Defending the city’s cleanliness with their lives? A study of road traffic collisions involving sanitation workers in China over five years

Background With increasing urbanization in developing countries, sanitation workers are frequently involved in road traffic collisions. Our purpose was to study specific collisions involving sanitation workers and provide decision-making suggestions and reference measures for the sanitation industry and urban managers to reduce the occurrence of collisions. Methods We obtained online news data about sanitation worker road traffic collisions in China between 2013 and 2017 and analyzed occurrence time and location, victim characteristics, and causes of collisions. Results In China, between 2013 and 2017, 511 road traffic collisions were reported, with the fewest in February and July. Most occurred around 5:00 a.m. in Eastern regions and in urban areas. Victims were mainly over 50 years old, with more females than males. Collisions usually resulted in death at the scene. The ambiguity of laws, the exploitation of workers through industry outsourcing, and the difficulty of processing claims may be the main factors preventing victims from obtaining legal compensation. Conclusions The most common cause of collisions was drivers’ speeding, but workers also regularly risk death by crossing the road in pursuit of their duties. The absence of legal controls for environmental protection, the excessive pursuit of efficiency in urban governance, and the lack of basic education of sanitation workers are underlying causes of collisions. Raising awareness about sanitation worker road traffic collisions will help protect the work safety rights of this vulnerable group.

Melancholia is (geo)political! Postcolonial geography in the Wednesday Demonstration in Seoul

This article examines how melancholia constitutes a psycho-geopolitical space interweaving Korean subjects’ psychic and political lives with the dynamics of the (post) Cold War alliance between Japan and the US. The Wednesday Demonstration is the weekly protest in Seoul that calls for an official apology and legal compensation from the Japanese government for comfort women who worked in the sexual slavery system under the Japanese Empire during WWII. The fact that the weekly protests have continued for 30 years since 1992 signifies that the comfort women issue has remained an unresolved (geo)political issue between South Korea and Japan for three decades, despite apologies and monetary compensations by the Japanese government. This article offers a psychoanalytic-geopolitical rationale for the endless grief of Korean postcolonial subjects who cannot accept the measures of the Japanese government regarding the comfort women issue. Based on 1-year’s participant observations and in-depth interviews with Korean activists who engaged in the Wednesday Demonstration from September 2019 to August 2020, this article aims to accomplish three goals. Firstly, this article shows how Korean postcolonial subjects were/are haunted by colonial past. Secondly, I examine why Koreans cannot complete mourning for comfort women in the context of ROK-US-Japan geopolitical relations. Lastly, this article interrogates how ethno-nationalists intervene to turn melancholia into a motivation for ethnic solidarity and how their attempt might have failed by exploring a Korean postcolonial subject’s psychic lives. In doing so, I argue that the wounds of Koreans related to the comfort women issue are not simply from colonial history, but they are postcolonial wounds that have not healed ‘appropriately’ under the (US-sponsored) South Korean/Japanese (post-)Cold War security arrangement.

The right to offset the claims in accordance with the law on bankruptcy of the Republic of Serbia and in the region

This article discusses a concept of legally permitted and limited offsetting in bankruptcy according to the law of the Republic of Serbia, with comparison to earlier regulations where the offsetting occurred by the force of law, as the legal consequence of initiating bankruptcy proceedings. Legal provisions, legal practice, opinion of the jurisprudence on general and special terms about the right to offset the claims in bankruptcy in the Republic of Serbia, as well as in the countries in the region, have been presented. Relevant legal solutions from laws on bankruptcy of Montenegro, Republic of Srpska, Republic of Croatia, and the Republic of Slovenia have been reviewed. Offsetting claims in bankruptcy proceedings are in principle allowed in regional countries as well. Regarding the effect of bankruptcy on the right to offset the claims, there is a great similarity among the legal solutions in regulations of above mentioned countries, except for the Republic of Slovenia. The Republic of Slovenia retained the broadest concept of legal compensation as a legal consequence of initiating bankruptcy proceedings, which constitutes an important difference compared to restrictive solutions of the Serbian bankruptcy law and regional legislation. This article aims to show to the business entities operating in the region, through comparative legal analysis, different conditions and procedure of offsetting in bankruptcy in national legislation, bearing in mind the importance of this legal institution, which allows the creditors to fully collect their claims outside the bankruptcy payment lines, and regardless of the number of available funds in the bankruptcy estate.

Claiming the nullity of a substantive right in the levy of execution. The issue of unfair and unwritten terms

The present study aims at the extended interpretation of the legislative reformulation of the article 713 paragraph (2) Criminal Procedure Code through the Law no. 310/2018 on the amendments the Code of Civil Procedure, with emphasis on the possibility and, in concreto, on the admissibility to claim the nullity of the substantive law (also in respect of unfair or unwritten terms), but also other causes of ineffectiveness of the legal act constituting enforceable title, other than a court judgement. The problem of interpretation was generated by the addition of the phrase „including a common law action” at the end of the legal text which allows to invoke some de facto or de jure reasons relating to the substance of the law, in the levy of execution regarding another writ of execution than a court judgement, as long as the law does not provide another procedural way to annul it. The notion of “procedural action” being chosen and the identification of the action “of general jurisdiction” are going to generate non-unitary practice, so we opted for their explanation, but the present study aims mainly to argue that the legislative amendment does not affect however, the possibility to claim, in the levy of execution, of some causes of ineffectiveness of the legal act representing the enforceable title, such as absolute or relative nullity (total or partial) of general jurisdiction, but also when it is determined by the identification of unfair terms or terms deemed as unwritten, but also the possibility to claim the exception of non-execution of the contract, along with other permitted defences (legal compensation, statute of limitation, force majeure, causes of extinction of the claim, etc.). In particular, in the area of abusive clauses, although the debtor has the right to an action of general jurisdiction, the national judge will not be able to allow the inadmissibly of their claim by way of the levy of execution. The conclusions of the study are of the utmost importance and can contribute to the standardization of the judicial practice and, in terms of abusive clauses, to its harmonization with the jurisprudence of the C.J.E.U. (Court of Justice of the European Union).

ENSURING COMPENSATION FOR DAMAGE CAUSED BY CRIMINAL OFFENSES AS A RESULT OF SCAMMING ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF TOURISM

The purpose of the article is to study the legal regulation and law enforcement practices on compensation for victims of criminal proceedings due to fraud in the field of tourism, identify problematic aspects in this direction, and make regulatory legislative proposals to improve legal compensation for victims of criminal proceedings. The article considers some issues related to compensation for damage caused by a criminal offense as a result of fraudulent acts in the field of tourism. The issues of legal regulation under domestic legislation and the legislation of individual European countries on compensation by the state for damage caused to victims are analyzed. It is emphasized that the priority for victims of fraudulent criminal acts is the requirement of compensation for damage, as well as the issue of compensation, compensation for such damage. It turns out that the voluntary compensation of victims by criminals directly depends on the quality and totality of the indictments collected against them, which fully expose their criminal activities. Meanwhile, the legislator did not pay enough attention to the possibility of voluntary compensation for damage to the person who caused it, as well as the benefits of voluntary compensation for damage. The legal provisions to be settled on this issue are indicated. Emphasis is placed on the need for timely pre-trial investigation of relevant traditional measures aimed at finding and locating, staying, both movable and immovable property, securities, jewelry, etc., which may be seized, in order to ensure compensation to the victim. damage. Emphasis is placed on the effectiveness and expediency of using the capabilities of IT technologies of relevant information resources, Internet services, and monitoring of websites that contain information that can help find as soon as possible the property of criminals who can be seized. At the same time, it is noted that the creation and proper functioning of the state fund for compensation to victims of crimes will be an additional constitutional guarantee that will only strengthen human security and increase the overall authority of the state.

Plain access to justice and the orthodontist’s activity in Brazil: vulnerability in the professional practice in the face of risks of malpractice lawsuits

ABSTRACT Objective: the present study aimed at evaluating the risks and vulnerability of orthodontists to legal compensation actions and verifying the hypothesis of these health care professionals having little knowledge concerning their rights and obligations as service providers. Methods: Three groups were formed to participate in a semi-structured interview. The first group had thirteen law professionals, the second group was composed of eleven orthodontists and the third group was made up of nine randomly selected orthodontic patients. Results: Relevant aspects related to the exercise of the professional activity of orthodontists that influence on the vulnerability of orthodontists in lawsuits were identified. After transcription, reading, and comparing the answers of the interviews, items capable of influencing judicial decisions, from the standpoint of Brazilian Justice Courts, were evaluated. Conclusion: It was verified that Brazilian orthodontists do not have adequate formation concerning the legal consequences of the exercise of their professional activity. Orthodontists also failed to establish proper contractual relationship, organize orthodontic records, and, most importantly, failed in communicating the risks and the therapeutic processes to patients during all phases of treatment.

Childhood traumatic brain injury; education and medical disability

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe level of education and return to school and employment among children and young adults who sustained a Traumatic brain injury (TBI) 15 years ago and to analyse the occurrence of any medical disability. Design/methodology/approach – The study is descriptive. The authors used a questionnaire with questions covering education, employment, sick leave, insurance compensation and medical follow-up. Findings – A total of 37 individuals, 17 (45.9 per cent) women and 20 (54.1 per cent) men, participated. Just over half (20 individuals, 54.1 per cent) were in employment, five (13.5 per cent) were unemployed and four (10.8 per cent) received disability pension. In total, 18 (48.6 per cent) individuals had received full compensation from their insurance companies, while 12 (35.3 per cent) had had their medical disability classified. A total of 12 (33.3 per cent) individuals were taking medication and five (13.9 per cent) had been followed by the health care system. The results indicate that people sustaining a TBI are less successful on the labour market than the general population, that relatively few had had their disability classified and that almost 50 per cent receive no insurance compensation. Originality/value – There are few long-term follow-up studies on brain injuries acquired during childhood, and this study would add to the previous knowledge, as aspects of medical disability and legal compensation are included.

Lack of Legal Protection in the Process of Legislative Compensation to the Republic of Srpska / Nedostatak sudske zaštite u postupku zakonske kompenzacije u Republici Srpskoj

For a long time the bussines relations in the Republic of Srpska, and in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well, are burdened with lack of money, as a consequence of recession. Due to that there are a number of unpaid obligations and that makes our economic situation more complicated. This is the reason why the legislator of the Republic of Srpska in March of 2014 enacted the Law which regulate unique sistem of multirateral compensation and cession. But that Law is missing the provisions on judicial protection of rights of the legal subjects which appears as a participators of multilateral compensation and cession. This work is dedicated to that question. In the work its author point out on that defect, due to which the Law on the unique sistem of multilateral compensation in that part is not in accordance with article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights which, based on article 2 of the Constitutiona of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is dirrectly applicable in Bosnia and Herzegovina. After he pointed out on the shortage of judicial protection, the author gives his proposal how to eliminate this defect. This mean change of the subject which should be authorised for legal compensation in the Republic of Srpska. The author has also expressed his reserve with regard to the provisions in the Law related to the cession. This is because the cession is an institute of Contract law and, in contrast to the compensation, it depends (and should depend) exclusively of the individual will, and not of the solution imposed by the legislator. That is why this Law is in conflict with the Law on obligations since the Law on obligations does not know forced cession, and so this conflict leads to the disharmony in the legal order.