Child soldiers in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo

According to the academic literature, the most widely used estimate is that approximately 300,000 children are part of regular and irregular armies worldwide, either as combatants or as support personnel. Moreover, most scholars believe that their numbers are growing. However, the truth is that no one really knows the actual number of child soldiers fighting in some seventy-two government or rebel forces in about twenty countries. This is simply because field work on this subject is notoriously difficult. And as it is in breach of international humanitarian law to engage a child under the age of 18 years, regular armies and guerrilla forces are hardly going to publicize the number of child soldiers in their ranks. Whatever the true number of child soldiers may be, the fact remains that child soldiers have become a principal component of military forces across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. For Africa alone, estimates suggest that there are 120,000 children, 40 per cent of all child soldiers. Moreover, not only has Africa experienced the fastest growth in the use of child soldiers, but the average age of the children enlisted in some African countries is declining as well. And this is despite the fact that there are a number of international treaties and principles that prohibit the use of child soldiers. Successfully bringing peace, security, and the rule of law in the Kivu provinces, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), will be a massive challenge that will require domestic and regional measures implemented over probably several years. This will necessitate the continued active political and financial support of the international community.

‘Sexurity’ and its effects in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

Newly recognised as a threat to global peace and security, sexual violence in conflict is now a fixed item on international security agendas. This marks significant progress for women, gender equality and the integrity of peace programmes. Our aim here, however, is to reflect upon the risks that inhere in this accomplishment. Through the concept of ‘sexurity’, a tripartite amalgam of the securitisation of sexual violence, the sexualisation of security, and the language of crisis, we outline the adverse effects of tethering sexual violence to security. This article concerns itself with the material and symbolic effects of ‘sexurity’ for eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It first outlines ‘sexurity’ and the context of its emergence before, drawing on fieldwork in eastern DRC, the second part underlines the effects of ‘sexurity’ for the country.

Finding a 'safe' place on the risk continuum: a case study of pregnancy and birthing in Lao PDR (Lao People's Democratic Republic)

This paper addresses two questions. Firstly: are the risk regimes faced, and perceived, by pregnant women in rural Lao PDR substantially different from those experienced by pregnant women in western societies? Secondly, if the Lao experiences and perceptions are different, can improvements in maternal health in Lao PDR be achieved without Laotians inheriting the risk regimes of late modernity experienced by many women in western societies? Secondary analysis is undertaken of data collected in 2005 for the evaluation of a pilot maternity waiting home in Bolikhan, Lao PDR. The results suggest significantly different risk perceptions and experiences between Lao and western communities, based on contrasting views of embodiment, identity construction and cosmologies. In the Lao rural communities studied, there is little evidence yet of 'risk society' despite the introduction of western technologies and practices to improve maternal mortality and morbidity. It is argued that 'risk society' can be avoided.

Overweight and obesity in children from Shenzhen, Peoples Republic of China

We describe overweight and obesity prevalence in Shenzhen school children (2146 girls and 2428 boys) aged 7 to 12 years, Guangdong Province, China. Nineteen percent of boys and 11% of girls were overweight or obese. Boys had odds of almost 2 to 1 (1.92, 95% CI 1.62,2.27) of being overweight or obese compared to girls and children aged 9 years and over were at greater odds of being overweight or obese than those aged 7 years (p<0.05). Overweight and obesity prevalence among children from Shenzhen rivals that of children from developed nations. Current obesity levels in Shenzhen may represent future levels for urban China.

The democratic credentials of statutory bills of rights (and those of a self-styled majoritarian democrat)

This article has two aims. First, it seeks to demonstrate that the democratic credentials of statutory rights instruments are stronger than bills of rights sceptics such as Professors James Allan and Jeremy Waldron realise. It does so by examining the process by which statutory bills of rights are enacted and then provides an account as to why they are adopted that differs from the one offered by Allan and Waldron. This is done to suggest that the reason why a statutory rights instrument is adopted and the process itself has considerable democratic significance. And second, it seeks to assess the democratic credentials of Professor Allan's own critique of statutory bills of rights. The analysis undertaken in this regard reveals that in important respects Allan is anything but the majoritarian democrat that he routinely claims to be.

A critical review of human resource management studies (1978-2007) in the People's Republic of China

The study reviews the empirical studies on human resource management (HRM) practices in mainland China published in 26 leading international journals across the span of 30 years in the period 1978-2007. We intend to achieve three aims in this review: (1) to take an inventory of what have been done so far in the field of HRM studies in China; (2) to critically evaluate the development of Chinese HRM practices in the past 30 years; and (3) to identify research gaps for what needs to be done in the future. Along with this critical review, we also examine which research methods have been used in the empirical inquiries; where the research has been published; and who has made the most contribution in the field of Chinese HRM studies. We conclude that what is known is comparative rather than definitive, with HRM in China treated as a subset of international HRM, rather than as a mainstream issue. With a quarter of the world's population affected by an understanding of what constitutes better HRM in China, we call for a more inclusive, collaborative approach to further theorising and substantiating HRM studies by researchers inside and outside China.

The post-Saddam Iraqi media : reporting the democratic developments of 2005

The toppling of Saddam in 2003 brought with it the re-emergence of the free press in Iraq. This has seen Iraq shift from only a handful of state media outlets that served as propaganda machines, to a vast array of Iraqi-owned newspapers, radio stations and television channels which are being fervently produced and avidly consumed across the nation. This paper therefore reviews the developments in Iraq’s post-Saddam media sector and finds that it has been central to the return of an Iraqi public sphere which has openly debated and discussed the issues surrounding the nation’s shift from despotism to democracy. This is perhaps best evidenced by the role that the Iraqi media played in hosting a rich tapestry of debate, discourse and deliberation from a panoply of political, religious and ethno-sectarian factions throughout the elections and the referendum held across the nation in 2005. Despite their respective biases and particular persuasions, the net effect of such a rich media sector has been an Iraqi populace who are both concerned and informed about the nuances of democratic governance.

Sustainable funding of health initiatives in Wonju, Republic of Korea via a tobacco consumption tax

Wonju is the first municipality in the Republic of Korea to fund the Healthy City project through municipal revenues from the local tobacco consumption tax. We investigated the process of the local tobacco consumption tax being approved as the main source of financing for the local Healthy City project. We also examined the sustainability and sufficiency of the funding by looking at the pricing policies instituted for cigarettes, smoking prevalence, cigarette consumption and revenues from local tobacco consumption as well as the budgetary allocations among programs in the city. The strong initiative of the mayor of Wonju was one of the factors that enabled the earmarking of the local tobacco consumption tax for the Healthy City Wonju project. He consulted academic counselors and persuaded the municipal government and the City Council to approve the bill. Despite the increasing price of cigarettes in Korea, adequate funding can be sustained to cover the short-term and mid-term programs in Wonju for at least 5 years of the mayor's term, because the smoking rate is persistently high. Analyzing the effects of strong leadership on the part of local authorities and the balance between revenues from the tobacco tax and the prevalence of smoking in the face of anti-smoking policies would be helpful for other countries and communities interested in developing sustainable Healthy Cities projects.

Practice teaching in the Republic of the Maldives : issues and challenges

Practicum is an important but challenging part of primary teacher education especially in developing countries like the Republic of the Maldives where the effectiveness of practicum can be impeded by geographical distance, isolation, levels of teacher expertise, and by a highly structured system of primary schooling and teacher education. The current paper reports on a study of beginning teachers in their first year of full-time teaching practice and their perceptions of the effectiveness of their practicum experiences during their teacher training both generally and in terms of developing desirable teaching competencies. Teachers reported that their relationship with school and academic staff was one of the most effective and positive features of practice teaching but reported less positively on the processes used to assess and evaluate students during their teaching practice.

Migrant Houses in the village Zavoj, Republic of Macedonia, 1988-2010

The focus of this data is on the transformation of the village Zavoj in the Republic of Macedonia, due to emigration from the village, recorded through the architectural changes to the houses in the village. The village had become by default a place for the accommodation of elderly people who did not want to join their offspring abroad in the cities of immigration, or in the fringe suburbs of nearby towns.

The data documents the ‘material history’ of the houses, and constitutes a longitudinal research project tracing the transformation of the architectural fabric of the village since 1988. It includes visual documentation such as photographs and drawings, and includes the houses as HOUSE-STATES as follows:

House-Traditional: Vernacular architecture still in use and maintained as a dwelling.
House-Construction: Buildings that are still being constructed, the house as ongoing construction site.
House-Fragment: An eMigrant house-fragment is juxtaposed with the vernacular dwelling. Typical and affordable techniques of single brick cavity and reinforced concrete structure are evident in the new fragment.
House-Closed: Many new houses have only one door and one window, height, size and volume are minimal; and are closed a lot of the time.
House-Ruin: Vernacular traditional dwellings that are deteriorating. Traditional vernacular dwellings are rarely renovated, reconstructed or repaired.

The data is complemented by several field-work methods including participant observation, interviews, documentation of the village as a totality, recording of oral histories and myths, festivities, and archival statistical research about the vicinity.

This dataset comprises photographic documentation, sketch/drawing documentation, digital interview recordings, and interview notes.