International Journal of Community Research

Influence of attitude and culture on quality of life of polio survivors in Nigeria

Surajo Kamilu Sulaiman — 2023-08-25

As in most low and middle-income countries, persons with disabilities in Nigeria experience various forms of social and attitudinal barriers that may adversely affect almost all aspects of their life. These barriers often stem from harmful traditional and cultural practices toward disability and persons with disabilities. Social and attitudinal barriers reported in Nigeria include stigmatization, discrimination, and physical and sexual abuse. Consequences of social and attitudinal barriers are likely to marginalize and exclude persons with disabilities from participating in mainstream life. The overall effect of participation restriction, stigmatization, and discrimination could undermine the wellbeing and quality of life of persons with disabilities including polio survivors. This article discusses how socio-cultural attitudes and beliefs of Nigerians toward physical disability may influence the perception of quality of life among polio survivors in Nigeria.

Diplomatic criticism of governmental policies: Iraq as a case study

Zainab Waheed Dahham — 2023-08-25

Despite warnings by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relation 1961 (VCDR) concerning ambassadors’ interference in the internal affairs of receiving states, a Saudi Ambassador is acting in a manner that suggests he cannot serve the interests of his country without interfering in the internal affairs of Iraq. The questions are whether the current mechanism of VCDR is adequate to redress the problem of interference in the internal affairs of receiving states, and whether the Saudi ambassador’s comments should be considered as interference in Iraq? This paper therefore, examined the extent to which contributions of the Saudi Ambassador constitute interference in the internal affairs of Iraq, while also identifying effective ways to improve the laws on diplomatic interference during internal conflicts. It critically analysed the VCDR alongside a literature review and concluded that the VCDR obliges ambassadors to abstain from interference in the internal political life of receiving state stands, and that the Saudi Ambassador was in violation of VCDR by demonstrably intervening in Iraqi internal affairs via his (un-)diplomatic criticism of Iraqi governmental policies not directly related to his country’s interest. Hence the recommendation that appropriate punishments equal to the damage caused by such ambassador’s actions and/or words.be meted out.

Violent armed conflict between nomadic herdsmen and sedentary farmers in nigeria: a consocial need for integrated community based security surveillance

Nwachukwu Sunny Nnabuihe — 2023-08-25

This paper highlights the importance of establishing integrated community-based security surveillance system (ICSS), as a major step towards improving the detection and assessment of violent conflicts between Nomadic Herdsmen and Sedentary Farmers in Nigeria. The system is an adaptable low-cost security initiative, designed to improve internal security and strengthen rapid response to security risks. It is to be managed by communities for their protection against external forces through monitoring unusual events and reporting same to appropriate authorities. The ICSS volunteers are to bolster community surveillance in collaboration with law enforcement agents and in line with these 3 cardinal operational contexts: -to monitor security trends and trigger response operations; enhance operational security in the affected communities; and to operate in complex environments where there is manifestation of weak, bad, and declining institutional security framework, and/or where there is limited surveillance coverage. This fundamental proposal is therefore a bid to cover security gaps that have widened the ethnic and religious crises in Nigeria, while also contributing to existing local knowledge and identifying militating factors surrounding such armed conflicts in Nigeria.

The responsibility of ISIS on crimes committed against Sunni Muslims: Iraq case study

Dahham Zainab Waheed — 2023-08-25

Oftentimes, the mainstream media and scholars present the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) as a Sunni militant group formed in reaction to the excesses of ‘Christian West’ and ‘Shia rulers’ of Iraq and Syria. However, to what extent does ISIS represent Sunni Muslims? This unanswered question and the implications of ISIS ideology, as well as the consequences of their actions, definitely merit in- depth scrutiny. Relying on a qualitative study design involving 30 Iraqis of diverse religious backgrounds, this paper investigated the question and offered a glimpse of ISIS’s ideology and the impact of their actions on Sunni Muslims. The results obtained indicated that Sunni-Shia or Sunni Muslim-West binaries are not only an inaccurate description of ISIS’s ideology, but a concomitant legitimatization of ISIS’s actions, while tending to cover up ISIS crimes against populations, including the Sunni/Shia Muslims, Yezidis and Christians. In fact, Sunni Muslims have suffered the most in terms of violence and socio-economic down-turn in the hands of ISIS, and are routinely compelled to follow ISIS’s ideology in the areas controlled by them, while being threatened also with death and more violence if they refuse to comply.