Abstract: The promotion of education as a human right became part of the discourse of international aid agencies and banks since the end of WWII. Consequently, studies of development have examined the conditions under which education becomes a driver of socio-economic progress under three theories: “modernization”, “human capital”, and “dependency”. Previous research has not agreed on the impact of education on inequalities and mainly adopted a quantitative approach. This dissertation implements a mixed-methods approach to examine context-specific variables in comparative education with the “dependency” theory. The outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 generated great losses in human capital accumulation. In Latin America, one of the most unequal regions in the world, the impact of school disruption increased drop-out rates and forced governments to generate measures to mitigate learning losses. This dissertation examines through a comparative analysis to what extent remote learning policies implemented during COVID-19 reduced inequality gaps in Chile and Colombia, with a particular focus on secondary education. Moreover, as intervening variables, it selects two neoliberal characteristics: privatization and government intervention. Colombia and Chile implemented multimodal education policies during COVID-19. However, in Colombia, school closures lasted longer than in Chile. The PISA exam forecast of the World Bank also suggests that education inequality gaps in secondary education increased after the pandemic, with greater inequalities in Colombia. Moreover, the Gini coefficient shows that Colombia has been more unequal than Chile before and after COVID-19. Lastly, the analysis of the intervening variables shows that remote learning policies were unable to reduce inequalities and mainly favoured private institutions and urban areas. Finally, as part of the lessons, this research suggests that the neo-liberal characteristics of both countries marked a difference in the implementation of policies. Moreover, the lack of information incentivised the adoption of good practices that become suitable policy alternatives when adapted to local needs. Lastly, this research evidences the need for LAC to include technological tools in their education systems to respond to future crises.

Abstract: Leptospirosis is the most neglected widespread zoonosis worldwide. In Spain, leptospirosis reports in people and animals have increased lately. Cats can become infected with Leptospira, as well as be chronic carriers. The aim of this study was to determine serological antibody prevalence against Leptospira sp., blood DNA, and shedding of DNA from pathogenic Leptospira species in the urine of cats in Spain. Microagglutination tests (MAT) and blood and urine TaqMan real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were performed. Leptospira antibodies were detected in 10/244 cats; with 4.1%positive results (95% confidence interval (CI): 2.1–7.18%). Titers ranged from 1:20 to 1:320 (serovars Ballum; Bataviae; Bratislava; Cynopteri; Grippotyphosa Mandemakers; Grippotyphosa Moskva; Pomona; and Proechimys). The most common serovar was Cynopteri. Blood samples from 1/89 cats amplified for Leptospira DNA (1.12%; 95% CI: 0.05–5.41%). Urine samples from 4/232 cats amplified for Leptospira DNA (1.72%; 95% CI: 0.55–4.10%). In conclusion, free-roaming cats in Spain can shed pathogenic Leptospira DNA in their urine and may be a source of human infection. Serovars not previously described in cats in Spain were detected; suggesting the presence of at least 4 different species of pathogenic leptospires in the country (L. borgpetersenii ;L. interrogans ;L. kirschneri; and L. noguchii).

Abstract: Global importance: Leptospirosis is the most widespread zoonosis worldwide. Mammals (eg, rats, horses, cows, pigs, dogs, cats and aquatic species, such as sea lions and northern elephant seals) can all be infected by leptospires. Infection in animals occurs through contact with urine or water contaminated with the bacteria. In people, the disease is acquired mainly from animal sources or through recreational activities in contaminated water. Practical relevance: Literature on the clinical presentation of leptospirosis in cats is scarce, although it has been demonstrated that cats are susceptible to infection and are capable of developing antibodies. The prevalence of antileptospiral antibodies in cats varies from 4% to 33.3% depending on the geographical location. Urinary shedding of leptospires in naturally infected cats has been reported, with a prevalence of up to 68%. Infection in cats has been associated with the consumption of infected prey, especially rodents. Thus, outdoor cats have a higher risk of becoming infected. Clinical challenges: Clinical presentation of this disease in cats is rare and it is not known what role cats have in the transmission of leptospirosis. Ongoing work is needed to characterise feline leptospirosis. Audience: This review is aimed at all veterinarians, both general practitioners who deal with cats on a daily basis in private practice, as well as feline practitioners, since both groups face the challenge of diagnosing and treating infectious and zoonotic diseases. Evidence base: The current literature on leptospirosis in cats is reviewed. To date, few case reports have been published in the field, and information has mostly been extrapolated from infections in people and dogs. This review is expected to serve as a guide for the diagnosis and management of the disease in cats.

Abstract: Liquid Homes is a study about migration based on social sciences theories, contemporary films, and my personal experiences. Within this understanding of migration, the concept of Home is identified as a physical and imaginary place pertaining to all individual of society, to which civil rights and urbanism are related, and which is in constant tension in a global system because of the processes of modernity, the development of industrialisation and capitalism. In this text an analysis of contemporary migration is proposed throughout films produced during the European migrant crisis (2015- ), to do a critical analysis about the approach and representation in films of the migrant population and to suggest recognition, humanism and familiarity with migrant communities and their civil rights. It was my last evening in Lisbon crossing the Tejo river in a ferry going to the other side of the city. We came over the second floor and sat down on the chairs with the windows facing the sunset. She was looking at messages on her mobile phone, while I was looking at the colour and shadows projected on her face. Suddenly she surprised and said: A bomb has exploded in the main harbour of Beirut. It is when this story about Liquid Homes started. Until this moment I had not any mental map of Lebanon, I knew it was part of the „Middle East” region with an Arabic culture. She told me she has some friends in Beirut because she was doing her field based research thesis in a Palestinian Refugee Camp called Shatila. I guess that the mixture of feelings between her and me at that moment have impressed in my memory the need to understand Shatila. Feelings about the beginning and the finishing of new stages of our lives, moving again of (from/to) homes, in different non-established houses, around different people, different languages and geographies. In my case, feelings of coming back to a place with legal rules made to make it the hardest for foreigners and for their establishment of a normal life, a hostile place in an economic way, where you are not welcome if you are not coming to produce or give money to the society. With the time I have understood that Shatila is a “Liquid Home” for its inhabitants. As a “new city” is for migrants. A “Liquid Home” is a place for waiting - for the return or for continuing towards the desired land and the desired lifestyle, with the difference that for people in Shatila and their parents before them were born there, but they do not have legal right over the land nor over pretty much anything in the place they inhabit. I identify a liquid home as the space constructed to be easily changed according to political international movements, according to the economic profit of international relationships under the flagship of solidarity. An artificial urbanization made with modular materials to be easily moved and articulated, where the architecture of the houses, of the streets, of the daily human relations can be withdrawn from their users as an expropriation not just of their houses but as well of their civil rights. As a nobody, who occupy the territory, liquid homes are a result of liquid societies, a modernisation of the urban lifestyle understood within Zygmunt Bauman’s analysis of the late modernity, where the reality of the inhabitants of the society is made to allow constant and contrasting changes. The objective of this writing is to describe how the phenomenon of migration, cities and citizenship have been told in cinema from 2015 until now, and to analyse different approaches, methods of research and filming migration and the noncitizenship, using cinema as a cultural expression that reflects the modern thinking and troubles of a migration society. I will also use personal notes as an ethnographic research method, reflecting my experience as a foreigner and all that not having a citizenship in the place where I live has meant.

Abstract: This checklist of oribatid mites of the Republic of Colombia compiles and provides a taxonomic update of all records known up to 2020. It includes 192 entries accounting for 68 named and 47 unnamed species belonging to 73 genera and 58 families of non-astigmatid oribatid mites. Specimens from the brachypyline supercohort were dominant (54.7%), followed by Mixonomata (30.7%). However, current knowledge is far from being complete and distribution patterns show large gaps throughout the country due to this lacking knowledge and most existing investigations only include group specific studies that prevent from any conclusions regarding the real community composition of oribatids in Colombia. From 32 political-administrative departments, oribatids have been reported in 20, but 5 account for 65% of the records. These are: Cundinamarca -including Bogotá D.C.- (24.4%), Magdalena (21.8%), Nariño (6.3%), La Guajira (6.3%), and Quindío (5.9%). Whereas most oribatid reports in the Neotropical region have taken place during the past five decades, a map presented in this document shows that Colombia still lags behind other Latin American countries. Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil, for instance, have reported the highest number of species for the region and are the only nations that possess national oribatid checklists in Latin America. The current work represents a national baseline of oribatids encouraging further study of this clearly underrepresented group.

Este documento presenta las deliberaciones del tribunal que se llevaron a cabo el 3 de octubre de 2013, cuando se reunió la tercera Sala Penal del Tribunal de Casación, compuesta por la presidenta Souheir Haraki y los jueces auxiliares Ghassan Fawaz y Nahida Khaddaj, para examinar el recurso de casación presentado ante el registro de dicho tribunal en el Caso No. 293/2013. Descripción tomada de https://www.dejusticia.org/publication/sentencia-sobre-el-reconocimiento-del-principio-de-tratamiento-en-lugar-de-judicializacion-en-los-casos-en-contra-de-usuarios-de-drogas-en-el-libano/

Las enfermedades no transmisibles (ENT) son un gran desafío de este siglo, que tiene sus raíces en el sobrepeso, la obesidad y las dietas malsanas. Como parte de sus deberes en materia de derecho a la salud, los Estados deben afrontar los factores de riesgo prevenibles de las ENT relacionadas con el régimen alimentario y promover marcos en los que la industria de alimentos y bebidas transmita información precisa, fácilmente comprensible, transparente e inteligible sobre sus productos. A este respecto, las normas de etiquetado frontal de advertencia son muy necesarias. Descripción tomada de esta publicación.

El etiquetado frontal de advertencia (EFA), que advierte sobre el contenido en azúcares añadidos, sodio y grasas saturadas, es compatible con la regulación internacional en materia de libre comercio y protección de inversiones. En este documento, explicamos por qué el EFA se ajusta a los compromisos multilaterales adquiridos por Colombia como miembro de la Organización Mundial de Comercio (OMC), así como a los acuerdos de comercio preferencial. Además, se examina la medida a la luz de las normas técnicas sobre alimentación compiladas por la Comisión del Codex Alimentarius y se explica por qué el EFA también es compatible con tratados de protección de inversiones. Descripción tomada y adaptada de esta publicación.

Presentamos una Declaración del Comité de Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales para que los Estados adopten medidas contra la Covid-19 basadas en los derechos humanos. Se espera que una vacuna segura y efectiva reduzca los riesgos que la COVID-19 plantea para la salud y la vida, permitiendo, al mismo tiempo, el levantamiento progresivo de algunas de las medidas restrictivas que han sido necesarias para hacer frente a la propagación del virus. También ayudará a recuperarse de los graves efectos negativos que estas medidas han tenido en el disfrute de los derechos económicos, sociales y culturales, especialmente de las poblaciones más desfavorecidas y marginadas. Si bien esta declaración se refiere esencialmente al acceso equitativo y universal a las vacunas para COVID-19, el Comité considera que sus principales consideraciones son pertinentes, con los cambios necesarios, en relación con las obligaciones de los Estados de garantizar también el acceso universal y equitativo al tratamiento para la COVID-19. Esta traducción fue elaborada por Dejusticia con el fin de contribuir a la difusión de un documento que consideramos de relevancia pública. No es una traducción oficial de Naciones Unidas. Todos los errores son nuestros. Descripción tomada de https://www.dejusticia.org/publication/declaracion-sobre-el-acceso-universal-y-equitativo-a-las-vacunas-contra-la-covid-19/

Dejusticia, Fundación Karisma y Privacy International desean plantear ciertas preocupaciones sobre la protección de los derechos a la libertad de expresión y de opinión, la intimidad, la protección de datos personales, el cierre de espacios de la sociedad civil y el derecho a la protesta y los derechos de la población migrante y refugiada venezolana, con el propósito de que sean consideradas en el próximo examen de Colombia en el 44º período de sesiones del Grupo de Trabajo sobre el Examen Periódico Universal. Descripción tomada del boletín.