Human right to food security in refugee setting: rhetoric versus reality

Despite recent advances in the area of humanitarian responses and the publication and dissemination of various guidelines with regard to nutritional interventions, there is, however a paucity of studies which have examined the human right to food in complex emergencies. 186 countries including those affected by both human made and natural disasters and countries who are donors of humanitarian relief aid adopted the Rome Declaration on Food Security and World Summit plan of Action reaffirming “ the right to adequate food and the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger”. The human right to adequate and nutritious food in refugee settings implies that every refugee has physical and economic access to sufficient food to provide the necessary nutrients for effective physical and physiological functions and achieve well being. There are many grounds for believing that the current humanitarian responses to disasters more often violate than respect the human right to adequate and nutritious food. Using elements of household food security as our working framework this paper focuses on the complex ethical and moral questions raised by the conventional humanitarian assistance framework and in particular the issue of human right to food and household food security in refugee settings.

Lifting the cloak of conceptual confusion: Exploring the meaning of the human right to higher education

The right to education, and specifically higher education, is clearly set out in international law. Higher education is, however, in a state of change as a result of pressures from the increased demand for higher education, globalisation and the impact of new technology (Barber, Donnelly and Rizvi 2013, 1–2). This article asserts that before significant changes to higher education are made, we should reflect on the content of the human rights obligations contained in the international documentation. It seeks to outline the content and scope of the right to higher education in an effort to assist this consideration.

Distribution of an alien aquatic snail in relation to flow variability, human activities and water quality

1. Disturbance and anthropogenic land use changes are usually considered to be key factors facilitating biological invasions. However, specific comparisons of invasion success between sites affected to different degrees by these factors are rare.

2. In this study we related the large-scale distribution of the invading New Zealand mud snail (Potamopyrgus antipodarum) in southern Victorian streams, Australia, to anthropogenic land use, flow variability, water quality and distance from the site to the sea along the stream channel.

3. The presence of P. antipodarum was positively related to an index of flow-driven disturbance, the coefficient of variability of mean daily flows for the year prior to the study.

4. Furthermore, we found that the invader was more likely to occur at sites with multiple land uses in the catchment, in the forms of grazing, forestry and anthropogenic developments (e.g. towns and dams), compared with sites with low-impact activities in the catchment. However, this relationship was confounded by a higher likelihood of finding this snail in lowland sites close to the sea.

5. We conclude that P. antipodarum could potentially be found worldwide at sites with similar ecological characteristics. We hypothesise that its success as an invader may be related to an ability to quickly re-colonise denuded areas and that population abundances may respond to increased food resources. Disturbances could facilitate this invader by creating spaces for colonisation (e.g. a possible consequence of floods) or changing resource levels (e.g. increased nutrient levels in streams with intense human land use in their catchments).

Human rights and the right to development : insights into the Myanmar government's response to rights allegations

Myanmar is ruled by a military government that is strongly condemned for human rights abuses. In responding to these allegations, the Myanmar government repeatedly adopt the language of Right to Development as a counter perspective and counter allegation. The Right to Development is not well reflected in the Western human rights discourse, and both its development and Myanmar's position in the Right to Development dialogue are considered. This paper looks at the differing perspective that an understanding of the official public Myanmar response to rights allegations brings to the human rights debate surrounding Myanmar, highlighting contested ideas concerning the identity of rights duty-bearers, conceptions of those duties, and allegations of double standards. While the Myanmar position that sanctions violate the Right to Development is rejected, it is suggested that this difference in perspective is a contributor to the impasse and communication gap between the West and the Myanmar regime over human rights.

The right to privacy: appealing, but flawed

The right to privacy is not recognised at common law. However, like many  other rights, it has gained increasing prominence and legal recognition  since the explosion in rights-based normative discourse following the  Second World War. Rights-based moral theories are appealing because their language is individualising; promising to expand the sphere of liberty and protection offered to people. It is therefore not surprising that we as  individuals are attracted to such theories - they allow us a vehicle through  which we can project our wishes and demands onto the community. While in abstract the right to privacy sounds appealing, it has many potential  disadvantages. This article examines the justification for the right to privacy. It argues that either the right is illusory (devoid of an overarching doctrinal rationale) or at its highest the right to privacy is an insignificant right - one which should rarely trump other interests. It follows that there is a need to re-assess the desirability of introducing a separate cause of action protecting privacy interests.

Preventive detention and the right to personal liberty and security under Article 5 ECHR

'Preventive detention' refers to detention by executive order as a  precautionary measure based on predicted criminal conduct. Detention is without criminal charge or trial as detention is based on the prediction of a future offence. This paper examines Article 5 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms ('ECHR'), in particular Article 5(1)(c) and Article 5(3). To explore this issue, this paper conducts a textual analysis of Article 5 and examines both the travaux preacuteparatoires of the ECHR, as well as jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. This article argues that preventive detention is specifically provided for under the second ground of detention in Article 5(1)(c). A person in preventive detention, however, must be brought promptly before judicial authority under Article 5(3).

Fundamental elements in examining a child’s right to education : a study of home education research and regulation in Australia

Home education provides valuable educational and developmental opportunities for children. An examination of Australia’s research indicates many best educational practices, including more informed mediation, contextualised learning, and opportunities to exercise autonomy. Key features include learning embedded in communities and program modification in response to students’ needs. Current state and territory legal requirements are examined within the context of this research and Australia’s obligations to international human rights treaties. All jurisdictions accept home education as one way to meet compulsory education requirements. The extent to which respective laws then reflect understanding of home education research and practice varies. Most jurisdictions allow for a variety of educational approaches. Some oversight regulation could however be modified to reflect a better understanding of home education. Consultation with home educators and reference to research would assist the development of more uniform legislation and policy across Australia, and enable better regulatory practice.

Expanding criminal sanctions for corporate crimes-deprivation of right to work and cancellation of education qualifications

Fines are the standard sanctions employed by most Western countries when a corporation has been convicted of a crime. However, some offences committed by corporations are too serious to be dealt with by way of a fine. There is a need to consider other sanctions that can be invoked in order to deter corporate crime. In this article, it is suggested that the focus should be on criminal sanctions against the natural persons who can potentially commit crimes on behalf of a corporation. New sentencing options against those who can potentially commit crimes on behalf of a corporation should include the annulment or suspension of an offender's academic  qualifications and the making of orders preventing an offender from working or being enrolled in an educational or vocational pursuit.

The right to convert exploration licences to mining leases in Australia: a proposed national uniform model

In this article, the authors raise an important proposal for reform to Australia's mining legislation: a nationally-consistent model providing exploration licence holders with a legislative right to be granted a mining lease. This proposed national model will be designed to reflect the present Western Australian system - Western Australia being the only jurisdiction to provide exploration licence holders with the express right to be granted a mining lease on application. The authors believe that the Western Australian system should provide the basis for a national legislative model, given that it is designed to balance appropriately the interests of companies wanting a right to mine to recoup the costs involved in exploring for minerals, and the interests of the public in ensuring that exploration and mining is conducted
reasonably.

The right to privacy and corporations

Traditionally the right of privacy has not been recognised at common law. However, recently the High Court has indicated that it may be willing to develop a new tort of invasion of privacy. Several of the justices have stated that the new action would only relate to natural persons, not corporations. This is because the principles said to underpin the right to privacy, autonomy and dignity, are supposedly inapposite to corporations. This article argues that this reasoning is flawed. Neither the right to autonomy nor dignity is capable of underpinning the right to privacy. Hence, no sustainable basis has so far been advanced for restricting the availability of any future tort of invasion of privacy to individuals. This article also questions whether a separate tort is needed in view of the protection already provided to the privacy interests of individuals and corporations under the equitable doctrine of confidence.

Obesity and the right to sue: would you like fries with that?

There is little chance that obese customers in Australia would fare any better in a claim against fast food companies than their counterparts in the US.

The trouble with woon: the selective answering of police questions and the right to pre-trial silence

The 1964 High Court decision in Woon v The Queen is commonly understood to permit the drawing of an inference of a ‘consciousness of guilt’ when a suspect selectively responds to police questions. It is the author’s contention that, in the light of the emphatic endorsement of the right to pre-trial silence by the High Court in 1993 in Petty v The Queen; Maiden v The Queen, Woon should now be regarded as bad law and should no longer be followed.

The response of the natriuretic peptide system to water deprivation in the desert rodent, Notomys alexis

Natriuretic peptides (NPs) are regulatory molecules that cause cGMP-mediated diuresis and natriuresis in mammals. Accordingly, it is interesting to consider their role in desert-adapted animals in which water is often limited. This study investigated the response of the natriuretic peptide (NP) system to varying periods of water deprivation (WD) in the Australian desert rodent species, Notomys alexis. It was hypothesised that the expression of the NP system will be down-regulated in water-deprived N. alexis compared to water-replete animals. The plasma levels of ANP were significantly reduced after 3 days of WD, but were unaffected by 7, 14 and 28 days of WD. Water deprivation for 3, 7, 14 days had a variable effect on the mRNA expression of ANP, CNP, NPR-A, NPR-B, and NPR-C, and a uniform down-regulation was not observed. However, after 28 days of WD, mRNA expression was similar to water-replete animals, except for NPR-A. Surprisingly, 7 and 14 days of WD caused an up-regulation in the ability of ANP to stimulate cGMP; this also occurred at 14 days for CNP. Taken together, the mRNA expression and peptide mediated guanylyl cyclase activity data after WD were in the opposite direction to what was predicted. Interestingly, after 28 days of WD, most parameters were similar to those of water-replete animals, which indicates that a down-regulation of the NP system is not part of the physiological response to an absence of free water in N. alexis.