is provided, with a focus on developments and debates of the last 20 years. This is the case study on which Merry's framework is applied. This is done in the third section. Based on this analysis, practical recommendations for future research on Child Poverty measurement based on human rights are discussed in the concluding section. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proponents of transformative justice articulate an approach to dealing with the past that seeks to change pre-conflict structures in ways that make society more inclusive and equal in the future. However, a criticism arises that transformative justice has been better at diagnosing the limitations associated with transitional justice rather than defining solutions and pathways to achieve its primary objectives. This paper examines the potential for peace agreement processes- understood to comprise peace agreements, peace negotiations, and peace agreement implementation- to advance the core aims transformative justice. In theory, peace agreement processes offer a sense of tangibility to the transformative justice project, existing as critical junctures where the underpinnings of structural violence can be addressed. At the same time, transformative justice offers a lens through which to interrogate the actuality of peace agreement processes, highlighting the challenges associated with realising their transformative justice potential in practice. The paper ultimately argues that greater attention could be paid to the potentially mutually reinforcing relationship between peace agreements and transformative justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how the logic of surveillance capitalism manifests itself within the public sector with a specific interest in how the government's use of data about its citizens may reconfigure rights and power. In Denmark, for example, the public administration relies heavily on the processing of vast quantities of data about the individual and increasingly uses predictive analytics to identify specific areas of intervention, such as fraud or vulnerability, as part of its decision-making processes. Methodologically, the paper uses Denmark as an example of the digital welfare state, including two public sector cases of automated decision support, namely Gladsaxe municipality and the central processing of welfare benefits (Udbetaling Danmark). It further investigates Danish digitalisation strategies, particularly the governments AI strategy from 2019. The case is examined with a view to understand how technology (and automated decision support in particular) is deployed by state actors, which interests it serves, and how it may benefit or disadvantage the individual. Theoretically, the paper leans towards theories of surveillance capitalism, governance in the digital era, and data politics and rights. The paper argues that unless a more critical and human-centric approach to 'smart governance' is taken, the digital welfare state will advance a digital technocracy that treats its citizens as data points suited for calculation and prediction rather than as individuals with agency and rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how Ebola survivors in Sierra Leone are enacting biological citizenship to effect responsive and accountable engagement with their government. Disaster survivors are often left without avenues to hold policymakers accountable, but, recently, injured or disabled people have taken legal action against their governments over issues such as negligence, delays, damaged property, and death. However, in Sierra Leone, members of the Ebola survivors' association have sued the government at the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice over a less conventional issue: corruption. After audit reports uncovered instances of financial impropriety that compromised the country's response to the 2013–2016 Ebola outbreak, two plaintiffs sued the government with the argument that corruption and the failure of the government to hold the culprits accountable constitute abuses of the rights to life and health of those affected by the disaster, and the entire population. Based on this case, the paper argues that the lawsuit is an attempt to redefine corruption as a health hazard and a human rights violation. This challenges authorities to give serious attention to how financial improprieties affect the ability of state agencies to guarantee equitable, dignified healthcare, and to take the post-disaster rehabilitation of survivors as a critical component of reconstruction programmes. Ultimately, the lawsuit might set a precedent for other disaster survivors to demand equitable and dignified access to health and proper rehabilitation. This paper draws on scholarly literature, official documents, and conversations with some of the survivors and their lawyer to make this argument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing from the theoretical and empirical results of a European research project, this paper tentatively elaborates a post-neoliberal framework for social policy and welfare reform. We argue that for moving beyond neoliberalism it is not sufficient to just increase the generosity of social policies: what is also needed is 'social empowerment', i.e. processes of democratization of social policymaking that effectively redistribute power in society, making welfare institutions increasingly accountable and responsive to citizens, including marginalized ones. Building on reflections and learnings emerging from our work in the research project, we show that a capability and human rights informed participatory action research involving civil society organizations, marginalized citizens and academic researchers, can offer potential pathways forward to advance a post-neoliberal social policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was drafted, in part, as a response to the horrific antisemitism leading to the extermination of millions of Jews in World War II. Yet, today, organisations that utilise human rights instruments to criticise Israel's laws, policies and practices are themselves being cast as antisemitic. How has the contemporary human rights regime come to be charged with antisemitism? The ostensible answer is that the meaning of antisemitism has expanded to include anti-Zionism and harsh criticism of Israel. While scholars have debated the validity of this expansion, this paper interrogates three types of abstractions: those deployed by traditional antisemites, those emanating from human rights, and those mobilised by the new antisemitism doctrine. An analysis of these abstractions helps clarify the new hostility between antisemitism and human rights. Whereas Zionism aims to protect Jews by asserting a right to Jewish difference within the context of a nation-state, human rights aim to protect Jews by promoting an egalitarian distribution of rights among the population. The crux of the matter is that the solution human rights offer to antisemitism also threatens the Zionist project, since it challenges the racialized mode of governance that this political ideology has implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The private car, as a dominant form of everyday mobilities across Australia and around the globe, continues to create a significant level of social and spatial injustice. Children are disproportionally affected by such injustices, not just through the loss of their basic rights to roam their local environments freely and safely due to traffic safety concerns and being greatly susceptible to illnesses generated by car-inducing pollution and noise, but also through being at the greatest risk of being hit by drivers. Road crashes continue to be the leading cause of death for children globally and our current – and decades long – ways of dealing with road violence are inadequate and counter-productive as they distract from what actually needs to be done. Utilising Boyden's framing of cultural maladaptation, this paper conceptualises current maladaptive transport discourses and discusses how they continue to harm the health and well-being of children. The paper highlights the need for the recognition of these maladaptive discourses, including our worldviews, languages and principles in order to replace them with new narratives which enable the transition to a future where children's mobility needs and rights are honoured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines two films, Haanduk (2016) and Jwlwi: The Seed (2019), which explore the issues of identity and insurgency in Assam. Insurgency began in Assam during the 1980s when the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), an organisation that emerged along with the Assam Movement (1979–1985), started an armed uprising for an independent Assam. Meanwhile, the Bodos also engaged in violent insurrection, seeking to establish an independent state. As a response to these uprisings, the Union Government implemented several measures, such as the enactment of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 (AFSPA), that transformed Assam and the Northeast region into a heavily militarized area. The military executed multiple counter-insurgency operations to quell the armed rebellions. However, in the middle of these occurrences, accounts of violence promoted by the state, violations of human rights, and instances of torture emerged in both local and international media outlets. This engendered a feeling of apprehension and psychological distress among numerous people throughout Assam. The paper aims to critically examine the ideological dimensions of how the concerns related to insurgency are depicted in the select films. Additionally, it will also examine the portrayal of trauma and breaches of human rights in the select films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potential to collect brain data more directly, with higher resolution, and in greater amounts has heightened worries about mental and brain privacy. In order to manage the risks to individuals posed by these privacy challenges, some have suggested codifying new privacy rights, including a right to "mental privacy." In this paper, we consider these arguments and conclude that while neurotechnologies do raise significant privacy concerns, such concerns are—at least for now—no different from those raised by other well-understood data collection technologies, such as gene sequencing tools and online surveillance. To better understand the privacy stakes of brain data, we suggest the use of a conceptual framework from information ethics, Helen Nissenbaum's "contextual integrity" theory. To illustrate the importance of context, we examine neurotechnologies and the information flows they produce in three familiar contexts—healthcare and medical research, criminal justice, and consumer marketing. We argue that by emphasizing what is distinct about brain privacy issues, rather than what they share with other data privacy concerns, risks weakening broader efforts to enact more robust privacy law and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, an interdisciplinary debate on the social and political role of business corporations has evolved. With this special issue, we would like to facilitate a comprehensive discussion of three questions that are especially pertinent in that debate: (1) How is the social and political agency of corporations to be understood? (2) How should the power of corporations be analyzed? (3) Under which conditions would the social and political roles of corporations be legitimate? In this introduction to the special issue, we start with a short outline of the debate. In the next step, we provide an overview of the five contributions. We conclude by summarizing what can be learned from those contributions with respect to the three research questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the heart of this paper is an examination of the colloquial concept of a 'shadow ban'. It reveals ways in which algorithms on the Facebook platform have the effect of suppressing content distribution without specifically targeting it for removal, and examines the consequential stifling of users' speech. It reveals how the Facebook shadow ban is implemented by blocking dissemination of content in News Feed. The decision-making criteria are based on 'behaviour', a term that relates to activity of the page that is identifiable through patterns in the data. It's a technique that is rooted in computer security, and raises questions about the balance between security and freedom of expression. The paper is situated in the field of responsibility of online platforms for content moderation. It studies the experience of the shadow ban on 20 UK-based Facebook Pages over the period from November 2019 to January 2021. The potential harm was evaluated using human rights standards and a comparative metric produced from Facebook Insights data. The empirical research is connected to recent legislative developments: the EU's Digital Services Act and the UK's Online Safety Bill. Its most salient contribution may be around 'behaviour' monitoring and its interpretation by legislators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the ethical conundrum between a hospital's ethos of relieving distress, investigation and treatment, and its concurrent duties under English law to administer tests of decision-making capacity and safeguarding protection where it believes the patient may lack this capacity. Delirium, characterised by a precipitous decline in mental functioning exhibiting the shared symptomology of recoverable depressive disorders and terminal dementia, is not uncommon after emergency admission of elderly patients into acute medical hospital wards. The use of functional capacity testing as a benchmark for decision-making capacity for post-discharge residence has been criticised as outdated, conceptually floored, subjective, lacking central guidance, transparent process, and accountability. A study of patient experience demonstrates the potential for hospital misuse of capacity testing, the failure of functional testing to differentiate decision making capacity from the disability of partial cognitive impairment, and how hospital capacity processes can interact and amplify patient pathology thereby decreasing recovery prospects. Prioritisation of mental capacity obligations above thorough investigation of emergent mental pathology and relief of patient anguish, results in extended detention in medical wards lacking bespoke facilities. Further understanding of patient experience is needed to inform policy with interventions tailored to avoid harm and increase wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visas play a crucial role in facilitating international travel and immigration in contemporary times, particularly in enabling global mobility for citizens from the Global South. However, visa law and policy, from the time of their inception, have contributed to systemic human rights violations and loss of applicants' dignity. Although the right to freedom of movement and human dignity are celebrated in multiple international covenants, material practices of visa law and policy impinge on these very rights and dignities; from the 1930s when visas were primarily used to limit the mobility of Jews, to contemporary times when the objects of visa law are primarily citizens from the Global South. This paper highlights the problem of the fossilization of such discriminatory practices embedded in visa law and policy by putting in conversation policy and legal research with close readings of two literary texts from Germany and Bolivia; Transit by Anna Seghers (1944) and American Visa by Juan de Recacoechea (1994). Although experiences of discrimination, violation, disrespect, and denial of rights are consistently and repeatedly experienced by visa applicants across time and space, as evident from the literary and non-literary examples discussed in this paper, only limited research exists on how visa law and policy impinge on human rights and dignity. This paper presents a critique of discriminatory practices that have become bureaucratized and normalized through visa law from the 1930s onwards. It identifies and problematizes ethical violations rising out of the practice of visa law and policy as they apply to citizens from the Global South. This work engages the evocative, empathetic, and representational capacity of literary texts to highlight existing issues related to the material practices of visa law and policy, which are categorized under four main types of violations: 1. pre-submission indignities 2. consular interactions and intimidations 3. indignities rising from the arbitrary collection of personal data and 4. the bureaucracy of documentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

African social workers and psychologists have called for the utility of ubuntu philosophy in the fields of social work and psychology. Ubuntu is an African philosophy that is based on humanness, kindness, communality, socio-structural issues such as social justice, and human rights. This paper explores the philosophy of ubuntu guided by the seven modalities of the multimodal approach, which are behaviour, effect, sensation, imagery, cognition, interpersonal relationships and drugs/biology. The article suggests that ubuntu as an African philosophy has potential to contribute two modalities in addition to the seven modalities in the multimodal approach by the South African psychologist Arnold Lazarus. It argues that ubuntu contributes two domains in assessments and these are as follows: the person-physical environment relationship and the spiritual relationship. Given the emphasis on eco-spiritually informed social work, this paper calls for the adoption of these two modalities for the assessment and intervention plans in social work practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that states have a duty of legitimacy to offer refugees membership in the form of citizenship. This argument builds on a popular normative approach to refugeehood put forward by David Owen, which characterises the refugee protection regime as a 'legitimacy repair mechanism' for the international order of states. However, I argue that, because of the relationship between membership and the claimability of basic rights, the refugee protection regime only successfully fulfils this function when states are required to offer citizenship to refugees. This paper therefore offers an important extension to David Owen's view. I contend that the basic condition of refugeehood is the break-down of membership: a relationship which allows individuals to claim basic rights as a matter of standing. Therefore, the legitimacy repair function of refugee protection is only successful when such membership is re-established. This account demonstrates that states' duties to refugees go far beyond allowing entry and the protection of basic rights on a temporary basis. Instead, refugees are owed citizenship in their state of asylum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the pedagogic lens this article presents theoretical exposition of feminist egalitarian discourse for social work education. The Masters in Social Work is a professional qualification, which has as its primary goal the promotion of human rights and social justice. In theory, feminist egalitarian discourse aligns succinctly with this overall goal. However, in reality feminist egalitarian discourse is often overlooked and is rarely considered mainstream in many social work programmes. The paper is divided into three sections (1) An Irish context, which provides a brief overview of social work in Ireland, while linking it to the way social work programmes have developed within such a context; (2) The status of feminist egalitarian discourse in social work education, whereby critical theorisation in this paper interrogates the literature on feminist egalitarian discourse in social work education (particularly Masters in Social Work curricula), and in doing so, and; (3) Embraces feminist egalitarian discourse in social work education, which highlights the significance of critical perspectives in contemporary social work education and practice. Theorisation through uptake of feminist egalitarian discourse argues that through such discourse in social work masters programmes, coherence with universal humanistic ideology is heightened, challenging both neoliberal ideologies and statutory led practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses Australia as a case study to analyse restrictions on international movement during the COVID-19 pandemic. Restrictions on inbound and outbound travel have been a key tool deployed by governments across the globe to suppress the COVID-19 pandemic. We use 'COVID zero' Australia as a case study to assess an extreme response to restricting international movement. We look at the recent complaint launched before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. The action was raised with the support of a group of Australian citizens stranded abroad with the assistance of the expert in Australian constitutional law who is the second author of this paper. We argue that the measures implemented by Australian governments to effectively eliminate COVID-19 domestically have provided insufficient consideration of, and alternatives to, the current system's failure to facilitate essential international travel. For this reason, Australia's framework for restricting international movement lacks proportionality and necessity from the perspective of human rights and freedoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The credibility of democracy promotion provided by countries experiencing democratic backsliding has raised many doubts lately. The goal of this exploratory paper is to examine Poland's efforts to promote democracy through foreign aid in Ukraine. I find that after winning the elections in 2015, the populist government in Poland started to transform democracy aid both at the level of development cooperation policy and in practice in Ukraine, one of the biggest beneficiaries of Polish aid. Rather than explicitly questioning or limiting aid as an instrument of democracy promotion, support for civil society and human rights has been reduced, and the involvement of Polish NGOs, especially those strongly committed to transferring democratic values abroad, declined. Such changes are perceived as another layer of Poland's democratic backsliding rooted in the anti-pluralism of the Law and Justice party. Thus, this paper enriches the debate on populism by showing the latter's effects on democracy promotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: In Northern Ireland, it is widely agreed that mental health service provision for children and young people is inadequate and that there is a need for much greater prioritisation and strategic planning in this area. Successive Governments have made commitments to improve services, and although progress has been made, considerable reform is still required. Using a child rights framework, this paper provides an overview of children and young people's direct experiences of accessing mental health services or support. Methods: An online survey was used to gather respondents experience of six statutory and non-statutory health services. Respondents were asked to rate services against nine rights-based service quality statements. A likert agreement rating scale was used to gather quantitative data and qualitative information was captured using open-ended questions. Excel and NVivo were used to analyse the data. Results: Overall, 607 children and young people aged 11–21 years old shared their experiences of mental health services. The survey results show that young people are reaching out to a wide range of services to access support. However, there was considerable variation in young people's satisfaction levels with different services. Conclusions: This paper brings a child rights focus to the research that exists on the child and adolescent mental health system by assessing it against a range of rights-based statements. This study found that although many services are improving, more is required to ensure that Northern Ireland has a rights compliant system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spirituality is an important factor in the lives of many people in China. Yet, little information exits on how to address Chinese clients' spiritual beliefs appropriately. This paper addresses this gap in the literature by articulating a roadmap for working with client spirituality in an ethical and professional manner. Rationales for administering a spiritual assessment are provided along with a brief overview of the process and options for conducting such assessments. The paper concludes by reviewing two prominent spiritual interventions that may resonate with many Chinese clients, both in China and other parts of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the analysis of decolonization process and nationalist struggles for political independence of Africa, labour agitations and the press activism for human rights are common features. But most studies have treated labour crisis and the press activism during the period of decolonization as mere subsets of the linear narrative of independence movement. Drawing on the empirical data of the Enugu Colliery Shootings incident, this paper examined labour agitation as an independent event and reviewed the area of overlap with the nationalist struggles. It re-examined the Colliery Shootings beyond the preponderant nationalist view that lumped every social, economic and political protest of the decolonization period as a single metanarrative of nationalist movements. Lastly, the roles of Nigerian newspapers as mediators in the crises between the labour unions and the colonial government, and the nationalists with the colonial government were appraised. The paper argued that, despite the interconnection of labour agitations with nationalist movements of the period, the former was both characteristically independent and coincidental with the latter. Similarly, not all human rights agitations by the newspapers were independence-focused. Finally, the nationalists, through networking process, benefited from labour agitations and press activism by expanding and molding local protests as independence movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]