População e Sociedade no. 39

Judite Gonçalves de Freitas (editor)

Thematic Issue

Human Rights and Humanitarianism in times of armed conflict in Ukraine – Changes and Continuities

Coordinators

Judite Gonçalves de Freitas

João Casqueira Cardoso

This thematic dossier aims to present a series of general and specific perspectives arising from the armed conflict that began in February 2022 in Ukraine, in conjunction with the reconfiguration of humanitarian issues that plague the world today and the indispensability of guaranteeing the application of human rights in the near future, especially in the context of conflict.

The serious humanitarian problems observed in Ukraine effectively represent violations of international norms and values that have long been taken for granted, and this dossier focuses on ascertaining the criminal responsibility of the acts committed in this conflict, followed by an analysis of the fundamental right to health and the political challenges of International Humanitarian Law in the light of the occupation of Ukraine by Russian forces. This invasion naturally caused a rupture in the international economy, with an economic crisis dictated by sudden and unexpected inflation, presenting the microeconomic effects associated with high inflation and priorities at the macroeconomic level. Obviously, there were many news items published about this armed conflict. Another paper discusses the diversity of perspectives on this issue, both in terms of the variables analysed such as sources, country of origin and methods used through the MA&MT Model for the Analysis of Technical and Scientific Information. Finally, another article addresses the necessary dialogical relationship between the fields of human rights and humanitarian rights, which translates unresolved historical demand and aggravated in the current global scenario. The worsening of contemporary risk factors, both in obviously dangerous contexts such as territories at war, areas affected by natural disasters, endemics and pandemics, coupled with extreme poverty, require humanitarian attention and protection.

The Varia section features three articles and a review. One on the rights of Latin American minorities during the COVID-19 pandemic; another on the list of sources of income of the Archbishop of Lisbon in 1465-1466 that was kept in the British Museum, which, combined with other documentation, expands knowledge about the economic organisation of Portuguese dioceses, especially the changes in Portuguese agriculture in the 14th and 15th centuries; and, finally, a paper on the theme of population and hunger, the indicators of food insecurity in Brazil and in the world and how the UN Sustainable Development Goals can be a way forward to help eradicate hunger. The review presented concerns the work of José Garrucho Martins, As Noites e os Dias. Como se vive com a doença bipolar, published in 2023.