Welfare Law Research Articles

Animal Welfare Perspectives Against the Backdrop of Animal Cruelty in Nigeria

Knowledge is crucial for improving animal welfare. People's perceptions, attitudes, and understanding may be a hindrance to adopting animal welfare-improving ideas which is crucial for developing effective animal welfare policies and advocacy in Nigeria. This study evaluates the current knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of animal welfare among Nigerian residents. A cross-sectional survey using a structured questionnaire distributed via emails, social media platforms, and by personal contact. The survey collected data from 694 respondents across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria over 6 months (November 2023 and June 2024). Descriptive statistics, reliability testing, and inferential statistical tests were performed using SPSS for windows. The result revealed that majority (60-87.3%) of the respondents had a good knowledge of what constitutes cruelty to animals. Also, 88.8% were aware that animals have right to freedoms that could enhance their welfare, and 96.1% agreed that freedom from hunger and thirst is reasonable for animals. The standard deviations were relatively low, suggesting consistent responses among participants. Respondents (87.3%) also supported the enforcement of animal cruelty laws and the enactment of comprehensive animal welfare laws in Nigeria. The high knowledge scores among Nigerian residents suggest a strong foundational understanding of animal welfare principles. It is recommended that despite the result continual advocacy and policy development are still necessary to shape the public attitudes, and perceptions to animal.

Strategy Of The Local Government Of Mamasa Regency In Preventing Religious Conflicts To Realize National Security

Managing diversity based on local democracy is a preventive step to prevent prolonged conflicts toward social reintegration. Religious segmentation is used as a way to unravel the political conflicts that previously echoed in this area. Efforts to carry out the representation of religious identity (Islamic-Christian) in each Regional Election event are used as a new political format to minimize the tension of identity politics that can erode the spirit of community togetherness. Representation politics is then manifested in the form of pairs of candidates to occupy the position of regional head until the last twenty years have been institutions that have the ability to maintain unity and unity. This research uses a qualitative approach. For data collection techniques, researchers conduct interviews, observation, and documentation procedures. The theories and concepts used in this study include strategy theory, peace theory, conflict theory, conflict prevention concept, Conflict early Warning and Early Response System (CEWERS) concept, and state defense concept. Based on the results of the study, it can be understood that overall, conflict management carried out by the government, both the central government and local governments, is very poor. Efforts to resolve conflicts only occur at the elite level and do not include people who suffer more and lose more due to conflict. An elitist resolution will only meet the interests and demands of the elite. The demands of the masses that should also be accommodated are ignored. As a form of strategic steps of the local government of Mamasa Regency in preventing conflicts in the administration of government and its relationship with the roots of religious conflicts in Mamasa Regency, some of the descriptions of the steps taken include the Education and Socialization Approach, Increasing the Role of the Religious Harmony Forum (FKUB), Strengthening the Economy and Social Welfare, Fair and Transparent Law Enforcement, and Inclusive Infrastructure and Public Facilities Development.

Governing poverty and migration in European nation-states – keywords revisited

This article introduces a collaborative publication exploring the intricate interplay between poverty governance, migration control, and welfare provision. Adopting a ‘keywords’ approach, we investigate the terminology and concepts around which academic discussions revolve when addressing poverty and migration. Central to this examination is the figure of the ‘poor migrant’, whose experiences of inclusion and exclusion intersect along lines of race, gender, and legal status. Using an intersectional lens, the publication dissects key terms and concepts : Welfare State, Welfare Governance, Citizenship, Solidarity and Deservingness, Suspicion and Surveillance, Discipline, and Banishment. We thus aim to conceptualise and critically discuss the constant renegotiation of state power and the nation-state induced in ex/inclusionary aspects of welfare and migration policies and law. The contribution reveals how notions of belonging shape access to rights and services, particularly along racialized and classist lines. Moreover, it explores how migration policies exacerbate scrutiny and exclusion faced by non-citizen populations within contemporary welfare systems.

Data as a Contested Commodity

Abstract Data are undoubtedly a contested commodity. On the one hand, data commodification is largely under way including through the operation of law. This is notably visible with the new EU data policy (Data Strategy notably followed by the Data Act, the Data Governance Act) that aims to establish data markets in keeping with European values. On the other hand, this phenomenon is heavily contested based on a wide range of different arguments, which have not been subjected to a systematic clustering. Data commodification is often understood simplistically as a binary and monolithic phenomenon whereby data would be either ‘commodified’ or not. This leads to misunderstandings of this phenomenon and of the ways in which it manifests. For example, many conceptual misunderstandings surround the relationship between ‘data access’ or ‘data sharing’ and data commodification and markets. This paper clarifies the phenomenon of data commodification, by approaching it as a spectrum with degrees following M. J. Radin (Contested Commodities, 1996). Following Radin, the paper clusters the different data governance arguments – or even paradigms – found in the literature along a data commodification spectrum. A specific attention is paid to the importance of market discourses in commodification dynamics, especially on the law. The paper offers a novel systematic synthesis of the data governance normative arguments, including data commons, data trusts, data sharing, data intermediation, against the background of the data commodification phenomenon. This synthesis brings conceptual clarity and allows to bring together different strands of the data literature (especially welfare economics, law and economics, commons, critical data studies, infrastructure studies) comprehensively, while they have until now remained siloed. Data governance normative arguments would greatly benefit from taking into account (conceptual and/or normative) arguments found in other strands of the literature. The paper can also be used to evaluate how data governance arguments or legislations relate to data commodification and take into account the specificities of data, thus enabling for more systematic analysis. The paper finds that data is actually a very contested commodity: The very conceptualization of data as a commodity is ontologically contestable. The framework in which situations are conceptualized – whether as data market ones or not – can indeed play a powerful but often invisible discursive role on commodification dynamics. Finally, the very identification and regulation of ‘data’ alone necessarily brings about certain commodification affordances.

Research on Animal Welfare Legislation from the Perspective of Ecological Ethics

This paper has explored the critical importance of integrating ecological ethics into animal welfare legislation. It has underscored the limitations of current legislation, which often lacks a holistic approach to animal protection, focusing primarily on anthropocentric concerns and failing to account for the intrinsic value of animals and their ecological roles. The paper has argued that by embracing ecological ethics principles such as respect for nature s intrinsic value, intergenerational justice, and the promotion of harmonious coexistence, legislation can be more effective in safeguarding animal welfare and supporting environmental sustainability. Case studies, including the European Union s Directive on animal testing, the Great Ape Project s influence on rights for great apes, and the U.S. Endangered Species Act, have been highlighted to demonstrate the practical application and impact of ecological ethics in legislation. The conclusion emphasizes the need for a transformative approach to animal welfare laws, one that reflects contemporary ethical considerations and contributes to a more sustainable and just relationship between humans, animals, and the environment.

‘Workers using foodbanks’: the embedding of food insecurity at the nexus of welfare and employment laws

In this first UK study of ‘Workers using foodbanks’, 65 per cent of research participants, including 76 per cent of those of working age, identified poor-quality employment as the root cause of their food insecurity. This primary problem of the deficient quality of jobs was characterised by insecure work, low wages, and excessive mental stress. Data revealed an environment in which workers are required to claim benefits because available employment cannot sustain their needs. A contemporary generation of ‘in-and-out-of-work[ers]’ are food insecure because of a secondary problem of inadequate welfare support. Post-pandemic welfare laws are interacting with ineffective employment rights protection to scaffold a low-wage labour market in which jobs are stripped of qualities that meet workers’ basic needs. There is an urgent need to respond to the UKs record high incidence of food insecurity by improving the quality of available employment so that all jobs deliver adequate income, security of working arrangements, and support for good mental and physical health. ‘Workers using foodbanks’ is an aphorism that captures a contemporary reality in which the risk of food insecurity is embedded in contractual arrangements for work that are forged at the nexus of welfare and employment laws.

Care as a constitutional value

Abstract This article explores the potential of regarding care as a constitutional issue, rather than addressing it solely through legislation, the family, or the market. It is argued that care is best regarded as a constitutional value, reflecting the reality of our interdependence, and functioning as a crucial counterweight to the fiction that individual freedom can be constituted independently of our social relations. Care as a constitutional value should be regarded as complementing express constitutional commitments to freedom, dignity, and equality, recognizing that relationships are constitutive of the self, and that individuals are partly constituted by society. Just as freedom, dignity, and equality perform important expressive functions in a constitution, so the recognition of care, implicit or explicit, signals the foundational importance of care to everyone throughout our lives and to society’s ability to reproduce itself. Care as a constitutional value should permeate the interpretation of constitutional and other provisions, and enhance accountability for care-related decisions, encouraging decision-makers to pay attention to care, and prompting courts to interpret constitutional and legislative measures with the value of care in mind. In this way, the gaps in welfare law, labor law, and free market regulation can be addressed to face the challenges of care. Equally importantly, care as a constitutional value can act as a catalyst for political activism, legitimizing grassroots campaigns for better recognition of care. This article is normative and exploratory. At the same time, its propositions are tested against constitutional jurisprudence in India, South Africa, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Criministrative Law

Textual analyses of child welfare laws, joined by extensive textual and legal analyses of case law, reveal how the “dance” between the administrative and the criminal in child protective services (CPS) is rooted in the individualized perception of poverty. This individualization, which forms the bedrock of the capitalist American welfare state, promotes the fragmentation of the family unit. Building on individualized perception and reifying it, child welfare laws and practices are neither purely administrative nor criminal, but “criministrative.” As such, they serve as a legal shield for the State in its attemptsto ensure child welfare; the State refuses to provide protections available in traditional criminal contexts to families involved in CPS investigations, while simultaneously enjoying administrative courts’ less restrictive evidentiary rules. This Article follows the thread of individualized surveillance embedded in the law, starting with the conflation of “abuse” and “neglect.” This Article proposes three solution pathways, building from practicalto theoretical: divorcing neglect from abuse, adopting a Poverty Aware Paradigm, and developing a theoretical framework for an institutionalized “benevolent gaze.” This Article joins growing discussions in critical legal scholarship concerning the carceral nature of the welfare state and the relationship between care and punishment inthe United States. This Article adds a further dimension to these discussions by asserting that child welfare law is more aptly described as criministrative law, and by exposing the rootedness of the individualized perception of poverty in the organizing concepts of the child welfare system. Finally, this Article calls for a reconstruction of the legal treatment of children who are at risk of harms caused by poverty. If left unchecked, criministrative law will continue to inflict harm upon parents, thus harming the very children that CPS is meant to protect.

Relationship between enforcement of labor social welfare laws and internal CSR, job satisfaction: a qualitative study at commercial banks in Vietnam

This study aimed to explore the relationship between three factors: enforcement of labor social welfare labor laws, internal corporate social responsibility (CSR) implementation, and job satisfaction as perceived by managers in the commercial banking sector. The research utilized a qualitative research method – in-depth interviews based on a semi-structured questionnaire with 20 experienced managers from 11 commercial banks in Vietnam, an emerging economy. Findings indicated a positive reciprocal relationship between enforcement of social welfare labor laws and internal CSR responsibilities of enterprises. Additionally, enforcing labor social welfare laws and internal CSR implementation positively impacted employee job satisfaction. The study also identified five aspects of internal CSR implementation towards employees: (1) timely and full payment of wages, bonuses, and benefits; (2) establishing a conducive work environment; (3) policies addressing human rights, health, and safety at work; (4) fair and democratic treatment, providing training and career advancement opportunities, and protecting employees through organizational activities; (5) having legal norms, procedures, mechanisms for recording, feedback, monitoring, and reasonable evaluation of job performance. These findings contribute to enriching both theoretical understanding and practical implications regarding the interplay of these three factors in commercial banks, encouraging managers to effectively implement social welfare laws and internal CSR implementation. AcknowledgmentThis collaborative research involves scholars from the University of Law - Hue University and Duy Tan University. The authors extend their gratitude to both institutions for their support and assistance in facilitating the publication of this research. In addition, the authors would like to thank the Editor-in Chief and a reviewer for their helpful comments that in our view have helped to improve the quality of the manuscript significantly. This study was conducted based on decision No. 4741/QD-ĐHDT dated October 18, 2023 of Duy Tan University, Vietnam.

Local Democratic School: Community Social Training for Improving the Quality of Democracy

The lack of awareness and knowledge among the Banjar community regarding government participation and transparency led to the implementation of the community service activity at the Local Democratic School. The purpose of this community service is to provide education to the community about democracy and governance. The community service method, using the participatory action research approach, began with an initial survey, focus group discussions, and training targeting KPU partners, attended by 25 participants serving as the Election Committee in each village or neighborhood across Banjar City. Through a series of concrete and collaborative steps, it is expected to establish a stronger foundation for inclusive and sustainable democracy at the local level, enhancing community involvement and contribution to positive changes in social structures and public policies. The duration of this PkM activity is seven months, from March to September 2023. The outcomes of the activity received positive feedback from the community, with a 91% response rate from participants indicating an understanding of various topics covered, including local content, governance, civil society, gender and democracy, welfare state, Pancasila democracy, sociopreneurship, law and human rights, and citizen participation in government. The implication is that this program can enhance community understanding and involvement in creating positive changes in social structures and public policies at the local level.

Doing right by families: Presenting dynamic performance metrics for legal excellence in child welfare law

AbstractTo meet the challenge of advancing child welfare law, a field affecting millions of families a year, practicing attorneys have developed a wealth of guidance for best practices. The Judicial, Court, and Attorney Measures of Performance (JCAMP) provide a way to determine whether legal programs are following these recommended practices and to assess the strength of attorney–client relationships. After providing context around challenges to high quality legal representation, best practice guidance, and evaluation research findings, this article reviews the JCAMP measures of attorney practice. JCAMP may be used by legal programs to both assess their own practice and to elicit feedback from affected families to ensure consistent high quality representation. Boldly assessing attorney interactions, and the experiences of clients in the court process, is critical to guiding and empowering lawyers to achieve excellence.

‘We are here to put the past behind us’: violence and welfare governmentality in Finnish family law

ABSTRACT Family justice occupies a complex space where public social (welfare) law intersects with private family law. These two legal domains bring distinct perspectives on subjects, rights, responsibilities, and entitlements. This article draws on interview data and previous research to examine welfare governmentality in family law, particularly in Finland and more broadly in the Nordic welfare states. Using intimate partner violence (IPV) as the lens of analysis, the article studies family law’s exclusionary structures that render particular forms of loss resulting from the relationship non-addressable. The rationales embedded in law, as evident through welfare governmentality, significantly impact the production of specific types of vulnerable, autonomous, gendered, and relational subjects. Moreover, these rationales shape our understanding of the law’s operations, categories, truth claims, knowledge development, and regulatory practices. Notably, family law-as-knowledge falls short in recognising violence and the subsequent losses suffered by victims within the contexts of financial settlements and child custody and access. This failure can be attributed to conceptual distinctions within family law, an overriding focus on the child’s interests, and the law’s national orientation.

Analisis Mengenai Diskresi dengan Freies Ermessen

This discretion has consequences from the concept of a welfare state law, where discretionary authority is a necessity for the state to implement welfare for society effectively and efficiently. Discretion also acts as a substitute or workaround for weaknesses in regulations, enabling governments to respond and handle unforeseen situations in a manner consistent with general principles of good governance. The aim of this research is to investigate and identify effective monitoring and accountability mechanisms for the use of Freies Ermessen in the legal system in order to increase integrity and fairness in decision making. The research method used in this research is a qualitative approach with descriptive methods and literature studies. A qualitative approach was chosen because it provides the ability to deepen and understand complex phenomena and allows researchers to explore various perspectives and relevant contexts. The research results show that regarding the use of Freies Ermessen in the legal system, there is a need to develop effective monitoring and accountability mechanisms. Transparency in the decision-making process, setting clear standards, and community involvement are key to ensuring that discretion is used with integrity and in accordance with legal principles. In addition, the role of an independent court system in examining decisions taken and strengthening accountability mechanisms for authority holders is essential in preventing abuse of power.

The Children's Justice Clinic: Ensuring high‐quality legal representation for children through clinical legal education

AbstractJuvenile and family law uniquely require interdisciplinary education and experience to balance children's and families' legal rights with their best interests. Clinical legal education provides third‐year law students with advanced and applied experience in a specific area of law to prepare them for legal practice. Recent developments in clinical legal education advance this experience by integrating interdisciplinary experts and reflective practice into clinics. The Children's Justice Clinic is one such clinic that integrates classroom teaching, clinical legal practice, multidisciplinary expert consultation, and reflective practice to train practice‐ready Guardians ad Litem. Evaluation results from the first 5 years of the Children's Justice Clinic demonstrates that the Clinic is making progress toward its goals to provide third‐year law students with the knowledge and skills necessary to be effective Guardians Ad Litem, increase interest in child welfare and juvenile law practice among law students, and increase access to high‐quality legal representation for children. This paper presents the results from the evaluation and shares lessons learned during clinic development and implementation.

O prokonstytucyjnej dyrektywie interpretacyjnej in dubio pro vita humana

The article discusses the interpretative directive in dubio pro vita humana (Latin: „when in doubt, favour human life”), as well as its popularization, including encouraging public administration bodies and courts to apply it more widely. The article aims to answer the following research problems: What are the main sources of the in dubio pro vita humana directive in the Polish legal system? What is its content and its key assumptions? What are the potential implications of its application in legal practice? What is the object-related scope of its application? The formal-dogmatic method is used in the study. The interpretative directive in dubio pro vita humana is rooted in the constitutional protection of human dignity, life and health. It is confirmed in the views expressed by legal scholars, as well as in the case law of the Constitutional Tribunal and administrative courts. However, in order to increase the scale of its application in practice, it should be regulated by law. The content of the directive is such that it requires any possible doubts about the protection of human life to be resolved in favour of this protection. Applying this directive is pivotal for ensuring institutional healthcare in Poland by choosing such a result of interpretation of provisions of law that maximizes the protection of human life and health. Its object-related scope of application is most strongly linked to healthcare law, but it is also applicable to the interpretation of provisions in other branches of law (for example, in criminal or welfare law), even if prima facie they do not seem directly related to the protection of human health and life. The results are important not only for Polish law, but also for the interpretation of foreign laws and EU law. It seems that this directive may also find its application outside the legal system – for solving ethical problems. An offshoot of this study is the possibility of referring at least part of the comments made to the legal protection of animals, which may contribute to its strengthening and to development of legal science in this area (in dubio pro vita animalium).

A brief history of the animals' scientific research, international rules and Brazilian regulations.

Several countries and non-governmental organizations have discussed the use of animals in industry and biomedical areas. This work shows the progression of animal' rights for scientific purposes in Brazil and how Brazilian Councils have advanced to follow worldwide regulations. Since the first rules about animals' usage in Ireland in 1635, the British Cruelty to Animals Act in 1876, and the Brazilian animal protection rules in 1924 and 1934, most worldwide actions culminated in the Universal Declaration of Animal Rights (1978). In 1979, the Brazilian Law 6.638 displayed directives for didactic-scientific practice of vivisection. In 2008, the Arouca Law 11.794 filled regulatory gaps and created the National Council for the Control of Animal Experimentation (CONCEA). In 2014, the CONCEA incorporated the 3R's philosophy and recognized substitute techniques, but only in 2023 it prohibited vertebrate animals in scientific research, development and control of personal hygiene products, cosmetics and perfumes. It is clear current Brazilian and international rules are unable to cover all aspects of animal wellbeing, even for regulations of commercial issues. Certainly, innovative tools, as organ-on-chip, in vitro techniques and bioinformatical advancements will provide a crucial animal welfare and new laws will minimize animal pain and distress, including for disregarded invertebrates.

Older people as vulnerable persons in the perspective of law

In the era of the “silent revolution” of an unstoppable aging of the world’s population, there is a question regarding the appropriateness and desirability of establishing a legal category called “elderly individuals” to address the gradual decline in physical and mental abilities associated with aging. This essay explores the potential designation of older people as an independent category under the law, considering that linking changes in their socio-legal status solely to the passage of time has been viewed as a form of “subjective discrimination” by civil law scholars so far. While labor and social welfare laws have long recognized the “special status” of elderly individuals, and the EU has increasingly referred to them in recent consumer-focused legislation, the prevailing view in Italian civil doctrine opposes the creation of an “old subject” category, arguing that vulnerability cannot be considered an intrinsic and defining characteristic solely based on age. Notwithstanding that, the essay suggests that creating a group or category for vulnerable (elderly) individuals could have several advantages, including recognizing their rights, assigning obligations, implementing tailored procedures, and providing forms of protection. Moreover, it would offer an opportunity to reflect on the importance of empowering individuals and promoting their autonomy in using legal instruments to plan their future.

Beyond the Unitary State: Multi-Level Governance, Politics, and Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Animal Welfare.

It is argued that extant cross-cultural research on animal welfare often overlooks or gives insufficient attention to new governance theory, civil society, politics, and the realities of devolved or (quasi-)federal, multi-level governance in the modern state. This paper synthesizes relevant social theory and draws on new empirical findings of civil society accounts of campaigning on animal welfare policies and law in the United Kingdom. It is presented as a corrective to arguably reductive, earlier unitary state-based analyses. Our core, evidence-based argument is that cognizance of civil society activism and the contrasting institutional governance structures and political cultures of constituent nations in unitary states-such as the UK-are providing opportunities for the territorialization of legally grounded animal welfare regimes, and culturally distinctive practices.

CO9 Post-Discharge Mortality in Patients with Mental Illness Hospitalized Compulsorily in Accordance with the Provisions of Article 29 of the Japanese Mental Health and Welfare Law

CO9 Post-Discharge Mortality in Patients with Mental Illness Hospitalized Compulsorily in Accordance with the Provisions of Article 29 of the Japanese Mental Health and Welfare Law

Anak Menjadi Korban Eksploitasi (Perkawinan Paksa) Oleh Orang Tua

The situation of children being used as collateral for debts is a common thing due to the inability of parents to pay the debt. This incident is also more common when debt involves loan sharks. This incident certainly requires government oversight. The writing method used is the normative juridical research method. The legal research methodology in question is research based on applicable laws and regulations as well as other documents relevant to the discussion as supporting research material. The research findings show that the Child Welfare Law treats guarantees for children who are subject to debt guarantees as a crime that violates the provisions of Article 76I juncto Article 88 because it is classified as an act of economic exploitation of children. The viewpoint of the Islamic religion is not much different from the provisions of national law. Judging from the agreement, the actions taken by the creditor in accepting children according to Islamic law are inappropriate, because they do not meet the requirements of the kafalah contract. Children are not legal objects because they are not assets that can be mortgaged, nor are they legal objects that can be used as collateral because children do not have legal authority