Nairobi Conference Research Articles

Virtual interprofessional education for the African continent: AFRI-VIPE

This article details how multiple universities came together in 2019 during the Africa Interprofessional Education Network (AfrIPEN) conference in Nairobi, Kenya, to create an interprofessional, multi-continent, multi-university opportunity to give their students an asynchronous and synchronous virtual interprofessional experience through a programme known as VIPE (virtual interprofessional education). The programme, which was created after the conference, was entitled AFRI-VIPE (Africa virtual interprofessional education). From that conference, four AFRI-VIPE events have been implemented to date. Asynchronous material was created, and synchronous sessions were held that utilised problem-based learning to reinforce the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) core competencies. Students’ competency attainment was assessed using the Interprofessional Collaborative Competencies Attainment Survey (ICCAS), and analysis of those data showed significant improvements across all six interprofessional subscales for students at both North American- and African-based institutions, as well as across professional groups. All data were kept anonymous. Challenges experienced during AFRI-VIPE included the difference in time zones, student attrition, connectivity and survey response rates. Through their participation in the VIPE model, students and facilitators from a variety of countries and professions appreciated the opportunity to learn with, from and about other students through exposure to authentic case studies.

Women Empowerment for Accelerating the Rural Economy of Arunachal Pradesh

“To awaken the people, it is women who must be awakened, once she is in the moves, the family moves, the villages’ moves, and nation moves”. Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru Introduction: Women empowerment is gaining popularity in the 20th century; it is era of socio- cultural reforms. Empowerment means to increase political, social, educational, and economic, Gender or spiritual strength of personal society. Women constitute the most elegant resource of society. They are regarded as the backbone in family. They play the role of mother, sister, wife, grandmother. Women are considered as the central pillar of every sphere of development in human progress. A woman is regarded as agent of for the growth and development of family as well as good society. In rural areas women are closely attached with the environment for the survival and livelihood. Protection and conservation of the forest is correlated with the role of women. In remote areas women not runs the family they also tries to earn additional wages for their family. It is very much peculiar and unique system that in Galo and some others tribes of Arunachal Pradesh women work harder than the male. They are more in cultivation than male counter parts. So if they are empowered economically, as well as socio-politically, the scenario of the rural areas will definitely transform towards the path of prosperity. For further up-liftment of the women status. International women year was declared in 1975 by United Nation. The 08th march of every year is celebrated as International women Days. The first international conference on women was held in Mexico City in1975. Followed by, Copenhagen in199 and third conference in Nairobi 1985.

Interview with David McLellan July 2018

David McLellan, interviewed here, is a Fellow of Goldsmiths College, University of London and Emeritus Professor of Political Theory, University of Kent. Since the 1970s he has been one of the leading biographers, translators and commentators on Marx in the English-speaking world. He is the author of several books on Marx and Marxism, including The Young Hegelians and Karl Marx; Karl Marx: His Life and Thought; Karl Marx: Selected Writings; Marx before Marxism; and Marxism and Religion. He has also published a biography of Simone Weil, books on the political implications of Christianity, and a lengthy article on contract law and marriage. He lectures widely around the world on these topics, frequently in China, and in 2018 addressed a conference in Nairobi on religion and world peace. In this interview, or conversation, with Larry Ray and Iain Wilkinson, in July 2018, David discusses the origins of his interest in Marx, the development Marx’s thought and his critique of the Hegelians, Marx’s critical method, Marx and religion, Marx on Russia, the role of violence in social change, the relevance of Marx’s work today, and offers comments on some recent biographies. David has spent much of his intellectual career engaging with the meaning and legacy of Marxism and these reflections should generate reflection and debate on the significance of Marx and the possibilities of radical political change today.

Helina

The HELINA Board put out a Call for Bids to host HELINA 2018 in June 2017. The Kenya Health Informatics Association presented a bid and was given approval to host the conference in Nairobi, Kenya from 1st - 5th October 2018. It is expected that the region will build on successes of past conferences and will make HELINA 2018 a formidable event.

IMPACT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS ON THE STATUS OF RURAL WOMEN

Mother is a radiant nurse, an angel of mercy, a patient teacher, a watchful guardian and compassionate attorney and a fountainhead of courage. Post independence sociologists paid attention towards the women who are traditionally backward, exploited and taken as second-rate citizens. This is obstruction and hindrance in the progress and prosperity of family, community and country. The complete social structure is affected. For the rural development and reconstruction, it is necessary to understand the changing social status and role of rural women who are 48.3% of the Total population of the country. For the study of past enables us to grasp the fundamental psychology behind the present problems and attitudes that uphold or reject them due to which it has come to be what it is. We may thus be enabling to make out the cause and circumstances embedded in the past, which led to the existence and conditions and causes are sure to prove themselves of great help to us in the making up and planning of a figure. Women constitute about fifty per cent of the world population. It is estimated that by A.D. 2000, the total number of women in the world will be more than 3 billion and they will outnumber men by nearly 175 million. At the United Nations Conference in Nairobi in 1985, it was noted that they comprise 35 per cent of the world’s labor force in the sphere of employment and occupied lower positions. Further it is observed that over 60 per cent of world’s illiterates are women, mostly in the developing countries. More than 60% respondents have accepted all the factors mentioned as variables are responsible for the uplift of the status of rural women. But; it is note-worthy that more than three-fourth of the respondents have emphasized especially on urbanization, women welfare organizations and rural development programs; as the tools of uplift for the status of rural women.

IMPACT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS ON THE STATUS OF RURAL WOMEN

Mother is a radiant nurse, an angel of mercy, a patient teacher, a watchful guardian and compassionate attorney and a fountainhead of courage. Post independence sociologists paid attention towards the women who are traditionally backward, exploited and taken as second-rate citizens. This is obstruction and hindrance in the progress and prosperity of family, community and country. The complete social structure is affected. For the rural development and reconstruction, it is necessary to understand the changing social status and role of rural women who are 48.3% of the Total population of the country. For the study of past enables us to grasp the fundamental psychology behind the present problems and attitudes that uphold or reject them due to which it has come to be what it is. We may thus be enabling to make out the cause and circumstances embedded in the past, which led to the existence and conditions and causes are sure to prove themselves of great help to us in the making up and planning of a figure. Women constitute about fifty per cent of the world population. It is estimated that by A.D. 2000, the total number of women in the world will be more than 3 billion and they will outnumber men by nearly 175 million. At the United Nations Conference in Nairobi in 1985, it was noted that they comprise 35 per cent of the world’s labor force in the sphere of employment and occupied lower positions. Further it is observed that over 60 per cent of world’s illiterates are women, mostly in the developing countries. More than 60% respondents have accepted all the factors mentioned as variables are responsible for the uplift of the status of rural women. But; it is note-worthy that more than three-fourth of the respondents have emphasized especially on urbanization, women welfare organizations and rural development programs; as the tools of uplift for the status of rural women.

Consolidating International Investment Law: The Mega-Regionals as a Pathway towards Multilateral Rules

AbstractPessimism abounds in international economic law. The World Trade Organization (WTO) faces an uncertain future following its Ministerial Conference in Nairobi in 2015. International investment law is under attack in countries around the world, while mega-regional agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership are beset by world events, from the United States’ federal election to the unexpected Brexit outcome. Yet the appetite of numerous States to continue forging plurilateral trade and investment deals provides some cause for hope. Viewed alongside other institutional developments including consensus-building work at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, the potential arguably now exists for credible movement towards multilateral rules in investment law. While the WTO's current negotiating stalemate highlights the difficulties in reaching agreement among 164 Members, international trade law offers lessons for working towards multilateralism in the international investment law field. Alongside informal discussions about a world investment court, mega-regionals provide a vehicle for future multilateral investment rules, particularly through the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada and the European Union, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership currently under negotiation in Asia.

Post Bali Doha Round and MC10: Korea's Perspective

The July deadline for the Doha Round “work program” was missed. The WTO DG urged delegations to come prepare this autumn to redouble their efforts toward reaching “substantive outcomes” ahead of their December ministerial conference in Nairobi, Kenya. However, it seems hardly likely that WTO members will reach a compromise on the work program any time soon, as the Doha negotiations themselves remain deadlocked. In order to settle on even a small package at the Nairobi ministerial conference, major players such as the U.S., EU, China, India, and Brazil should establish a compromise on the following several key issues through strong political will. First, in domestic support of agricultural negotiations, the OTDS is likely to be a key determinant of possible outcomes as a whole. First attempt to reach an agreement in this area will consist of mutual concession based on self-reflection and mutual recognition. In many ways the significance of this item is small compared to the gains from better market access and the removal of export subsidies. Second, the most important item on the DDA agricultural and NAMA agenda is market access, particularly tariff reduction methods. In order to reach an agreement on tariff reduction formulas in both agriculture and NAMA, additional flexibilities with very strong conditions need to be incorporated into the average tariff cut method. Instead, both the average reduction rate and the minimum reduction rate need to be raised properly in the average tariff cuts. This idea is a kind of trade-off between flexibilities and reduction rates within the average tariff cut approach. Third, the MC10 is the first WTO ministerial to be held in sub-Saharan Africa. Thus, advanced countries should concede the priority demands of developing countries, in particular the African and least-developed countries, with respect to the Development Agenda such as LDC issues. Fourth, WTO members need to pay attention to high costs incurred by delayed implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement. WTO member countries should seek to assure that the TFA enters into force before or just after the Nairobi Ministerial in December 2015. Finally, Developing members need to realize that developed countries are leading mega-regional FTA such as TPP and TTIP and engaged in plurilateral negotiations such as TiSA and EWG, which will occupy center stage in world trade policy as a consequence of the DDA’s failure. If developed countries create their own league of trade liberalization based on mega FTAs or plurilateral negotiations, then the WTO could fall into a small league composed only of developing countries.

TOWARDS AN ISLAMIC FRAMEWORK OF WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

It is worth recalling that the globalization of gender equality started quite recently with the United Nation declaring 1975 as the International Women's Year at the world conference held at Mexico City. Sequel to this the decade 1976-1985, was declared the Decade for Women, during which international agencies as well as some governments focused attention on what came to be popularly referred to as 'women issue." After that the second UN conference on women was held in Copenhagen in 1980. The decade as crowned by Nairobi Conference on Women in 1985. Then, the Cairo International Conference on population and development in 1994 came which seemed to focus on independence and autonomy of women even with a family context. Indeed several conferences, conventions and activities of a host of international agencies took place during the 1985-1994 to prepare the grounds and minds for the famous Beijing Conference in 1995. It was in Beijing, more than anywhere, where the issue of empowerment was focused and made such an indispensable condition for world progress and development.

Feminine Oppression: A Study of the Conflict in Kashmir

Kashmir predicament is not merely the problem of men but women are more pretentious as compared to men. The Kashmir crisis started after the British withdrew from the Indian subcontinent in 1947, but real chaos started from 1989 onwards. This paper will analyze the varied atrocities and assorted extent of violence committed against women from 1989 to 2011. Violence against women (VAW) was not acknowledged as a human rights violation by the domestic and international community for a number of years. It was first addressed at the United Nations Nairobi conference in 1985. Women have been subjugated in Kashmir from last two decades by Security forces. Hundreds of victims were raped, tortured and murdered in reprisal attacks. Violence against women in valley exists in various forms. They are often beaten, mutilated, burned, sexually abused and raped. Such violence is a major obstacle in achieving peace and harmony in the state.

Mortalidad materna en el Perú, Responsabilidad de todos.

Por el menor número absoluto de muertes maternas en relación a las muertes infantiles, la verdadera dimensión de esta tragedia no fue valorada sino hasta después después de las conferencias mundiales de Ginebra y Nairobi, en 1985 y 1987, respectivamente, luego de las cuales se generó en el mundo, por fortuna, una corriente por una maternidad segura. La UNICEF calcula que cada año 585000 mujeres pierden la vida en el mundo, como consecuencia de complicaciones que se presentan en el embarazo, parto y puerperio1. Del total de éstas muertes, el 7% (35000) ocurre en América Latina y, de éstas, alrededor de 5000 corresponden al grupo andino (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Perú y Venezuela). Debo agregar que, de éstas muertes, aproximadamente 1600 corresponden al Perú.

We Intend to Move Together

The story of women's participation in the ecumenical movement can indeed be described as a pilgrimage of justice and peace, as well as a story of mission. From the earliest days of ecumenism--whether in its formal, institutional structures or in the lively work and witness of local communities around the globe--questions about women's role in the churches have been intertwined with questions about the social, economic, and cultural forces that affect women's lives. With changing emphasis shaped by particular time and context, the consistent thread in the journey has been a will to respond to the call to participate in God's mission in the world in ways that contribute to wholeness and fullness of life for all God's people and to the flourishing of creation. While not always named or recognized as such, gender justice has been at the heart of this journey. Consistently, women have been seeking ecumenical space in which the diverse experiences of women, their voices and visions, and the conditions of injustice and oppression that have been the lot of many women around the world can be lifted up and addressed. And in that space, women have claimed their own agency of resistance and transformation. The story of women's work and witness in the World Council of Churches (WCC) is only one facet of this journey. Each church family and world communion could tell its own story and each local context has had times of ecumenical witness and action--often connected with global programs, but also representative of particular local needs and issues. Nevertheless, the WCC has played a key role since its inception in linking ecumenical women in local contexts with international networks and global currents. A review of WCC programmes and structures committed to the journey of gender justice reveals both the rich heritage of ecumenical women's work and the challenges and gaps that continue. Affirming the "service and status of women" In the 1940s, when the WCC was still in the process of formation, Twila Cavert, a Young Women Christian Association (YWCA) leader from the US, together with other women, gained the support of WCC leaders for a pre-assembly women's meeting and a survey of woman leaders worldwide about their vision for the work of women in the whole church. (1) The questionnaire netted detailed replies from women in 58 countries, and prompted the Reformed Church of France to request that the question of women's role be placed on the agenda of the first assembly in Amsterdam in 1948. There, the study report on "The Life and Work of Women in the Church" was received and its recommendation for a permanent commission to undertake ecumenical inquiry into issues related to women's ministry was accepted. Susannah Herzel writes of the significance of these first steps for the participation of women in churches around the world: "So the infiltration had begun. Member churches of the ecumenical movement had agents of change in their midst, and the troubling questions would be increasingly difficult to ignore." (2) The material generated by the study was developed into a book by Kathleen Bliss, published in 1952 as The Service and Status of Women in the Churches, (3) Interpreting the reports through the framework of women's various types of service--voluntary, full-time and professional, ordained, and participation in church governance--Bliss examined the contributions and limitations of each area of endeavour. She asked whether the churches were making the best use of women's gifts, or helping women to participate as Christians in the changes taking place in society as a whole. Writing during a period of flux in women's public and private roles, Bliss urged churches to recognize the implications of changing family and employment patterns. She asserted that "what is needed is ... an imaginative act of understanding ... [of the] ... revolutionary change in the place of women in society." (4) These reports from around the world provided evidence that responses to women's ministries ranged from indifference to active opposition. …

Impact of Training Programme on Knowledge and Perception of Primary Health Care (PHC) Workers on Nutrition Component of Safe Motherhood Initiative in South-West Nigeria

Introduction The global campaign to reduce maternal mortality was launched in 1987, when three United Nations agencies— United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the World Bank, and World Health Organization (WHO) —sponsored the international Safe Motherhood Conference in Nairobi, Kenya. The event aimed to raise awareness about the numbers of women dying each year from complications of pregnancy and childbirth, and to challenge the world to intervene [1]. At that time the number of maternal deaths worldwide was estimated to be at least 600,000 each year with 99% of deaths occurring in the developing world. In spite of the promises and good expectations associated with SMI when founded, the programme is yet to witness a quantum leap in progress to reduce maternal challenges. This may be related to neglect of some vital components in the planning of which nutrition is fundamental [15]. In Nigeria, maternal mortality ratio is put at 545 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births [2]. Safe Motherhood refers to a situation in which no woman going through the physiological processes of pregnancy and childbirth suffers any injury or loses her life or that of the baby [3]. One of the core components of Safe Motherhood Initiatives (SMI) is nutrition, yet only few studies have considered this adequately. The goal of this intervention study was to evaluate the effect of training programme on knowledge and perception of PHC health workers on nutrition components of SMIs. The study was quasi-experimental involving two groups of 30 PHC health workers each purposively selected from Egbeda Local Government Area (LGA) (experimental group-EG) and Ido LGA (control group-CG). The two groups completed validated questionnaire at baseline. Knowledge and perception of nutrition components of SMIs were assessed using 42-point and 28-point scales respectively. Knowledge and perception gaps identified during the baseline survey were used to design module for training programme for the EG. Post-intervention assessment was conducted immediately and one month after the training among the two groups. These showed that knowledge scores at baseline, immediate post-intervention and one month postintervention were 12.6±2.9, 36.9±3.6 and 39.9±1.7 respectively (p 0.05). Difference in knowledge scores between the EG and CG groups at the different stages of assessment was significant (p 0.05). Training improved knowledge of health workers’ but had insignificant effect on perception of nutrition components of SMIs. The PHC health workers have right perception of nutrition components of SMIs but lack adequate knowledge. There is need for continuous training of health workers’ on nutrition components of SMI to enhance maternal and child care, especially at the PHC level. Citation: Oyewole OE, Ahmadu AA (2014) Impact of Training Programme on Knowledge and Perception of Primary Health Care (Phc) Workers on Nutrition Component of Safe Motherhood Initiative in SouthWest Nigeria. J Nutr Health Sci 1(3): 304. doi: 10.15744/2393-9060.1.304 Most maternal deaths occur in the developing world; making maternal mortality the health statistics with the largest disparity between developed and developing countries [4]. The consequences of malnutrition, in all its forms (both macronutrients and micronutrients) can be seen in poor birth outcomes and poor breast-feeding and other infant feeding and care practices.

After Nairobi: can the international community help to develop health promotion in Africa?

The Nairobi Conference presaged a surge of interest in the development of health promotion in sub-Saharan Africa. A number of Africans have asserted that health promotion is underdeveloped in the continent, with the principles of the Ottawa Charter not widely adopted. This paper does not presume to say how health promotion could be developed in Africa, as that is for Africans to decide for themselves. Rather, it debates some issues which the international epistemic health promotion community could address in order to work in solidarity with African colleagues in taking forward the health promotion agenda in their continent. These issues include the Eurocentric nature of health promotion discourse, the different disease burden of Africa and the lack of training capacity in African universities.

Worldviews on Fire

A ddressing participants at an Alliance of Religions and Conservation conference in Nairobi during the fall of 2012, Mr. Mounkaila Goumandakoye, the African Regional Director of the United Nations’ Environment Programme’s Office for Africa, acknowledged that the commitment of faith groups to heal the earth is one of the “driving forces for positive change as humanity is grappling with challenges of colossal consequences.” Mr. Goumandakoye is not the first global leader to place hope in faith groups. Ban Ki Moon, the former Secretary General of the United Nations, made a similar plea before the Copenhagen climate summit of 2009, noting that religious groups “can have the largest, widest and deepest reach” on the summit’s impact. Faith-based environmentalists indeed can be a powerful force for environmental leadership. But what are the driving forces that spark their own commitments and actions? Why do some commit their hearts and energies to the earth, while others remain unconcerned, or devote their time to more traditional religious causes? Understanding the beliefs and motivations of faith-based environmentalists is critical to leverage this important global movement. As Jeffrey Sachs, economist, United Nations advisor, and author of The End of Poverty, acknowledged, “scientific, engineering, and organizational solutions are not enough. Societies must be motivated and empowered to adopt the needed changes.” Religious energy supplies some of those motivations. Those motivations deserve more detailed explanations.

Qazi Nazrul Islam For Women’s Emancipation

Poet Qazi Nazrul Islam, as a poet always commanded a highly privileged position amongst the youth of Bengal in pre-partition India. The emergence of the women’s movement throughout the world, the work of the United Nations on women’s issues has an emancipation of over half of humankind from the oppression in which they have lived for centuries for over two millenniums. Although the United Nations has not succeeded in its goals, the very prospect of effecting such emancipation carries with it the promise of bringing the greatest revolution in human history. The end of World War II, witnessed the global community, recognizing the importance of women’s right. Those attempts of recognition, due in part to the pressures that women had begun to put on their own governments, helped to force issues on women’s concerns for the global agenda. By 1995, four world conferences of the United Nations, on women and their right of equality with men (the 1975 conference in Mexico City. Mexico; the 1980 conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, the 1985 conference in Nairobi, Kenya; and the conference in Beijing, China and in 1979 international convention, the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women). Qazi Nazrul Islam, long before the United Nations was created, talked about the issues that sought promoted equality for women. These issues, unlike those of the United Nations and some in the women’s movement, sought equality for women in the broader context of a total cultural change in the new world. So, one finds him advocating (on behalf of women) the political, economic, and social rights, which are generally associated with human rights regime, we must look beyond such a finding to the cultural focus of his poetic outpourings.

Improving maternal health through research

It has been two years since we launched the African Journal of Midwifery and Women's Health (AJM) at the Africa Midwives Research Network (AMRN) conference in Nairobi 2007. Since then we have had a number of valuable contributions from midwives and nurses in many different African countries, such as Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia and South Africa, to name only a few. We have also received contributions from midwives with a special interest in Africa from other countries, such as Sweden and the UK. Research by midwives and other health professionals in Africa is copious and the aim of the AJM since its inception has been to provide a forum for this knowledge to be shared, so that clinical practice can be influenced and improved.

Aspects of Judicial Independence and Accountability – Lessons for the Commonwealth Caribbean?*

Ten years ago Sir Anthony Mason, a former Chief Justice of Australia, warned that ‘a failure to strike the right balance between judicial independence and judicial accountability will result in either an unacceptable weakening of judicial independence or inadequate accountability’.1 * This paper was originally delivered at the 15th Commonwealth Law Conference in Nairobi. Reprinted with permission of the author. ** Sir David Simmons, K.A., B.C.H. assumed office as the 12th Chief Justice of Barbados on January 1, 2002. Sir David Simmons studied Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science, graduating in 1963, with the LL.B. (Hons.) degree and in 1965, the Master of Laws degree (LL.M). In 2003, he was made an Honorary Fellow of the University of the West Indies and was also awarded the Honorary degree of Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) by the University of London – the first Caribbean person to be accorded that high distinction by that University. In 2006, Sir David was elected as an Honorary Bencher of the Honorable Society of Lincoln's Inn, the Inn of Court at which he qualified as a Barrister‐at‐Law. From 1976 he served continuously for 25 years in the Parliament of Barbados and in 2001, he retired from active politics. Appointed twice as Attorney‐General of Barbados, from 1985 to 1986, and from 1994 to 2001, he reformed and modernized the laws of Barbados in a wide variety of areas; represented Barbados at regional and international fora and has published widely. Sir David also acted as Prime Minister of Barbados on many occasions between 1994 and 2000. In 2001, for his contribution to public service, law and politics, he was awarded the Barbados Centennial Honour (B.C.H.), and Barbados' highest national honour, Knight of St. Andrew (K.A.). 1 Judicial Commission of New South Wales (1997) Fragile Bastion – Judicial Independence in the Nineties and Beyond (Sydney: Judicial Commission of New South Wales), Chapt 1, p. 2. This article examines some of the evolving aspects of judicial independence and judicial accountability within and outside the Commonwealth Caribbean and highlights some of the practical problems that occur in our region or are likely to arise. Decisions of courts and emerging practices in other parts of the Commonwealth provide excellent guidance and lessons for us in the Caribbean. Judicial independence and accountability are not esoteric matters. They are principles that, admittedly, may resonate particularly with judicial officers because they tend to affect judicial officers in practical ways. But they are principles that are fundamental to good governance in democratic societies. Indeed, Commonwealth Heads of Government acknowledged the importance of these two principles when, at their meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, in 2003, they adopted the Latimer House Guidelines2 as Commonwealth Principles. Such importance and respect are now accorded judicial independence that the UK Parliament actually enshrined the principle in the text of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005: ‘The Lord Chancellor, other Ministers of the Crown and all with responsibility for matters relating to the judiciary… must uphold the continued independence of the judiciary.’3 2 The Latimer House Guidelines for the Commonwealth, 19 June 1998. 3 Section 3(1). Although this article will discuss judicial independence and accountability separately, it will be argued that the two concepts are not inconsistent and must coexist.

STATUTORY INTERPRETATION: THE CASE FOR A CORE SUBJECT

This article is based on a paper given by the author at the 2007 Commonwealth Legal Education Association Conference in Nairobi. Its focus is the way in which universities teach statutory interpretation. Although statutes are now the pre‐eminent source of law throughout the Commonwealth, it appears that their interpretation forms, at most, half of a core subject early on in an undergraduate law degree. This must change. Students should, of course, receive a brief introduction to statutory interpretation at the outset of their studies. However, they should also take a core subject late in their degrees to ensure that, as lawyers, they will be able to master any statute they encounter.

The socioeconomic consequences of desertification in central Asia

The problem of desertification has been regarded as a global ecological problem of humankind for at least the past 30 years. The struggle with this fatal process at the global level was first considered at the UN conference in Nairobi in 1977. This paper examines how the situation has developed over the territories of the former republics of the USSR.