World Population day - free resources

11th July is World population day - here are our free recommended resources.

the official UN website

states that the theme for 2018 is family planning is a human right.

it links to related UN resolutions and documents.

the UN website has a number of publications on family planning

they include 2017 paper on demand and unmet demand for family planning.

there is also a dataset on World Contraceptive use 2018

UNFPA issues regular reports see this December 2017 publications  on reproductive health and human rights in a world of inequality.

WHO documents on the medical and political and development aspects of family planning

Family Planning 2020 is an international partnership organisation. its data section measures progress in over 60 target nations using a range of indicators.

search for articles

Free access to abstracts 

Pubmed explore the mesh headings for greater accuracy in searching.
Popline- POPLINE provides access to 380,000 carefully selected publications and resources related to family planning and reproductive health. POPLINE is a free resource, maintained by the Knowledge for Health (K4Health) Project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Bureau for Global Health, Office of Population and Reproductive Health, and is led by the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs

Pride in London - why it still matters.

This week we celebrate pride in London.

LSE Archives has an online exhibition of images from early gay pride marches on its flickr library 
Find out more about the archive and library collections.


why is it still necessary today?
in 2017 NatCen analysed public opinion towards same sex relationships  charting  greater acceptance than in the past.
In 1987, at the height of the AIDS crisis, those who agreed that same-sex relationships were “not wrong at all” were in the minority (11%). Two thirds (64%) said that they were “always wrong”.
now  thankfully attitudees are much beetter however, 
This week the Government Equalities office published  a national LGBT survey
which continued to reveal problems 
as a result they have launched an action plan
LGBT Action Plan that sets out what steps the government will take in response to the survey findings.

shocking headline findings included:

• More than two thirds of LGBT respondents said they had avoided holding hands with a same-sex partner for fear of a negative reaction from others
• At least 2 in 5 respondents had experienced an incident because they were LGBT, such as verbal harassment or physical violence, in the 12 months preceding the survey. However, more than 9 in 10 of the most serious incidents went unreported, often because respondents thought ‘it happens all the time’
• two percent of respondents had undergone conversion or reparative therapy in an attempt to ‘cure’ them of being LGBT, and a further 5% had been offered it

Stonewall reaction to the news.
they also launched a report this week that Half of BAME LGBT people (51 per cent) face discrimination within the LGBT community. browse their website for examples of research and surveys relating to attitudes and discrimination faced.

FRA has examples of news and surveys which reveal the extent of discrimination faced in EU nations.

 there continue to be many countries worldwide where to be gay is illegal - se the map and summaries of legislation on the ILGA website

It’s time to ‘eliminate the scourge of conflict-related sexual violence- see our resources

"Conflict-related sexual violence is a preventable crime, and should be a priority for the new UN Secretary-General". the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in conflict is held on 19th June read what Angelina Jolie said about this in a 2016 LSE event.

United Nations statements  

official website

the official resolution establishing the day in 2015.

2018 Report of the Secretary-General on conflict-related sexual violence (S/2018/250)

Illustrated version

Closing the protection gap for children born of war LSE report by Joanne Neenan

UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict (UN Action) unites the work of 13 UN entities with the goal of ending sexual violence in conflict. It has information about the Stop Rape Now campaign

It website has field updates with programmes for specific regions

testimonies

Special UN representative

web site has recent press releases, speeches and reports

UN team of experts reports

United Nations Peacekeeping hub has specialist training guides they include procedures for protection of staff

Peace Women - Womens International Legaue Peace and Freedom has a resource library wioth statements and reports on this issue

Gaming is classified as an addiction - should it be? find out more with our links.

According to the latest classification of mental health diseases IC 11 from the World Health Organisation. It is listed as an addiction.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) 2016 update to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the taxonomic and diagnostic tool published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) also listed gaming as a disorderin a recent update

Why has this happened?
Video and intenet games have often sparked controversy
They are now widely played
IFSE has data on the percentage of the population who play games in European nations. in 2017 they found 43% of the population of the UK 6-64 played an average of 9.5 hours per week. 'ERA data shows that the value of the UK games market for home sales almost equals that of music and video combined, comprising 46.3% of the overall value of the sector in 2017'

Certainly many psychologises recognise and treat it . See TechAddiction Canada for exmaples of an organisation whioch supports and collects evidence for 'addicts'

However a number of scholars disagreed with the 2016 WHO proposal to classify it as an addiction. Read the full text.

Scholars’ open debate paper on the World Health Organization ICD-11 Gaming Disorder proposal
there has also been a recent 2018 paper which has pointed to lack of scientific evidence.
van Rooij, A. J., Ferguson, C. J., Colder Carras, M., Kardefelt-Winther, D., Shi, J., & Przybylski, A. K. (2018, February 8). A weak scientific basis for gaming disorder: Let us err on the side of caution. https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/KC7R9
in 2016 University of Oxford scholars found evidence of some adiction but found it less than gambling. 

Looking for more evidence

NHS evidence enables you to quickly search for NHS advice on the issue which considers the benefits and risks of online gaming.
Pubmed also has studies considering this.
for instance this PLOS article from 2012

The Development of the Problematic Online Gaming Questionnaire (POGQ)

 

World cup - who will win consult these academic economic prediction models

If you are looking forward to the world cup you might like to try consulting these economci research resources to find out who might win!

Goldman Sachs has predicted Brazil will win its sixth World Cup title—defeating Germany in the final on July 15. Read the full details in its briefing

Danke Bank predictions

University of Adelaide Dr Steve Beggs

University of Innsbruck -
Probabilistic forecasts for the 2018 FIFA World Cup based on the bookmaker consensus model (available via Repec)

Bloomberg has compared some of the predictions

The FT has a special section of World Cup football analysis  Some items offered for subscribers only.

International day of Peacekeepers 29th May 2018

29th May is UN International Day of Peacekeepers. on the 70th anniversary view a list of those who died in 2017
and explore our other free resources.
The main UN peacekeeping website describes the role and where peacekeepers are currently operating.
It includes data on deployment, personnel and fatalities.
Year in review publications from 2004 onwards plus maps and reports from current peacekeeping missions.

Research on the role and importance of UN peacekeepers
There have been a number of recent initiatives to examine and review UN peacekeeping
In December 2017 Lieutenant General Carlos Alberto dos Santos Cruz on peacekeeping fatalities and injuries published a report on

Improving Security of United Nations

Peacekeepers: We need to change the way we are doing business 

A series of articles from the IPI global Observatory has provided a response to these.

WILPF - International League for Womens Peace and Freedom campaigns for womens involvement in peacemaking -

The Institute for Economics and Peace is the world’s leading think tank dedicated to developing metrics to analyse peace and to quantify its economic value. Global Peace Index 2017. It includes reviews of trends in peacekeeping and economic assessments

US think tank Rand has also conducted some reviews of UN effectiveness in peacekeeping and nation building.

Brookings Institution.

United Nations Association UK discusses the role of Britain and the UN

Code Blue campaigns against sexual abuse by blue helmets personnel. Its website provides links to UN and its own reports and factsheets on allegations.

Ireland Abortion Referendum- academic resources.

This week a referendum on abortion will take place in Ireland. User these resources to get some academic facts -

the Irish parliament has the full text of the bill.
Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018- Bill 29 of 2018)
it also includes links to the associated parliamentary debates

Official information on the Referendum from the Referendum Commission.
it includes news and an independent guide
the results will be posted on the returning officer page

University College Dublin has a great resource for votes and students on understanding the background to the referendum with links to key arguments and websites.it includes an argument roadmap.


News coverage.
Journal.ie- coverage of 8th Amendment
Irish Examiner
Irish Times

campaign /Interest groups
Vote no 
Anglican Communion statement
Catholic bishops of Ireland - pastoral letter. 
they also have a choose life website
LoveBoth No campaign 
Get the Truth out facebook campaign
Save the 8th Amendment
Protect the 8th
Disability Voices for Life

 Vote Yes
Artists campaign to repeal the 8th Amendment
Coalition to Repeal the 8th Amendment.
Amnesty International Its time campaign 
Together for Yes- National Civil Society Campaign
Midwives for Choice
  Psychological Society of Ireland evidence papers.
Workers Party

Research projects
Transparent Referendum Initative  is building a database of all political ads targeting Irish Facebook users ahead of the referendum on the 8th amendment. We are publishing a list of these ads below, so they are open to scrutiny by journalists, fact checkers and anyone wishing to understand the campaigns
Facebook statement on referendum advertisements.