Papers and Documents

A wide variety of papers and documents, peer-reviewed and otherwise, have been published over the years which provide important demonstations of and insights to the use of geospatial technologies. Some of the papers relate directly to the use of such technologies within human rights activities, and some represent potential future applications and enhancements.

Combining Census and Survey Data to Trace the Spatial Dimensions of Poverty: A Case Study of Ecuador
Poverty maps provide information on the spatial distribution of living standards. They are an important tool for policymakers, who rely on them to allocate transfers and inform policy design. Poverty maps are also an important tool for researchers, who use them to investigate the relationship between distribution within a country and growth or other economic, environmental, or social outcomes. A major impediment to the development of poverty maps has been that needed data on income or consumption typically are available only from relatively small surveys. Census data have the required sample size but generally do not have the required information. (more)…

Criteria air pollution and marginalized populations: Environmental inequity in metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona
Our objective is to examine spatial relationships between modeled criteria air pollutants (i.e., nitrous oxides, carbon monoxide, and ozone) and sociodemographics in metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona. Modeled air pollution offers environmental justice researchers a new and robust data source for representing chronic environmental hazards. Methods. We used multiple regression equations to predict criteria pollution levels using sociodemographic variables at the Census block group level. Results. We find that Census block groups with lower neighborhood socioeconomic status, higher proportions of Latino immigrants, and higher proportions of renters are exposed to higher levels of criteria air pollutants. Proportion African American, however, is not (more)…

Cumulative cancer risk from air pollution in Houston: Disparities in risk burden and social disadvantage
Air toxics are of particular concern in Greater Houston, home to one of the world’s largest petrochemical complexes and a quarter of the nation’s refining capacity. Much of this complex lies along a navigable ship channel that flows 50 miles from east of the central business district through Galveston Bay and into the Gulf of Mexico. Numerous communities, including both poor and affluent neighborhoods, are located in close proximity to the 200 facilities along this channel. Our aim is to examine the spatial distribution of cumulative, air-pollution related cancer risks in Houston and Harris County,with particular emphasis on identifying ethnic, (more)…

Demography of Conflict and Violence: An Emerging Field
This introductory article focuses on a new field in demography, the Demography of Conflict and Violence. A research program on this field is proposed as a result of activities of the IUSSP Working Group on Demography of Conflict and Violence, in particular the Group’s seminar in Norway in November 2003. The articles in this special issue of EJP are a selection of papers presented at the seminar. The first article presents new estimates of combat deaths in the world since 1946, whereas the second article looks at the role of demographic estimates in war crime proceedings at international criminal courts. (more)…

Desigualdad racial en Brasil y en Estados Unidos: un estudio estadistico comparado (Racial inequality in Brazil and in the United States: a comparative statistical study)
This article compares statistical indicators of racial inequality between whites and nonwhites in Brazil and the US for the period 1940-1988. Specific areas examined include: geographic and spatial distribution of whites and nonwhites; demographic indicators; education; and employment and earnings. Up until 1960 census and household survey data yield measures of racial inequality that tended to be greater in the US than in Brazil. Over time, those measures have tended to decline in the US while remaining stable, or in some cases increasing, in Brazil. By 1980, the US ranked as the more racially equal of the two societies on (more)…

Determinants of health in seasonal migrants: Coffee harvesters in Los santos, Costa Rica
In the agroexport zone of Los Santos Zone in Costa Rica, coffee is harvested by migrant labor. Most migrants are from Panama and Nicaragua. We describe migrants’ housing- and service-related health determinants, with analyses of ethnicity, nationality and geography. We used interviews, observation-based assessments, and the Geographic Information System to assess a population of 8,783 seasonal migrants and 1,099 temporary dwellings at a total of 520 farms during 2004-2005. We identified determinants of poor health including widespread deficiencies in the quality of grower-provided dwellings, geographical isolation, crowding, lack of radio and television, and deficient toilets and cooking facilities. The indigenous (more)…

Do As Thy Neighbor? A Spatial Econometric Analysis of Human Rights
Recent decades have seen a substantial increase in the development of international human rights laws (i.e, Steiner and Alston 1996) and in the number of international organizations aimed at furthering their respect (Keck and Sikkink 1998). Corresponding with those trends, a scholarly literature has quickly developed to explain why basic human rights are abused. Though a variety of human rights have been examined, the bulk of these studies have sought to explain why personal (or physical) integrity rights are violated by focusing upon the internal characteristics of states. In this study we take a different approach to the subject by (more)…

Dublin’s spatial narrative – The transition from essentially monocultural places to polycultural spaces
Vital data accessed from the ERHA (HSE) pertaining to asylum seekers living in Dublin in 2002 was analysed, resulting in the production of a series of maps showing the distribution of asylum seekers by variables such as nationality, age and gender by dlectoral division [ed]. The theoretical lens for this research examined the cultural geography and sociology of space in Dublin. Using an interdisciplinary approach it paid particular attention to the politics of scale, identity and power associated with space and place. Locating each asylum seeker within EDs for use with GIS allowed observation, reading and photography of Dublin’s evolving (more)…

Economic and Political Explanations of Human Rights Violations
This research note aims to measure human rights conditions crossnationally and to account for variations in these conditions. The measure conceptualizes human rights along two dimensions: the imprisonment of political dissidents, and the killing and torture of prisoners. The authors apply these measures to 122 countries and attempt to account for variations in terms of several well-known economic and political hypotheses.

Environmental equity in a sunbelt city: the spatial distribution of toxic hazards in Phoenix, Arizona
This paper examines the spatial distributions of industrial facilities emitting toxic substances in the Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan region. The analysis relies on geographic information system mapping of hazardous facilities listed in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) to assess the spatial distribution of polluting industries in relation to the demographic composition of host neighborhoods. The research addresses four questions: (1) Are there differences between the socioeconomic characteristics of neighborhoods with and without polluting industrial facilities? (2) Is there a relationship between the volume of toxic chemicals released from industrial facilities and the socioeconomic characteristics of host neighborhoods? (3) (more)…