Library of Parliament Article on Canadian and Global Military Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic

HillNotes, a publication of the Library of Parliament in Ottawa, has published an article on Canadian and Global Military Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic:

"Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments in Canada and other countries have mobilized and deployed their military to assist civilian authorities. Each country has used its military resources differently."

"To date, the military in Canada has responded to local requests for assistance in addressing the pandemic, such as supporting long-term care facilities, deploying the Canadian Rangers in Northern communities and providing logistics support. The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) stands ready to mobilize some 24,000 personnel – including reservists – under Operation LASER."

"This HillNote outlines the basis for the Canadian military’s assistance to civilian authorities in emergency situations. It then provides an overview of ways in which Canada’s military, and those in allied and like-minded countries, are assisting those authorities in dealing with the pandemic."

New International Law Research Guides From GlobaLex

GlobaLex, a very good electronic collection created by the Hauser Global Law School Program at the New York University School of Law, recently published new research guides:

• Introduction to International Fisheries Law: "International fisheries law, a subfield of the law of the sea, is an emerging area of public international law that seeks to regulate fisheries management in areas within and beyond national jurisdictions. This body of law touches upon some other areas of international law, for example, international environmental law, international marine environmental law, renewable resources law, sustainable development law, international trade law, etc. International fisheries law is also interdisciplinary as it often draws on other disciplines, such as, fisheries and marine science, management, economics, statistics etc. Although international fisheries law is primarily based on international and regional treaties and customs, other elements, such as, decisions of international courts and tribunals on fisheries matters, practices of regional fisheries management organizations, and scholarly writings and publications by leading experts have also contributed in shaping up this evolving area of international law."
• International Humanitarian Law: "This article deals with the body of international law concerning the law of armed conflict. It is also referred to as ius in bello or the law of war. The terms international humanitarian law (IHL), law of armed conflict and law of war may be regarded as synonymous. The International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC), international organizations, universities and states tend to opt for international humanitarian law. The two principle legal pillars of IHL are the 'Hague Law,' regulating weaponry and the choice of military targets, and the 'Geneva Law,' covering the treatment of prisoners of war, detainees, civilians, and humanitarian aid workers. Briefly, IHL regulates the conduct of hostilities and the protection of persons during an armed conflict. IHL, however, does not regulate the use of force. The legal regulation of the use of force, ius ad bellum is subject to the Charter of the United Nations, art. 2.4 and art. 39- 51. It is also necessary to understand that IHL regulates hostilities only during armed conflict. An armed conflict, international or non-international, involves the use of armed force by one state against another state, or hostilities between government armed forces and organized armed groups, or between such groups within a state."
• Legal Information Institutes and the Free Access to Law Movement (update): "This article surveys the group of free access providers of legal information known as 'Legal Information Institutes”'('LII's), their organisation, the Free Access to Law Movement (FALM). It is not therefore about free access to law generally, but rather about a particular group of its providers who collaborate. Each LII is linked when first mentioned but not on all subsequent occasions. This article updates a 2008 archival version, and where appropriate includes links to parts of that version that need not be repeated here."

New United Nations Research Guides

The United Nation's Headquarter Library in New York has launched several new research guides to honour the 60th anniversary of the appointment of Dag Hammarskjöld as Secretary-General.

He took the oath of office on April 7 1953 and served as Secretary-General until the 18th of September 1961, when he died in a plane crash while on a peace mission in the Congo.

The guides include:

• a research guide about Dag Hammarskjöld
  
• a guide to online UN information resources 
• a new UN Documentation Research Guide

Library of Parliament Legislative Summary of the Prohibiting Cluster Munitions Act

The Library of Parliament has published its legislative summary of Bill S-10: An Act to Implement the Convention on Cluster Munitions:

"The purpose of the bill is to implement Canada’s international obligations under the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) in order that Canada may ratify the treaty. Under Canada’s constitutional system, obligations contained in international treaties must be implemented in legislation passed by Parliament in order to have direct effect under domestic law. Although Canada has not yet ratified the convention, Canada participated in its negotiation and signed it in December of 2008. Canada was also the first state to submit voluntary reports to the United Nations (UN) under the convention"

"Cluster munitions are weapons designed to disperse explosive submunitions (or explosive bomblets) that cause casualties and damage through blast, incendiary effects and fragmentation. Air-delivered or surface-launched, the number of submunitions released can range from the dozens to thousands, and are usually spread over a large area for use against armour and other materiel as well as personnel. Cluster munitions rely on simple mechanical fuses that arm the submunition based on its rate of spin; submunitions explode on impact or after a time of delay."

"In its 2012 voluntary report, Canada stated that it possesses a stockpile of approximately 12,600 cluster munitions, but that these were withdrawn from active service in 2007. A process to destroy remaining stockpiles reportedly is underway and is expected to be complete by sometime in 2014 (...)"

"This legislative summary discusses the humanitarian concerns raised by the use of cluster munitions during armed conflicts and set out the relationship between the Convention and certain related treaties dealing with prohibited weapons. The provisions of the bill are then summarized, followed by a review of comment on the bill"

"Internationally, there is considerable debate about the meaning and implementation of the CCM. One point in particular that is being contested is the nature and scope of the ban on cluster munitions in respect of activities by the military forces of states that have ratified the CCM (“states parties”) when they operate jointly with states that have not ratified the CCM. This is known as the interoperability exception."

It is possible to follow the progress of the bill through Parliament on the LEGISinfo website.

International Federation of Library Associations Helps Preserve Haitian Archives and Libraries

IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions) and the Amsterdam-based Prince Claus Fund for Culture & Development are cooperating on a major initiative to help save Haiti's vulnerable archives and important library collections that were damaged in the powerful January 2010 earthquake that killed a quarter of a million people on the Caribbean island.

The Prince Claus Fund will provide approximately $333,000 (CDN) to set up a treatment centre to restore documents.

According to IFLA:

"The centre will be staffed by an all-volunteer team of approximately 300 national and 700 international experts. These experts will in turn help train and support local professionals in a variety of restoration techniques, skills, and best practices. Once they have been treated, the documents will be stored in acclimatized containers where they will be kept safely until they are to be transferred to a permanent place. The trained staff will thus not only be taking part in the safeguarding of Haiti's cultural heritage, but also contributing to the professionalisation of the Haitian Library sector."

"Through the re-establishment of archival and historical library collections, Haitians will be able to rebuild the community that existed before this devastating earthquake. The preservation of material history is an essential step in the process of re-establishing a foundation for Haiti's cultural identity. The project also ensures that library collections and archives can be made open to the public again, giving Haitians the opportunity to better draw on important information and knowledge. Having access to this collection will eventually contribute to a sustainable reconstruction of the country"

Earlier Library Boy posts about Haiti reconstruction efforts include:

• News About Haiti from International Federation of Library Associations (January 23, 2010)
• American Library Association Establishes Haiti Relief Fund (January 28, 2010)
• Canadian Lawyers Launch 'Judicial Red Cross' for Haiti (January 31, 2010)
• Updates on Haiti from International Federation of Library Associations (February 21, 2010)
• Canadian Legal Community Helps Haiti Rebuild Justice System (May 31, 2010)
  

[Source: Peter Scott's Library Blog]

Librarians Without Borders 2009-2010 Annual Report

The Canadian student-run NGO Librarians Without Borders (LWB) has published its 2009-2010 Annual Report.

The report highlights the fieldwork of LWB members in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Guatemala.

Canadian Legal Community Helps Haiti Rebuild Justice System

This is a follow-up to the Library Boy post of January 31, 2010 entitled Canadian Lawyers Launch 'Judicial Red Cross' for Haiti.

The most recent issue of The Lawyers Weekly is reporting on Canadian efforts to help Haiti with the reconstruction of its justice system after the devastating earthquake that struck the Caribbean island a few months ago:

"More than four months after the massive earthquake that killed nearly 250,000 people, left 1 million others homeless and leveled the capital, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, the Canadian legal community is slowly beginning to shift its focus from providing emergency response to helping Haiti lay the groundwork towards the reconstruction of a justice system that will 'avoid the excesses of the past'."

"In the past two weeks, an agreement was signed with the Barreau de Port-au-Prince to help put in place legal aid for victims. The Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs Canada organized a roundtable with a host of organizations that reached agreement to collaborate together to assist with judicial reform in Haiti. And the Barreau de Montréal stepped up efforts to develop a long-term project aimed at providing Haitian lawyers with professional development."

Digital Library of the Caribbean Helps Save Haitian Heritage

The Miami Herald published a report last Saturday about the Digital Library of the Caribbean's efforts to protect some of Haiti's libraries, archives and personal collections that were damaged during the horrific earthquake that hit that country last month.

The Digital Library, based at Florida International University, was founded in 2004 and has been working with Haitian librarians and curators to digitize their collections.

"Within weeks, the group launched a campaign to rally international contributors, raise money and provide technical support for the recovery and protection of Haiti's cultural resources -- the already brittle rare books and documents scattered and dusted by the quake (...) "

"The group's Protecting Haitian Patrimony initiative includes assisting four institutions in Port-au-Prince:
• Archives Nationales d'Haïti, which houses civil and state records as well as those of the Office of the President and most government ministries.
• Bibliothèque haïtienne des Pères du Saint-Esprit, founded in 1873 by the Fathers of the Holy Spirit, holds documents chronicling the history of Haiti, French colonization, slavery and emancipation and 20th century records ..."

Earlier Library Boy posts on the topic include:

• News About Haiti from International Federation of Library Associations (January 23, 2010)
• American Library Association Establishes Haiti Relief Fund (January 28, 2010)
• Canadian Lawyers Launch 'Judicial Red Cross' for Haiti (January 31, 2010)
• Updates on Haiti from International Federation of Library Associations (February 21, 2010)

[Source: ResourceShelf]

Updates on Haiti from International Federation of Library Associations

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) has been compiling information about what the global library community has been doing to help Haitian libraries after the devastating earthquake in January.

Canadian Lawyers Launch 'Judicial Red Cross' for Haiti

The most recent issue of The Lawyers Weekly is reporting that Canadian lawyers and law firms are mobilizing to bring relief to Canadians and Haitians affected by the recent earthquake in Haiti.

Bar associations are helping with pro bono work for Canadians trying to sponsor loved ones caught in Haiti and are sending financial aid to help rebuild the Caribbean country's justice system.

As well, the Quebec chapter of the non-governmental organization Lawyers Without Borders wants to organize what it calls a "judicial Red Cross" in Haiti:

"This would be a transitional system of emergency 'justice shelters,' operating out of tents, that can be quickly deployed in the country’s desolate communities while giving the nation’s formal system of justice a chance to be rebuilt. Conceived by former Quebec Court of Appeal Justice Louise Otis, in collaboration with Concordia University professor Eric Reiter, the so-called frontline justice system is anchored by trained local jurists who give legal information and advice, and local judges who issue emergency safeguard orders and mediate disputes between parties (...)"

"Drawn from initiatives around the world, particularly those emanating from the United Nations 'Brahimi Report' (which reviewed procedures and goals of U.N. peace operations in the wake of experiences in Kosovo and East Timor), the front-line justice system envisioned by Otis and Reiter is an emergency hybrid justice system that attempts to quickly create an institution to assess and administer the immediate emergency justice needs of the local population by local jurists and magistrates. The centerpiece is the creation of so-called justice shelters, which are centrally located tents that can be put up overnight. Its mandate is broad and includes civil, family and administrative as well as criminal matters. It is not a transitional justice program but rather a step-by-step judicial restorative process that tries to rebuild the justice system, points out Reiter, who added that its work should be done within two years."

American Library Association Establishes Haiti Relief Fund

This is a follow-up to the January 23, 2010 post entitled News About Haiti from International Federation of Library Associations.

The American Library Association has created a Haiti Library Relief Fund:

"The massive earthquake near the capital of Port-au-Prince in Haiti on January 12 and the loss and upheaval of life has touched everyone around the world. Unfortunately, natural disasters do not spare cultural institutions such as libraries and archives, or their staff." (...)

"Libraries and other cultural institutions are critical resources for the recovery of people around the world in the aftermath of a humanitarian crisis."

"This website provides information on how you can donate to help libraries and archives recover, as well as reports on damage to cultural institutions in Haiti, how to volunteer you expertise, and additional efforts of ALA and other organizations."

News About Haiti from International Federation of Library Associations

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) has up-to-date news about the situation of libraries in Haiti in the wake of the devastating earthquake that hit the country earlier this month:

"The Bibliothèque Nationale d'Haïti has sustained heavy damage from the earthquake, but has not collapsed. Historic preservation architects will eventually examine the state of the building, but of course only after the most essential structures (hospitals, sanitation, etc.) are first dealt with."

"St Gonzague's patrimonial Library is completely destroyed (...)"

"The Library of St. Martial–which possess manuscripts from the 17th through 19th century–has also sustained heavy structural damage and will require rescue intervention. The Library of the University Quisqueya was also severely damaged by the earthquake."

The article also describes the immediate bibliographic needs for Haitian university libraries.

Don't forget to donate to Haitian earthquake relief.