LLM / Department of Public Law / Human rights are those inalienable rights of an individual by virtue of being a human being. They are guaranteed by various domestic and international instruments. This research argues that despite the existence of these instruments and wide acceptances of international human rights standards that seek to protect the right to healthcare, the people infected with Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) are victims of a wide range of constraints to their right to healthcare as a result of the failure by the governments of the respective nations where the impacts of the EVD are mostly felt to discharge their obligations under those instruments. The rights of the people infected with EVD are often violated because of their presumed or known EVD status, causing them to suffer both the burden of the disease and the social burden of discrimination and stigmatisation which could deter the infected persons from accessing available treatment. This would invariably contribute to the spread of the disease. The research further exposes the dilemma posed by the EVD to the healthcare system, where healthcare providers are caught between the rock of selfpreservation from a highly virulent disease and the hard place of discharging their Hippocratic Oath which prescribes ethical guidelines for the discharge of the duties of the medical profession. The present research, which is novel in the field of medico-legal research, seeks to proffer answers to this conundrum.

This case study was designed to explore policies that were in place to attract, recruit, and retain qualified faculty for 4 community colleges in Sierra Leone. The research was necessitated by the apparent inability of Sierra Leone educators to train and retain faculty possessing the required academic credentials. The research questions were designed to address the policies and strategies used to attract and recruit faculty, better prepare faculty, improve the quality of classroom instruction, and retain qualified faculty at community colleges. The literature review yielded results about the benefits of community colleges in developing countries, thus reinforcing the need for qualified faculty. Case study methodology and open-ended interviews with 12 purposely selected participants were used to ensure trustworthiness and reveal the essential characteristics of how community colleges in Sierra Leone may succeed in faculty attraction, recruitment, and retention. Participants reported that word of mouth solicitation was the primary method for faculty recruitment, and that the top challenge faced by these institutions was fiscal constraints. Although findings from this study are specific to 4 institutions, they may serve as a guide for qualified faculty retention at all community colleges in Sierra Leone, and hopefully bring about social change by improving academic excellence throughout the country.

This study analyzes two British-led police reforms in Sierra Leone from 1945-1961 and 1998-2007, exploring how reinterpretations of sovereignty, security and statehood affected strategies of statebuilding over time. Tracing the effects of reform from the first to the second period, it focuses on three practical questions facing reformers: what kind of coercive capacity the police should be invested with (force); where they should be and for what purposes (territoriality); and in what relation they ought to stand with nonstate policing actors (legitimate authority). A key finding is that reinterpretations of security and sovereignty to center on internal threats and state-society relations served to channel more international attention and resources to police forces in weak states. From a relatively restricted field whose impulses came from policing experiences in other colonies and in Britain, recent post-conflict police reforms were informed by knowledge about economic growth, social mobility and global security. However, strategy was muddled when donors committed to conflicting agendas entered the fray. As a result, the latest reform was profoundly shaped by negotiations of the meaning of key concepts like ‘security’. The second part of the study draws on insights about reform to address debates on intervention and sovereignty. Against the image of Western-led interventions suspending local sovereignty, it is argued that the colonial legacy allowed the Sierra Leonean government to prolong and deepen the recent intervention. Contrary to the image of Sierra Leone’s international relations as exploitative and personalized, the study explores how policing became a field where new and legitimate links with the outside world were established after reform.

This thesis investigates the advantages and limitations of applying culture to the analysis of violent conflict and peacebuilding, with a particular focus on liberal peacebuilding in Sierra Leone. While fully aware of the critique of the concept of culture in terms of its uses for the production of difference and ‘otherness,’ it also seeks to respond to the critique of liberal peacebuilding on the account of its low sensitivity towards local culture, which allegedly undermines the peace effort. After a careful examination of the terms of discussion about culture enabled by theoretical approaches to conflict in Chapter 2, the thesis presents a theoretical framework for the analysis of cultural aspects of conflict and peace based on the processes and effects of meaning-generation (Chapter 3), developing the conceptual apparatus and vocabulary for the subsequent empirical study. Instead of bracketing out the recursive nature of cultural theorising, the developed approach embraces the recursive dynamics which arise as a result of cultural ‘embeddedness’ of the analyst and the processes which s/he seeks to elucidate, mirroring similar dynamics in the cultural production of meaning and knowledge. The framework of ‘embedded cultural enquiry’ is then used to analyse the practices of liberal peacebuilding as a particular culture, which shapes the interaction of the liberal peace with its ‘subjects’ and critics as well as framing its reception of the cultural problematic generally (Chapter 4). The application of the analytical framework to the case study investigates the interaction between the liberal peace and ‘local culture,’ offering an alternative reading of the conflict and peace process in Sierra Leone (Chapter 5). The study concludes that a greater attention to cultural meaning-making offers a largely untapped potential for peacebuilding, although any decisions with regard to its deployment will inevitably be made from within an inherently biased cultural perspective.

Current approaches to post-war state reconstruction are primarily dominated by the liberal peace thesis. These approaches tend to ignore the indigenous institutions, societal resources and cultural agencies of post-conflict societies, although such entities are rooted in the sociological, historical, political and environmental realities of these societies. Such universalised and 'best practice' approaches, more often than not, tend to reproduce artificial states. The Poro and Sande are the largest indigenous sodality institutions in the 'hinterlands' - a pejorative term attributed to rural Liberia and Sierra Leone. Both the Poro and Sande exercise spiritual, political, economic and social authority. In this thesis, I use critical realism and the case study approach to investigate: a) the extent to which the liberal peace practitioners who are leading state reconstruction in Liberia and Sierra Leone recognised the role and potential utility of the Poro and Sande institutions; b) the extent to which the Poro and Sande were engaged; and c) the implications for the quality and viability of the reconstructed states. This evidence-based research suggests that the liberal peace project sidelined indigenous institutions, including the Poro and Sande, in the post-war recovery and rebuilding exercises. The disregard for indigenous and emerging resources in the context of state reconstruction in Liberia and Sierra Leone has contributed to the resurgence of 19th century counter-hegemonic resistance from the sodality-governed interior of both countries. At the same time, the reconstructed states are drifting back towards their pre-war status quo. Authority structures remain fragmented, kleptocracy is being restored, webs of militarised patronage networks are being emboldened, and spaces for constructive dialogues are shrinking. This thesis underscores the need for indigenisation as a complementary strategy to help reverse the deterioration, and to maximise gains from massive investments in peacebuilding.

Cette thèse avance que le cas de la Sierra Leone est édifiant pour comprendre le paradoxe de l'effondrement et de la reconstruction des Etats africains néo-patrimoniaux dans l'ère post-Guerre Froide. Il vise à identifier les processus historiques, politiques et sociaux spécifiques qui ont mené à l'effondrement de l'Etat en Sierra Leone, mais aussi les dynamiques à l'oeuvre dans sa reconstruction. Elle s'appuie sur l"hypothèse selon laquelle l'effondrement et la reconstruction de l'Etat révèlent des continuités de la formation de l'Etat en Sierra Leone.

Despite the impressive progress over the last two decades in which millions of people worldwide have gained first time access to improved water and sanitation infrastructure, the reality for many is that shortly after infrastructure construction the actual service received by users slips back to unacceptably low levels. However, due to inadequate research and inconsistencies with how data and cost data has been collected and reported, very little is known of the necessary levels of expenditure required to sustain an acceptable (so called “basic”) water and sanitation service and this inhibits effective financial planning for households, communities, governments and donors alike. This thesis sought to provide a better understanding of what has historically been spent to provide different levels of water and sanitation services as a means to better understand the necessary expenditure required. Empirical findings are based on a large data sample of nearly 2,000 water points, over 4,000 latrines, and over 12,000 household surveys, which have been collected as part of three research projects (WASHCost, Triple-S, and WASHCost Sierra Leone), across five country research areas (Andhra Pradesh (India), Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mozambique, and Sierra Leone). Findings for water supply systems show that the combination of high capital investments of: $19 and $69 per person for community point sources and $33 – $216 per person for piped systems; and low recurrent expenditures of: $0.06 - $0.37 per person per year for point sources and $0.58 - $7.87 per person per year for piped systems; results in less than half of users receiving a “basic” level of service. Evidence based estimates of the required expenditure for acceptable services are found to be far greater than the “effective demand” expressed in terms of the willingness to pay of service users and national government for these services. Findings for sanitation show that constructing a household latrine that achieves “basic” service standards requires a financial investment of at least $40 that is likely to be an unaffordable barrier for many households in lower income countries. In addition the costs and affordability of periodic pit emptying remains a concern. Ultimately this research suggests that if international standard of improved water and sanitation services are to be sustained in rural areas, the international sector will likely have to provide additional investments to meet a significant proportion of the recurrent costs of delivering these services.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

The commercialisation of military services has increased in importance since the end of the Cold War. Commercial Military Service Providers (CMSPs) have found increased respectability and worked in states on every continent. Writing on CMSPs has similarly increased. Several high profile incidents have come under intense scrutiny, and has led to some portions of the literature demonising their use. However, there are still conceptual and theoretical issues which have been under explored. This thesis contributes to the literature which has sought to address this theoretical lacuna. Historical Sociology and comparative analysis are employed to analyse the implications of CMSP use on the state. A modified version of the Ideological, Economic, Military and Political (IEMP) model developed by Michael Mann, is used to theorise the impact of commercial security providers on existing sources of power within the state, and the relationship between them. The thesis uses two case studies which are representative of the use of CMSPs during this time period. The Sierra Leone Civil War and the invasion and reconstruction of Iraq since 2003. It will be argued that CMSPs alter the balance between power structures within the state, positively and negatively affecting the power of the state. The short term use of CMSPs has proven to be useful and of increasing importance; especially when military weakness is an urgent problem. However, although there has been no example of CMSPs intentionally threatening state stability, they can also subvert the power of the state. CMSPs, particularly when used for an extended period, have undermined the relationship between the sources of power, undermining political stability. Most significantly they weakened the state by undermining the strength it gains from its embeddedness in society.

<p>This paper is a Master thesis for the Master’s program in International and European Relations in the Department of Management and Economics at Linköping University. As the title indicates, the aim of this thesis is to make a comparative analysis of the conflict resolution initiatives that were employed in the Sierra Leonean and Liberian conflicts. The research questions are:</p><p> • What were the root causes and trajectories of the Sierra Leonean and Liberian conflicts? </p><p>• What were the conflict resolution initiatives employed in resolving both conflicts? </p><p>• Why did the Lome Peace Accord succeed in the case of Sierra Leone whilst the Abuja Peace Accord failed in bringing peace to Liberia? </p><p>In order to answer the afore-mentioned questions and fulfil the aim of this paper, a qualitative research method has been chosen. The study is mainly based on secondary sources such as textbooks, official documents from ECOWAS and the UN, articles, magazines and newspapers as well as internet resources. In making the comparative analysis the Conflict Transformation Model as espoused by Kumar Rupesinghe has been utilized. This model has specifically helped in explaining the reasons why peace returned to Sierra Leone but eluded the people of Liberia for a long time. The conclusion drawn from the study is that a multi-track approach is required in dealing with conflicts in West Africa so that it would touch on the context of the conflict, the conflict structure, the intra-party as well as the inter- party divisions and the broader system of society and governance within the conflict area.</p>