Journal of Humanitarian Medicine - vol. XI - n. 2 - April/June 2011

BOOK REVIEWS

Published by the World health organization

CLUSTER MUNITIONS: STATEMENTS AND MATERIALS OF THE ICRC (1976-2009)
INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS - 2010
Available in English - Swiss fr 2

Cluster munitions are a grave danger to civilian women, men, and children because they disperse explosive submunitions (bomblets) over very wide areas, potentially causing very high civilian casualties when they are used in populated areas. In addition, submunitions often fail to explode as intended, leaving a longterm legacy of explosive contamination. On 1 August 2010, 30 states ratified a ban on the use of cluster munitions, a historic event that allows the convention to enter into force. The ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) played a key role in this effort. This CD contains ICRC statements and other material on the this topic published between 1976 and 2009.

MEASURING VULNERABILITY TO NATURAL HAZARDS

Towards Disaster Resilient Societies
Edited by Jörn Birkmann
United Nations Publications
2 United Nations Plaza
Room DC2-853, Dept 174 New York, NY 10017

A seemingly non-stop series of disasters has shown that societies worldwide seem unprepared for the threats posed by natural hazards: Hurricane Katrina; drought in Africa; flooding in China and Germany; earthquakes in Pakistan and India; a tsunami in South-East Asia; and forest fires in Portugal, Australia, and North America.

The tragic impacts of these events drew short-term attention from policy makers, the media, and the general public, but their response was too late to prevent serious harm. Societies need to measure their vulnerabilities in advance, and make adequate provisions. To do so, they have to understand the complex relationships between natural hazards and the related social, economic, and environmental vulnerabilities. Recognizing and measuring vulnerabilities is the first and perhaps most important step towards disaster resilient societies.

Measuring Vulnerability to Natural Hazards presents a broad range of current approaches to measuring vulnerability and contains concrete experiences and examples from Africa, Asia, the American, and Europe to illustrate the theoretical analyses.

This book is a unique compilation of state-of-the-art vulnerability assessment and is essential reading for academics, students, policy makers, practitioners, and anybody else interested in understanding the fundamentals of measuring vulnerability. It is a critical review that provides important conclusions which can serve as an orientation for future research towards more disaster resilient communities.

Jörn Birkmann is an Academic Officer at the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNUEHS) and Chair of the International Expert Working Group on Measuring Vulnerability.

CRIME AND THE GLOBAL POLITICAL ECONOMY

Edited by H. Richard Friman
2009 - 200 pages

“An important contribution to our understanding of global crime and illicit flows across borders.”
Bradford Dillman
University of Puget Sound

Crime has gone global. Conventional explanations point to ways in which criminals have exploited technological innovations, deregulation, and free markets to triumph over state sovereignty. Crime and the Global Political Economy reveals a more complex reality.

Contents:

• Crime and Globalization - H.R. Friman
• The Internationalization of Crime Control - P. Andreas and E. Nadelmann.
• Crime, Sovereignty, and the Offshore World - R. Palan
• Externalizing the Costs of Prohibition - H.R. Friman
• Illicit Commerce in Peripheral States - W. Reno
• Enabling Norms and Human Trafficking - J.T. Picarelli
• Governing Finance in the War on Terror - M. de Goede
• Immigrants and Organized Crime - H. Schwartz
• Drug Trafficking and the State in Mexico - M. Serrano
• Social Research, Knowledge, and Criminal Power - J.H. Mittelman

HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE GLOBAL POLITICAL ECONOMY

Critical Processes
Tony Evans
2010 - 245 pages

“Both interesting and thought-provoking… This timely text explores the impact of a globalized economy on the future of the human rights regime.”
Rhonda Callaway
Sam Houston State University

“An important contribution to the debate on human rights… well written and accessible.”
Neil Stammers
University of Sussex

Contents

• Introduction
• The Idea of Human Rights and the Global Order
• Challenging the Idea of Human Rights
• Non-Western Concepts of Human Rights and Dignity
• Human Rights in Corporate and Multilateral Organizations
• States, Sovereignty, and Human Rights
• International Institutions for the Protection of Human Rights
• Human Rights as Resistance to the Global Political Economy
• Human Rights as Political Process

NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASES: WORKING TO OVERCOME THE GLOBAL IMPACT

First WHo Report on Neglected Tropical Diseases, 2010
2010 - 181 pages
Swiss fr 25.00 / US $ 25.00
In developing countries: Swiss fr 17.50 / US $ 17.50
ISBN 978 92 415 6409 0

Neglected tropical diseases blight the lives of a billion people worldwide and threaten the health of millions more. These close companions of poverty weaken impoverished populations, frustrate the achievement of health in the Millennium Development Goals, and impede global public health outcomes.

Wider recognition of the public health significance of neglected tropical diseases and better knowledge of their epidemiology have stimulated necessary changes in public health thinking to approach and achieve control. The World Health Organization recommends five control strategies or intervention processes: preventive chemotherapy, intensified case management, vector control, veterinary public health, and safe water, sanitation and hygiene. Although one strategic approach may take the lead for the control of a specific disease or group of diseases, evidence suggests that more effective control follows when the five processes operate in combination and in the local context.

This report presents evidence to demonstrate that activities undertaken to prevent and control neglected tropical diseases are producing results - and that achievements are being recognized. By 2008, preventive chemotherapy had reached more than 670 million people in 75 countries.

Leadership from WHO has catalysed the formation of a community of partners committed to supporting the governments of countries where these diseases are endemic with a shared purpose: working to overcome the global impact of neglected tropical diseases, and reducing the burden of morbidity and mortality that they impose on the health of their citizens and the economic productivity of their states. These diverse partners include bilateral and philanthropic donors, pharmaceutical companies, nongovernmental organizations, universities and charitable agencies; their dedicated resources are essential to deliver interventions and expand control of neglected tropical diseases to the millions of people in need.

THE DOMESTIC IMPLEMENTATION OF INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW MANUAL
ICRC - 2010
Available in English - Swiss fr 40

The people most severely affected by armed conflict are increasingly those who are not or who are no longer taking part in the fighting. International humanitarian law (IHL) has been developed as a set of rules that aims at minimizing the effects of armed conflict on these groups. The Manual on the Implementation of International Humanitarian Law has been drafted mainly for policy-makers and legislators, and for those assisting them in their efforts to comply with their obligation to ensure respect for IHL.