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Spotlighting the Invisible: Justice for children in Africa

By African Child Policy Forum.

This publication is prepared both to advance our knowledge of the important but complex subject of child Justice in Africa and to inform the discussions at the 2nd Global Conference on Child Justice in Africa to be held in Addis Ababa in May 2018. This conference, organised by the African Child Policy forum (ACPF) and Defence for Children International (DCI) is a follow-up to the first such conference that took place in Kampala, Uganda, in November 2011. That conference resulted in the African Guidelines on Action for Children in Justice Systems in Africa which were endorsed by the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child at its March 2012 meeting. ACPF also published a continental study on children and justice systems in that year. The current study updates and extends that earlier study, seeking to examine the progress that has been made, and the challenges that remain, since the 2011 conference in achieving childfriendly justice in African justice systems. Given that children come in contact with justice system in different ways – through the formal and informal justice systems, in religious justice systems in some parts of the continent, and in both the criminal and civil justice systems – this study charts the continuum of experiences that children undergo in their contact with these systems.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia" ACPF, 2018. 173p.

Borderline Justice

By Frances Webber.

The Fight for Refugee and Migrant Rights. Borderline Justice describes the exclusionary policies, inhumane decisions and obstacles to justice for refugees and migrants in the British legal system. Frances Webber, a long-standing legal practitioner, reveals how the law has been (mis)applied to migrants, refugees and other ‘unpopular minorities’. This book records some of the key legal struggles of the past thirty years which have sought to preserve values of universality in human rights - and the importance of continuing to fight for those values, inside and outside the courtroom. The themes and analysis cross boundaries of law, politics, sociology, criminology, refugee studies and terrorism studies, appealing to the radical tradition in all these disciplines.

London: Pluto Books, 2012. 257p.

Border Deaths

Edited by Paolo Cuttitta, and Tamara Last.

Causes, Dynamics and Consequences of Migration-related Mortality. A 2018 report by two non-governmental organizations (NGOs) revealed that US Border Patrol agents ‘routinely intimidate, harass, and surveil humanitarian-aid volunteers, thus impeding the administration of humanitarian aid’ along the US-Mexico border. Furthermore, they ‘stab, stomp, kick, drain, and confiscate the bottles of water that humanitarian-aid volunteers leave along known migrant routes’ (La Coalición de Derechos Humanos and No More Deaths 2018). More broadly, through the criminalization of humanitarian assistance and the ‘weaponization’ of the terrain, US authorities make themselves responsible for the suffering, death and disappearance of many people (Morgan-Olsen 2018; Osuna 2018). On the other hand, Border Patrol agents often carry out rescue operations to save migrants, which – they argue – demonstrates ‘their dedication in protecting human life’ (U.S. Customs and Border Protection 2019). They are presented as true humanitarians (Price 2018). According to US President Donald Trump, the problem of border deaths can only be solved with more border control. ‘Border Patrol needs the Wall and it will all end’ was his comment on the death of two children occurred shortly after their crossing from Mexico (Tatum 2018)

Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2019. 175p.

Whence They Came: Deportation from Canada 1900 - 1935

By Barbara Roberts.

Until recently, immigration policy was largely in the hands of a small group of bureaucrats, who strove desperately to fend off “offensive” peoples. Barbara Roberts explores these government officials, showing how they not only kept the doors closed but also managed to find a way to get rid of some of those who managed to break through their carefully guarded barriers. Robert’s important book explores a dark history with an honest and objective style.

Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1988. 264p.

Gender Violence & Human Rights: Seeking Justice in Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu

Edited by: Aletta Biersack, Margaret Jolly, Martha Macintyre.T

The postcolonial states of Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu operate today in a global arena in which human rights are widely accepted. As ratifiers of UN treaties such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, these Pacific Island countries have committed to promoting women’s and girls’ rights, including the right to a life free of violence. Yet local, national and regional gender values are not always consistent with the principles of gender equality and women’s rights that undergird these globalising conventions. This volume critically interrogates the relation between gender violence and human rights as these three countries and their communities and citizens engage with, appropriate, modify and at times resist human rights principles and their implications for gender violence. Grounded in extensive anthropological, historical and legal research, the volume should prove a crucial resource for the many scholars, policymakers and activists who are concerned about the urgent and ubiquitous problem of gender violence in the western Pacific.

Canberra: Australian National University Press, 2016. 398p.

Migration Borders Freedom

By Harald Bauder.

International borders have become deadly barriers of a proportion rivaled only by war or natural disaster. Yet despite the damage created by borders, most people can’t – or don’t want to – imagine a world without them. What alternatives do we have to prevent the deadly results of contemporary borders? In today’s world, national citizenship determines a person’s ability to migrate across borders. Migration Borders Freedom questions that premise. Recognizing the magnitude of deaths occurring at contemporary borders worldwide, the book problematizes the concept of the border and develops arguments for open borders and a world without borders. It explores alternative possibilities, ranging from the practical to the utopian, that link migration with ideas of community, citizenship, and belonging. The author calls into question the conventional political imagination that assumes migration and citizenship to be responsibilities of nation states, rather than cities. While the book draws on the theoretical work of thinkers such as Ernst Bloch, David Harvey, and Henry Lefebvre, it also presents international empirical examples of policies and practices on migration and claims of belonging. In this way, the book equips the reader with the practical and conceptual tools for political action, activist practice, and scholarly engagement to achieve greater justice for people who are on the move.

Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2016. 150p.

Go home?: The politics of immigration controversies

Edited by Hannah Jones, Yasmin Gunaratnam, Gargi Bhattacharyya, William Davies, Sukhwant Dhaliwal, Kirsten Forkert, Emma Jackson, and Roiyah Saltus.

In July 2013, the UK government arranged for a van to drive through parts of London carrying the message 'In the UK illegally? GO HOME or face arrest.' This book tells the story of what happened next. The vans were short-lived, but they were part of an ongoing trend in government-sponsored communication designed to demonstrate toughness on immigration. The authors set out to explore the effects of such performances: on policy, on public debate, on pro-migrant and anti-racist activism, and on the everyday lives of people in Britain. This book presents their findings, and provides insights into the practice of conducting research on such a charged and sensitive topic.

Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 2017. 204p.

Looking for Loopholes

By Joanne van der Leun.

Processes of Incorporation of Illegal Immigrants in the Netherlands. Governmental policies on irregular or illegal immigration are notorious for their ambiguities, as even a superficial glance at public discussions on the issue in the Netherlands can illustrate. Contentions that illegal or undocumented immigrants1 are not entitled to medical care alternate with messages that everybody who needs medical treatment of any kind should receive it. Representatives of municipalities openly back local initiatives to support illegal immigrants, while at the same time the national government emphasises that illegal immigrants are utterly responsible for themselves. Public assertions that there will be no regularisation schemes in the Netherlands are followed by a series of amnesties for semi-integrated ‘white illegals’. These few out of many examples illustrate that societal reactions to illegal immigration, and the presence of unauthorised immigrants are anything but clear-cut. Officially, the political aim is to put an end to the issue by implementing a sound and coherent ‘discouragement policy’ or ontmoedigingsbeleid. Comparable sets of policy measures are introduced all over the European Union, which is frequently depicted as ‘fortress Europe’. Yet in the meantime, the presence of illegal immigrants has become a common feature of many advanced states, including those that did not perceive themselves as countries of immigration for a long time.

Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2003. 231p.

Immigration Justice

By Peter Higgins.

The title of this book signifies that immigration policy is not a matter of ethics (understood to refer to the moral analysis of individual action and character), but is rather a matter of justice, and more precisely, structural justice. A central contention of this book is that the justice of an immigration policy can be ascertained only through consideration of the pervasive, systematic, and unjust inequalities engendered by the institutions that constitute our social world. This is because immigration policies affect people not as individuals per se, but as members of social groups that are brought into existence by the ways in which formal rules, informal norms, and stable practices (that is, social institutions) unequally distribute opportunities among those implicated in them. That is to say, the way an immigration policy affects a person is not idiosyncratic, but rather is a function of that person’s gender, race, economic class, sexuality, ability, age, and citizenship status, among other things. What I am asserting here, but will argue for throughout this book, is that one cannot wholly determine whether or not an immigration policy is just in our social world, given its present nature, unless one’s principles for making such assessments treat gender, race, economic class, sexuality, and so on, as salient categories of analysis.

Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2013. 281p.

Knowing about Genocide

By Joachim J. Savelsberg

Armenian Suffering and Epistemic Struggles.. “This book brings together the topic of genocide and a comprehensive sociology of knowledge (360 degrees, as one reader suggested). The empirical focus is on the Armenian genocide. I ask how repertoires of knowledge emerge, among Armenians and Turks and in world society, and what dynamics they unfold. Importantly, by knowledge, I do not mean certified knowledge but simply humans’ taken-for-granted assumptions about the world.Everyday exchanges, or micropolitics, lay the foundation. They involve conflicting pressures to silence, deny, or acknowledge. Knowledge entrepreneurs, actors with privileged access to channels of communication, often set the parameters for such exchanges…”

UC Press. (2021) 264 pages.

Out of the Shadows, Into the Streets!

by Sasha Costanza-Chock.

Transmedia Organizing and the Immigrant Rights Movement.. From the Foreword: “A key issue in this often blurred debate is the role of communication technologies in the formation, organization, and development of the movements. Throughout history, communication has been central to the existence of social movements, which develop beyond the realm of institutionalized channels for the expression of popular demands. It is only by communicating with others that outraged people are able to recognize their collective power before those who control access to the institutions..”

Creative Commons (2014) 295p.

Vigilantism against Migrants and Minorities

Edited By Tore Bjørgo, Miroslav Mareš.

This edited volume traces the rise of far right vigilante movements – some who have been involved in serious violence against minorities, migrants and other vulnerable groups in society, whereas other vigilantes are intimidating but avoid using violence. Written by an international team of contributors, the book features case studies from Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, and Asia.

Routledge (2019) 370 pages.

Justice and Police

By F.W. Maitland.

The English Citizen, His Rights and Responsibilities. “Written for the layman, it is far more than a traditional overview. By discussing justice and police together Maitland offers a stimulating definition of his subject as "those institutions and processes whereby the country's law is enforced" (Preface). "Maitland's study was characterized by an originality of approach, a freedom from academic pretension and a simplicity of style that made it a stimulating and suggestive discussion of the intricacies of criminal law administration in England during the 1st quarter of the nineteenth century.": Columbia Law Review 29:847 cited in Marke, A Catalogue of the Law Collection at New York University (1953) 190. Widely considered the father of legal history, Frederic William Maitland [1850-1906] was an English jurist and historian best known for the standard The History of English Law Before the Time of Edward I, 2 vols. (1895), written with Sir Frederick Pollock. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge and studied at Lincoln's Inn, London. Maitland was called to the bar in 1876, and practiced until 1884 when he became a reader in English law (1884) and professor (1888) at Cambridge. He founded the Selden Society in 1887. Hailed for his original outlook on history, his works profoundly influenced legal scholarship. An extraordinarily productive career was shortened by his death from tuberculosis at age 45.”

London: Macmillan, 1885. 176p.

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Dramatic Days at the Old Bailey

By Charles Kingston.

Here is a taste of the juicy contents: There are 28 chapters in this book...here are just a few of the cases covered: Murderers and Atheism - When Providence did not interpose - Mr. Justice Hawkins and the Old Bailey - From prison governor to convict - A fatal blunder in cross-examination - The elderly orphan - The acquitted murderer who confessed - Great Britain's most remarkable female poisoner - The first of the "Hanging Judges" - The murderer who confessed too soon - Percy Lefroy and his "silk hat " - Perfect Ladies " in the dock - Beauty specialist and blackmailer - Fashionable preacher and forger - The humour of Charles Peace -The late Lord Halsbury and the Old Bailey - Prosecuting the Bidwell brothers - Bribing prison warders - The counsel who ate poisoned cake - A famous case of wife coercion - Some remarkable jewel thefts - Babies for hire - A love romance and a crime - The judge who had a past - Humour in court - Running two West End theatres on stolen money - Comedy and tragedy - The acquittal of Adelaide Bartlett - The judge who resigned rather than pass sentence of death - The repartee of two swindlers - The baby-farmer and the Milsom and Fowler dock fight - Religion and crime - The doctor as criminal - Marrying and murdering for money - Two French sensations - The Edinburgh doctor who forged a patient's will - The clue of the wine bottle.

London Stanley Paul (1929) 342 pages.

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Asylum Matters: On the Front Line of Administrative.Decision-Making

By Laura Affolter.

This open access book examines everyday practices in an asylum administration. Asylum decisions are often criticised as being ‘subjective’ or ‘arbitrary’. Asylum Matters turns this claim on its head. Through the ethnographic study of asylum decision-making in the Swiss Secretariat for Migration, the book shows how regularities in administrative practice and ‘socialised subjectivity’ are produced. It argues that asylum caseworkers acquire an institutional habitus through their socialisation on the job, making them ‘carriers’ of routine practices. The different chapters of the book deal with what it means to methodologically study administrative practice: with how asylum proceedings work in Switzerland and with the role different types of knowledge play in overcoming the uncertainties inherent in refugee status and credibility determination.

Springer Nature, 2021. 213p.

Labour Exploitation And Work-Based Harm

By Sam Scott.

“This book argues that it is time to define, and in the process identify solutions to, the problems of labour exploitation and work-based harm. The book is clear that extant legal frameworks are a necessary but not a sufficient condition for the successful completion of this task. Put simply, there is a tendency to look at exploitation and harm through a criminological lens. This is fine in so far as it tends to identify extreme forms of coercive exploitation and abuse. However, there are highly complex sets of employment relationships and experiences between the extremes of slavery, on the one hand, and decent work on the other.”

Policy Press (2017) 298p.

Precarious Lives

By Hannah Lewis, Peter Dwyer, Stuart Hodkinson and Louise Waite

Forced labour, exploitation and asylum. “Based on international law, forced labour involves a situation in which a person is forced to work or provide a service under the ‘menace of any penalty’ and for which they have not offered themselves ‘voluntarily’ (ILO, 1930, Article 2). Forced labour cases are deemed to be distinguishable from more generalised forms of labour exploitation by the existence of various forms of coercion by one or more persons on the worker who at the same time lacks a ‘real and acceptable alternative’ to the abuse involved (ILO, 2005, p 21). As this book will demonstrate, while forced labour is often conflated or confused with human trafficking…..”

Policy Press (2019) 234p.

Refugees and the Violence of Welfare Bureaucracies in Northern Europe

Edited by Dalia Abdelhady, Nina Gren, and Martin Joormann.

Given the significant similarities and differences between the welfare states of Northern Europe and their reactions to the perceived 'refugee crisis' of 2015, the book focuses primarily on the three main cases of Denmark, Sweden and Germany. Placed in a wider Northern European context – and illustrated by those chapters that also discuss refugee experiences in Norway and the UK – the Danish, Swedish and German cases are the largest case studies of this edited volume. Thus, the book contributes to debates on the governance of non-citizens and the meaning of displacement, mobility and seeking asylum by providing interdisciplinary analyses of a largely overlooked region of the world, with two specific aims.

Manchester University Press, 2020. 244p

Refugee Journeys

Edited by Jordana Silverstein And Rachel Stevens.

Histories of resettlement, representation and resistance. Refugee Journeys presents stories of how governments, the public and the media have responded to the arrival of people seeking asylum, and how these responses have impacted refugees and their lives. Considers possible ways to break existing policy deadlocks, encouraging readers to imagine a future where we carry vastly different ideas about refugees, government policies and national identities.

ANU Press (2021) 258 pages.

Beyond Borders

Edited by Molly Land, Kathryn Libal, Jillian Chambers.

The human rights of noncitizens at home and abroad. Beyond Borders explores what obligations we owe to those outside our political community. Drawing on contributions from a broad variety of disciplines – from literature to political science to philosophy – the volume considers the failures of law and politics to guarantee rights for the most vulnerable and attempts to imagine new forms of belonging grounded in ideas of solidarity, empathy, and responsibility in order to identify a more robust basis for the protection of non-citizens at home and abroad.

Cambridge University Press. (2021) 300 pages.