International Refugee Law in Crisis: Islands, Incarceration and Neo-Refoulement during COVID-19

Attempts by states to deter refugee movement have evolved to a point that routine and systematic breach of non-refoulement and associated human rights frequently constitutes a central pillar in their asylum architectures. The expansion of state policies and practices under which people seeking asylum are prevented from reaching safe places and lodging asylum claims has accelerated during the Covid-19 pandemic. Drawing on examples from Australia and Europe, this article uses neo-refoulement—a concept introduced by geographers Jennifer Hyndman and Alison Mountz—to signal not only the rise in pushbacks at land and sea borders, but also practices that occur well within the boundaries of sovereign territory. These include the use of island incarceration, fast-track border procedures, and denial of legal presence on sovereign territory, even where physical presence is achieved. Such measures have often been introduced under the pretext of responding to situations of ‘mass influx’. And yet, far from providing an adequate response to a so-called ‘refugee crisis’, they serve only to facilitate a greater humanitarian crisis.

Introduction

During the Reformation, religious leaders took a more decisive stance on the way that churches should deal with poverty. This study examines the role of church leaders in the development of poor relief reforms to provides a greater understanding of how religious ideals and rationales fueled the changes in church and society.While Catholics generally emphasized interpersonal charity, early Protestant reformers sought to eliminate begging by setting up or supporting poor relief institutions. Pastors and lay leaders helped to create and establish various approaches to alleviating poverty. While some church leaders sought to drive their local magistrates to deal with poverty within their communities, others initiated change mainly within their own churches. However, poor relief faced many practical challenges like raising money, new outbreaks of the plague, and the mass influx of religious refugees. Hence for minority Reformed and Anabaptist communities, church leaders had to find new ways to build and support their fledgling religious communities.

In situ pilot application of nZVI embedded in activated carbon for remediation of chlorinated ethene-contaminated groundwater: effect on microbial communities

Background Nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI) is commonly used for remediation of groundwater contaminated by chlorinated ethenes (CEs); however, its long-term reactivity and subsurface transport are limited. A novel nZVI–AC material, consisting of colloidal activated carbon (AC) with embedded nZVI clusters, was developed with the aim of overcoming the limitations of nZVI alone. Results Application of a limited amount of nZVI–AC to an oxic, nitrate-rich, highly permeable quaternary aquifer triggered time-limited transformation of CEs, with noticeable involvement of reductive dechlorination. Reductive dechlorination of CEs was dominantly abiotic, as an increase in the concentration of vinyl chloride (VC) and ethene did not coincide with an increase in the abundance of reductive biomarkers for complete dechlorination of CEs (Dehalococcoides, Dehalogenimonas, VC reductase genes vcrA and bvcA). Application of nZVI–AC under unfavourable hydrochemical conditions resulted in no dramatic change in the microbial community, the reducing effect resulting in temporal proliferation of nitrate and iron reducers only. At a later stage, generation of reduced iron induced an increase in iron-oxidizing bacteria. High concentrations and a continuous mass influx of competing electron acceptors (nitrate and dissolved oxygen) created unfavourable conditions for sulphate-reducers and organohalide-respiring bacteria, though it allowed the survival of aerobic microorganisms of the genera Pseudomonas, Polaromonas and Rhodoferax, known for their ability to assimilate VC or cis-1,2-dichloroethene. A potential for aerobic oxidative degradation of CE metabolites was also indicated by detection of the ethenotroph functional gene etnE. Conclusions This pilot study, based on the application of nZVI–AC, failed to provide a sustainable effect on CE contamination; however, it provided valuable insights into induced hydrogeochemical and microbial processes that could help in designing full-scale applications.

The Grim Reality of Health System Uncovered with COVID-19 Pandemic in Nepal

With advent of community transmission of COVID-19 in Nepal, the number of cases continues to rise and poses threat to the fragile health system of our country. ‘Trace, isolate, test and treat’ is the strategy advocated by World Health Organization to fight against COVID-19. Despite the efforts for last nine months, Nepal lacks in some aspect of this strategy. Lack of prompt testing facilities and substandard quarantine and isolation centers, have led to mismanagement of cases. The panic regarding COVID-19, lack of adequate protective measures to healthcare workers in early stage of the pandemic, and nation-wise lockdown, has led to collateral damage in the form of increased morbidity and mortality due to non-COVID related illnesses. COVID-19 pandemic has uncovered the grim reality of the debilitated health system of our country. With mass influx of Nepali migrant workers, the epidemic is expected to grow exponentially. We need to understand that the health system of Nepal must be prepared to function to its maximum capacity in the coming days. Keywords: COVID-19; health; Nepal; pandemic

Politics of Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Turkey: Limits and Prospects of Populism

This article addresses the international movement of asylum seekers and refugees, particularly Syrian immigrants, and their impact on populism in Turkish politics between 2011 and 2018. The article argues that populist politics/rhetoric directed against Syrians in Turkey remained limited during this period, especially from a comparative perspective. At a time when rising Islamophobia, extreme nationalism, and anti-immigrant sentiments led to rise of right-wing populism in Europe, populist platforms exploiting specifically migrants, asylum seekers, and the Syrians in Turkey failed to achieve a similar effect. The chapter identifies two reasons for this puzzling development even as the outbreak of the Syrian civil war triggered a mass influx of asylum seekers and irregular immigrants into Turkey. First, the article focuses on Turkey’s refugee deal with the EU in response to “Europe’s refugee crisis,” through which Turkey has extracted political and economic leverage. Next, the article sheds light on Turkey’s foreign policy making instruments that evolved around using the refugee situation as an instrument of soft power pursuant to its foreign policy identity. The article concludes with a discussion of the rise of anti-Syrian sentiments by 2019.

Virus may force Egypt to turn to external support

Significance Egypt has already suffered severe economic impact, with tourism closed down and portfolio investment in full flight. The government has imposed a partial lockdown, while allowing construction and some manufacturing to continue, in an effort to mitigate the impact on the economy. Impacts The relatively slow rate of the pandemic’s spread in Egypt raises questions about the accuracy of official data. The health system would struggle to cope with a mass influx of potentially infected Egyptian workers from the Gulf. Egypt’s relatively youthful demographic profile may make the trajectory of the epidemic different than Europe’s.

Oswajanie populizmu. Scena polityczna Królestwa Niderlandów po 2015 roku

The mass influx of immigrants to Europe in 2015 shook the foundations of the political system of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The concept of populism dominated the political discourse related to various concepts of how to solve this problem. After the death of Pim Fortuyn and Theo van Gogh, two politicians using harsh anti-immigrant rhetoric and murdered by Islamic fanatics, a new generation of right-wing populist activists appeared on the political scene of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Two of them, Geert Wilders and Thierry Baudet, run their own political parties and are increasingly successful. The Freedom Party of Geert Wilders became the second strongest party in the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Forum for Democracy party founded by Thierry Baudet won two seats in the Second Chamber of Parliament in the 2017 election.The author of this article focuses on both these politicians and their party programmes. He argues that the culmination of populism in Europe, which fell between the peak of the 2015 migration crisis and the 2017 parliamentary elections, has changed the attitude of leading politicians to this concept. Populism has been ‘permanently’ appearing in salons. The thesis of ‘good’ populism, proclaimed by Prime Minister Mark Rutte, indicates its inclusion in the arsenal of political means also used by liberals to defend a democratic order.

Concerning the impact of deorbiting spacecraft to the upper atmosphere

<p>The increasing activities in space due to more and more countries with space programs, advancing commercialization, and large satellite constellation projects lead to a rising number of human-made objects in space. While many of those stay in orbit at high altitudes, objects in low Earth orbit reenter the atmosphere mostly disintegrating and injecting material into the atmosphere. The growing concern about space debris has led to policies encouraging deorbiting of satellites at the end of their lifetime. All that will increase the annual mass influx into the atmosphere by human-made (anthropogenic) objects in the future. We compare the influx of those objects to the natural mass influx of entering meteoroids of asteroidal, cometary, and planetary origin into Earth's atmosphere. We look at the mass and the elemental composition of the entering bodies also incorporating different ablation of those objects. This way, a quantitative assessment of the annual injection of aerosols and atomic remnants into the atmosphere is possible. Today, anthropogenic material makes up way less than 1 % of the overall injected mass. However, future large spacecraft constellations could increase the anthropogenic influx significantly, then contributing 4 % or more of the whole injection. As spacecraft have a high abundance of metal elements, the metal mass portion of the injection can reach up to 15 %. For some elements, the anthropogenic injection may even prevail the natural injection. This implies for future large satellite constellations that the anthropogenic injection can become significant with unknown effects on the upper atmosphere and the terrestrial habitat.</p>

The EU Response to the 2015 Refugee Flows: A Missed Opportunity to Use the Temporary Protection Directive?

Following the mass influx of people in Europe after 2011 and the Arab Spring uprisings, Europe has been admitting refugees into its borders predominantly under the Dublin III Regulation. However, Dublin III was never intended to be an emergency tool for asylum seekers, but became one as most entries take place through irregular routes. Europe received around 1.3 million asylum seekers in 2015 which is the highest number of asylum applications in its history. Questions are raised as to why Europe refrained from using the Temporary Protection Directive which serves exactly the purpose of establishing minimum standards for giving temporary protection and promoting a balance of efforts between Members States when receiving displaced persons. This Directive arguably provides a solution for the burden sharing issues that Europe has been facing which cause the rise of nationalism in many border States such as Italy and Greece as they are the main hosts of asylum seekers. Europe has also been entering into questionable agreements such as the EU-Turkey deal that does not necessarily comply with International Humanitarian Laws or jus cogens principles such as non-refoulement. Europe’s avoidance of the use of the Temporary Protection Directive raises a lot of questions. It brings to the surface the politics that surround the asylum process of the European Union and sheds light on the growing need of the EU to close its borders and avoid offering protection to people in need. This notion of border strengthening controls seems to be growing. As a result, the Union continues to use questionable agreements and the implementation of the Dublin III Regulation as an emergency measure instead of using the Temporary Protection Directive to promote fair sharing and solidarity. This article will examine the reasons behind the non-implementation of the Temporary Protection Directive to demonstrate that Europe does not wish to assist asylum seekers but keep them out of its territory. Moreover, this article supports that the mass influx of asylum seekers during the Arab-Spring uprisings was a missed opportunity to activate the Directive that has now become obsolete as it is unlikely to ever be activated.

Is Temporary Protection Eternal? The Future of Temporary Protection Status of Syrians in Turkey

Turkey has provided temporary protection status for the Syrian people, who were accepted by "open door policy" and sheltered as “guests” until the situation in Syria ameliorates. Temporary protection, a convenient tool to respond to the mass influx and provide protection while a permanent solution is sought, is indeed designed as an interim solution. After seven years of conflict, it can be assumed that peace and security cannot be established in Syria in a short period of time, as a consequence, Syrians shall continue staying in Turkey longer than anticipated. Therefore, congruent with the meaning of temporary protection status, it is time for Turkey to collaborate with international society in terms of burden-sharing on the one hand, to terminate temporary protection regime, and to determine its own strategies to provide permanent solution on the other.