Gender Component of Internal Displacement in Ukraine: A Case of Business (In)Capability to Localize Human Rights Impact Assessment

Human rights due diligence (HRDD) has become the buzzword of much of the advocacy and work today around business and human rights.1 It is almost commonplace that companies have the responsibility to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they address these adverse human rights impacts as part of their ongoing HRDD processes, in line with the UNGPs.2 The assessment of human rights impacts (HRIA) is a critical step in this process.3

A Lattice Model on the Rate of DNA Hybridization

We develop a lattice model on the rate of hybridization of the complementary single-stranded DNAs (c-ssDNAs). Upon translational diffusion mediated collisions, c-ssDNAs interpenetrate each other to form correct (cc), incorrect (icc) and trap-correct contacts (tcc) inside the reaction volume. Correct contacts are those with exact registry matches which leads to nucleation and zipping. Incorrect contacts are the mismatch contacts which are less stable compared to tcc which can occur in the repetitive c-ssDNAs. Although tcc possess registry match within the repeating sequences, they are incorrect contacts in the view of the whole c-ssDNAs. The nucleation rate (kN) is directly proportional to the collision rate and the average number of correct-contacts (<ncc>) formed when both the c-ssDNAs interpenetrate each other. Detailed lattice model simulations suggest that 〈n_cc 〉∝L⁄V where L is the length of c-ssDNAs and V is the reaction volume. Further numerical analysis revealed the scaling for the average radius of gyration of c-ssDNAs (Rg) with their length as R_g∝√L. Since the reaction space will be approximately a sphere with radius equals to 2Rg and V∝L^(3⁄2), one obtains k_N∝1/√L. When c-ssDNAs are nonrepetitive, then the overall renaturation rate becomes as k_R∝k_N L and one finally obtains k_R∝√L in line with the experimental observations. When c-ssDNAs are repetitive with a complexity of c, then earlier models suggested the scaling k_R∝√L/c which breaks down at c = L. This clearly suggested the existence of at least two different pathways of renaturation in case of repetitive c-ssDNAs viz. via incorrect contacts and trap correct contacts. The trap correct contacts can lead to the formation of partial duplexes which can keep the complementary strands in the close vicinity for a prolonged timescale. This is essential for the extended 1D slithering, inchworm movements and internal displacement mechanisms which can accelerate the searching for the correct contacts. Clearly, the extent of slithering dynamics will be inversely proportional to the complexity. When the complexity is close to the length of c-ssDNAs, then the pathway via incorrect contacts will dominate. When the complexity is much lesser than the length of c-ssDNA, then pathway via trap correct contacts would be the dominating one.

Foreigners vs. Migrants

In recent years, Colombia, has witnessed a transformation in terms of human mobility. In a contradictory scenario where economic wealth, growth and opulence overlap with hunger, unemployment, conflict and poverty, Colombia experienced two main forms of human mobilization: internal displacement from rural areas to cities as a result of the armed conflict, and emigration looking for new opportunities abroad. However, recently Colombia has become a key point for human mobility—due primarily to the international human mobility from Venezuela. As a result, it is today an immigration, emigration and transit hot spot. The Covid-19 pandemic and an increase of human mobility in Colombia have emphasized the contrast between two groups: those who arrive by foot and those who can afford aerial transport. We will argue that during the Covid-19 pandemic, national authorities in the main cities have adopted differing treatments towards low- income migrants, as opposed to foreign tourists/investors. To do this, we will focus our analysis on the restrictions imposed to enter the country, as a policy has been structured to exclude migrants crossing by foot trying to reach a main city, while appealing to foreign tourists/investors. This paper aims to show how the authorities’ narratives separate the terms “migrants” and “foreigners” as starkly different, giving them a distinctive treatment when entering the country. “Migration” usually refers to the poorer individuals from Latin America (predominantly Venezuelan), while the concept of “foreigner” typically refers to the wealthy people from the global north. In this sense, the way in which a person enters the country determines how they will be treated by authorities and communities. This is a consequence of a normalized aporophobia, as Cortina defined, that undervalues migrants and favors foreigners.

Food Security Sustainability: A Synthesis of the Current Concepts and Empirical Approaches for Meeting SDGs

Currently, food security is becoming a fundamental problem in the global macroeconomic dynamics for policymakers and governments in developing countries. Globally, food security offers challenges both from achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targets and the welfare perspective of many poor households. As a result, this study is guided by Neo Malthusian and Access theories to investigate Food Security Sustainability: a Synthesis of the Current Concepts and Empirical Approaches for Meeting SDGs in Nigeria using ARDL and ECM techniques. The ARDL revealed that agricultural value-added and GDP positively affect food security for commercial agrarian investments in Nigeria. However, internal displacement, population growth, food inflation, and exchange rate volatility negatively affect sustainable food security in Nigeria. The model’s coefficient of ECMt−1 also shows negative (−0.0130 approximately) and statistically significant (0.0000) at 1%. Thus, the speed of adjustment requires 1.3% annually for the long-run equilibrium convergence to be restored. The study concludes that the SDGs targets for poverty and hunger reduction, mainly for food security sustainability alongside small producers by the year 2030, can be rarely achieved because the convergence to equilibrium is more than nine years. An active value-addition strategy for sustainable food security and the provision of humanitarian interventions are recommended.

(In)visibility of the Displaced Populations: the Blind-Spot Effect

In this paper, conflict-triggered internal displacement is reviewed through the visibility of migration-affected groups, as well as their access to decision-making. The blind-spot effect in the migration studies extends the cognitive and social implications of the systems theory, and engulfs both hypovisibility through anopticism and pseudoassimilation, and hypervisibility through panopticism and excessive control of the displaced citizens. In the context of the impact of IDP status on visibility assessment, I suggest supplementing the migration-studies’ concepts of “phlogiston” and “witch” with that of “ethanethiol”, thus starting a discussion on the role of the otherness marker in the migrantising of citizens. The case of protracted internal displacement in Ukraine due to the Russia-backed armed conflict serves as an illustration of the displaced populations’ visibility challenges and solutions.

Internal Conflict Displacement Galore in the Horn of Africa: Ethiopia on the Radar

Generally, the world has enjoyed relative peace and stability after the Cold War in 1991, but never the end to insecurity, conflicts, and wars (interstate and intrastate). One outcome of these insecurities is conflictinduced internal displacement. Though not new, its prevalence in recent times has become a hurdle that countries and the international community must reckon with. In fact, conflict-IDPs globally has received about 215 percent hikes in the last two decades, while in Africa, the increase is about 135 percent. However, the Horn of Africa is the hardest hit. As such, the paper provides an overview of conflict displacement and explores the conditions that sustains it, using Ethiopia as a unit of analysis. The paper found several conditions: constitutional, socio-psycho-cultural, political, economic, and human rights abuse as critical to conflict-IDPs deepening. The article further shows the trends of IDPs and its security implications for Ethiopia. Pragmatic solutions have been recommended accordingly.

Internal Conflict Displacement Galore in the Horn of Africa: Ethiopia on the Radar

Generally, the world has enjoyed relative peace and stability after the Cold War in 1991, but never the end to insecurity, conflicts, and wars (interstate and intrastate). One outcome of these insecurities is conflictinduced internal displacement. Though not new, its prevalence in recent times has become a hurdle that countries and the international community must reckon with. In fact, conflict-IDPs globally has received about 215 percent hikes in the last two decades, while in Africa, the increase is about 135 percent. However, the Horn of Africa is the hardest hit. As such, the paper provides an overview of conflict displacement and explores the conditions that sustains it, using Ethiopia as a unit of analysis. The paper found several conditions: constitutional, socio-psycho-cultural, political, economic, and human rights abuse as critical to conflict-IDPs deepening. The article further shows the trends of IDPs and its security implications for Ethiopia. Pragmatic solutions have been recommended accordingly.

The Effects of Agricultural Income Shocks on Forced Migration: Evidence from Colombia

The forced migration literature has acknowledged violence as the main driver of internal displacement in the context of armed conflicts. Nonetheless, scant attention has been devoted to the role of income, a factor identified by the standard economic literature as the key driver of voluntary migration. This study aims to fill in this gap by investigating the impact of agricultural income shocks on the number of internally displaced persons fleeing from violence, in the context of the Colombian armed conflict. To address the possible endogeneity between forced migration and income, we use the standardized deviation of rainfall from its historic mean as an instrumental variable for municipal agricultural income. Our main results suggest that the elasticity of forced migration with respect to agricultural income shocks is unitary. This finding highlights the fact that forced migration is the result of a complex decision-making process where violence interacts with individual characteristics and environmental factors. Therefore, public policies aimed at reducing forced migration from rural to urban areas should develop comprehensive strategies that not only improve security conditions at the place of origin but also enhance agricultural productivity and provide access to risk-coping mechanisms for farmers.