Making kippers from local herring (Sardinella spp.) smoke-cured in the Torry Kiln

(Sardinella) are available all year round in Sierra Leone. The best time to use them for baiting herrings is during the dry season when they are fattest and feeding well. The most common method of processing herring locally is hot smoking to give either soft, moist and cooked product or a dry, brittle product with very low moisture content. The author describes a curing method intended to add variety to the types of products that can be obtained from local herring. It is only mildly preservative, the product cannot be kept more than 24 hours without refrigeration. Particular attention is paid to the source and quality of the raw material used, and the processing method is detailed with attention to washing, splitting, brining, smoking, and the application of the Torry fish smoking kiln to the process.

Nada além da verdade? a consolidação do direito à verdade e seu exercício por comissões e tribunais

O trabalho expõe a consolidação do direito à verdade pelo Direito Internacional e a complementaridade entre as comissões da verdade e os tribunais, mecanismos de justiça de transição, como a combinação que melhor lhe confere aplicabilidade. Primeiramente, a tese reivindica que a transição e a consolidação democrática devem se dar por meio da prestação de contas com o passado, o que se torna possível na medida em que se promoveram a partir da 2a Guerra Mundial significativas alterações no Direito Internacional, que se afasta do paradigma vesfaliano de soberania. Aborda-se assim o excepcional desenvolvimento do Direito Internacional dos Direitos Humanos, do Direito Internacional Humanitário e do Direito Penal Internacional, centralizados na ideia de responsabilidade. A tese também abrange o desenvolvimento do direito à verdade no seio da Organização das Nações Unidas e dos sistemas regionais de proteção de direitos humanos, tendo alcançado o status de norma imperativa ou peremptória, sendo explorados os obstáculos ao seu exercício como no caso de anistias e outras medidas similiares como a prescrição, a justiça militar e a coisa julgada. Enfrentam-se, ainda, as potencialidades e limites da verdade que resulta de comissões da verdade e dos tribunais, concebida esta como conhecimento sobre os fatos e o reconhecimento da responsabilidade pelo ocorrido. O trabalho aborda temas como a independência e imparcialidade das comissões de verdade, seus poderes e o alcance de suas conclusões e recomendações. Por sua vez, com vistas a identificar as verdades a serem alcançadas pelos tribunais, privilegia-se o processo criminal, por se entender que a sentença penal pressupõe o exercício mais completo do devido processo. A imperatividade do direito à verdade é também demonstrada pela defesa da participação da vítima no processo criminal e da admissão de culpa por parte do acusado -- ambos consagrados pelo Tratado de Roma. Por fim, a tese analisa alguns cenários para a complementaridade entre estes dois mecanismos de justiça de transição, fazendo o estudo dos casos do Chile, Peru, Serra Leoa e Quênia, casos estes permeados pelo Direito Internacional, seja pela influência da jurisdição universal ou pelo impacto da jurisdição internacional. O caso brasileiro, por certo, não se ajusta a nenhum destes cenários. Sua caracterização como um diálogo em aberto, para efeitos deste trabalho, pressupõe que o Brasil encontra-se em um importante momento de decisão sobre a complementaridade entre comissões da verdade e tribunais - a recente aprovação da Comissão Nacional da Verdade deve conviver com o aparente conflito entre a decisão do Supremo Tribunal Federal, que afirmou a constitucionalidade da Lei de Anistia de 1979, e a decisão da Corte Interamericana no caso Araguaia, que entende nulos os dispositivos da lei que obstaculizam o processamento dos responsáveis, ambas no ano de 2010 - com a oportunidade de demonstrar que a passagem do tempo não arrefece as obrigações a que se comprometeu no cenário internacional.

Length-weight relationships of five species of the family Sparidae in the Gulf of Guinea

Length-weight relationships are presented by sex and by country for five species of the family Sparidae (Pugrus caeruleostictus, Pagellus bellottii, Dentex canariensis, Dentex congonensis, Dentex angolensis) sampled in April 1990 during the Guinea '90 trawling survey off Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana.

As normas referentes às crianças-soldado no Direito Internacional

Este trabalho trata da normatização internacional relativa às crianças-soldado e aborda, sobretudo, a utilização de defesas baseadas em alegações de violação aos princípios da legalidade e em ocorrência de erro de proibição por réus de processos penais do Tribunal Especial para Serra Leoa e do Tribunal Penal Internacional. Diante disso, investiga se a proibição geral ao envolvimento infantil em conflitos armados e as infrações a essa vedação particularmente as condutas de recrutar, alistar e utilizar crianças como soldados integram o Direito Internacional Costumeiro e, em caso positivo, em que momento teria ocorrido a inserção nesse campo. Analisa, igualmente, se o argumento da boa-fé pode ser um elemento de defesa válido naqueles processos, com fundamento no relativismo cultural. Pretende, com isso, esclarecer o processo de criminalização daquelas condutas, além de identificar a posição hierárquica ocupada pelas normas em questão. Para tanto, recorre à verificação da prática estatal e da opinio juris relativas ao tema. Com isso, conclui que o regramento possui natureza costumeira e pertence ao domínio do jus cogens.

The politics of ethical foreign policy::A responsibility to protect whom?

Ethical foreign policy persists as a problem of international relations, especially regarding humanitarian intervention. However, despite apparent international upheavals, the debate about the ethics of humanitarian intervention has remained fundamentally unchanged. To escape the limits of this debate, this article deconstructs British claims to ethical foreign policy since 1997, reading these claims against themselves and against contemporary humanitarian intervention literature. It finds that Britain’s ethical framework, the ‘doctrine of international community’, which justifies interventions in Kosovo, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan, is undone by the anomalous, yet exemplary, invasion of Iraq. This demonstrates the politics of ethical foreign policy: first, that any intervention, no matter how ‘ethical’ or ‘right’, produces suffering and death; and, second, that we cannot know for sure whether we are doing the right thing by intervening. Embracing, rather than effacing, the political nature of ethical foreign policy opens up a more intellectually honest and positive potential future for relating to the foreign in a responsible manner.

La debilidad del Estado como factor explicativo de los conflictos armados en África subsahariana en el período de la pos Guerra Fría

La presente disertación aborda la correlación circular entre la debilidad estatal y el surgimiento de los actores armados que postulan autores como Robert Rotberg o William Reno, para el análisis de los conflictos armados en África Subsahariana en el período de la pos Guerra Fría. Durante este período, en esta región diferentes conflictos estallaron —entre esos Liberia, Sierra Leona, Somalia, Ruanda o Sudán— además de ser una de las partes del mundo que sufre por el elevado nivel de precariedad estatal. Este trabajo desarrolla entonces ambos aspectos de dicha correlación circular, a saber la incidencia de la debilidad estatal en el surgimiento de los grupos armados y, en segundo lugar, el fomento de la debilidad por parte de los grupos armados ¬–denominados por varios autores como señores de la Guerra–. Por último, esta disertación sugiere unas limitaciones al alcance explicativo de la relación interactiva entre la debilidad del Estado y los actores armados, para finalmente discutir el postulado planteado por algunos autores como Béatrice Hibou o Roland Marchal, que propone que la existencia de grupos armados pueden llevar al redespliegue del poder estatal en el largo plazo.

La reintegración social y económica de los grupos armados ilegales en Colombia: reflexiones a partir de la trayectoria de nueve excombatientes

Esta investigación toma como marco general la Política de Reintegración Social y económica de personas y grupos alzados en armas en Colombia, en donde tras el estudio de las trayectorias en el conflicto de un grupo de 9 excombatientes, se aborda la relación existente entre los beneficios otorgados por dicha política y aquello que facilitó y motivó el ingreso, la permanencia y desmovilización de los grupos armados. Se presenta una caracterización e interpretación conceptual de las denominadas trayectorias en el conflicto, son establecidas relaciones y diferencias entre las organizaciones ilegales FARC y las AUC, se revisan las percepciones que frente a los beneficios del programa de reintegración tienen excombatientes y profesionales de la entidad que lidera dicho proceso y a partir de ello, es argumentada la incidencia que sobre el éxito de esta política tienen las características individuales y particulares, tanto de los excombatientes como de las organizaciones armadas ilegales.

Estudio de caso. “el papel de los refugiados en la implementación de la política de libre circulación de la cedeao: visto desde el flujo de Liberia a Ghana”

Este estudio de caso tiene como objetivo determinar las implicaciones del flujo de población refugiada en la implementación de la política de libre circulación de la CEDEAO; tomando como referente el flujo desde Liberia hacia Ghana generado por la Guerra Civil. Esta investigación defiende que las implicaciones pueden estar relacionadas a las dinámicas que se asocian al movimiento de personas, las cuales pueden ser negativas o positivas, razón por la cual los Estados pueden reaccionar endureciendo las políticas migratorias, la obtención de permisos laborales y de residencia, y el cierre de fronteras o la expulsión de refugiados; con el fin de evitar consecuencias a nivel político, económico o en materia de seguridad. Para comprobar lo anterior se va a realizará un análisis de texto, sobre posiciones nacionales y políticas comunitarias, así como una revisión de estudios y estadísticas relacionados con el tema.

La cooperación internacional como instrumento para la construcción de paz en Colombia. Estudio de caso del proyecto “Fortalecimiento institucional para la atención a las víctimas del conflicto (FORVIC)” (2009-2014)

El presente estudio de caso pretende analizar los alcances de la cooperación internacional en materia de justicia transicional y construcción de paz tomando en consideración un proyecto de cooperación internacional emblemático denominado Fortalecimiento Institucional para la Atención a las Víctimas del Conflicto o FORVIC. Para conseguir esto, se analizarán primero los efectos generados por el Proyecto FORVIC en materia de fortalecimiento del Estado de Derecho y lucha contra la impunidad en Colombia, y a partir de los hallazgos se constituirán y se propondrán una serie de condiciones sobre las que puede pensarse la cooperación internacional como un instrumento genuino para la construcción de paz en Colombia.

Natural resources, redistribution and Human capital formation

How do resource booms affect human capital accumulation? We exploit time and spatial variation generated by the commodity boom across local governments in Peru to measure the effect of natural resources on human capital formation. We explore the effect of both mining production and tax revenues on test scores, finding a substantial and statistically significant effect for the latter. Transfers to local governments from mining tax revenues are linked to an increase in math test scores of around 0.23 standard deviations. We find that the hiring of permanent teachers as well as the increases in parental employment and improvements in health outcomes of adults and children are plausible mechanisms for such large effect on learning. These findings suggest that redistributive policies could facilitate the accumulation of human capital in resource abundant developing countries as a way to avoid the natural resources curse.

Safeguarding livelihoods or exacerbating poverty?: Artisanal mining and formalization in West Africa

In recent years, policy mechanisms to support a formalized artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector in sub-Saharan Africa have gained increasing currency. Proponents of formalization argue that most social and environmental problems associated with the sector stem from the fact that ASM is predominantly unregulated and operates outside the legal sphere. This paper critically examines recent efforts to formalize artisanal and small-scale mining inWest Africa, drawing upon recent fieldwork carried out in Sierra Leone, Ghana and Mali. In exploring the sector’s livelihood dimensions, the analysis suggests that bringing unregulated, informal mining activities into the legal domain remains a considerable challenge. The paper concludes by confirming the urgent need to refocus formalization strategies on the main livelihood challenges and constraints of small-scale miners themselves, if poverty is to be alleviated and more benefits are to accrue to depressed communities in mineral-rich regions.

Isotype in Africa, 1952–58

A review of work done by the Isotype Institute in the 1940s and 1950s, associated with Africa. The chapter discusses Otto Neurath's growing interest in the last years of his life in the issue of presenting information to (West) Africans through Isotype methods. Although this interest was not realised by Otto Neurath in the form of completed work during his lifetime, Marie Neurath and the Isotype Institute did successfully carry out numerous projects in Britain's West African colonies during the 1950s, in Sierra Leone, Gold Coast (Ghana), and most extensively in the Western Region of Nigeria. Discussion of these projects illustrates the means by which Isotype work was carried out in a developing world context, the difficulties that were encountered, and the issues of effectiveness and sustainability the work raised.

Toward a Better World: Finnish Utopian Communities since 1972

The utopian communities of Finns are linked to world history and the great ideological foundations behind numerous utopian endeavors. In the paper, Finnish utopian communities will be described, compared, and contrasted by their ideological backgrounds and in a global context. In addition, the reasons for the dissolution of these settlements are analyzed. Even though the Finnish utopian communities are not often mentioned together with More's Utopia, or with Fourier, Owen, Cabet, or Oneida, they have an interesting history reaching back to the 1792 “New Jerusalem” plan in Sierra Leone. While the best-known Finnish utopian ventures are Sointula in Canada (1901-1905) and Colonia Finlandesa (1906-1940) in Argentina there were, however, almost twenty similar Finnish ventures around the world based on nationalism, utopian socialism, cooperative movements, “tropic fevers,” and religious ideas.

TANK SIZING AND OPTIMIZING LOOP PLACEMENT IN A BRANCHED WATER DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

More than eighteen percent of the world’s population lives without reliable access to clean water, forced to walk long distances to get small amounts of contaminated surface water. Carrying heavy loads of water long distances and ingesting contaminated water can lead to long-term health problems and even death. These problems affect the most vulnerable populations, women, children, and the elderly, more than anyone else. Water access is one of the most pressing issues in development today. Boajibu, a small village in Sierra Leone, where the author served in Peace Corps for two years, lacks access to clean water. Construction of a water distribution system was halted when a civil war broke out in 1992 and has not been continued since. The community currently relies on hand-dug and borehole wells that can become dirty during the dry season, which forces people to drink contaminated water or to travel a far distance to collect clean water. This report is intended to provide a design the system as it was meant to be built. The water system design was completed based on the taps present, interviews with local community leaders, local surveying, and points taken with a GPS. The design is a gravity-fed branched water system, supplied by a natural spring on a hill adjacent to Boajibu. The system’s source is a natural spring on a hill above Boajibu, but the flow rate of the spring is unknown. There has to be enough flow from the spring over a 24-hour period to meet the demands of the users on a daily basis, or what is called providing continuous flow. If the spring has less than this amount of flow, the system must provide intermittent flow, flow that is restricted to a few hours a day. A minimum flow rate of 2.1 liters per second was found to be necessary to provide continuous flow to the users of Boajibu. If this flow is not met, intermittent flow can be provided to the users. In order to aid the construction of a distribution system in the absence of someone with formal engineering training, a table was created detailing water storage tank sizing based on possible source flow rates. A builder can interpolate using the source flow rate found to get the tank size from the table. However, any flow rate below 2.1 liters per second cannot be used in the table. In this case, the builder should size the tank such that it can take in the water that will be supplied overnight, as all the water will be drained during the day because the users will demand more than the spring can supply through the night. In the developing world, there is often a problem collecting enough money to fund large infrastructure projects, such as a water distribution system. Often there is only enough money to add only one or two loops to a water distribution system. It is helpful to know where these one or two loops can be most effectively placed in the system. Various possible loops were designated for the Boajibu water distribution system and the Adaptive Greedy Heuristic Loop Addition Selection Algorithm (AGHLASA) was used to rank the effectiveness of the possible loops to construct. Loop 1 which was furthest upstream was selected because it benefitted the most people for the least cost. While loops which were further downstream were found to be less effective because they would benefit fewer people. Further studies should be conducted on the water use habits of the people of Boajibu to more accurately predict the demands that will be placed on the system. Further population surveying should also be conducted to predict population change over time so that the appropriate capacity can be built into the system to accommodate future growth. The flow at the spring should be measured using a V-notch weir and the system adjusted accordingly. Future studies can be completed adjusting the loop ranking method so that two users who may be using the water system for different lengths of time are not counted the same and vulnerable users are weighted more heavily than more robust users.

Estimating the Reproduction Number of Ebola Virus (EBOV) During the 2014 Outbreak in West Africa

The 2014 Ebola virus (EBOV) outbreak in West Africa is the largest outbreak of the genus Ebolavirus to date. To better understand the spread of infection in the affected countries, it is crucial to know the number of secondary cases generated by an infected index case in the absence and presence of control measures, i.e., the basic and effective reproduction number. In this study, I describe the EBOV epidemic using an SEIR (susceptible-exposed-infectious-recovered) model and fit the model to the most recent reported data of infected cases and deaths in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. The maximum likelihood estimates of the basic reproduction number are 1.51 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.50-1.52) for Guinea, 2.53 (95% CI: 2.41-2.67) for Sierra Leone and 1.59 (95% CI: 1.57-1.60) for Liberia. The model indicates that in Guinea and Sierra Leone the effective reproduction number might have dropped to around unity by the end of May and July 2014, respectively. In Liberia, however, the model estimates no decline in the effective reproduction number by end-August 2014. This suggests that control efforts in Liberia need to be improved substantially in order to stop the current outbreak.