Marginalized and vulnerable groups have always existed in societies. Such groups have always needed protectors of their rights. In democratic countries institutions have had to be established to ensure that the rights of these groups are protected. National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) are part of these institutions. NHRIs are important and vital as they 'serve as independent bodies for the protection and promotion of human rights‘. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2010. / A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Law University of Pretoria, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Law (LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa). Prepared under the supervision of Dr. Kwadwo Appiagyei-Atua, Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, Ghana. 2010. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/ / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

Canada’s Boreal Plains peatlands comprise 2.1% of the world’s terrestrial carbon store and are vital water supplies for adjacent upland ecosystems in this sub-humid climate. Projections indicate that future drought and wildfire events will be more frequent and severe, enhancing moisture deficits and threatening the functional role of peatlands as net carbon sinks. Peatland margins existing at the peatland-upland interface have been identified as deep smouldering hotspots on the landscape, where margin carbon loss accounts for 50 to 90% of total peatland carbon loss, dependent on hydrogeological setting. Previous chronosequence analysis of peatland bog recovery from wildfire disturbance has chronicled a return to carbon sink status within 20 years, but has not included margins nor peatlands located in coarse or heterogeneous-textured hydrogeological settings with varying degrees of groundwater connectivity. This analysis identifies and describes margin vegetation communities and recovery trajectories with time since fire and across hydrogeological settings. No significant differences were identified in margin area over time or margin peat depths across hydrogeological settings. Margin canopy composition consists of mixed coniferous and broadleaf deciduous species, with enhanced litterfall characterizing the dominant early to mid successional ground layer composition. Both peatland bog middle and margin vegetation communities were found to be dominated by feathermoss growth ~60 years following wildfire, which represents an accelerated trajectory from previous chronosequence analyses. Increased peatland and margin fuel loads with time since fire are also demonstrated using aboveground biomass calculations. Restoration practitioners can use this study to identify recovery milestones and altered trajectories, with their associated feedbacks, that perpetuate a broadleaf canopy and limited Sphagnum moss paludification. Fire managers should include confined peatlands in coarse-textured hydrogeological settings with deep smouldering margins in their management considerations and consider intervention (forest treatments) to open the canopy and prevent legacy carbon losses by severe wildfires. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Yes / Pregnant migrant women held in detention centres in the UK can be particularly vulnerable. They may have poor physical and mental health, which is exacerbated by their incarceration, and are at a disproportionally increased risk of maternal and perinatal mortality. Unpublished studies have found that pregnant migrant women have poor experiences in detention. To explore pregnant migrant women's experiences of living in detention. Method: Four migrant women who had been held in detention while pregnant and two volunteer health professionals were interviewed. Findings: Results suggest that migrant women have very poor experiences in detention. Four key themes emerged: ‘challenges to accessing UK healthcare’, ‘exacerbation of mental health conditions, ‘feeling hungry’ and ‘lack of privacy’. Conclusion: These findings could be used to review maternity care in detention and ensure that detention staff understand the experiences of detained pregnant women so that the needs of this vulnerable group can be met.

Ce travail vise à étudier la vie des femmes indigènes du Brésil, dans l'État du Mato Grosso do Sul et les femmes indigènes de la communauté Yaqui dans l'État du Sonora au Mexique. Bien que distantes sur le continent américain, ces communautés montrent que la lutte qu’elles mènent, chacune de leur côté, pour la défense de leur territoire et de leurs droits repose sur une stratégie commune de survie. Les conditions de travail dans les champs et l’exploitation qui y est inhérente, les différences de traitements (indigène et femme) rendent la situation des femmes encore plus critique. Aussi, dans une perspective comparatiste, entre les deux nations, Brésil et Mexique, mon travail traitera également de la question du statut des indigènes, des femmes bien sûr, de leur accès à l’emploi. L’intérêt de procéder à une étude comparative entre ces deux communautés et, tout spécialement, d’axer mes recherches sur les populations « vulnérables » qui la composent, à savoir les femmes et de me focaliser sur le thème du travail et, par-là, leur participation au sein du foyer, dans les champs, le travail artisanal… consiste à montrer comment il leur faut désormais assumer de nouveaux rôles, sans pour autant abandonner ce qui fait l’identité de leur ethnie, à laquelle les deux communautés sont très fortement attachées. / This work aims to be a comparative study between the Terena Indians of Brazil and the Yaqui Indians of Mexico, focusing on the indigenous women of both ethnic groups. Although they are far away on the American continent, these communities show that their struggle for the defence of their territory and their rights is based on a common survival strategy. In this way, the conditions of work and exploitation inherent in them are highlighted, strengthened by differences in treatment (indigenous and feminine) that make the situation of women even more critical. In addition, this paper will address the issue of gender relations within and outside communities, relating to the challenges of indigenous women in the 21st century, such as female empowerment and gender equality. The interest in conducting a comparative study and, more specifically, focusing the research on "vulnerable" populations, in this case indigenous women, is to show how they are now taking on new roles without abandoning their ethnic identity.

The pandemic is not only a crisis itself but has created multiple crises for the vulnerable population as well. Worldwide, they encountered multiple challenges to assistance and protection, but due to the pandemic, their needs might have increased. As the number of refugees, migrants, and asylum-seeker is rising, all the health risks and the challenges that this group is exposed to, demonstrates the need for increased support, protection, and assistance. This scoping review aims to investigate if the arisen challenges faced by vulnerable children and their families have exacerbated in the context of COVID-19, in the published research literature. In this scoping review, information was collected on multiple databases between January and February 2021. Seven empirical studies were analysed in order to examine which are the new challenges that have arisen due to COVID-19 and explore if they worsened in this context. Seven areas emerged due to the pandemic: hygiene measures, food insecurity, child labour, child marriage, freedom of movement, access to education, access to services and sources of information, while five areas have worsened: economic, psychological, violence, discrimination and overcrowding. The findings are showing that COVID-19’s disease burden is higher in vulnerable contexts, due to the living conditions, high risks jobs, and poor access to services. The outcomes of these challenges are likely to be long-standing, as they breached into the processes and structures of the family system Although efforts to control the virus’s spread remain critical, the negative effects on vulnerables, must be addressed and identified to avoid the risk of more challenges getting exacerbated, and reduce the parental stress that will lead to the well-being of the future generations. Limitations, practical implications and future research are discussed.

No / The square array was initially tested in the UK during the 1960s by Anthony Clark. However, since the development of the twin probe system, the square array has been seldom used in the UK, although greater use has been reported elsewhere, especially in France (Panissod et al., 1998). In the last few years, re-investigation of the square array¿s potential in an archaeological context has reignited interest and led to the development of a hand-pulled cart system by Dr. Roger Walker (Geoscan Research). This cart system incorporates earth resistance and gradiometer instruments to allow simultaneous surveys with a lightweight device. The main objective of the project is to test the application of the MSP40 on a variety of sites and to encourage the use of appropriate geophysical survey equipment to minimize the impact and therefore protect even the most vulnerable of archaeological sites.

Streetism is a world-wide, socio-economic problem and vulnerable children continue to migrate to the streets due to personal and contextual reasons. Attempts have been made to prevent streetism however; these interventions tend to ignore the need to recognise and incorporate the views of street children. In other words, current interventions are based on the views of adults (adultist views) working in the field of social work and psychology excepting the views of street children themselves. This is where this study is located. The study sought to explore the views of street children on how streetism can be prevented. This study was a qualitative, phenomenological study in which semi-structured focus group interviews were used as data collection methods. Twenty street children volunteered to participate in this study. All of the children fell into the category of children on the streets who still had connections with their parents and guardians. Their ages ranged between 10 and 16, and were all attending school. The following themes emerged from the data: families should be strengthened to prevent streetism, sound peer support can prevent streetism, schools can be used to prevent streetism, having access to social services can prevent streetism, churches can prevent streetism, a supportive community can prevent streetism and access to government services can prevent streetism. These findings provide insight into how, according to the views of street children, streetism can be prevented. The findings add to theory and have implications for practice. / MEd (Educational Psychology), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

Literature on intergenerational relationships has indicated the importance of respect in these relationships. To date, research has focused mainly on defining the construct of respect or looking at how it presents itself within intergenerational relationships. Little attention has been paid to the experience of respect, leaving a gap, more specifically in the study of the way in which older persons experience respect within intergenerational relationships. Respect has been defined in current literature as a combination of behaviours, attitudes and feelings. Respect is always experienced in relationships between people and accordingly the self-interactional group theory (SIGT) was used as a theoretical framework for understanding older persons’ experience of respect in their relationships with middle adolescents. The focus was specifically placed on their relationships with middle adolescents because of rifts relating to their experience of relational interactions that have been found to exist in these relationships in studies focusing on older youth. Research was conducted in the economically vulnerable community of Vaalharts, situated in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa, in which the importance of supportive relationships for older persons is especially relevant. The findings of the study could potentially lead to the development of programmes to strengthen these relationships. Twelve participants (9 female and 3 male) over the age of 60 took part in Mmogo-method® sessions in order to gain an understanding of their subjective experience of the construct of respect. By using the Mmogo-method®, visual data (photos of their presentations made for the Mmogo-method®) and textual data were obtained. In addition, self-reflective journals containing open-ended questions (completed voluntarily by the participants) added to the trustworthiness of the study by using more than one data-gathering method. All data were analysed to derive themes that painted a vivid picture of the older persons’ experience of respect. The photos taken during the Mmogo-method® sessions were visually analysed while textual data were analysed thematically. Findings indicated that the older persons linked respect to the constructs of care and love. It was also seen that certain behaviours, such as using appropriate language and appropriate forms of address, were important aspects of respect. Respect in the relationships between the older persons and middle adolescents has a reciprocal nature and the older persons portrayed attitudes of mutual respect in these interactions. They also expressed their need for middle adolescents to demonstrate their gratitude and, for their part, to have opportunities to model respectful behaviour to middle adolescents. Respect as a construct is experienced by the older persons as an interactional manifestation of the current definitions and forms of respect as presented in literature. It is recommended that similar studies be done with other groups of older persons in order to obtain a broader view of how members of economically vulnerable communities experience respect in their relationships with middle adolescents. The data in this study demonstrate what current literature says about respect, and adds to previous research by achieving an understanding of how older persons’ experience the construct rather than exploring only the definition of respect or how it presents in intergenerational relationships. / MSc (Research Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Literature on intergenerational relationships has indicated the importance of respect in these relationships. To date, research has focused mainly on defining the construct of respect or looking at how it presents itself within intergenerational relationships. Little attention has been paid to the experience of respect, leaving a gap, more specifically in the study of the way in which older persons experience respect within intergenerational relationships. Respect has been defined in current literature as a combination of behaviours, attitudes and feelings. Respect is always experienced in relationships between people and accordingly the self-interactional group theory (SIGT) was used as a theoretical framework for understanding older persons’ experience of respect in their relationships with middle adolescents. The focus was specifically placed on their relationships with middle adolescents because of rifts relating to their experience of relational interactions that have been found to exist in these relationships in studies focusing on older youth. Research was conducted in the economically vulnerable community of Vaalharts, situated in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa, in which the importance of supportive relationships for older persons is especially relevant. The findings of the study could potentially lead to the development of programmes to strengthen these relationships. Twelve participants (9 female and 3 male) over the age of 60 took part in Mmogo-method® sessions in order to gain an understanding of their subjective experience of the construct of respect. By using the Mmogo-method®, visual data (photos of their presentations made for the Mmogo-method®) and textual data were obtained. In addition, self-reflective journals containing open-ended questions (completed voluntarily by the participants) added to the trustworthiness of the study by using more than one data-gathering method. All data were analysed to derive themes that painted a vivid picture of the older persons’ experience of respect. The photos taken during the Mmogo-method® sessions were visually analysed while textual data were analysed thematically. Findings indicated that the older persons linked respect to the constructs of care and love. It was also seen that certain behaviours, such as using appropriate language and appropriate forms of address, were important aspects of respect. Respect in the relationships between the older persons and middle adolescents has a reciprocal nature and the older persons portrayed attitudes of mutual respect in these interactions. They also expressed their need for middle adolescents to demonstrate their gratitude and, for their part, to have opportunities to model respectful behaviour to middle adolescents. Respect as a construct is experienced by the older persons as an interactional manifestation of the current definitions and forms of respect as presented in literature. It is recommended that similar studies be done with other groups of older persons in order to obtain a broader view of how members of economically vulnerable communities experience respect in their relationships with middle adolescents. The data in this study demonstrate what current literature says about respect, and adds to previous research by achieving an understanding of how older persons’ experience the construct rather than exploring only the definition of respect or how it presents in intergenerational relationships. / MSc (Research Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Streetism is a world-wide, socio-economic problem and vulnerable children continue to migrate to the streets due to personal and contextual reasons. Attempts have been made to prevent streetism however; these interventions tend to ignore the need to recognise and incorporate the views of street children. In other words, current interventions are based on the views of adults (adultist views) working in the field of social work and psychology excepting the views of street children themselves. This is where this study is located. The study sought to explore the views of street children on how streetism can be prevented. This study was a qualitative, phenomenological study in which semi-structured focus group interviews were used as data collection methods. Twenty street children volunteered to participate in this study. All of the children fell into the category of children on the streets who still had connections with their parents and guardians. Their ages ranged between 10 and 16, and were all attending school. The following themes emerged from the data: families should be strengthened to prevent streetism, sound peer support can prevent streetism, schools can be used to prevent streetism, having access to social services can prevent streetism, churches can prevent streetism, a supportive community can prevent streetism and access to government services can prevent streetism. These findings provide insight into how, according to the views of street children, streetism can be prevented. The findings add to theory and have implications for practice. / MEd (Educational Psychology), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014