Inclusive Resettlement? Integration Pathways of Resettled Refugees With Disabilities in Germany and Canada

The purpose of this article is to explore the existing intersectional knowledge on integration and resettlement of refugees with disabilities in two of the top five resettlement countries in the world, Germany and Canada. There is limited research on the intersection of migration and disability, especially in the context of refugee resettlement. Reflecting the dominant pathways of migration in each country, what little research there is focuses on asylum seekers in Germany, and immigrants in Canada. The review describes settlement programs in each country. We draw from the global literature around forced migration and disability, as well as disability and migration more broadly in each country, to enhance the limited existing research and conduct an intersectional analysis at the level of systems, discourses and subjective narratives. Findings highlight three dominant themes that weave across all three levels: being a “burden” on society, being invisible, and agency and resistance. Finally, drawing from the theoretical stance of Disability Studies, critical, and holistic integration theories we discuss how this intersectional analysis highlights the importance of reshaping the policies, discourse and definition of integration, and the consequences this can have on research, service delivery, and evaluation of integration and resettlement.

Examining the Associations Between Online Interactions and Momentary Affect in Depressed Adolescents

Concern has been raised over parallel increases in youth depression and online interactive media use over the past two decades. The aim of this study was to determine whether online interactions are associated with users’ affective states. Using ecological momentary assessment, we measured depressed adolescents’ momentary affect during and residual feelings following online interactions with offline friends and family, online friends, and acquaintances/strangers. We found that depressed adolescents use texting services and social networking sites to interact online, most frequently with offline friends and family, followed by online friends. Results of generalized estimating equations showed associations between negative affect and digital interactions with offline friends and family. Participants were less likely to report feeling better after interacting with online friends than after interacting with any other relationship type. Our findings highlight the heterogeneity of depressed adolescents’ online interactions and suggest that their affective experience varies depending on the nature of the relationships they have with those with whom they interact.

Militarisation Under COVID-19: Understanding the Differential Impact of Lockdown on the Forests of Colombia

Drawing on qualitative analysis and anthropological histories, we argue that deforestation rates in the Inter-Andean Valleys and in the Amazon Belt of Colombia reflect the specific role of the military in different articulations of the political forest along with new connections between conservation and the war on drugs. This paper examines the increase in deforestation in Colombia in 2020 that partially coincided with the “lockdown” imposed to curb the spread of COVID-19. Early media analysis linked this with the redeployment of military forces away from forest protection to impose lockdown restrictions. However, closer investigation reveals significant regional variation in both the reorganisation of military groups, and in the rate at which deforestation has materialised; military presence has increased in some regions, while in others deforestation has increased. To explain this, we unpack the “biopolitical” dimensions of international conservation to show how the specific deployment of military groups in Colombia reflects an interplay between notions of the protection of (species) life, longer colonial histories, and more recent classification of geographies in terms of riskiness and value.

The Added Value of and Resistance to the Istanbul Convention: A Comparative Study in 27 European Member States and Turkey

One of the major achievements in tackling violence against women (VAW) is the adoption of the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention on VAW and Domestic Violence. The Istanbul Convention (IC) is a legally binding instrument tackling violence from a gender perspective, with a comprehensive set of measures. Although 21 European Union Member States (MS) and Turkey have ratified the Istanbul Convention and the European Union itself signed it, opposition towards gender equality has also risen. This paper reviews a study tendered by the European Parliament (the EP study), which aimed to understand the implementation of the Convention, its added value and arguments against its ratification. The EP Study grouped the 27 European Union MS and Turkey into those that have and have not ratified and implemented the IC. The EP study was based on four strands of data collection: 1) a literature review focusing on the impact of and arguments against ratification; 2) a legal mapping of the legislation to compare the criminal codes and support services of each country with relevant articles of the Convention; 3) national data collection to identify challenges in the implementation of the Convention and good practices; 4) a stakeholder on-line consultation. The study was conducted in 2020. The EP study found that ratification of the Convention triggered amendments to existing legislation and/or the adoption of new legal measures, but that legislative changes are less extensive in countries that have not ratified the Convention. Most European Union MS have adopted gender-neutral approaches to laws and policies, thus failing to acknowledge the gendered nature of violence against women and domestic violence. Seven of the European Union countries (BG, HR, LT, LV, MT, RO, TU) refer to physical, psychological, economic and sexual violence in their definitions of domestic violence, while nine countries (AT, BE, CZ, DK, EE, FI, FR, IE, LU) do not define domestic violence. Remaining challenges in the implementation of the Istanbul Convention include a lack of sustainable national action plans, and insufficient funding for specialist support services. Resistance to the Convention is evident even in countries that have ratified it, in response to proposed legislation on same-sex marriage, adoption or sexuality education in schools. Non-ratifying countries and countries with high resistance to the Convention often display victim-blaming public attitudes to intimate partner violence, stronger gender stereotypes and a stronger resistance to same-sex marriage/rights. The paper concludes by suggesting recommendations. The cut off date for data collection was 16 September 2020 and therefore legal and policy developments after that date were not included in this paper. This includes Poland and Turkey announcing their withdrawal from the IC in respectively July 2020 and March 2021. However, given the focus of this paper is on understanding the reasons behind resistance against the IC and on the differences between countries that ratified and those that did not, this paper contributes to a better understanding of how progress has been made following the IC, and points to the added value of the IC.

Structural and Symbolic Violence Exacerbates the Risks and Consequences of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence for Forced Migrant Women

While much attention is focused on rape as a weapon of war, evidence shows that forced migrant women and girls face increased risks of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) both during and following forced displacement. In this paper, we argue that gendered forms of structural and symbolic violence enable and compound the harms caused by interpersonal SGBV against forced migrant women and girls. These forms of violence are encountered in multiple contexts, including conflict and post-conflict settings, countries of refuge, and following resettlement. This paper illustrates the consequences of resultant cumulative harms for individuals and communities, and highlights the importance of considering these multiple, intersecting harms for policy and practice.

Introducing Humans to the Extraterrestrials: the Pioneering Missions of the Pioneer and Voyager Probes

This article gives a brief overview of how human life is represented on the 1972 Pioneer 10 and 1973 Pioneer 11 plaques and on the 1977 Voyager 1 and 2 Golden Records, sent on their journeys to deep space by the U.S. National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA). Having left the boundaries of the Solar System and moving through interstellar space, the space probes still carry messages with information about their makers and their era. After a description of the two famous American interstellar messages, this article gives a basic introduction to their contents using some of the photographs available in the public domain. The overview includes the visual and audio part of the Voyager message and is focused around the questions for what types of information were included, what methods were used to communicate the information and how were humans introduced to the unknown receiver.

Why Are Newcomers so Happy? Subjective Well-Being of First-Generation Immigrants in Germany

First-generation immigrants are surprisingly satisfied with their life compared to the local population in Germany. Is this because newcomers are particularly resourceful? We test if personality selectivity, purposive adaptation, and social resilience separately or in tandem explain why subjective well-being remains high even in times of objective disadvantage. Using German panel data (GSOEP) from 5,008 first-generation immigrants for the years 1984–2014 and official data, growth curve models show that newcomers are a selected group with respect to their open and less neurotic personalities and that these personal characteristics are distinctly associated with happiness. Also, newcomers immediately compare their income to the standards in the host society but not their family life. This contributes to boosting their subjective well-being as well. For more than 30 years, first-generation immigrants use their country of origin as a reference point thus protecting the positive association of intimate relationships and happiness. Finally, newcomers are highly capable of recovering from social loss. Since the resources used by first-generation migrants to preserve their subjective well-being are unlikely to be confined to Germany, our findings can inform policy-making. Most importantly, they suggest that the economic integration of newcomers should be fast and easy while family reunification and integration should follow only with a time lag.

2Vita-B Physical: An Intelligent Home Rehabilitation System Based on Microsoft Azure Kinect

Active rehabilitation is an exercise-based program designed to improve the level of function of people with motor disabilities. The effectiveness of such programs is strongly influenced by the correctness of the exercise execution. An exercise done incorrectly could even lead to a worsening of the health status. For this reason, specialists are required to guide the patient during the execution of an exercise. The drastic reduction of the costs of motion tracking systems has paved the way to the implementation of virtual assistant software able to automatically assess the correctness of an exercise. In this paper 2Vita-B Physical is presented, a rehabilitation software system properly designed to support both 1) the patients, by guiding them in the correct execution of an exercise; and 2) the physiotherapists, by allowing them to remotely check the progress of a patient. The motion capturing in 2Vita-B is performed by using the recently released Microsoft Kinect Azure DK. Thus, the system is easy to use and completely non-invasive. Besides the hardware and software requirements of the system, the results of a preliminary usability evaluation of the system conducted with 29 users is also reported. The results achieved are promising and provide evidence of the high usability of 2Vita-B Physical as home rehabilitation system.

Women and Covid19: How the Italian Government Task Force Fostered Gender Equity

Over the last decades, the social context has been characterized by uncertainty, complexity, and inequalities, with significant impacts on people, groups, and communities. Covid-19 Pandemic has accentuated social discriminations, as inequalities affecting women (World Health Organization, 2018), with repercussions on general income, health, education (Office for National Statistics, 2021) that have been exhausting people, the economic system, and the welfare state (Antonicelli et al., 2020). To cope with these difficulties, on april 10, 2020 the Italian Prime Minister appointed a Task Force of 17 experts with scientific and applicative skills in social and economic fields. Within a short time, the Task Force aimed at identifying practical solutions priming the relaunch of the country. Given the women’s central role in the country’s social and economic development, in the final version of the Task Force plan, Gender Equality was indicated as the third—strategic and innovative—axis, together with Digitization and Green Economy. Its rationale was to promote gender equality in every action, with an allocation of dedicated economic resources. Specifically, the Task Force’s Working Group named “Individuals, Families, and Society” proposed specific initiatives aimed at recognizing and bridging the gender gaps in the various areas, and measures to support vulnerable people. This contribution will focus on the central role that the Task Force has played in encouraging systematic attention to women, considering their needs and the social-economic impacts on their choices and well-being. It will illustrate the Task Force’s internal dynamics (there were four women out of 17 people, then increased), the process of inclusion of different perspectives, both gender and multidisciplinary, and the practices suggested for the post-pandemic rebuilding. The final goal will be to show the inability to promote innovation, resilience and sustainability, without working with and for the community. As shown by the Italian Task Force, an innovative change must consider a multiplicity of perspectives that reflects the complexity of reality, even in the political and decision-making debate. Therefore, it’s central to build multidisciplinary teams that include various professionals from the social sectors, as Social Psychology, Sociology, Pedagogy, Political Philosophy, Demography, and Social Statistics, both women and men.