Browsing by Subject "migration"

Microglia, the resident immune cells of the central nervous system, react to inflammatory stimuli in the brain in a variety of ways. These include migrating to the site of damage and releasing pro- and anti-inflammatory factors. Previous research indicates that these microglial functions require extensive intracellular calcium signaling. Microglial overactivation can exacerbate neuronal damage, especially in cases of chronic inflammation. The ability to modulate the microglial response to damage would therefore be of great clinical relevance. The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) acts as the cell’s main calcium store and regulates cellular calcium levels primarily through the activity of ryanodine receptors (RYR), inositol-triphosphate receptors (IP3R), and the sarco-endoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase (SERCA) pump. Calcium depletion from the ER is associated with cellular stress and microglial reactivity and therefore the ER may be an important target for modulating the microglial reactive response. The aim of this study is to show whether ER calcium depletion in a microglial cell line causes changes in protein expression, cellular infiltration, and the release of key pro-inflammatory factors. Drugs that block the pumping of calcium from the cytosol via the SERCA pump, such as thapsigargin, effectively induce a state of calcium depletion in the ER. In the present study, treatment with the SERCA pump inhibitor thapsigargin was found to increase SERCA2 expression in BV2, but not SV40, microglial cell lines. Treatment of microglia with thapsigargin was associated with large increases in the release of pro-inflammatory factors IL-6 and TNF-alpha but had no effect on microglial migration.

The thesis is a study of the communicated case ‘S.S. and the Others v. Italy’ (application no. 21660/80) of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The application is on behalf of the victims of an incident in which a migrant boat found itself in distress after having left Libya for Europe. The Libyan Coast Guard failed to rescue all of the migrants and allegedly acted negligently, mistreating those they took onboard, and returned them to Libya, exposing them to continued ill-treatment and some of them also to forced return (refoulement) to their countries of origin. Italy is a State Party to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and has a bilateral agreement, ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ (MoU), with Libya (a non-ECHR State). On the basis of the MoU, Italy funds and equips the Libyan Coast Guard. The agreement can be seen as a means to ‘outsource’ border control and to instruct Libya to intercept migrants before they reach Italy and the European Union (EU), thus effectively circumventing the obligations of the ECHR. The research question is in two parts. First, I ask whether Italy had extraterritorial jurisdiction as stated in Article 1 ECHR, and second, if it had, has Italy violated its positive obligations to secure the applicants’ rights. Jurisdiction is a ‘threshold criterium’ for the Court to study the merits of an application. As for the violations, the thesis focuses on Article 2 (right to life) and Article 3 (prohibition of torture; includes also the prohibition of forced return, or refoulement). The methodology is doctrinal in that the thesis aims to examine critically the central features of the relevant legislation and case law in order to create an arguably correct and sufficiently complete statement on the Court’s reasoning and outcome. The main sources are the provisions of the ECHR itself and the relevant previous case law of the Court, together with a literature review. Additionally, there are third-party interveners’ statements and a video reconstruction of the events. The Court’s questions and information requests to the parties, as attached to the application, are used as a starting point. Besides a hypothesis of the argumentation and the decision of the Court, some estimations are made about what could be the consequences of the decision to such bilateral pacts as the MoU between Italy and Libya, and, in general, to ‘deals’ between the EU Member States and third or transit countries. Finally, the thesis reflects on the eventual repercussions on the topical issue of the EU Commission’s 23.9.2020 proposal for the New Pact on Migration and Asylum, which appears to encourage the Member States to maintain and develop outsourcing practices.

International degree students sojourning in Finland’s Helsinki Capital Region may acquire skills in two official languages: Finnish and Swedish, respectively spoken natively by 79.9% and 5.8% of the region’s population. This study uses 114 web survey responses from students enrolled in English-medium Master’s programmes to determine whether they report knowledge of Finnish and especially of Swedish, a minority language. The likelihood a respondent reports knowledge of a local language is predicted by a model of language acquisition used on immigrant populations in bilingual countries, a model in which local language skills are considered to be a source of both social and economic capital. Over 90% of participants stated they had Finnish abilities while 21% reported having non-native Swedish skills. Almost all of those who declared being able to speak some Swedish could also speak some Finnish, a language for which they generally reported higher skills. Knowledge of Finnish was primarily associated with having a Finnish-speaking partner, living outside of a student neighborhood and originating from Russia or Central Asia. Knowledge of Swedish was mainly associated with studying in a primarily Swedish-language institution, being male and regarding as likely to live in a Nordic country in 5 years. While Finnish dominates most spheres of social life in the Helsinki Capital Region, it appears an institution of study provided sufficient exposure to the minority language of Swedish to explain in part its acquisition by international degree students. While learning Swedish was not compulsory in their study programme, respondents enrolled at a Swedish-language institution were as much as 16 times more likely than those studying at a Finnish-language institution to report knowledge of Swedish. Consequently, for newcomers like international degree students to adopt the minority language of their bilingual host community, involvement in institutions where the language is dominant might be key.

The thesis studies the European anti-trafficking framework, comprehending relevant EU and Council of Europe instruments, and the narrative of trafficking that it creates. The aim of the thesis is to identify the assumptions and the imagery of trafficking upon which the framework is formed as well as the exclusions and blind spots that these assumptions create. The thesis analyses the legal framework by adopting a critical feminist methodology. It studies assumptions concerning gender and migration in the trafficking narrative by first focusing on a linkage between trafficking and prostitution policies, then on a linkage between trafficking and migration and finally on connections between trafficking and other forms of gender-based violence. Assumptions of what trafficking is are produced through linkages, and sometimes lacks of linkages, between these frameworks. The thesis argues that trafficking is assumed to involve organized criminal groups trafficking migrant women to the sex industry and forced prostitution. Trafficking is combated as a form of organized crime, and legal instruments are based on this assumption. The anti-trafficking framework is also linked to migration policies as trafficking is understood as a form of irregular migration, contributing to a focus on transnational trafficking. In addition, the understanding of trafficking is marred by a debate on the nature and potential harmfulness of prostitution which has been among the most controversial issues of the anti-trafficking framework. The role of the sex industry and prostitution is thus at the focus in the debated narrative of trafficking. As the narrative of trafficking focuses on some experiences, it forgets others. Victims of trafficking taking place within romantic relationships are excluded from the narrative of trafficking, as the relational nature of trafficking remains invisible due to a focus on organized crime. Domestic trafficking victims often remain unidentified as well, as the anti-trafficking framework focuses on transnational trafficking. As the question of prostitution takes space in legal discourses around the anti-trafficking framework, other forms of trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation remain unidentified and under-analyzed. A more inclusive narrative of trafficking would be beneficial for the identification of victims. In addition to being conceptualized as a question of migration and organized crime, trafficking should be understood in more relational terms, as a form of gender-based violence with connections to other such crimes. Trafficking should altogether be understood as a complex phenomenon that can take many forms and needs to be combated in multiple ways, as generalizing assumptions are too often counterproductive and based on political motives instead of empirical analysis.

Based on previous research conducted in North America and Europe, young people have a negative attitude towards the police and law enforcement by showing scepticism and expression of doubt towards its legitimacy (Brown & Benedict, 2002; Brunson, 2007). This study looks into young people’s (between the ages of 14 to 17 years) attitude towards the police in Finland and the role of migration background. The literature analysis was done by using theories from a social psychological and criminological approach. The data collection was conducted in Finland using quantitative methods by using the International Self-report Delinquency Study (ISRD-3) (Kivivuori, Salmi, Aaltonen & Jouhki, 2014). The results of the regression analysis show that there is no significant association between migrant status and attitudes towards the police. However, there seems to be strong associations between police contact, self-control and delinquency.