Other News

Kseniya Oksamytna’s chapter entitled ‘'Civil Society and the UN Security Council: Advocacy on the Rwandan Genocide'’ has appeared in the book ‘Partnerships in International Policy-Making: Civil Society and Public Institutions in European and Global Affairs’ edited by Raffaele Marchetti:

http://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9781349949373

The chapter demonstrates that Human Rights Watch, Oxfam and Médecins sans frontières were indispensable sources of information about the events in Rwanda during the first weeks of the 1994 genocide, especially for the non-permanent members of the UN Security Council.

Also, Kseniya has recently prepared a policy brief for the ‘Providing for Peacekeeping’ project of the International Peace Institute, the Elliott School and the Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect. The brief examines Ukraine’'s contributions to peacekeeping operations by the UN and regional organisations. It can be accessed here:

http://www.providingforpeacekeeping.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Ukraine-Oksamytna-6-Sept-2016.pdf

Call for Papers for an Academic Workshop:

"Diasporas and Transitional Justice: Local, National, and Global Dimensions" prior to ISA Baltimore, 21 February 2017 and Warwick University 3 April, 2017

This academic workshop seeks to gather scholars who work at the intersection of transitional justice, diaspora politics, international relations and comparative politics. The workshop has two major scholarly aims: to explore in depth the comparative dimension of diaspora mobilizations for a wide range of transitional justice processes; and to analyze how diasporas’ embeddedness in different global locations impacts on such mobilizations in local, national, and global politics. We are looking for papers from different world regions, featuring interdisciplinary perspectives, from established and early career scholars, and addressing issues of domestic and international politics.

More information about the call for papers can be found at http://tinyurl.com/zlslga9

On 1^st November, PAIS staff members Prof Shirin Rai and Dr Juanita Elias were at the House of Lords for the launch of the PSA Commission on Care Report Towards a New Deal for Care and Carers – a report that they co-authored alongside academics and policy specialists from the Fawcett Society, the Women’s Budget Group and Liverpool University. The report is based on a year-long inquiry into the state of care for older people in England. The launch event was hosted and chaired by Baroness Ruth Lister and the Commission’s findings were discussed by the MPs Barbara Keely (Labour), Dr. Dan Poulter (Conservative), Caroline Abrahams (Director, Age UK), Sam Smethers (CEO, the Fawcett Society and Commission Co-Chair) and Shirin Rai (PAIS, and Commissioner).

The report drew attention to how women bear the brunt of the crisis currently impacting the adult social care sector in the UK – as women are far more likely to step in as unpaid carers when state provision is cut and women are more likely to be recipients of care. The report, Towards a New Deal for Care and Carers, laments the failure of successive governments and political parties to recognise social care as a political priority. Growing demand resulting from a rapidly ageing population and cutbacks to funding has left the formal care system at breaking point with high levels of unmet needs, low pay and poor conditions for care workers, and an increasing reliance on unpaid carers. There are now a million older people with care needs that are not being met by any public source.

Among the Report’s Recommendations are; calls for the establishment of a National Care Service which, like the NHS, should be free at the point of access, increased investment in social care, professionalization and support of the care workforce, and recognition of the work of unpaid carers. The Report and its executive summary including recommendations can be downloaded here http://www.commissiononcare.org/2016/11/01/commission-report-launched/

The findings of the Commission were enthusiastically endorsed by the speakers at the launch as well as by many of the audience members.

left to right (Caroline Abrahams – Age UK, Baroness Ruth Lister, Barbara Keely MP, Dr. Dan Poulter MP, Prof Shirin Rai (University of Warwick)

Congratulations to Jennifer Philippa Eggert, who has been admitted to the Graduate School of Princeton University where she will conduct research on female fighters during the Lebanese civil war, for one month in April 2017, as a Visiting Student Research Collaborator. During her visit, Jennifer will be based in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs where she will collaborate with Prof. Dr. Jacob Shapiro who is a leading conflict and terrorism scholars and Co-Director of the Empirical Studies of Conflict Project at Princeton. Her visit will be funded by the DTC at Warwick.

Dr Trevor McCrisken Associate Professor of US Politics and International Studies, Dr Alexander Smith Assistant Professor in Sociology, Dr Ben Margulies Research Fellow in the Politics and International Studies and Dr Georg Lofflmann, Teaching Fellow in the Politics and International Studies give their expert insights into the marathon presidential campaigns culminating in today's vote.

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/expertcomment/its_us_election