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1082. The Performance of the COVID-19 District Task Forces in Uganda: Understanding the Dynamics and Functionality
- Author:
- Wilson Winstons Muhwezi, Jonas Mbabazi, Fred Kasalirwe, Phoebe Atukunda, Eugene Gerald Ssemakula, Oscord Mark Otile, Rebecca N. Mukwaya, and Walter Akena
- Publication Date:
- 12-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE)
- Abstract:
- This report is an important assessment of the performance of the DTFs in implementing the COVID-19 pandemic containment plan. As the world is faced with the unprecedented challenges from COVID-19, the strain on many governments is extreme, and the impact on people all over the world continues to grow. Indeed, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the social and economic structures of service delivery with significant consequences on lives, livelihoods and general economic development. As part of the response mechanism to contain and manage the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of Uganda instituted national and sub-national COVID-19 task forces to implement and manage the COVID-19 pandemic containment and recovery measures. The Presidential Decree on COVID-19 recognizes the Central Government's role in the provision of healthcare and security. District Taskforces (DTFs) were put in place to support Central Government's containment of COVID-19 and implementation of the GoU COVID-19 containment styrategies of case management, surveillance, health promotion, resource mobilization, enforcement of standard operating procedures (SOPs) and continued delivery of basic services.
- Topic:
- Governance, Public Health, Pandemic, and COVID-19
- Political Geography:
- Uganda and Africa
1083. Protection or Interference? The Legitimacy of Contemporary Humanitarian Interventions and the Engagement of Nonhegemonic Powers
- Author:
- Daniel Campos de Carvalho
- Publication Date:
- 05-2020
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Contexto Internacional
- Institution:
- Institute of International Relations, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro
- Abstract:
- In this article, we use the notion of legitimacy to analyse shifts in global humanitarian interventions since the 1990s, culminating in the contested adoption of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) framework under the United Nations umbrella in 2005. We assess how this important shift was disputed with narratives of protection and interference, and argue that the engagement of non- hegemonic actors (specifically Brazil and Russia) with the scope of humanitarian protection has influenced the substantive legitimacy of this global governance issue over the past three decades by creating a norm-making proce
- Topic:
- Human Rights, Governance, Humanitarian Intervention, and Legitimacy
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, Brazil, and South America
1084. International Migration and Federative Co-ordination in Brazil: São Paulo and Porto Alegre Case Studies between 2013 and 2016
- Author:
- Guilherme Arosa Prol Otero and Gabriela Spanghero Lotta
- Publication Date:
- 05-2020
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Contexto Internacional
- Institution:
- Institute of International Relations, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro
- Abstract:
- This article analyses the co-ordination between national and municipal governments in Brazil regarding migration policy between the years of 2013 and 2016, using the concept of policy institutional arrangements and case studies of two Brazilian cities, São Paulo and Porto Alegre. The results reveal that the City of São Paulo government has advanced considerably in the sense of institutionalisation of the subject in the municipality by decentralising skills and assuming re- sponsibilities for its migrant population, with relative autonomy from federal government. The City of Porto Alegre government shows a less institutionalised arrangement, with little technical and financial capability, less autonomy from federal and state governments, and great emphasis on civil society participation. Finally, it is advocated that the regulation of the New Migration Law may deal with a series of problems in the current federative arrangement, constituting federative-articulated policies, with greater capacity for public policy implementation, and more active participation of subnational governments in the development of the national migration policy.
- Topic:
- Migration, Governance, Borders, Public Policy, Urban, and Local
- Political Geography:
- Brazil and South America
1085. SVRI Knowledge Exchange: Engaging the private sector to prevent and address violence against women
- Author:
- A. Pino, E. Dartnall, L. Shields, L. Flores Guevara, T. Duma, T. Lawrence, S. Majumdar, and R. Rizvi
- Publication Date:
- 08-2020
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- The Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI)
- Abstract:
- Violence against women (VAW) remains a globally pervasive human rights violation. According to Care International, one-third of women worldwide will experience physical and/or sexual violence at the hands of men at some point in their lives.i Much of this happens in the workplace, including the factory environments of global supply chains. In India and Bangladesh, for example, research shows that some 60% of garment workers have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace.ii To most effectively respond to VAW – and successfully prevent it – both multi-sectoral and broad societal involvement are required. The initiatives of governments and civil society organisations alone are not sufficient for the effective roll-out of the vast number of programmes required to affect the widespread change in social norms and behaviour that is required. Nor are they sufficient to cater for survivors in need of services. Active engagement with the private sector is required.
- Topic:
- Development, Human Rights, Governance, Women, Violence, and Sexual Violence
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
1086. Impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on individual mobility and the importance of socioeconomic factors
- Author:
- Julien Maire
- Publication Date:
- 11-2020
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)
- Abstract:
- In March 2020, most countries implemented stringent measures—closing schools and workplaces, limiting public gatherings, and curbing travel—to reduce the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19. Using the Oxford Stringency Index and smartphone data from Google, Maire examines the effects of the stringent measures implemented in March–May 2020 on individual mobility. The results suggest that stringent measures were more effective at reducing individual mobility in higher-income countries than in lower-income countries and that the differences reflect factors such as extreme poverty, perception of risk, the share of vulnerable employment, number of hospital beds, age distribution of the population, and population density. Understanding how the effects of lockdown measures on individual mobility differed across countries is important to determine the effectiveness of such measures on health outcomes and their impact on economic activity.
- Topic:
- Health, Science and Technology, Governance, and COVID-19
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
1087. Effects of US Foreign Assistance on Democracy Building, 1990–2014: An Update
- Author:
- Steven E. Finkel, Aníbal Pérez-Liñán, Michael Neureiter, and Chris A. Belasco
- Publication Date:
- 06-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Kellogg Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- This paper updates our earlier work on the impact of US foreign assistance on democratic outcomes in recipient countries using newly available USAID Foreign Aid Explorer data covering the 2001–2014 period, as well as new outcome measures derived from Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) data. Building on the theoretical and empirical framework established in our previous study and in subsequent work in the field, we estimate: a) the effect of overall USAID Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance (DRG) expenditures on general indices of democracy, b) changes in the effects of DRG expenditures after 2001, and c) the conditions that moderate the impact of DRG funding at the country level in the contemporary era. We find that the effect of DRG expenditures decreased dramatically in the 2002–2014 period, relative to the modest effect shown in the previous study for the period immediately following the end of the Cold War. However, DRG aid remains effective in the current era under favorable conditions. Further analysis demonstrates important conditional effects related to patterns of DRG investment, such that aid has greater impact when levels of security assistance are low (indicating competing priorities) and when prior DRG investment is low (indicating diminishing returns). In addition, DRG is more effective at intermediate levels of democratization and less so in contexts of democratic backsliding.
- Topic:
- Security, Development, Globalization, Governance, Democracy, and Public Policy
- Political Geography:
- North America, Global Focus, and United States of America
1088. Migration governance in the Global South
- Author:
- Rachel M. Gisselquist and Finn Tarp
- Publication Date:
- 09-2020
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- Building knowledge about migration governance and policy in the Global South is a priority for research and policy. Migration is a defining feature of our time and one closely linked with processes of economic and political development. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) target 10.7 prioritizes the facilitation of ‘orderly, safe, and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies’. What exactly constitutes ‘well-managed’ migration policies remains a point of some discussion.
- Topic:
- Development, Migration, Governance, and Sustainable Development Goals
- Political Geography:
- Global South
1089. State Human Rights Performance and Recommendations under the Universal Periodic Review
- Author:
- Eric Cox
- Publication Date:
- 01-2020
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- All Azimuth: A Journal of Foreign Policy and Peace
- Institution:
- Center for Foreign Policy and Peace Research
- Abstract:
- This paper analyzes recommendations made to states under the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in order to determine whether or not the UPR is making meaningful recommendations to states under review. The UPR reviews the human rights of all UN Member States every four years. During the review, each state receives a number of recommendations from other UN member states. This paper uses data from UPR Info to determine if states with better human rights performance as measured by the CIRI human rights data project receive fewer recommendations than states with worse performance. It finds that, even when controlling for other factors, states with worse records on civil and political rights generally receive more recommendations than states with better records. States with lower scores from CIRI on women's economic and political rights receive more recommendations regarding women's issues than states with higher scores. These findings hold regardless of region, suggesting that, at a minimum, the UPR process is identifying violators of human rights.
- Topic:
- Human Rights, United Nations, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
1090. The Poverty Trap: An Analysis of ther Contribution of Multilateral and Regional Institution to the Poor Economic and Social Performance of African Countries
- Author:
- Taiane Las Casas Campos and Alexandre Cesar Cunha Leite
- Publication Date:
- 01-2020
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- AUSTRAL: Brazilian Journal of Strategy International Relations
- Institution:
- Postgraduate Program in International Strategic Studies, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
- Abstract:
- This paper analyzes the conditions for seven countries located on the West African coast to practically set growth and economic development policies in order to overcome what we call the poverty trap. These countries could seek at the regional and multilateral levels the resources needed to overcome their backwardness. However, we identified that the main policy proposed by these institutions for these countries, which was trade liberalization, not only maintained the condition of being exporters of natural and agricultural resources and were unable to generate sufficient employment and income to overcome their poverty.
- Topic:
- Development, Poverty, Governance, Institutions, and Regionalism
- Political Geography:
- Africa and West Africa