Since the end of the First World War and as the reconstruction of the Middle East formally began in 1920s under the British and the French mandate the Kurds were largely marginalised. The new nation-states of Turkey, Iraq and Syria emerged and hence the Kurds feel they were cut off from the mainstream regional and international processes and the post War power houses.  As McDowall (2010) describes the Kurds have been systematically excluded and oppressed both culturally and economically for nearly a century now. The subsequent force migration and displacement of the Kurds in their millions is the topic of my research. I would like to invite contributions and comments about this subject. I have two overlapping questions about refugee protection and refugee prevention;  and I start by putting my first question to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). I, like millions other refugees have benefited from the excellent protection work of the UNHCR since it’s establishment 60 (in July 2011) years ago. Is it not the time to talk about refugee prevention now? For example, there are an estimated 100,000 Kurds who are stateless in Syria. Can UNHCR do something in order to prevent thes people becoming refugees elsewere. This is a legacy of the First World War and a moral responsiblity of the West to do some thing. What do you think?

James M. Donovan
University of Kentucky College of Law Library

Carol A. Watson
University of Georgia Law School

March 4, 2011

Abstract:
To date, there have been no studies focusing exclusively on the impact of open access on legal scholarship. We examine open access articles from three journals at the University of Georgia School of Law and confirm that legal scholarship freely available via open access improves an article’s research impact. Open access legal scholarship – which today appears to account for almost half of the output of law faculties – can expect to receive 50% more citations than non-open access writings of similar age from the same venue.

To access the research paper, go here: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1777090

Interesting posting on Boing Boing about Mac software tools for researchers: http://www.boingboing.net/2011/03/21/my-essential-mac-res.html

Not strictly research, but telling (and funny, sad and kind of outrageous): http://stuffexpataidworkerslike.com/

I wish all people with writing jobs had their community… Just imagine that: writers society.. Translators, poets, writers…

People with common interests and occupation. And no more misundestanding and conflicts. Sounds great for me.

Too bad its just an utopia 

Last month, seven defectors were gunned down by North Korean border guards as they crossed the frozen Yalu river along the country’s border with China. Five of them were killed instantly; the other two were dragged, wounded, back across the border with permission from Chinese authorities. This incident is reportedly the first of its kind – observers say that North Korean border guards have never shot refugees once they made it to the Chinese side – and may indicate that border guards have been ordered to crack down on the rapidly increasing numbers of defectors.

From the time of the Korean armistice to the early 90s, there were few known defectors from North Korea, and most of these were either military personnel or political figures. According to the South Korean Ministry of Unification, there were an estimated 14,000 defectors between 1953 and 2005, and only 607 of those escaped before 1989. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, however, North Korea lost its largest trading partner, which set off a period of industrial decline, and the subsequent decline of its communist neighbors made the problem worse. This also took its toll on the country’s input-heavy agricultural system, whose output began to decline at an alarming rate. Then, when a series of natural disasters (including severe flooding and a major drought) hit the country during the 90s, leading to widespread famine. The pace of defection began to pick up in 1994 and has increased steadily ever since as food insecurity and economic decay continues to plague the country. Videos obtained by the Sunday Telegraph with footage from North Korea, show harrowing footage of people starving and fed up with corrupt officials.

For those who flee, there are few options, and they never truly feel safe. Even among refugees, who are already overlooked and marginalized, North Koreans are invisible. China, where the vast majority of defectors flee, considers them illegal economic migrants; refugee agencies such as UNHCR are denied access to them, and it is illegal to even try to count them. Chinese citizens who provide assistance to them are harshly punished. Many of those who flee remain in the border areas, hiding in safehouses or with family members. Others work to save up enough money to flee to neighboring Thailand, or to make it to a South Korean embassy, where they will be granted amnesty and allowed to settle in South Korea. They are hunted the entire way by Chinese authorities, who deport as many as 300 defectors per week. Even when they are resettled, whether in South Korea close by or even as far away as the U.S. (which has officially resettled 100 or so North Korean refugees), defectors are guarded and work tirelessly to keep their identities hidden, as family members who stay behind are often punished if the regime discovers that a relative escaped.

As long as the North Korean regime remains what it is, little stands to change for defectors in any kind of major way. There are, however, some concrete ways to make the transition substantially easier for those who choose to leave. While South Korea accepts asylum seekers from the North and is the leading country for resettlement, the South Korean government is reluctant to make moves that risk provoking the North; in light of last year’s sinking of the Cheonan and the January shelling Yeonpyong, it is not difficult to understand why. Also, both China and South Korea maintain that a large exodus of asylum seekers would destabilize North Korea and force them to deal with the economic consequences, citing the re-absorption of East Germany as an example. If both of these countries started small, however, coordinated with other nations and emphasized resettlement as a humanitarian initiative (rather than a political move), then they could diminish the risk of angering the North and would greatly relieve the suffering of a population that has suffered under the repressive burdens of the Kim regime. Unfortunately, it does not look like China will be changing its tune any time soon. While the status quo is maintained, defectors will continue to brave the dangers and take their chances to obtain a shaky freedom – and those who stay behind will be left behind.

The blog named above has had a changed address.
This is because it doesn’t have to carry my name: Sabbath.
That was for time being.
It’s for whoever needs to share artistic works. You would not mind clicking on:

www.artlab-arts.blogspot.com

Sorry for incovenience.

This BBC video-clip describes the latest ingenious project from Sugata Mitra, an Indian-born professor at Newcastle University. You’ll most likely know Mitra from his Hole in the Wall computers set into the walls of buildings in India’s poorest slums. Mitra’s new project uses the «UK Granny Cloud» — a large group of British grannies who’ve agreed to volunteer an hour a week to tutor Indian classrooms over Skype video conferences — to supplement education in Indian schools where there is a shortage of teachers. (pulled from Boing Boing)

Contents:

* Causes of insecurity in Kakuma
* Drop out girls in the camp and reasons for this
* widening of roads camp wide declared by the camp manager
* Introduaction of solar panels in refugee schools by EDP
* Goals of EDP and its work with partner organizations
* Improvement in girls enrolment
* Individual refugee houses will have a switch
* Police and GSU to have access to refugee comunities

To read more log on to: www.artlab-sabbath.blogspot.com
 

A miracle peeved the massive analysis. A baby boy was fortunately rescued in a pit latrine, half a meter deep, on eighth of January, 2010 at six o’clock in the morning. His biological mother is a Ugandan. Naboya, the boy’s mother is an orphan, of sixteen years old living in Kakuma refugee camp.
She surprisingly delivered in a latrine on seventh of January, 2010 at eight o’clock in the evening. This girl had obtained credible maximum of nine months pregnancy, keeping the secret in her heart not anticipating an emergency, thus the message not delivered to her relatives.

She was an active girl learning in Anjelina Joli Primary School, located under Kalemchuch hill alongside Lodwar-Lokichoggio road. She did her Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) last year. The pregnancy was not detected because her belly didn’t appear like that of a pregnant woman or a girl. They thought it was her normal stomach when she has eaten to satisfaction. It was so bad for all her relatives believed in her as a lady who could not meddle in sex.

No body knew she could deliver on that day. «Her delivery emerged, as she demanded going to the latrine,» said the child development worker like she was told.
On reaching the latrine she released the child into the pit. She stood up and discovered her libian Minora, in pain. The latter discovered the blood coming out and told Eveline in the morning about it.
According to the eye witness, Eveline, and the staff concern with the welfare of children, she delivered in the evening and the child was rescued the following morning at six. This was after spending forteen hours in the pit with dried waste products which had taken many years without being used rather than the normally used one.

Eveline, followed up where she had gone to that evening. She visited the latrine and found the blood surrounding the pit. Moreover, she saw the child looking up to the reflected light inside the latrine. She ran calling on neighbours extensively and the community members to rescue the baby. Anxious, they came with no confidence of getting the baby alive and fortunatley rescued him. This lucky baby boy, has a jaw injury but not fractured.

Immediately, the police was called. Ashamed of herself, Naboya-the mother and her son were rushed to IRC main hospital. They’re not discharged yet undertaking treatment.