Explore the vast range of titles available.

The High Court of England and Wales in its November 2020 judgment in Municipio de Mariana v BHP Group1 (BHP) declined jurisdiction to hear the case initiated by victims of the Fundão Dam collapse in Brazil on the grounds of abuse of process. The decision raises serious questions about the Court’s willingness to vindicate the fair trial rights of victims of human rights abuses linked to multinational enterprises (MNEs). In this judgment, Turner J also made obiter comments on the possibility of staying the case on application of Article 34 of the Recast Brussels Regulation (Recast Regulation),2 the doctrine of forum non conveniens (FNC), and/or the Court’s case management discretion.

Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation or SLAPPs are abusive lawsuits which have the purpose or effect of suppressing public participation. This Article considers the peculiarities of this form of “strategic litigation” and takes stock of developments in the European Union to combat SLAPPs, noting that while the adoption of an Anti-SLAPP Directive represents an example of effective legal mobilization and a major positive step towards safeguarding the rule of law in the EU, its limitations render it crucial that Member States treat the Directive as a foundation and build national legislation which is more robust in substance and more far-reaching in scope.

This article analyses the institutional conditions required to support a strategic state in being responsive to the changing demands of a market-economy, whilst maintaining a credible commitment to long-term policy goals. This article identifies a key pillar of a market economy that we believe is crucial to promoting inclusive economic growth; we term these institutions market-engaging institutions. We propose that market-engaging institutions may form a bridge between the flexibility required by a dynamic market economy and the stability demanded by the rule of law. We define market-engaging institutions as those institutions that facilitate greater political participation for marginalized groups, manage technological disruptions, and support human capital formation. Examples include social partnership agreements, collective bargaining coverage, trade union membership, education and training services, and research and development programmes. We suggest that mobilizing these institutions necessitates credible commitment. Further, we argue that through its commitment to the non-arbitrary administration of general rules the rule of law is an essential condition for signalling the state’s credible commitment. However, at times the requirement for the state to be flexible to the changing needs of market actors may conflict with the rule of law’s demand for constancy and stability. This article examines the delicate balancing act required to sustain a strategic, responsive, and credible state in an era of institutional flux.

Since the turn of the century, development has undergone a radical transformation. The enhancement of human capabilities has grown to overshadow the market fundamentalism which previously guided development projects. This injection of capabilities into development theory has resulted in a call to reconceptualise the relationship between law and development. Answering this call, this thesis considers the impact these changes have on the prevailing conception of rule of law. Drawing from the seminal texts of Amartya Sen, this thesis rethinks the rule of law in the third movement of law and development doctrine. Ultimately, this thesis will propose an augmented rule of law which includes: open impartiality, deliberative democracy, and second generation rights. In order to illustrate the need for an augmented rule of law this thesis will present a case study on the reception services for asylum seekers in Ireland, known as ‘direct provision’. While Ireland ranks highly on all development indexes, marginalised groups, such as asylum seekers, continue to face persistent inequality. The failure of the current rule of law paradigm to meaningfully address the plight of these marginalised individuals underscores the pressing need for a new approach to rule of law reform, one which can tackle global poverty, and align the rule of law with the 21st century conception of development as freedom.

The use of pesticides to reduce mosquito vector populations is a cornerstone of global malaria control efforts, but the biological impact of most pesticides on human populations, including pregnant women and infants, is not known. Some pesticides, including carbamates, have been shown to perturb the human immune system. We measure the systemic absorption and immunologic effects of bendiocarb, a commonly used carbamate pesticide, following household spraying in a cohort of pregnant Ugandan women and their infants. We find that bendiocarb is present at high levels in maternal, umbilical cord, and infant plasma of individuals exposed during pregnancy, indicating that it is systemically absorbed and trans-placentally transferred to the fetus. Moreover, bendiocarb exposure is associated with numerous changes in fetal immune cell homeostasis and function, including a dose-dependent decrease in regulatory CD4 T cells, increased cytokine production, and inhibition of antigen-driven proliferation. Additionally, prenatal bendiocarb exposure is associated with higher post-vaccination measles titers at one year of age, suggesting that its impact on functional immunity may persist for many months after birth. These data indicate that in utero bendiocarb exposure has multiple previously unrecognized biological effects on the fetal immune system. Control of mosquito populations using pesticides is important for malaria elimination, but effects of pesticides on humans aren’t well understood. Here, Prahl et al. show in a cohort of pregnant Ugandan women and their infants that household spraying with bendiocarb affects the fetal immune system and response to vaccination in infancy.

The critically endangered mangrove finch is now limited to one small population on the west coast of Isabela Island in the Galápagos, but 100 years ago multiple populations were found on the islands of Isabela and Fernandina. By accessing genetic datasets through museum sampling, we are able to put current levels of genetic diversity and hybridization with congenerics into a historical context for enhanced conservation. In this study, we compared neutral genetic diversity of the now extinct Fernandina population to historical and current diversity of the Isabela population using 14 microsatellite markers. We found that current genetic diversity of the last remnant population (~80–100 individuals) is far below levels 100 years ago, with only about half of the allelic diversity retained. Current genetic diversity is close to levels in the Fernandina population that went extinct by the 1970s. Bottleneck analysis did not show a strong signature of recent decline, and instead implies that this species may have consistently had low population sizes with wide fluctuations. Hybridization with congeneric woodpecker finches was found in the modern Isabela population, implying that some individuals within the few remaining breeding pairs are finding mates with woodpecker finches. Within the context of historical low population sizes and wide fluctuations, current conservation efforts may help the mangrove finch face current extinction threats and avoid the fate of the Fernandina population. However, this historically small lineage will likely continue to face challenges associated with small specialist species surrounded by a widely-distributed sister lineage producing viable hybrids.