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From Abandonment to Inclusion: The Role of the State in Violence, Public Security and Human Rights in favela communities in Rio de Janeiro – The Case Studies of Santa Marta and City of God

Beginning in December of 2008, the State of Rio de Janeiro and federal government of Brazil began a new policy shift in securitizing favela communities. In an effort to combat the city’s drug traffickers and prevalent violence, the State began installing “pacification” or “peacekeeping” units in vulnerable favela communities. Following pacification, the State then increases investment in infrastructure and social programs.

Drawn from the authors’ experience of living in Rio, this award nominated paper looks at the evolving role of the State of Rio de Janeiro in recent years in two specific favela communities: Santa Marta and City of God. As the city prepares to host the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games, preparations mount and the international community awaits to see what Rio is capable of accomplishing in their fight to eliminate the city’s famous drug trade and infamous violence. Will these preparations benefit those most marginalized? Or will it continue to push the socially excluded even further into the periphery?

After multiple failed security policies since the 1980s, recent actions and investments show the State’s new human rights based approach to security and social and economic investment. Fulfilling its national and international obligations of respecting, protecting and fulfilling the rights of all citizens while also moving forward on a path of progressive economic and social development, the State of Rio de Janeiro is entering a new era. Its new policies are battling a deeper embedded structural violence while enhancing the capabilities of formerly deprived citizens. Santa Marta and City of God serve as case studies in analyzing the State of Rio de Janeiro, its fulfillment of human rights obligations and its progressive path of economic and social development in favela communities.

Author Mary E. Robbins

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From Abandonment to Inclusion: The Role of the State in Violence, Public Security and Human Rights in favela communities in Rio de Janeiro, The Case Studies of Santa Marta and City of God (5061)

‘Money does not always talk’ – Reassessing the Empowerment Potential of Women’s Employment

It has often been assumed that, as a result of access to financial resources, women’s employment would lead to their empowerment. However, this link is not as straightforward as examples from Kenya and Bangladesh show: Firstly, intra-household dynamics shape women’s control over income and secondly, even when they have control, it does not necessarily lead to a transformation of their subordinate status. This paper examines fundamental problems in defining and measuring empowerment and in this context depicts underlying normative Western ideas about agency, emancipation and modernity. The paper argues for the inclusion of the women concerned in policy-making in order to construct locally relevant indicators for empowerment.

Author:David Parduhn

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In Service of Those Who Serve Us? The Impact of Immigration Policy on Discrimination against Foreign Female Domestic Workers in Kuwait

According to the World Bank, approximately 74 million -nearly half- of all migrants departing from the developing world settle and reside in other developing countries. A prominent and significant example of such a South-South migration includes South-Asian workers migrating to the oil-rich states of the Persian Gulf, such as Kuwait. While migration to the Gulf has become increasingly differentiated, the vast majority of South Asian migrants remain in low-skilled positions, with foreign female domestic workers constituting one-third of total expatriate workforce.

In 2009, embassies of labour-sending countries in Kuwait received more than 10,000 complaints of ‘modern day slavery’ from domestic workers employed in the country. The issue of maltreatment of foreign, female, domestic workers is also receiving considerable media exposure and is a serious concern of NGOs and human rights organizations worldwide.

This paper analyses the extent to which migration policy in Kuwait affects the working and living conditions of low-skilled, foreign female domestic workers, and to discuss whether a shift in migration policy would significantly improve their quality of life.

Author:Amina Samy


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Chinese Development And The Three Gorges Dam

Perhaps the best example of the sweeping effects of economic development in the new China can be observed in the enormous and controversial practice of displacing populations for the construction of major dam and reservoir projects. Between 1949 and 1993, according to the World Bank , 10.2 million people have been forced to move because of water control projects, and with large scale and ambitious damming projects underway at sites like, this number is likely to grow significantly in years to come.

From the paper

Hii Dunia PDF TagCan Civil Liberties and the Legitimacy of a State be Justifiably Suspended for the Sake of Economic Development? (3281)

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