Suchergebnisse

The Frontier Dispute case and applying uti possidetis to africa -- The rule of intangibility of inherited frontiers -- The conventional obligation to respect the territorial status quo -- The customary rule of respecting the territorial status quoce -- The changes made in international law by the African custom -- Current justifications for secession in Africa -- Domination as a possible instance for a right to external self-determination -- Towards a right to egalitarian self-determination -- Conclusion.

History has been for long misused as a means of warfare by totalitarian, despotic and chauvi­nist regimes to demoralize the minorities. The relations between the cohabitants under such regimes usually become vassaldom of minorities to the ruling groups. Such a relationship forms a threat to the existence of both the minorities on one hand, and of the structure of the state and its institutions on the other, as happened in Iraq under Ba'th. In this piece it will be explained that a future constructive coexistence of ancient cohabitants in the Middle East like Kurds and Arabs is still burdened by a distorted history of the Kurds which Arab regimes have developed over decades and even centuries. It needs to be corrected mutually recognising their own independent ethnical, cultural and linguistic identity as well as separate historical roots in order to promote their future sustainable coexistence and cooperation.

Objectives: An episiotomy is one of the most common obstetric surgical procedures and is performed mainly by midwives. The decision to perform an episiotomy depends on related clinical factors. This study aimed to find out midwives' reasons for performing episiotomies and to identify the relationship between these reasons and the demographic characteristics of the midwives. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted between 1st July and 30th September 2013 in three governmental maternity teaching hospitals in the three main cities of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. All of the midwives who had worked in the delivery rooms of these hospitals for at least one year were invited to participate in the study (n = 53). Data were collected through interviews with midwives as well as via a questionnaire constructed for the purpose of the study. The questionnaire sought to determine: midwives' demographic characteristics; type of episiotomy performed; authority of the decision to perform the procedure, and reasons for performing episiotomies. Results: The main clinical reasons reported by midwives for performing an episiotomy were: macrosomia/large fetus (38, 71.7%), breech delivery (31, 58.5%), shoulder dystocia (29, 54.7%), anticipated perineal tear (27, 50.9%) and fetal distress (27, 50.9%). There was a significant association between the frequency of these reasons and midwives' total experience in delivery rooms as well as their levels of education. Conclusion: Most of the reasons given by the midwives for performing episiotomies were not evidencebased. Age, years of experience, specialties and level of education also had an effect on midwives' reasons for performing episiotomies.