Social protection systems in Latin America and the Caribbean: Plurinational State of Bolivia

Includes bibliography

Two decades of adjustment and agricultural development in Latin America and the Caribbean

Includes bibliography

Inclusion of the European Nordic model in the debate concerning social protection reform: the long-term development of Nordic welfare systems (1890-2005) and their transferability to Latin America in the twenty-first century

Includes bibliography

Two decades of adjustment and agricultural development in Latin America and the Caribbean

Includes bibliography

Typology of instruments of public environmental international law

At the second meeting of the focal points appointed by the Governments of the signatory countries of the Declaration on the application of Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, which was held in Guadalajara, Mexico, on 16 and 17 April 2013, a decision was made to form working groups to advance towards the creation of a regional instrument. Thus, a working group on access rights and the regional instrument was formed for the purpose of gaining more in-depth knowledge on access rights in order to make a proposal on the nature and scope of the application of a regional instrument. At its first meeting, the working group determined that a study describing the different types of international instruments would be useful in helping it achieve its objective. This report explores the different types of instruments that are used in public international law, with an emphasis on the instruments that are relevant to Principle 10. The report has three chapters, which are as follows. The first chapter analyses the term “international instrument” and discusses the distinction between binding and non-binding legal instruments, illustrated with examples. The second chapter describes the function of implementation and compliance mechanisms in an international instrument, providing examples of these mechanisms. The third chapter presents the multilateral and regional instruments relevant to access rights regarding information, participation and justice in environmental matters in Latin America and the Caribbean.

A legitimidade da participação processual na tutela dos direitos difusos

A abordagem teórica da participação processual se encontra em um ponto de interseção entre uma teoria política e social e uma teoria do direito, pelo que, foi necessário iniciar pela teoria social de Habermas, para então transitar para sua teoria política e dela para a sua teoria sobre o direito. Nos termos de uma teoria discursiva, a correção da decisão judicial decorre não apenas da racionalidade da legislação, mas, também da reprodução, no âmbito do discurso jurídico, das condições do discurso racional, desde que observadas as limitações pragmáticas que incidem sobre o discurso jurídico, limitações essas que decorrem da especificidade do discurso jurídico, que, voltado para questões de decidibilidade, não pode se desenvolver sob os mesmos pressupostos da ética do discurso. Mesmo limitado pelas imposições pragmáticas do discurso jurídico, nele, assim como nos discursos práticos em geral, a argumentação é necessária à justificação racional e à correção da decisão judicial, e é neste aspecto que o discurso jurídico se conecta com a participação, essencial para a justificação racional e legitimidade da decisão judicial. Assim, a legislação processual deve ser submetida à crítica, para que se verifique se a participação processual prevista na legislação é capaz de garantir um procedimento legítimo. No caso da legislação nacional, há duas situações que não se justificam racionalmente, a primeira, referente ao procedimento judicial atual, calcado no paradigma individual, insuficiente para o processamento de lides formuladas em torno dos direitos difusos, pois impedem que a necessária discussão em torno dos paradigmas jurídicos que serão apresentados em juízo, e em torno da representação adequada, aconteçam. A segunda referente à restrição à participação individual na maioria das ações processuais voltadas à tutela dos direitos difusos que não se justifica racionalmente. Apesar de existir um indicativo de mudança, consistente em um anteprojeto de código de processo coletivo em que está prevista a ampliação da legitimação a qualquer membro da sociedade, esta ampliação não se estende a todas as ações que podem ser utilizadas para tutelar interesses e direitos difusos, pois ficaram de fora as ações de controle de constitucionalidade. Assim, a reflexão em torno do tema da participação processual não pode ser encerrada, nem mesmo quando o código de processo coletivo for promulgado, dada a essencialidade da participação de todos os interessados, ou de seus representantes legítimos, em qualquer procedimento judicial em que seus interesses ou direitos estejam sendo discutidos. De igual modo, apenas a continuidade da reflexão em torno da insuficiência do procedimento judicial pautado no paradigma liberal para a tutela de direitos difusos é capaz de criar uma discussão racional sobre o tema, cuja conclusão represente a vitória das melhores razões.

A efetividade das unidades de conservação e das terras indígenas na contenção do desflorestamento na Amazônia Legal

Foi investigada a efetividade das Unidades de Conservação e das Terras Indígenas na contenção do desflorestamento na Amazônia Legal. A análise dos dados foi processada em ambiente SIG (Sistema de Informações Geográficas) no programa ArcGis 9.3. O modelo estatístico desenvolvido para testar a efetividade das Áreas Protegidas se baseou na diferença entre o desflorestamento interno observado nas Áreas Protegidas e o desflorestamento interno nas Áreas Protegidas, estimado a partir do entorno de cinco quilômetros e de dez quilômetros das Áreas Protegidas. Verificou-se que, em área de floresta, até o ano de 2007, as Áreas Protegidas ocupavam aproximadamente 40% da Amazônia Legal. As Unidades de Conservação de Proteção Integral ocupavam 7,5% da Amazônia Legal, as Unidades de Conservação de Uso Sustentável ocupavam 11,2% da Amazônia Legal e as Terras Indígenas ocupavam 21% da Amazônia Legal. Foi observada uma diferença significativa na proporção de área ocupada pelos tipos de Áreas Protegidas entre os estados da Amazônia Legal. Notou-se, ainda, que a proporção do desflorestamento interno nas Unidades de Conservação de Proteção Integral e nas Terras Indígenas foi menor do que nas Unidades de Conservação de Uso Sustentável. A proporção do desflorestamento interno das Áreas Protegidas foi muito menor do que a proporção de desflorestamento externo à essas áreas, nos estados do Mato Grosso, Pará e Rondônia. Segundo o modelo estatístico de efetividade, 62,3% das Áreas Protegidas analisadas eram efetivas na contenção do desflorestamento. Esse modelo constitui importante instrumento para direcionar o planejamento de políticas públicas de conservação da Amazônia Legal, pois indica as Áreas Protegidas mais ameaçadas pelo desflorestamento. É imprescindível estabelecer com urgência a criação de mais Áreas Protegidas na Amazônia Legal e a consolidação das Áreas Protegidas existentes, já que não se sabe até quando essas áreas conseguirão se manter sem o mínimo necessário à sua sustentação.

Screening of Extracts of Leaves and Stems of Psychotria spp. (Rubiaceae) against Sitophilus zeamais (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) and Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) for Maize Protection

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Characteristics of sexual violence against adolescent girls and adult women

Background: Sexual violence is considered a serious violation of human rights which affects mainly young women and adolescents. There is little information about the conditions under which sexual offences occur. We evaluated characteristics of sexual violence against adolescent girls and adult women.Method: This is a quantitative, retrospective, descriptive study of sexual violence against adolescent girls and adult women. Analyses were carried out on data collected from 1118 women, 546 adolescents (10-19 years) and 572 adults (>= 20 years), with a complaint of rape treated at Hospital Perola Byington, Sao Paulo, between 1994 and 1999. The age limit of the adolescent sample met the World Health Organization's (WHO) criteria. We analyzed the type of sexual contact, degree of intimidation, perpetrator and activity of the victim during the approach.Results: Crimes without penetration were five times more frequent in adolescents and use of threats of death or intimidation was common in both groups. Mental illness was more prevalent in adult victims and the majority of adolescent victims were aged < 14 years. Uncle and stepfather perpetrators were more frequent among adolescents and partners or former intimate partners in adult women. In most cases the approach occurred in public places, although sex crimes at the perpetrator's residence were more frequent amongst adolescents.Conclusions: Although children and adolescents require the same intervention measures and legal protection, a considerable proportion of adolescent sex offenders can face conditions similar to those of adult women.

Processo judicial previdenciário: a necessária mudança de paradigma para a efetividade da política de previdencia social no Brasil

Pós-graduação em Direito - FCHS

A igualdade como paradigma para efetivação de um direito processual coletivo no Brasil

Pós-graduação em Direito - FCHS

La protezione dei diritti sociali nell'ordinamento dell'Unione Europea

This study deals with the protection of social rights in Europe and aims to outline the position currently held by these rights in the EU law. The first two chapters provide an overview of the regulatory framework in which the social rights lie, through the reorganisation of international sources. In particular the international instruments of protection of social rights are taken into account, both at the universal level, due to the activity of the United Nations Organisation and of its specialized agency, the International Labour Organization, and at a regional level, related to the activity of the Council of Europe. Finally an analysis of sources concludes with the reconstruction of the stages of the recognition of social rights in the EU. The second chapter describes the path followed by social rights in the EU: it examines the founding Treaties and subsequent amendments, the Charter of Fundamental Social Rights of Workers of 1989 and, in particularly, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, the legal status of which was recently treated as the primary law by the Treaty of Lisbon signed in December 2007. The third chapter is, then, focused on the analysis of the substantive aspects of the recognition of the rights made by the EU: it provides a framework of the content and scope of the rights accepted in the Community law by the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which is an important contribution to the location of the social rights among the fundamental and indivisible rights of the person. In the last section of the work, attention is focused on the two profiles of effectiveness and justiciability of social rights, in order to understand the practical implications of the gradual creation of a system of protection of these rights at Community level. Under the first profile, the discussion is focused on the effectiveness in the general context of the mechanisms of implementation of the “second generation” rights, with particular attention to the new instruments and actors of social Europe and the effect of the procedures of soft law. Second part of chapter four, finally, deals with the judicial protection of rights in question. The limits of the jurisprudence of the European Union Court of Justice are more obvious exactly in the field of social rights, due to the gap between social rights and other fundamental rights. While, in fact, the Community Court ensures the maximum level of protection to human rights and fundamental freedoms, social rights are often degraded into mere aspirations of EU institutions and its Member States. That is, the sources in the social field (European Social Charter and Community Charter) represent only the base for interpretation and application of social provisions of secondary legislation, unlike the ECHR, which is considered by the Court part of Community law. Moreover, the Court of Justice is in the middle of the difficult comparison between social values and market rules, of which it considers the need to make a balance: despite hesitancy to recognise the juridical character of social rights, the need of protection of social interests has justified, indeed, certain restrictions to the free movement of goods, freedom to provide services or to Community competition law. The road towards the recognition and the full protection of social rights in the European Union law appears, however, still long and hard, as shown by the recent judgments Laval and Viking, in which the Community court, while enhancing the Nice Charter, has not given priority to fundamental social rights, giving them the role of limits (proportionate and justified) of economic freedoms.

The release of zinc and lead from mine tailings

Mining and processing of metal ores are important causes of soil and groundwater contamination in many regions worldwide. Metal contaminations are a serious risk for the environment and human health. The assessment of metal contaminations in the soil is therefore an important task. A common approach to assess the environmental risk emanating from inorganic contaminations to soil and groundwater is the use of batch or column leaching tests. In this regard, the suitability of leaching tests is a controversial issue. In the first part of this work the applicability and comparability of common leaching tests in the scope of groundwater risk assessment of inorganic contamination is reviewed and critically discussed. Soil water sampling methods (the suction cup method and centrifugation) are addressed as an alternative to leaching tests. Reasons for limitations of the comparability of leaching test results are exposed and recommendations are given for the expedient application of leaching tests for groundwater risk assessment. Leaching tests are usually carried out in open contact with the atmosphere disregarding possible changes of redox conditions. This can affect the original metal speciation and distribution, particularly when anoxic samples are investigated. The influence of sample storage on leaching test results of sulfide bearing anoxic material from a former flotation dump is investigated in a long-term study. Since the oxidation of the sulfide-bearing samples leads to a significant overestimation of metal release, a feasible modification for the conduction of common leaching tests for anoxic material is proposed, where oxidation is prevented efficiently. A comparison of leaching test results to soil water analyzes have shown that the modified saturation soil extraction (SSE) is found to be the only of the tested leaching procedures, which can be recommended for the assessment of current soil water concentrations at anoxic sites if direct investigation of the soil water is impossible due to technical reasons. The vertical distribution and speciation of Zn and Pb in the flotation residues as well as metal concentrations in soil water and plants were investigated to evaluate the environmental risk arising from this site due to the release of metals. The variations in pH and inorganic C content show an acidification of the topsoil with pH values down to 5.5 in the soil and a soil water pH of 6 in 1 m depth. This is due to the oxidation of sulfides and depletion in carbonates. In the anoxic subsoil pH conditions are still neutral and soil water collected with suction cups is in equilibrium with carbonate minerals. Results from extended x-ray absorption fine-structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy confirm that Zn is mainly bound in sphalerite in the subsoil and weathering reactions lead to a redistribution of Zn in the topsoil. A loss of 35% Zn and S from the topsoil compared to the parent material with 10 g/kg Zn has been observed. 13% of total Zn in the topsoil can be regarded as mobile or easily mobilizable according to sequential chemical extractions (SCE). Zn concentrations of 10 mg/L were found in the soil water, where pH is acidic. Electron supply and the buffer capacity of the soil were identified as main factors controlling Zn mobility and release to the groundwater. Variable Pb concentrations up to 30 µg/L were observed in the soil water. In contrast to Zn, Pb is enriched in the mobile fraction of the oxidized topsoil by a factor of 2 compared to the subsoil with 2 g/kg Pb. 80% of the cation exchange capacity in the topsoil is occupied by Pb. Therefore, plant uptake and bioavailability are of major concern. If the site is not prevented from proceeding acidification in the future, a significant release of Zn, S, and Pb to the groundwater has to be expected. Results from this study show that the assessment of metal release especially from sulfide bearing anoxic material requires an extensive comprehension of leaching mechanisms on the one hand and on weathering processes, which influence the speciation and the mobility of metals, on the other hand. Processes, which may change redox and pH conditions in the future, have to be addressed to enable sound decisions for soil and groundwater protection and remediation.

Reexamining the Role of Incarceration and Stigma in Criminal Law

One of the ways by which the legal system has responded to different sets of problems is the blurring of the traditional boundaries of criminal law, both procedural and substantive. This study aims to explore under what conditions does this trend lead to the improvement of society's welfare by focusing on two distinguishing sanctions in criminal law, incarceration and social stigma. In analyzing how incarceration affects the incentive to an individual to violate a legal standard, we considered the crucial role of the time constraint. This aspect has not been fully explored in the literature on law and economics, especially with respect to the analysis of the beneficiality of imposing either a fine or a prison term. We observed that that when individuals are heterogeneous with respect to wealth and wage income, and when the level of activity can be considered a normal good, only the middle wage and middle income groups can be adequately deterred by a fixed fines alone regime. The existing literature only considers the case of the very poor, deemed as judgment proof. However, since imprisonment is a socially costly way to deprive individuals of their time, other alternatives may be sought such as the imposition of discriminatory monetary fine, partial incapacitation and other alternative sanctions. According to traditional legal theory, the reason why criminal law is obeyed is not mainly due to the monetary sanctions but to the stigma arising from the community’s moral condemnation that accompanies conviction or merely suspicion. However, it is not sufficiently clear whether social stigma always accompanies a criminal conviction. We addressed this issue by identifying the circumstances wherein a criminal conviction carries an additional social stigma. Our results show that social stigma is seen to accompany a conviction under the following conditions: first, when the law coincides with the society's social norms; and second, when the prohibited act provides information on an unobservable attribute or trait of an individual -- crucial in establishing or maintaining social relationships beyond mere economic relationships. Thus, even if the social planner does not impose the social sanction directly, the impact of social stigma can still be influenced by the probability of conviction and the level of the monetary fine imposed as well as the varying degree of correlation between the legal standard violated and the social traits or attributes of the individual. In this respect, criminal law serves as an institution that facilitates cognitive efficiency in the process of imposing the social sanction to the extent that the rest of society is boundedly rational and use judgment heuristics. Paradoxically, using criminal law in order to invoke stigma for the violation of a legal standard may also serve to undermine its strength. To sum, the results of our analysis reveal that the scope of criminal law is narrow both for the purposes of deterrence and cognitive efficiency. While there are certain conditions where the enforcement of criminal law may lead to an increase in social welfare, particularly with respect to incarceration and stigma, we have also identified the channels through which they could affect behavior. Since such mechanisms can be replicated in less costly ways, society should first try or seek to employ these legal institutions before turning to criminal law as a last resort.

La tutela del disoccupato nel mercato del lavoro. Dal sostegno del reddito ai servizi per l'occupazione

La tesi affronta il tema degli istituti e degli strumenti di tutela della condizione di disoccupazione. In mancanza d’una nozione giuridica generale di disoccupazione, l’obiettivo è quello di ricercare gli elementi comuni ai differenti istituti in grado di definire l’ambito della protezione garantita alla persona priva d’impiego. Lo studio fornisce, dapprima, una complessiva ricognizione storico-critica degli strumenti per il sostegno del reddito nelle ipotesi di mancanza di lavoro. L’esame dei modelli d’intervento legislativo evidenzia finalità, caratteristiche e criticità dei singoli istituti, sia di quelli più consolidati, che degli interventi più recenti. La seconda parte della tesi si propone d’integrare la ricognizione delle forme di tutela economica con l’analisi delle politiche attive nel mercato del lavoro e degli interventi a sostegno all’occupabilità. L’intento è di verificare le modalità attraverso le quali l’ordinamento tenta di collegare tutela del reddito e promozione dell’occupazione. La ricerca affronta anche la questione dei limiti alla libertà di circolazione nell’Unione Europea dei cittadini non lavoratori, nonché il condizionamento determinato dalle misure che riducono o scoraggiano l’esportabilità delle prestazioni previdenziali negli altri Paesi europei. La parte finale si propone d’individuare gli elementi che caratterizzano il complesso degli istituti analizzati, al fine di verificare a quale evento giuridico l’ordinamento offra protezione. Lo studio identifica due elementi rilevanti: la condizione di “mancanza di lavoro”, che accomuna l’intervento per la disoccupazione e quello a favore dei rapporti di lavoro sospesi, nonché l’attualità dello stato di disoccupazione, parametro generale per gli interventi protettivi. L’analisi svolta sottolinea, però, che i meccanismi di c.d. condizionalità per l’accesso alle prestazioni economiche e ai servizi per l’impiego non consentono un’adeguata promozione della qualità del lavoro e della professionalità del lavoratore. La tesi individua un possibile terreno di sviluppo della protezione della condizione del disoccupato nell’integrazione tra strumenti di sostegno all’impiego e interventi a base universalistica.