After two weeks, I have determined that finding articles on refugees is not a difficult task at all, there are many to choose from each week. This week, I chose an article on asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Iraq, and Iran who choose to seek refuge in Australia entitled, “Australia: Why boat people risk it all”. The article depicts very grim circumstances where people know that there is a very real possibility to death with such an attempt but they choose to do it any way. The article describes how individuals from these countries pay large sums, in this particular instance, a lady named Fariba paid $17,000 for her family to be moved by boat to Australia. Many of them never make it because it is a dangerous journey and if they do make it alive, many of them are in limbo in Indonesia sometimes for years before they can be properly processed. While many of these refugees understand the dangers presented they still take the risk because they do not feel that they have a choice and believe that anyone else in their situation would choose the same. On July 23, 2013, a boat carrying refugees to Australia sank with nearly 200 people in it and 20 people were killed with about one-quarter of those individuals being children. The rest were rescued and literally washed ashore.
This article was very eye-opening to the desperation that refugees feel when they are seeking asylum in another country. They really feel as though they have no other choice, no other way out, and no other way to live the life they want to. When reading this article I was reminded of the Declaration of Human Rights that these refugees are being so blatantly denied. They should have a right to freedom and choices but they are not provided those basic opportunities that we take for granted. In fact, even worse, they are exploited by other people for countries like Indonesia because they know that these asylum seekers are vulnerable. It also reminds me of Nadia in the Not For Sale book. She too was seeking a better life for herself and her son, but was instead exploited for her vulnerabilities and forced into prostitution. These kinds of things should not be allowed to go on in the world. If I want to move to Indiana, nobody will stop me or charge me to do so. These individuals should have the same right to live in peace wherever they want to.
Vaswani, Karishma (2013, September 3). Australia: Why boat people risk it all. BBC News. Retrieved from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23940973
Kristin- I really liked this article, I originally chose it to demonstrate my topic of discrimination. It is terrifying to think of 200+ people who paid their life savings in order to board a rickety boat and sail away from persecution only to nearly drown in the sea when the boat sinks. Later in the article it discussed how many people had been detained for more than a year and were still waiting to be released yet they all said they would endure the journey again if it meant having freedom. This article really made me see how much I take for granted as an American citizen and how I view my freedom as a right and not a privelege. This story was very thought provoking. I don't know how strong I could be when facing this kind of oposition.
Kristen- Your article really made an impression on me. First, I can only imagine the feeling of desperation of these people that would risk their lives for an unknown future. Like you, I thought about the people in Not For Sale that were following a dream of a better future only to have been tricked and abused. Instead of fulfilling hopes and dreams many only have hopes of finally receiving the coveted title of refugees. While reading the article I was shocked by the deaths for refuges and I was also shocked by how they are treated when they are detained as detainees. I could not believe that a pregnant woman was about to give birth under in her current circumstances. Despite all of these circumstances the people repport they would do it over again if, this expressed to me how bad they want out Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Iraq and Iran.
While watching the video of the lady that lost her passport and belongings, as well as seeing all those people, basically in jail cells, and hearing them all say they would do this again, just to seek a better a way life, I really do see how much we take for granted in this country. The people that have lived in these cells for years, blows my mind, that they would rather live in a jail than be persecuted in their home country. I can not imagine such a life. The deaths of those seeking such asylum, reminds me of a trip I took to Ponce Inlet in Florida, and the Coast Guard had on exhibit the make shift boats that those fleeing Cuba had arrived in, and most were found empty. This story took me back to that trip and the horrors that people will go through to seek a better way of life that we in this country take for granted everyday. The accusations by some in the article about how the government officials were taking the money from the refugees and using for themselves and putting these people in detention centers makes my blood boil. Good job on finding this article, and I think seeing the video that accompanies it brings home the horrid reality of what we are reading about in class.
Kristin, this is a deplorable situation that I think many countries face. I agree that these are deplorable conditions, especially when you point out how Indonesia is taking advantage of the vulnerability of refugees and engage in exploitation. The Indonesian immigration officer’s comment though that they have no legal responsibility to help asylum seekers is not quite correct I would say. On the one side, Indonesia, too, is member of the UN and has officially adopted the international human rights law. As article 3 states, everyone has a right to life, liberty and security of person. Now refugees flee their country of origin because those same rights are violated, and seek refuge in a country promising internationally to help them, since a return would most probably cause torture and death. So Indonesia has then a legal responsibility, once refugees come to the nation’s shore, to protect them by taking them in. However, do they have the economic capacity, human resources or adequate procedures, space and funds to do so? I think this is a possible area of conflict, because Indonesia might have put up one friendly global cheek by their official participation in human rights protection, but the national or local global cheek is hostile to say at least. The immigration officer talks about asylum seekers, yet the words used for what usually would be a refugee camp is “detention center” and refugees are “detainees”, assigning them some sort of criminal status. So even if Indonesia wants to be globally acknowledged as not being “a bad guy” when it comes to human rights, they might have bit more than they can chew. As we can read on the UN’s website, when adopting this international law, you also agree to implement it accordingly on your nation’s regional and local level, and this might be hard to do for many countries, considering that poverty, unemployment or other issue could require more internal attention as to time and funds allocation. So in Indonesia, one possible conflict could be that a nationally made decision has not been thought through in how it collides with local resources or capacities. Or maybe the resources are there and not distributed correspondingly, either due to corruption or mismanagement. Either way there is a disconnect and what’s being said is not being done, and reports about the violation of human rights in countries that have pledged globally to do otherwise are a daily occurrence, Indonesia is unfortunately no different. It appears that Australia itself is not doing better by sending refugees to Papua New Guinea for processing. I wanted to make an educated guess, but I actually looked up Papua New Guinea and as of 2011 they had a population of 6 Million, life expectancy around 57, infant mortality 60 out of 1000, and a literacy rate of 57 % compared to 91 % worldwide. I have trouble imagining that they have sufficient or adequate resources to process refugees in a timely manner, depending what sort of contract they have with Australia and the UN. I’m thinking also of language barriers while processing, because it takes a long time for a refugee to be officially UNHCR-recognized, involving many security and background checks and working with several international agencies and their affiliates. Either way, the refugees are suffering twice. Not necessarily all, but many UN nations have agreed to do something that sounds good in theory and on a global platform, but lacks practical national implication for different reasons. Although monitoring and sanctions are in place, the problem is deeper than that and in the end, the refugees are tossed to and fro and have to endure dire consequences again. http://country-facts.findthedata.org/l/187/Papua-New-Guinea
I am pretty good about keeping up with world news, so I am shocked that I did not see more about the boat that sank where 200 were exhausted and 20 died. I find it even sadder that it sank only 6 miles from shore. It seems as if they had barely started their journey. It is crazy how much refugees have to risk attempting to get to Australia in one piece. I was stunned at how much they had to pay and while the article rebuffed that there was corruption, I totally believe that to be the truth. There is corruption worldwide and people who are always looking to make money legally or illegally. Finally, It is evident how much fear the refugees feel when they asked to be not named in case they get deported back to their home country. They are literally afraid for their lives. It is no wonder that they are trying to escape the war torn countries that they came from. I think your post relates to a lot of things we have discussed in class, especially the activities revolving around the Declaration of Human Rights. Those trying to flee have literally lost all of their rights, and that is why they are desperate to leave and start a new life somewhere else. They are searching for basic freedoms that we tend to take for granted. Things like education, food, and shelter are rare for refugees. It clear how desperate they are for freedom, when no matter the trials they have faced, they all answered yes when asked if they would it over. They do not have the same “rights” that many of us who are more fortunate have.
WOW... That's all I could think about when I first read your article. I could not imagine the conditions that these refugees are facing that they would rather spend their life savings, and risk not only their life but their children's as well just to leave their situations. When I first read your post, I thought that this was a bad situation but on further reading in the actual article I couldn't believe it, the facts are terrible. The thought of 200 plus people on a small rinky dink boat being charged all of this money just for the hope of some type of freedom, makes me question the genuineness of the boat operators, and that makes me so angry to think of these poor families being exploited and put into very dangerous situation just so someone can earn a few more 0's in his bank account. Thanks for the post it was definitely a good eye opening read :)
Anti-Muslim monk stokes Burmese religious tensions Topic: Discrimination Submitted by: Lisa Norton 9/6/13 The BBC News is reporting on religious tension in the city of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. Jonah Fisher reports that one controversial monk, Shin Wirathu, is teaching an anti-Muslim message to young monks who are new to service. While teaching the young monks about the five pillars of the Buddhist faith, he is sending a message of caution against the Muslim society warning that a “master plan” is underway to overtake the Buddhist citizens and turn Myanmar into an Islamic state. Shin Wirathu is teaching his students that Muslims are well behaved only when they are weak but if they are given power and strength they will rise up and overtake the Buddhists like a pack of wolves. Wirathu is part of a controversial nationalist group called 969. The idea behind this group is to only support Buddhist shops, marry Buddhist women and sell land only to those practicing Buddhism, basically snuffing out the Islamic society by taking away their means of surviving financially and physically. Stores and businesses are affiliating with the cause by using brightly colored stickers in their windows that indicate they are owned by Buddhists. Wirathu’s theories have reached far and wide including many powerful state and world leaders. He was featured on the cover of Time magazine being hailed as the face of Buddhist terrorism. The Burmese monks were outraged and the issue was banned. A statement from Myanmar’s president hailed Wirathu as a “son of Buddha”. The article reports that not all Buddhists in Myanmar reflect Wirathu’s discrimination against Muslims however with each new outbreak of religious conflict that occurs it seems to reinforce the view that Muslims are looking for new ways to achieve power in Burma. As it happens, the article reports that the city of Myanmar is 90% Buddhist and only 5% are Muslims. This article made me wonder is Shin Wirathu views himself as an advocate for the Buddhist people? Although he was self-appointed and not exactly elected as a representative of the Burmese people, he is trying to make changes in the city on behalf of the Buddhist religion as a whole. I do not agree with his tactics/policies but I am certain that he views his actions as positive and pro-active.
Lisa, I was so speechless when I read this article! How appalling. I totally believe Monk Kayla Sar that the 969 movement is unnecessary. I cannot imagine how it must be to walk into a courtyard and see graphic pictures that Wirathu put up and it is completely normal, that scares me. This definitely relates back to talking about social injustice in class and how these people have been discriminated. Wirathu says it is a movement for the Buddhist people but they are also discriminating the Muslims in the process. I also must ask the question: where are their rights? While reading that article I sure did not see that they had any. What an amazing article to read and how hooked into it I got when I started reading! Good Job Lisa!
Jalena Robertson Topic: Genocide The argument if there of genocide or not genocide is a current concern in Canada in the soon to be opened human rights Canadian Museum. A survivor named Fred Kelly (Kelly)of the First Nations people believes that the events that happened in a residential school in the 1940’s and 1950’s was genocide.. He believes that the nutritional experiments that happened there without the people knowledge were stemmed from hate and racism He believes the acts that happened at this school should be remembered in history as genocide. However, the Canadian Museum for Human is not of the same opinion, The museum has plenty of justifications to explain their reasoning for not titled this exhibit genocide. They say they are not the courts therefore, they can not decide. The Musuem says they are not academic institution. I am not sure what this has to do with using the term genocide or not using the term, but at this time they are not going to use the term genocide. The Museum says it will wait to use a term after speaking to the aboriginal community. The statements made by the museum reminded me of the reading regarding Institutional racism (Garcia & Sorest, 2006). “ Instituinal racism typically isn’t ugly , rather than being expressed through hostile, racial slurs, it is often wrapped in righteous proclamations of traditions, fairness and high standards” (Garcia & Sorest, 2006, p. 44)
Robert Falcon Quelette (Quelette) does not think the term will be used officially in the future. As he believes that it is not being used because Canadians are not ready for it. Quelette has the opinion that Canadians would like to believe they are the rescuers of other countries acts genocide which leaves them to denial of their history.
It is always interesting reading about race relations in other countries besided the United States. Just like the gentlemen pointed out in the article that Canada is not ready to claim that they had any part of what is considered "genocide" because of what they do currently when they go to other countries to help out with mass murders in Rwanda and Bosnia. I believe it will take some time for other countries to admit what they did to other races and ethnic groups within their countries just like how long it took for African Americans to get an apology from President Bill Clinton on slavery.
Jalena - I found your article fascinating but after reading it, I was left more questions than I had answers to. I wanted to know about these residential schools and meal experimentation. So, I found an excellent explanation on Canadian Encyclopedia website. It describes desparaging circumstances where individuals did not have a right to choice of much of anything. They were practically forced to work to keep the schools afloat, could not speak their native language or practice their own religious beliefs. They were not fed properly and the way it is described in this entry, it sounds just short of a concentration camp that one would expect in a genocide situation. So, I can see why Mr. Kelly is so upset that they would not label it for what it is. That must be very frustrating for somebody that loved through it. At the end of the CE entry, it describes that Canadian officals apologized to the aboriginal people similar to the way that Shianne describes President Clinton's apology. I can see how that would be frustrating for survivors and I also believe that it is a good representation of genocide.
Jalena, this is an interesting article for genocide. Although it is known that the western countries used genocide on their native peoples, it is still strange and unexpected to read about Canada's government policies of this inhumane treatment. After reading your response and article link, I considered how much has changed for the good even though there is still debate about the topic. It is relieving and an indicator of progress to see that Kelly is now able to exercise his rights to speak out of his treatment while placed at the institutional school. I would assume that when he was a child, adults (and children) were not able to utilize these rights with protection. The situation is different from today since he can publish whatever his experience is on the internet for all to read.
I also found the article very interesting and like Kristin, was left with many questions. I had never heard about the treatment of aboriginal children in Canada. History has a funny way of minimizing the pain and consequences of diffirent races and cultures. America is the land of the free but there are definitely some dark moments in our history. The eradication attempts and re-education of the Native Americans, slavery, and even the syphilis experiments on the tuskeegee men, show that even countries based on freedom and equality, have moments in time where certain groups suffered well beyond what any human rights declarations of today would allow. Thanks for sharing the additional info Kristin.
Melissa McIntosh Topic: Human Rights 9/7/13 Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23987183
While searching for articles related to human rights this week I stumbled upon this very interesting article written by, Geeta Panday, BBC News. The article is entitled, "Zubin Mehta in Kashmir: Concert hits controversial note". To understand this article, the reader must first understand what is taking place in Kashmir, India. During the 1980’s an intense struggle began between India and Pakistan for control of the area known as Kashmir. This has been an intense conflict and thousands of Kashmiri people losing there lives. Pakistan and India both claim full ownership of the area and neither is willing to back down. Imagine experiencing all of this bad blood between the people in this area and the tensions felt there and along comes the announcement that there will be a concert held. Now this is not just any concert. It is a very big deal! The man who is planning the concert is Zubin Mehta, a famous conductor. This concert is drawing much publicity. The name of the concert is Ehsaas-e-Kashmir. This can be translated as, feelings for Kashmir. 1,500 people have been invited to attend this fabulous shin dig. Some of the most prominent people in India plan to attend. Mehta reports that he hopes to inspire the people of Kashmir with a message filled with hope through his music. Many human rights activists and separatists do not feel the same as Mehta however, and they openly are opposing the concert. Many people in opposition to the concert are reporting they are suffering and dying as a result of extreme oppression by the Indian authorities. These activists report that this concert is an attempt to paint a picture of peace that is the farthest thing from the truth. Activists plan to strike for an entire day to demonstrate opposition and there are plans to schedule a simultaneous concert during Mehta’s event to raise awareness of human rights issues in this area. This concert has not been cleared officially yet by the authorities in the area. Syed Ali Shah Geelani is a separatist leader in India. He voices that he feels the concert is a stab at Pakistan and a method to gain support for Indian rule is Kashmir. He feels that Germany and India have joined together to put out this message and gain support. Khurram Parvez, of Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Societies poses the question, how can you collaborate with India, which is involved in human rights violations in Kashmir”, with a shame on you indication toward Germany. This article relates to a discussion that we had in World Problems and Advocacy class last Thursday. We talked about human rights and discussed the UN’s Universal declaration of human rights. In Article 19 of the UN’s human rights document it is stated that everyone has a right to freely express there thoughts and opinions. It is apparent in this article that many people are freely expressing there beliefs in regard to the up and coming concert. In article 20 the right of peaceful assembly and association is discussed. This comes into play with the possibility of a concert to demonstrate opposition to the other concert, Ehsaas-e-Kashmir.
Article Date: September 2, 2013 Article: India passes massive program to feed 800 million in poverty Brian Tucker
This article is about India and how they are addressing the issue of poverty in their country. According to the article, the World Bank has done a study and the results show that India has one third of the world’s poverty. Around 30% of the food in India is not properly stored or refrigerated, political misuse of funds and resources, along with roads that are in poor conditions lead to the food not reaching citizens once it is gathered at farms. According to India’s own governmental research, half of the country’s children five years of age and under are malnourished. The International Food Policy Research Institute lists India as one of 15 countries with severe poverty. Despite India having a large economic growth, it has declined in the past several quarters to around 5%. The GDP, according to the article, is of concern to India since it is at 4.8%. To address the poverty in India, the government has enlisted a bill entitled National Food Security Bill to provide food for 800 million citizens. This bill would give the right for two thirds of the country’s citizens to buy 12 pounds of food, such as rice, wheat, and other cereal types of food for no more than 3 cents per pound. The bill would also allow for pregnant women, breast feeding mothers, and children less than 6 years of age to have food for free. There are two political sides for this bill. Those who support the bill state the bill is long overdue to address the poverty issues in India. They feel that the economy of India can manage the funds appropriately and give millions of poverty stricken citizens the much needed food that is lacking in the country now. The supporters state that the cost to India would be $18 billion a year, while supplying 62 million tons of food. The supporters also state that this bill will assist with the citizens protecting their own rights for food, and will address issues with the public food distribution in India. Those who oppose the bill refer to it as a “shameless” political venture to elicit votes for those who are in office, and report that they feel the country cannot afford such a plan. The opposition to the bill agree that the poverty issues need to be addressed, but state that there are programs already in place to address these issues. According to the article, the opposition report the bill is another way of naming the programs already in existence, and blame the mismanagement of funding and resources as the reasons to why the poverty rates continue to rise in India. This article ties into our class discussion of how economic growth and social growth need to be built upon at the same rate, otherwise there will be a gap between the two. The article discusses that India has had much economic growth over the past two decades, however, the majority of the countries citizens are still in poverty. Part of the reason for this, as discussed in the article, is due to mismanagement of funds, poor planning, and mismanagement of addressing issues that prohibit the food from reaching those in poverty.
I find it sad to here that critics feel the need to say that the feeding of 800 million impoverished people “is a ploy that will encourage waste and corruption”, and “that this is nothing but a populist bribe”. The country of India as the article stated ‘was ranked in the 2012 Global Hunger Index as one of the 15 countries with the most severe hunger’. If a survey can be taken, and a country can be shown as whose citizens are starving, then them having food becoming available to them is not an issue of waste or over-consumption. It sounds like those particular critics do not believe in protecting or allowing the citizens to have any rights, and furthermore passing this bill is just a gimmick. Even though prior to this bill the people in India have been starving, and their rights to have aid were forsaken.
Michaela Vaillant, Terrorism, September 6, 2013 BBC “Terrorist” documentary gets sequel - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-23969422 This article intrigued me in that it relates to terrorism as a “lived experience” addressing the conflict in cultural, political and family dynamics due to a changed worldview. The article itself actually just reports about the follow-up of a preceding documentary – My brother, the Islamist (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21798432, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12900460),which in conjunction with several other related articles present the core idea of how a family got separated through cultural and ideological influences. Robb Leech’s (Dorset, UK) documentary is about his stepbrother Richard Dart, who converted to Islam and joined an extremist Islamic group. Leech presents segments of Dart’s journey into Islam, his strict adherence to the concept of Jihad, support of Sharia-Law and the establishment of a world-wide Islamic state, leading to his imprisonment in April 2011 after substantiated accusations of preparing acts of terrorism. Because it presents a timely reflection of the global political climate, Leech received green light from his producer to film a sequel about how his brother moved from being Islamist to terrorist. His objective is to bring understanding about people’s growing disconnection from the culture and society form they grew up in and show reasons for the radical change, including interviews with the extremist’s group leader Anjem Choudary, Dart’s mentor, as well as converted and de-converted friends of Dart. The conflict here is not necessarily Dart’s conversion to Islam, but its participation in its extremist wing which condones taking lives, treatment of women as second-class and encouragement of violent worldwide Islamization. The concept of violent “persuasion” for religious reasons in itself is not new, as Christianity for example itself has to struggle with those stains in its history. But religion as a motivating factor is driving political action and the accommodation of cultural diversity is pitted against the protection of basic human rights. Many countries with Muslim population (Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq) are members of the UN but violate rights they have voluntarily agreed to protect. According to International Human Rights laws, these are obligations which “... States are bound to respect…, to protect and to fulfill human rights…and protect individuals and groups against human rights abuses.” http://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/Pages/InternationalLaw.aspx. However, these governments have “worldviews that hinder improvement” in these areas (class PP). One positive factor of globalization is technology giving us immediate access to the various developing currents in religion, politics, economics etc. However, with this comes the responsibility and exercise hereof as a global citizen. As a global citizen, Leech has to accept his brother’s conversion, but is he not also obligated to advocate against him or – if applicable – for his sister who does not agree his beliefs? Where does he draw the line of self-determination? For example, family interaction has become extremely strained (i. e. Dart greeted his stepbrother only with his “dirty hand” because he is regarded an infidel). Dart’s beliefs clash clearly with his brother’s or any other “non-believer”, including his entire family. My ethical issue here is that I have problems respecting Dart’s form of religion because it disregards the worth of human life and does not promote social justice. Yet, his religious point of view seems to emphasize the utilitarian form of social justice. And, putting myself in their shoes, extremist Muslims can “justify” their desire of expansion as a reaction to the prevailing racial/social contract which is still based on Western culture or white people’s power while disregarding other ethnic group’s involvement or decision-making right.
Scottish independence: Welfare reforms 'possible but potentially costly'
This article explains how Scotland’s welfare program spends more per person than the entire Great Britain. If Scotland becomes independent from Great Britain it can reform its policies to cater the needs of its population. According to their benefits and pension report Scotland’s population is aging faster than its counterparts Wales and England. Therefore policies need to be created for future decades.
The most expensive welfare benefit programs for Scotland are the state pension, child and working tax credits, and disability living allowance. When trying to figure out how to redesign its program and benefits Scotland has to take a lot of things into consideration. The article goes on to state any redesign will require Scotland spend money and some people will be highly affected such as the low income families. According to the Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore: "… there would be huge cost pressures on an independent Scotland, particularly as our population is aging, and particularly because of the challenges we have in raising the money to pay for that increasing bill."
I believe this article ties right into the material covered in class. In class we talked about the different forms of social justice and advocacy. Social justice: a sense of fairness for all and that it is a process and a product; to include economic, political, and social equality between individuals as well as institutions. The political leaders in Scotland are trying to figure out how to organize distributive justice. This would be Scotland’s obligation to take care of its citizens. The article also points out Scotland’s finance secretary stating “Social protection”. I believe this is an explanation of the Egalitarian (Social Contract). We can see policymakers in Scotland trying to give basic liberties such as welfare aid to disabled and the elderly.
I find this article interesting. I never knew that Scottland spent so much money on the state pension, child and working tax credits, and disability living allowance and attendance allowance. In Great Britian, their third most expensive benefit was housing benefit. I know that the secretary of state for Scottland has stated, "We've had a tough few years, but what this report really nails is the fact that, under independence, there would be huge cost pressures on an independent Scottland, particularly as our population is aging, and particularly because of the challenges we have in raising the money to pay for that increasing bill" I just can not help but to wonder, how did they survive at all.
Yolonda Armstead Sep 8, 2013 Topic: Over-population Mass birth-control programmes This article examines the use, or potential use, of mass fertility regulation as a form of population control. In the Bible scripture “be fruitful and multiply”, the articles seems to state that some may be taking that verse a little too literal, which is causing some countries to become over populated, which is giving certain people a desire to want to look into mass birth control programmes. The article addresses general objections such as imperialism, human rights, eugenics, and gender bias. As for imperialism in summary the rich countries would control, and fund the implementation of the birth control programmes in exchange of financial or other aid. Human rights- the person rights to choose how many children they would like to have would be taken away from them, and the choice would be made for them. Control in the form of eugenics, birth control would affect certain classes or ethnic groups, and lastly gender bias the article states that mass birth control programmes operate by controlling only female fertility such as the pill, hormone implants, and IUD’s. There were other objections that were listed such as bribery or incentives. These objections would be used in the form of coercion, unfairness, eugenics, human dignity and even abortion. The article stated that ‘there are particular ethical objections to birth control programmes that use incentives of money, food or other benefits to reward people who take part:’ With that statement in mind I do not see giving someone food as a reward towards using birth control. That sounds a bit inhuman. That statement sounds as if they are with-holding food along with other benefits from them if they do not take part in the mass birth control program as the ‘overseer’ deems fit. The article did not address which country this form of coercion is occurring in, but for a person who is starving or watching their family starve it is probably an effective mechanism of control. As the article states this has been going on since the 1970’s in place such as India and China, but through the lenses that I view life with, this is definitely a violation of our human rights. http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/contraception/mass_birth_control_1.shtml
Yolanda, After reading your article the one thing that stood out to me that was not included in the article was the possible side effects of long term birth control use. Forcing women to take birth control for long periods of time could result in health problems. For instance, high blood pressure, stroke, and heart disease can all result from the prolonged use of birth control. This is certainly a human rights issue. I cant imagine how the government would decide how many children a person could have. as I read your article many questions popped into my head, What would be the punishment if someone's birth control failed and they had too many children. Also would people in power be able to have more children or bend the rules? I can't imagine a life where others controlled me to this extent.
Yolanda, I really liked your article but am left quite dumbfounded. This is a huge human rights issue! This really reminds me of when the government forced sterilization onto people with disabilities years ago. To think that our right to reproduce could be altered or to think that we could no longer have the right is heart wrenching. The article also talks about objections to using coercion to get people to comply with taking birth control. For example, a person who is starving is offered food in exchange for taking birth control; How could they refuse an offer like that when their belly is telling them everyday to eat! It also worries me that this could someday be widespread, and that people really would not have a choice. Most women have to take a certain type of birth control due to genetics, and health conditions. Sometimes these issues are unknown until they have been on a certain form of birth control for a few months. How would the government deal with that? Some women can't take birth control at all, and what would happen to them? Would they be forced to get a hysterectomy or thrown into jail for corruption? So many things to think about..
Theresa May pledges modern-day slavery crackdown Debra Smith 9/9/2013 In last week’s article, I discussed children and adolescents being bought, coerced and kidnapped from their homes, to work in garment factories. This week I will be discussing what one place is trying to do to stop human trafficking. The United Kingdom has made it their top priority according the article “Theresa May pledges modern-day slavery crackdown.” In my opinion I think these are the more important articles about human trafficking because without laws and regulations people are going to traffic humans for whatever reason they deem fitting. In the article it talks about how their first concern is to free the slaves, and to convict and imprison more modern-day slave drivers. After they have been imprisoned they will no longer be eligible for what is called Gang masters. Gang masters, according to the article are individuals who supply large numbers of workers for agriculture, forestry, horticulture, shellfish-gathering or food processing and packaging. I can understand how this would make sense because it is essentially these people’s job to “supply” workers and what better and more cost efficient way to do that than to traffic them for little to no pay? I just can’t believe how these are not “common sense” laws but I guess that’s what I get for being in my little American bubble, where hopefully people who are trafficking are punished. I particularly liked this article because it gives me hope that in at least some countries Human Trafficking is not taking lightly, and it allows thinking that a war of traffickers does exists. While reading these articles I think of the UN declaration of human rights that we discussed in class because nearly ALL of the rights of the victims of trafficking are taken away. For example, in the game that we played one of our hottest topics was forced labor, and whether someone has the right to force another person to work. Although most of our conversation related to prisons, I still firmly believe that no one should be forced to work. No woman, man, or child should be taken from their homes and forced into servitude, slavery, or any form of forced labor. I commend the United Kingdom for standing their ground and tightening their belts when it comes to trafficking.
Side Note: I also, found this article interesting because you never hear of trafficking occurring in the UK, or at least I hadn’t.
I found this article about educating women in Afghanistan compelling because so many women cannot and do not attend school in this country for a variety of reasons. As mentioned, one of the primary reasons for this is fear. It is no secret that safety is a major concern among women in Afghanistan. Many abandoned their studies during the war because of fear for their lives. While they are considered “free” to attend school, they can still face repercussions from insurgents who are looking to impact fear and violence in their communities. This article goes back to the discussions that we have been having in class, as well as the Universal Declaration of human rights document. Specifically, this story relates to Article 26 which states that everyone has the right to education. It also says that, “Education shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace” (United Nations, 1948). I found this quote especially significant because women are not seeking out education for the exact opposite reasons as those listed above. Afghanistan is trying to attempt peace with other countries but can only go so far with it because they are still in a time of war. Women, especially, are caught in the cross hairs. Even if they wanted to attend school, the author notes that the schools are still in much need of work. Since we also discussed how one person can snowball a change, I researched more into the problem and what is being done to try to fix it. I found a YouTube video from last year that documents the change that one woman is trying to make in order to help women and girls receive their education. As she notes during the start of the video, education is the ticket for a better life. This is an opportunity that many girls and women are not able to have because they cannot enjoy a basic freedom such as education. I found the video heartwarming because not only is she educating her students, she is teaching them necessities for their culture such as sewing. Finally, she truly is practicing social work by raising her amount of students from 300 to 15,000 students in just one year. She is hope for their future. Educating the next generation of girls in Afghanistan . (2012, October 1). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzUh99sPuT8 Khan, A. A. (2013, September 20). Universities need more women students, says world bank. University World News. Retrieved from http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20130906162934480 United Nations. (1948, December 10). Universal declaration of human rights . Retrieved from https://tigernet.campbellsville.edu/ICS/icsfs/declaration__eng.pdf?target=62c18842-b88b-4e98-9a5e-98fe734135ee
I really enjoyed reading your article for this week. I was amazed to read that only 19% of the individuals enrolled in Afghan universities were women. I also thought that is was interesting that some of the things that they were contributing to this low enrollment was social issues. The article mentioned that one way to get more women to enroll would be to provide them things that were important to them such as adequate sanitation on campuses and safety in the residential facilities and during transportation. The inequality that women face with access to education was found in our readings for this week. One interesting thing that was mentioned in Sernau was that societies that have differences in access to education access and quality are more likely to be marked by turmoil, unrest and even civil war (page 117). This is definitely applies to Afghanistan. Reading this article and the readings for the week made me feel especially blessed for the situation that I am currently in. Not only am I able to attend a university that I feel safe at, I am also able to have a family while working outside of the home with the support of my husband. It's sad to think that not all women around the world are afforded these same privileges.
The situation that women in Afghan are confronting looks desperate because the reason why they cannot get access to education was because of war and one lady's story who was trying to make a change by creating the opportunity to educate women in the middle of war surprised me. Obviously there is hope as long as even one person's courageous action can enlighten in the darkness. Nobody would think being educated is important when we are surrounded by the threat of death because of war. This girl not only believed that way but she took an action. Who knows, those educated women in Afghan can change entire nation and entire world because of this one woman who started this education movement.
While looking for an article that discussed food or water issues/concerns, I came across an article titled “Could smuggling be to blame for Venezuela’s food shortages?” This article discusses the current food shortages in Venezuela. According to the article individuals in Venezuela are allotted a certain amount of rice, chicken, wheat, and sugar due to shortages in the area. Individuals come from miles around and stand in line for hours in scorching heat to be able to get their allotment. One issue that the country has with this is that many of the individuals who show up to get their allotment are smugglers.
These smugglers buy up as much as they can and sell their goods to other smuggler s that then transport the goods across the border to Columbia. Smugglers have a huge incentive to do this. The goods are sold for a fixed rate inside of the supermarket in Venezuela. Once the goods are in Columbia they face inflation. The article read that a bottle of milk can be sold as much as seven or eight times more if it is sold on the Columbian side of the border. In fact, the article mentions that milk and butter are rarely seen in Venezuela due to the smugglers.
Another issue that the article mentions is leading to the food shortage is the lack of security. Gangs in Columbia are the ones who are controlling the smugglers. Because of the lack of security, many of the food producers have to spend their own money on security for their protection.
One way that this article can be tied to our class discussions and readings is through the term the invisible hand. The invisible hand states that individual decisions do not add to the common good, but create the worst for all. Due to the individual decisions that the smugglers have made to make quick, but illegal, money, they are creating food shortages and harming other citizens in their country. The citizens that do not have the financial stability to be able to go across the border to Columbia to pick up the basic goods that they might need are the ones who get harmed the most in the long run. The article mentions that the smugglers are also creating shortages in medical supplies and that many gunshot victims have died due to not having these medical supplies. In a violent country such as Venezuela, this hurts many more people than it helps. Hopefully the government will step in and force them items to be better regulated.
Civil Wars/Conflicts Shawn Lanham Iraq still in Civil War Syria has been dominating all news sources for my civil war searches, so what I thought would be an easy topic, has proven more difficult since any search for conflicts/civil war quickly returns results for the Syrian crisis. I had to research further and more in depth this week to locate information on other conflicts around the world. Iraq is still embroiled in civil war primarily between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims as evidenced by this article from a couple of weeks ago regarding ongoing bombings, civilian deaths and violence. According to the article, tensions are rising and through coordinated bombing attacks, set mainly in markets and shopping areas, civilians are the ones suffering and dying. Over 1,000 Iraqis were killed in July, which is the highest monthly total since 2008. The article posits that rising death tolls are attributed to the neighboring Syrian civil war. Attacks have reached levels higher than anytime over the last five years in an area where car bombings are an everyday occurrence. Further research shows that since 2008, an average of 300 – 600 civilians are killed each month. The surge of deaths in July shows an increase in violence and turmoil that has been minimized since the Syrian conflict dominates the news. How many of the U.N.’s Declaration of Human Rights are being violated during civil wars, when so many civilians are being killed and/or displaced? In these war torn areas I could not find a single Article of the 30 listed, that would not be violated or at risk during a conflict like those occurring in the Middle East. Furthermore, our readings in the Sernau text this week highlight the struggles of women and their dependent children, which become evident with the loss of soldier/rebel/civilian husbands killed in the conflict or civilians that become displaced or find themselves trying to provide for their families in the markets that often are targets for bombings. This leaves mothers desperately trying to find a way to provide for the family in an area with limited opportunity, and this scenario is currently happening over 30 times per day in Iraq. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23890978 (August 29,2013)
While the issues in Syria are certainly important to follow, it is unfortunate to realize that other major news is neglected. I thought it was especially sad that the article reported that one of the car bombs was set off at a time when there are more shoppers in the market because prices are reduced during that time. This tells me that it was intentional for the bomb to kill/injure women and children as they are likely the ones to be doing the shopping.
This article also reminds me of the exercise we did outside in our first class. We all made a complicated web to show how one thing affects so many other things that we normally would not think of. Like that exercise, here we can plainly see how the Syrian crisis is affecting conflicts in Iraq.
You bring up such a critical point about Syria dominating the world news leaving other areas which are suffering from the same kinds of terrorism and hatred. As the article stated with the amount of innocent civilians dying, it is disheartening to acknowledge that individuals have so much disdain for their country and those who live in it to cause such pandemonium and chaos. In our first class when we were discussing what we considered our rights and responsibilities and the statement was made about how we bring our rights with us to other countries. Yet, in our second class a document was produced that have been in existence for over 60 years stating just those rights for EVERY individual and still we do not abide by them. At what cost is it to us? Apparently, it is great! The examples that are being set for our children (and theirs) of what effective leadership looks like is disappointing and in my opinion the only thing being accomplished is diminishing the worlds’ population. As we demonstrated with our outside activity, when one resource is strained, it places pressures on others leading to a ripple effect where one is unable to identify where the problem began. We discuss corrupt governments, officials turning a blind eye to oppression, and advocacy groups being a target of hate crimes, yet in the meantime, about 1 individual has lost their life and for nothing. After reading about the individuals who are left behind searching for a way to survive, I was able to relate it to my article about government agencies displaying posters and stickers on chairs encouraging immigrants/migrants to return to their home country, but my question would be, what are they returning to? Everything they know, loved, trusted is no longer there, only the painful memories remain.
Tanzzania: Witness- a Boy’s Mining Accident Richard’s Story, Tanzania This article is interesting because it gives a more personal account of a child’s life working as a miner for gold in the country of Tanzania. Richard, the child miner, is eleven years old and regularly worked in a mine pit to earn money for his family. On one day, the mine collapse which resulted in a landslide burying Richard waste deep in dirt. Once rescued and taken to the local hospital, Richard survived the landslide. However, after one year, Richard still has pain from the internal injuries sustained from the landslide. The pain makes walking difficult for Richard. The article explains this situation is typical for a child in the rural south of Tanzania. Busy small towns simply pop up anywhere that is barren to birth a local temporary gold mine. Although people of all ages mine for the gold, children are very vulnerable to this type of work due to their size and limberness. They also are exposed to mercury in the mining process which is very harmful. The mercury is used to divide the ore from the gold so alternatives to its use are unlikely. Richard explains that he has mined since he was nine years old and the money is used to support his aunt and pay for his school costs. The article further explained that Human Rights Watch indicates that children eight years and older are found to be working in these mines where they must drill very deep, work up to twenty-four hours a day. During these times, they crush and transport heavy bags of gold ore out of the mine. This labor involves both boys and girls who are enticed at the idea to remove themselves from poverty. Yet, reality shows them the mining is a dead-end toil with desperation and injuries. Richard admits that not all mine owners will employ him and officials have chased him away from mines; however, the government rarely enforces its laws against child labor so Richard keeps working. The article stated that Richard had no idea that handling and breathing the mercury during the process of removing the gold from the ore was actually hazardous to his health. Mercury poisoning may damage the eyes, liver, and other body organs/ systems and can be fatal. Tanzania has global treaties in place to prevent mercury exposure. Yet Richard continues to mine whenever he can to make money for school and living expenses. Richard explained that his teachers inform the students to not mine as their grades will drop. This article related to the readings in a plethora of connections. Tanzania is an African country and has many children engaged in child labor. This labor security is short-lived and risky; furthermore, it robs these children of their human capital opportunity for success as it removes them from school. The lack of education will likely force them to live in poverty and experience physical pain/ disability resulting from their work in unregulated, illegal child labor. Additionally, the article explained that genders are not discriminated in this form of child labor which was surprising because it is labor intensive. http://allafrica.com/stories/201308280125.html?aa_source=slideout
Michelle, nice summary of the article. Although the laws and regulations are in place, I agree that they should be better enforced. However, I would think that the real solution would be to make education more affordable or hopefully free for all the children of Tanzania, so that children like Richard would not have to work to pay for his education on top of supporting his family. If the gold mines are making so much money, should they not be forced by the government to be more heavily taxed and use this funding for additonal allocations made to education? Perhaps including a monetary incentive for school attendance paid by those that are benefiting from the mining would be the answer. This would make more sense to me in finding a long term solution. Atleast the nonrenewable resources (gold) would be providing a better future for the renewable resources (people).
Amanda Florence Topic: Religion Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/10/woman-sudan-hijab-flogging_n_3894950.html?utm_hp_ref=religion Woman In Sudan Refuses To Wear Hijab, Faces Flogging
In the country of Sudan, Article 152 of the Sudanese Penal Code of 1991 states that "Whoever does in a public place an incident act of an act contrary to public morals or wears an obscene outfit or contrary to public morals or causing an annoyance to public feelings shall be punished with flogging which may not exceed 40 lashes or with fine or with both." This article has given local police the authority to arrest women simply because they believe the women are not dressed appropriately, typically based on religious views. If the arrested women are convicted, they are subject to a fine or to be flogged.
On August 27th, Sudanese woman Amira Osman Hamed was arrested for refusing to wear a hijab, a headscarf worn by Muslim women that covers the hair. She will be tried on September 19 for her refusal to cover her hair. However, she has stated that she is willing to face the flogging as an act of protest against wearing the hijab.
In Sudan, there are many others who also view this law as unfair. The director of Amnesty International's Africa Program reported that "Women are routinely arrested, detained, tried and then, on conviction, flogged simply because a police officer disapproves of their clothing."
Sudan's legal system is partially governed by Islamic Sharia law which allows for brutal punishments to be randomly enforced. According to previous articles, this government system allows for its' people to be sporatically punished very harshly when the government deems that it is needed. Sudan's use of flogging is banned internationally by the Organization of African Unity's Charter on Human Rights. However, it is clear that there have been multiple cases where women have been punished and flogged for refusal to wear traditional Muslim dress.
This article reminded me of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that we discussed in class last Thursday. When looking at those rights, this article shows that Sudan is guilty of abusing Articles 5, 18, and 19. Article 5 states that "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." Article 18 speaks about the freedom of religion the freedom to practice religion, and this woman obviously did not have the freedom to choose which religion she wanted to practice, if any, or even how to practice. Finally, Article 19 says that everyone has the freedom of opinion and freedom to express their opinion. This freedom is also clearly violated because she was not given the freedom to express her opinion about the use of the hijab.
Religion and women are always a topic to rustle people’s feathers up in every country. Man cannot exist with out woman and vise verse. Biblically women are to be submissive to an extent, but how individuals misinterpret things blow my mind. It makes me wonder with the mindsets of many are in the United States. Many of our Social Worker mindsets and hearts would be right up in the mix of things with Amira but, what we would be doing if we were in Amira’s situation or even one of her friends. The article stated that Amira did not want her friends and family to pay the fine but they did anyways. Amira has courage and determination to advocate for the women in her country. In some eyes the little gestures of her wearing trousers and refusing to wear a hijab, may seem minor to us in the United States but in her culture it’s a gesture of disrespect and dishonor. We discussed in class about globalization and how it basically is how we do things is forced. Now in many cases we have headlines and cases involving domestic violence. As social workers- as Americans many advocate for those individuals for justice, peace, and freedom. I personally think it is okay to state that women have more freedom in our country than anywhere else in the world, and our policies and our fights for human rights haven’t rubbed off on everyone. Sudan chooses to perform “flogging” as a form of punishment. What would be my stance if that were a punishment here? Would I have been as brave as Amira? Your choice for the article this week, can make oneself, especially being a female that more appreciative for living in the “land of the free, and the home of the brave.”
Titerriell Macklin September 10, 2013 10:10 a.m. Gendercide The article by Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor, talked about the full extent of India’s ‘Gendercide’. “Its population is expanding at breakneck speed, yet its schools are empty of girls. In the past three decades, there has been up to 12 million baby girls aborted. In India, the parents want to ensure that they have a son. A son is the heir. There is a social problem for the future of brides in some towns. The sex ratio is lowest since 1961. With some families in India the first daughter is welcomed; the second child is desired to be a son. Selective abortion is high in these families. The wealthy are the worst for selective abortion. In India the families want a son to carry the family name, earn money, and look after his relatives. Now I understand why this country is engaging in this social issue. The country has no social security for the elderly. I am not saying that I agree, however, there is clarity. I learned by reading this article that a female takes her riches with her when she marries. I have a better understanding as of to why selective abortion is causing a widening imbalance in the child sex ratio. I will have to say that it was interesting to hear there was a law to protect the unborn female. The act passed in 1996, it is the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act (to stop the use of ultra sounds to determine the sex of the child). However, this law is not respected. Even though politicians are raising a concern to deal with the imbalance in the sexes, there is not a lot of belief that politicians will do much about the concern. I feel like, the way people from India think has to be reprogrammed. It has been reported through this article that “the sex bias found among second-borns recorded in India, has also been found among Indians living in the USA, WHERE THE SAME SOCIAL PRESSURES DO NOT EXIST”! Wow! There are some major and big decisions that have to be made in India to stop what I call a social crisis! http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia
“Solomon Islands is Better Prepared for Disasters through Gender Awareness”
This article examines disaster preparedness trainings that focus on the different roles and needs based on gender to promote equal quality of care. The article reports that the pre-cursor to disaster trainings in the Solomon Islands happened after an earthquake and tsunami hit the region in 2007 without having a disaster management plan in place. The inclusion of “gender awareness” in the trainings is a newly implemented strategy to better serve its inhabitants in such an emergency.
The article uses the example of pregnant women needing specific medical attention beyond what may be available without being prepared. The article also brings up the issue of needed security for women as inferred that they are more vulnerable to abuse and or assaults after a disaster has happened. The acknowledgement of the roles of both men and women can often be different in a disaster to adequately and equally serve all affected. At first I was surprised that such training was really needed to teach this idea. I had always thought that putting a woman’s needs ahead of men was a universally learned and accepted honorable thing to practice.
I think in Western culture we always think of the old analogy of “women and children first” when life-boats are filled departing a sinking ship. I then thought about the “feminization of poverty” explained in Chapter three. Women living in a male dominated power structure have often been left to deal with hardships on their own, due to males abandoning them to fend for themselves and their children when survival becomes difficult, and resources are in short supply.
While must of us in America would like to think that this kind of abandonment does not happen, we see it in our own community everyday. We saw it in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in our own country how women were raped and abused due to little to no security or protection. I think it is a good idea to include gender awareness training in any disaster management plan regardless of geography or what we as a culture “think” we know about ourselves.
Who Really Has the Power? Leslie Carver 9/10/13 3pm
“If it is true that one death is tragedy and a million deaths as statistic, this is a story about statistics.” –Dylan Gray Dylan Gray is a producer, writer, editor, and director of a documentary called “Fire In The Blood.” MSNBC had Gray on for a story to discuss an epidemic of aids that has swept through over the past 20 years. They questioned Gray asking him the number of lives that have been taken by AIDS and he estimated a minimum of 10 million lives that were an unnecessarily lost- death that could have been prevented with the existing affordable medication. What seems to be the issue? From our Ezell readings in chapter 2 we learned about advocacy. A frequently used definition is, “to defend or promote a cause.” Ezell also states that advocacy is goal seeking and a process, the process of advocacy is that it involves, “obtaining, modifying, and promoting.” Dylan Gray is doing just that, he is advocating for Africa and putting up his gloves in the ring against pharmaceutical companies who are choosing to block the access to affordable drugs that could have saved lives. So why would anyone deny life? Gray states that HIV/AIDS is a disease that primarily affects people in the developing world, also stating that 95% of the people living with HIV are in developing countries. Therefore, pharmaceutical companies blocked this access to affordable drugs it in order to maintain their profit margins, and keeping in mind future profits in major emerging markets. It is ideal for them because they can charge whatever price for the drugs, and those who are on “anti-retroviral drugs have to remain on those the rest of their lives, it is the perfect type of drug.” Why would it be in anyone’s best interest to block cheap, and affordable drug therapy? Gray stated that drug companies were afraid that the western countries would find out how much lower their prices were, and that was something that mattered to them. The conversations and question continues touching more on former President Bush’s program in Africa and how that impacted the country, that essentially made these drugs available to the millions that needed them. Dylan Gray gives credit to Bush and stated that universally people can look back on all sides of the political spectrum and universally give Bush praise for this one. Gray continues to state that Bush continues to stay very popular in Africa because of it. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states in Article 25, (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services…” Hmm, who seems to be having the power? Drug companies are continuing to keep their costs high, it’s about their emerging markets. They didn’t want to create a “war” per say by lowering prices for this and that country. Is this okay? Dylan Gray has put his gloves on in the ring because millions of lives are dwindling due to the lack of affordable drug therapy, is money that much more important than saving a life? Are you willing to join him in the ring?
Press Release: Accounting red tape cut for smallest UK companies
In search for an article this week, I found a recent report for micro businesses in the United Kingdom. The article reports the measures were taken to reduce micro businesses with financial problems which has confirmed today September 9, 2013 by Business Minister Jo Swinson. The response from the EU’s Micro’s Directive, the 1.5 million entities will be exempt from certain financial reporting requirements. The micro entities are not subject to the same financial rules as small companies. The consultation indicated that because of their size this was unfair to the micro entities. Micro entities now are able to prepare and publish reduced financial statements. Business Minister Jo Swinson reports that thriving micro businesses helps make a stronger economy, however due to size, they do not have financial support that is greatly needed. He suggests they focus on growing their businesses instead of completing unnecessary paperwork. Business Minister Jo Swinson also reports that the measures used to cut bureaucracy will allow micro businesses to grow and create more jobs. According to the Notes to editors, the United Kingdom negotiated exemptions for micro entities and family supports efforts to decrease burdens of the small companies. The United Kingdom has approximately 1.56 million micro entities. The micro entities are able to decide which form of financial reporting best meets their company’s needs, the exemptions are optional. The UK wants to become the best place in Europe to start and grow a business. I do believe that by reducing government red tape the micro business will focus on growing and improving their companies. In a small business it takes money and man power to be able to meet all the government requirements. I think the UK is headed in the right direction to grow micro businesses. http://foreignaffairs.co.nz/2013/09/09/press-release-accounting-red-tape-cut-for-smallest-uk...
Greece’s debts crisis. Junghyun Lee, Sep 9, 6:20pm 2013 Topic; Debt Recently, many nations have been involved in debt problems as Greece has been going through. Greece was the one of the fastest growing countries until the middle of 2000s, but when the global financial crisis happened in the late 2000s, Greece had to confront economic hardships because its main industries depend on shipping and tourism and these areas were easily influenced by the economic current. After all, Greece government asked 45 billion from the EU and International Monetary Fund (IMF) to meet its financial needs in 2010. After this happened, Greece's sovereign debt rate came to be default status in which case investors were supposed to lose 30–50% of their money. This caused stock markets over the world and the euro currency to decline. After a series of austerity measures being carried out, Greece’s primary deficit was improved little, but as a side-effect, it caused recession. As a result of this, 111,000 Greek companies went bankrupt and unemployment rate grew from 7.5% in September 2008 to 27.2% in January 2013. To solve this problem, some experts suggested that Greece would withdraw from the euro zone and reintroduce its national currency the drachma at a debased rate. But it would also lead to a 60% devaluation of the new drachma, wipe 20% off Greece's GDP, increase Greece's debt-to-GDP ratio to over 200%, inflation and Eurozone National Central Banks (NCBs) may lose money in debt claims against the Greek national bank. So the Troika (EC, IMF and ECB) agreed to provide a second bailout package worth €130 billion, under the condition of carrying out another harsh austerity measures. This bailout deal included a debt restructure agreement for the first time and the world's biggest debt restructuring deal. As a result of this, the predicted debt burden now indicates a more sustainable size equal to 117% of GDP by 2020 which is lower than the initial goal of 120.5%. It was impressive to study how Greece fell in serious debt crisis and how the country could be relieved from the crisis through reading the web news article. Greece was well known country by its famous historical inheritances. In a global perspective, this article taught me the importance of knowing each country’s economic base which is relating to their debts level closely. Instead of depending on only past time inheritances and shipping, developing other industrial areas that are not easily influenced by worldly business system, Greece might have not been confronted major economic crisis. To solve the global poverty problem, it is important to find out what could be the major economic resources in that country as we all watched in the case of one African girl’s story that raised goats for her village. When I read this article, I learned the process to solve the debt problem in global level. I was not sure whether Greece could receive the bailout money from the Troika (EC, IMF and ECB) because it belonged to Europe. But obviously the role of the Troika was critical for Greece to be relieved from the pressure of debts. When financial assistant was given to Greece, it was always given under the certain conditions, implementing hard austerity measures. Through performing these conditions, the indebted country can learn how to spend the money wisely to get out of debts. But this can also bring side effect, economic recession and Greece asked Troika to extend due date of payment. Through observing the process, I learned that it is important for the financial institutes that give the bailout money to assist the indebted country patiently, faithfully and wisely until the indebted country can finally be relieved from debts. The relationship between Troika and Greece can be compared with the relationship between teacher and student. To see improvement, the efforts of the both side are required.
The global topic of immigration/migration brings about numerous hits. In several parts of the world, immigration/migration is a heated topic that sparks many opinions about the issue and ways to go about addressing the global concern. This is true for Glascow and West Scotland in the United Kingdom. The article titled UK Border Agency posters branded ‘racist’, discussed a campaign that began at the end of July and will go through the first few days in October. The Glascow charity’s director of the Positive Action in Housing, Robina Qurehi, was appalled that a government agency would hang such racist and degrading posters in an office where the primary purpose is helping those migrants/refugees find shelter. Although an attempt has already been made to the Home Secretary stating the poster campaign should be aborted due to the negative stigma it places on those served by the government agency. In response, the spokesman stated that it was only a campaigned geared toward a range of services, help, and advice for those to return home with dignity rather than be forced and traumatized through forcible removal. The overall intention is that those who are here illegally should leave on their own, and the agency is there to help make that happen through their services. The article discussed xenophobia, an irrational fear of foreigners or strangers, I had never previously heard of that before, but it did remind me of a personal experience with a group of educators who did not want to alter their teaching tactics/approaches to teach to all students including those who spoke another language. In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations listed 30 articles which stipulates the rights that belong every person, equally. Two specific rights that are violated are article 5, where no one should be subjected to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, or punishment and article 14, the right to seek and enjoy on other countries asylum from persecution. Despite these rights that are granted to every person, developed more than 60 years ago, they are still be violated, by government agencies none the less. I can only imagine the embarrassment, confusion, and isolation, one must feel while trying to start a new life and being judged and stereotyped by others. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-23897533
Kasey Gray 09/10/2013 As Coal plants shut Down, United Kingdom Faces a Power Crunch. The article states that currently the United Kingdom operates on 13 coal plants, half are supposed to shut down by the year 2015, and all will be shut down by the year 2023. According to the article, Ofgem, who is Britain’s industry regulator states “he first warned that electric power capacity was tightening back in 2009, but now says this is happening faster than previously expected”. The article says the United Kingdom went on coal binge and bought cheap coal from the United States. Basically the UK did this to keep their lights on and to keep the countries electric bills from going up at the current time. The article suggest that if the United Kingdom were to keep the coal plants they would have to have them transformed to avoid violating pollution regulations. But in order for this to be done the customer’s bills may sky rocket, and then the idea would eventually be proposed for the customers to gradually pay a little on each bill to pay for the cleanup. I think the customer’s need to know this up front so the problem can be managed soon. If the customers are getting a bill each month that just keeps going up and then they are proposed the plan to pay for the cleanup, then their will likely be some resentment toward the electric companies and the officials who did not put the word out. The article states “customers are most at risk for higher prices than blackouts”. Again I strongly believe the electric companies should propose this to their customers before they have to pay double or tipple for the price of their electric bill. I choose this article for three reasons. One is because my family comes from a background of coal miners, and we believe “coal keeps the lights on” it always has. I am fearful, but also conscious that this is happening in the United States at the current moment. Although I do believe in clean energy and am not reluctant to say so, coal has always been in our family and is considered “a way of life” especially form my area. Two, I would feel comfortable saying that some of these families in the United Kingdom are probably in the same boat as some families in my area who have generations of coal miners and they are currently watching their jobs diminish. Three, I can relate this to classroom learning, because to me it’s sad that the United Kingdom’s electric companies and/or government would do their citizens and customers like the article proposed. So I will say this would be like the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. Because the coal and gas companies are already getting more for less, hence the cheap coal from the United States. But you also have to look at who is still paying for electric? The customer’s! So if the electric company decides to raise the bills then they would be getting richer yet again, while the customers are getting poorer with no idea what the companies are trying to do. \ Link: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2013/08/130829-united-kingdom-power-crunch/
WOW!!! How intense!! It is so aggravating to see governments not being upfront to their citizens ESPECIALLY if the citizens will be able to see changes in the amount they pay! It makes me a little paranoid about my bills ;) I think that the UK should have made this information more available not only so the country could start coming up with ways to decrease their usage but also so they could start formulating ideas about how to get energy when the coal plants are completely depleted. Later in the article where it gets into the political implications, I was shocked to see how crazy this really will be! Not only will the European Union become heavily involved if they go against the Environmental Regulations, but the political parties and elections will be heavily effected! Doesn't it seem sketchy that the rich are always stable and the citizens will have to make up for the rich's lack of preparedness?
Fishing, a leisurely practice for some in America, has been an intense burden on many workers in the fishing industry. The big boom in the fishing industry has left Thailand with a great source of income, but the Thailand fishing industries seem to continue the "deceptive and coercive labor practices" to save even more money. Both National Public Radio and the International Labor Organization have covered the importance of adding pressure to the Thailand government to begin regulating the country's fishing industry. Unsafe working conditions, unfair wages, and human trafficking have all become immediate issues of concern when it comes to this daunting work for those tricked or forced into this 'decent' living. Most of our fish, even in America, has most likely come from Thailand fishing industries, using laborers from underdeveloped countries, to catch the product. Seemingly endless amounts of time on small, cramped fishing vessels, undergoing unsanitary conditions, force, harsh treatment, or even just unfair wages toward the workers has caused an uproar from countries who are catching on. For the past two weeks, international involvement in many forms on a broad scale, whether it be intervention in Syria, to the basic avocation for human rights abroad, has been questioned as necessary or uncalled for. This news article shows the importantance of international intervention when it comes to labor. Our fish may be coming from Thailand, so when we do not address issues and express concerns for the humans that provide this product, we are supporting a deprivation of human rights, whether it be unfair wages or unsanitary working conditions. Through my work in the Coast Guard, I have talked to co-workers that have caught fishing vessels carrying humans in their cargo, attempting to either get them over the boarder or attempting to human traffic them. But what about those who have willingly accepted the hard work knowing the risk? People need money and this is why the dehumanizing acts toward labor workers are even more unjust. Taking advantage of a universal need (money to buy food) and using it to gain personal monetary value is exactly what these fishing industries are doing. I have boarded vessels myself and have had to go through vessel's documentation on navigable waterways to make sure they are compliant with ILO's standards for their workers on board. Because of international intervention, the United States is able to make sure ships treating their workers unjustly are detained until their policies are fixed before they can even transit into the US water or drop of their product in our country. In class we are continuously talking about how the US is a powerhouse nation. The US imports so much from so many different counties via the water, and since countries know they need to comply to our standards for workers on board before we will take in their product, we make a point that we will not accept inhumane treatment for the benefit of anyone. We have in someway depleted a little bit of the safety and wage issues that affect so many fishermen. Fishing industries have no option but to comply with ILO standards if they want us to buy their product. I am so glad this story is bringing fishing vessels to our attention and hopefully other countries will follow suit to help decrease the lack of human rights established in the fishing industry in Thailand.
Chellsey, first off I wanted to say your response to this article is very well thought out and articulated. Second I want to commend you for your service in the cost guard and with being apart of loading these boats you've had first hand with it. When reading the article I never ever really think about where my seafood comes from, but furthermore I never would have thought that people would be held unwillingly on a boat to catch them!. This article is really shocking, and it really opens up eyes to the things that we eat here in the US and things we take for granted in everyday life. Another thing that is shocking is that these people can are human trafficked for catching fish, who would have thought of such a thing?, plus Thailand being 2nd worst in the human trafficking position for 4 years in a row, this is a huge eye opener, and can relate to lots of things we have been talking about in class.
Topic: Debt Rachel Moran http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23846627 BBC news is reporting on living costs in Australia and how people struggle to get by. There is a lot of uncertainty in the job field on a day to day basis. Although the woman interviewed had a job and a business, she stated that “several businesses were declining and always seen signs of for sale on the way to work”. This article was very intriguing. When thinking about the United States and how we struggle, I do not think about other countries having problems paying mortgages and bills. I just always have this one track mind, especially when it comes to countries like Australia. The article stated at one point that Sydney, Australia is one of the top 10 most expensive cities to live. Adam Boyton, Chief economist with Deustche Bank Australia states, “In a way Australians have become victims of their own success and that’s made Australia a more expensive place than it used to be.” Just like any country when the economy is “strong and wealthy, prices can go up” causing those that are less fortunate to struggle. It really puzzled me at first. Reading that Australia has issues of debt would not be expected from a country where people are relatively wealthy. Just like the woman in the article, Ms. Hayes, reported in the article when prices increase it gets harder to know that you will be financially secure. Most people stress the thought if they will be financially stable tomorrow or the day after or knowing because of income they will have to transition to a different job. In order for economic growth people have to migrate to a more stable job so that they can better support their lives. I think this has a great effect on a person and their basic human rights. Some people may have grown up in Australia or in a particular job and would not dream to leave either because of it but end up having to because they cannot afford the prices. As Social Workers that is part of our job to advocate for those who are struggling and who are wondering if they will be financially stable. Although some may have stressful financial issues, the article mentioned that Australia did have “a relatively low unemployment rate of 5.7%” which is amazing!
Sarah Yates Topic: Major Health Concerns http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/09/06/experts-urge-caribbean-nations-to-prepare-for-climate-change-or-risk-fresh/ Article: Experts urge Caribbean nations to prepare for climate change or risk fresh water scarcity Rising sea levels are prompting experts to warm residents about the possible scarcity of fresh drinking water. Rising sea levels could contaminate their fresh water supply as well as the changing climate patterns could produce less rain; this would be detrimental to those living in the country because most depend on underground water sources for all of their needs. Although this has not happened yet, some of the areas are already experiencing periods of droughts—kind of preparing them for what could and most likely will come. The changes in weather patterns alone are worrying scientists everywhere and they say that people are not likely to be prepared for what will occur. There are currently 168 countries whose water demands exceed natural water supplies for their area. The Caribbean islands rank high on that list. Scientists are urging residents and tourists to monitor their water usage, for fear of scarcity coming quicker than anticipated. Barbados has already started rationing their supply and they have even started to cut off supply to some areas. Due to the over usage of wells which has lead to salt water seeping into the water supply, many desalination plants have been constructed all over the Caribbean. Due to the high cost of these plants, most countries cannot and will not be able to afford their construction. Although this article is mostly discussing what will happen in the near future, when it does, there will be a huge health and safety issue. This make me think about our Not for Sale book. I started reading it last week, and in one the stories the character (Can’t think of their name for the life of me) had to go to a well and fetch water. Many villages in different countries do this numerous times a day to fulfill their water needs. What would happen if they no longer had that convenience? Most of the villages already have to walk a decent distance for access, and if the government has already started cutting off water supply to some regions, how are the people supposed to survive? People will start to move to different regions, thus causing that water supply to diminish even faster and it will be a never ending cycle! What are we without clean water? We are sick, disease ridden and dead! I worry so much for these villages as I fear most of them are not being properly educated on the climate changes and what they should expect. This is something very scary to think about, and something all of us in the United States take for granted until there is a boil water advisory.
Australia: Why boat people risk it all
ReplyDeleteAfter two weeks, I have determined that finding articles on refugees is not a difficult task at all, there are many to choose from each week. This week, I chose an article on asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Iraq, and Iran who choose to seek refuge in Australia entitled, “Australia: Why boat people risk it all”. The article depicts very grim circumstances where people know that there is a very real possibility to death with such an attempt but they choose to do it any way. The article describes how individuals from these countries pay large sums, in this particular instance, a lady named Fariba paid $17,000 for her family to be moved by boat to Australia. Many of them never make it because it is a dangerous journey and if they do make it alive, many of them are in limbo in Indonesia sometimes for years before they can be properly processed. While many of these refugees understand the dangers presented they still take the risk because they do not feel that they have a choice and believe that anyone else in their situation would choose the same. On July 23, 2013, a boat carrying refugees to Australia sank with nearly 200 people in it and 20 people were killed with about one-quarter of those individuals being children. The rest were rescued and literally washed ashore.
This article was very eye-opening to the desperation that refugees feel when they are seeking asylum in another country. They really feel as though they have no other choice, no other way out, and no other way to live the life they want to. When reading this article I was reminded of the Declaration of Human Rights that these refugees are being so blatantly denied. They should have a right to freedom and choices but they are not provided those basic opportunities that we take for granted. In fact, even worse, they are exploited by other people for countries like Indonesia because they know that these asylum seekers are vulnerable. It also reminds me of Nadia in the Not For Sale book. She too was seeking a better life for herself and her son, but was instead exploited for her vulnerabilities and forced into prostitution. These kinds of things should not be allowed to go on in the world. If I want to move to Indiana, nobody will stop me or charge me to do so. These individuals should have the same right to live in peace wherever they want to.
Vaswani, Karishma (2013, September 3). Australia: Why boat people risk it all. BBC News. Retrieved from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23940973
Kristin- I really liked this article, I originally chose it to demonstrate my topic of discrimination. It is terrifying to think of 200+ people who paid their life savings in order to board a rickety boat and sail away from persecution only to nearly drown in the sea when the boat sinks. Later in the article it discussed how many people had been detained for more than a year and were still waiting to be released yet they all said they would endure the journey again if it meant having freedom. This article really made me see how much I take for granted as an American citizen and how I view my freedom as a right and not a privelege. This story was very thought provoking. I don't know how strong I could be when facing this kind of oposition.
DeleteKristen- Your article really made an impression on me. First, I can only imagine the feeling of desperation of these people that would risk their lives for an unknown future. Like you, I thought about the people in Not For Sale that were following a dream of a better future only to have been tricked and abused. Instead of fulfilling hopes and dreams many only have hopes of finally receiving the coveted title of refugees. While reading the article I was shocked by the deaths for refuges and I was also shocked by how they are treated when they are detained as detainees. I could not believe that a pregnant woman was about to give birth under in her current circumstances. Despite all of these circumstances the people repport they would do it over again if, this expressed to me how bad they want out Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Iraq and Iran.
DeleteWhile watching the video of the lady that lost her passport and belongings, as well as seeing all those people, basically in jail cells, and hearing them all say they would do this again, just to seek a better a way life, I really do see how much we take for granted in this country. The people that have lived in these cells for years, blows my mind, that they would rather live in a jail than be persecuted in their home country. I can not imagine such a life. The deaths of those seeking such asylum, reminds me of a trip I took to Ponce Inlet in Florida, and the Coast Guard had on exhibit the make shift boats that those fleeing Cuba had arrived in, and most were found empty. This story took me back to that trip and the horrors that people will go through to seek a better way of life that we in this country take for granted everyday. The accusations by some in the article about how the government officials were taking the money from the refugees and using for themselves and putting these people in detention centers makes my blood boil. Good job on finding this article, and I think seeing the video that accompanies it brings home the horrid reality of what we are reading about in class.
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DeleteKristin, this is a deplorable situation that I think many countries face. I agree that these are deplorable conditions, especially when you point out how Indonesia is taking advantage of the vulnerability of refugees and engage in exploitation. The Indonesian immigration officer’s comment though that they have no legal responsibility to help asylum seekers is not quite correct I would say. On the one side, Indonesia, too, is member of the UN and has officially adopted the international human rights law. As article 3 states, everyone has a right to life, liberty and security of person. Now refugees flee their country of origin because those same rights are violated, and seek refuge in a country promising internationally to help them, since a return would most probably cause torture and death. So Indonesia has then a legal responsibility, once refugees come to the nation’s shore, to protect them by taking them in. However, do they have the economic capacity, human resources or adequate procedures, space and funds to do so? I think this is a possible area of conflict, because Indonesia might have put up one friendly global cheek by their official participation in human rights protection, but the national or local global cheek is hostile to say at least. The immigration officer talks about asylum seekers, yet the words used for what usually would be a refugee camp is “detention center” and refugees are “detainees”, assigning them some sort of criminal status. So even if Indonesia wants to be globally acknowledged as not being “a bad guy” when it comes to human rights, they might have bit more than they can chew. As we can read on the UN’s website, when adopting this international law, you also agree to implement it accordingly on your nation’s regional and local level, and this might be hard to do for many countries, considering that poverty, unemployment or other issue could require more internal attention as to time and funds allocation. So in Indonesia, one possible conflict could be that a nationally made decision has not been thought through in how it collides with local resources or capacities. Or maybe the resources are there and not distributed correspondingly, either due to corruption or mismanagement. Either way there is a disconnect and what’s being said is not being done, and reports about the violation of human rights in countries that have pledged globally to do otherwise are a daily occurrence, Indonesia is unfortunately no different. It appears that Australia itself is not doing better by sending refugees to Papua New Guinea for processing. I wanted to make an educated guess, but I actually looked up Papua New Guinea and as of 2011 they had a population of 6 Million, life expectancy around 57, infant mortality 60 out of 1000, and a literacy rate of 57 % compared to 91 % worldwide. I have trouble imagining that they have sufficient or adequate resources to process refugees in a timely manner, depending what sort of contract they have with Australia and the UN. I’m thinking also of language barriers while processing, because it takes a long time for a refugee to be officially UNHCR-recognized, involving many security and background checks and working with several international agencies and their affiliates. Either way, the refugees are suffering twice. Not necessarily all, but many UN nations have agreed to do something that sounds good in theory and on a global platform, but lacks practical national implication for different reasons. Although monitoring and sanctions are in place, the problem is deeper than that and in the end, the refugees are tossed to and fro and have to endure dire consequences again. http://country-facts.findthedata.org/l/187/Papua-New-Guinea
DeleteI am pretty good about keeping up with world news, so I am shocked that I did not see more about the boat that sank where 200 were exhausted and 20 died. I find it even sadder that it sank only 6 miles from shore. It seems as if they had barely started their journey. It is crazy how much refugees have to risk attempting to get to Australia in one piece. I was stunned at how much they had to pay and while the article rebuffed that there was corruption, I totally believe that to be the truth. There is corruption worldwide and people who are always looking to make money legally or illegally. Finally, It is evident how much fear the refugees feel when they asked to be not named in case they get deported back to their home country. They are literally afraid for their lives. It is no wonder that they are trying to escape the war torn countries that they came from. I think your post relates to a lot of things we have discussed in class, especially the activities revolving around the Declaration of Human Rights. Those trying to flee have literally lost all of their rights, and that is why they are desperate to leave and start a new life somewhere else. They are searching for basic freedoms that we tend to take for granted. Things like education, food, and shelter are rare for refugees. It clear how desperate they are for freedom, when no matter the trials they have faced, they all answered yes when asked if they would it over. They do not have the same “rights” that many of us who are more fortunate have.
DeleteKristin,
DeleteWOW... That's all I could think about when I first read your article. I could not imagine the conditions that these refugees are facing that they would rather spend their life savings, and risk not only their life but their children's as well just to leave their situations. When I first read your post, I thought that this was a bad situation but on further reading in the actual article I couldn't believe it, the facts are terrible. The thought of 200 plus people on a small rinky dink boat being charged all of this money just for the hope of some type of freedom, makes me question the genuineness of the boat operators, and that makes me so angry to think of these poor families being exploited and put into very dangerous situation just so someone can earn a few more 0's in his bank account. Thanks for the post it was definitely a good eye opening read :)
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ReplyDeleteAnti-Muslim monk stokes Burmese religious tensions
ReplyDeleteTopic: Discrimination
Submitted by: Lisa Norton
9/6/13
The BBC News is reporting on religious tension in the city of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. Jonah Fisher reports that one controversial monk, Shin Wirathu, is teaching an anti-Muslim message to young monks who are new to service. While teaching the young monks about the five pillars of the Buddhist faith, he is sending a message of caution against the Muslim society warning that a “master plan” is underway to overtake the Buddhist citizens and turn Myanmar into an Islamic state. Shin Wirathu is teaching his students that Muslims are well behaved only when they are weak but if they are given power and strength they will rise up and overtake the Buddhists like a pack of wolves. Wirathu is part of a controversial nationalist group called 969. The idea behind this group is to only support Buddhist shops, marry Buddhist women and sell land only to those practicing Buddhism, basically snuffing out the Islamic society by taking away their means of surviving financially and physically. Stores and businesses are affiliating with the cause by using brightly colored stickers in their windows that indicate they are owned by Buddhists. Wirathu’s theories have reached far and wide including many powerful state and world leaders. He was featured on the cover of Time magazine being hailed as the face of Buddhist terrorism. The Burmese monks were outraged and the issue was banned. A statement from Myanmar’s president hailed Wirathu as a “son of Buddha”. The article reports that not all Buddhists in Myanmar reflect Wirathu’s discrimination against Muslims however with each new outbreak of religious conflict that occurs it seems to reinforce the view that Muslims are looking for new ways to achieve power in Burma. As it happens, the article reports that the city of Myanmar is 90% Buddhist and only 5% are Muslims. This article made me wonder is Shin Wirathu views himself as an advocate for the Buddhist people? Although he was self-appointed and not exactly elected as a representative of the Burmese people, he is trying to make changes in the city on behalf of the Buddhist religion as a whole. I do not agree with his tactics/policies but I am certain that he views his actions as positive and pro-active.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23846632
Lisa,
DeleteI was so speechless when I read this article! How appalling. I totally believe Monk Kayla Sar that the 969 movement is unnecessary. I cannot imagine how it must be to walk into a courtyard and see graphic pictures that Wirathu put up and it is completely normal, that scares me. This definitely relates back to talking about social injustice in class and how these people have been discriminated. Wirathu says it is a movement for the Buddhist people but they are also discriminating the Muslims in the process. I also must ask the question: where are their rights? While reading that article I sure did not see that they had any. What an amazing article to read and how hooked into it I got when I started reading! Good Job Lisa!
Jalena Robertson
ReplyDeleteTopic: Genocide
The argument if there of genocide or not genocide is a current concern in Canada in the soon to be opened human rights Canadian Museum. A survivor named Fred Kelly (Kelly)of the First Nations people believes that the events that happened in a residential school in the 1940’s and 1950’s was genocide.. He believes that the nutritional experiments that happened there without the people knowledge were stemmed from hate and racism He believes the acts that happened at this school should be remembered in history as genocide.
However, the Canadian Museum for Human is not of the same opinion, The museum has plenty of justifications to explain their reasoning for not titled this exhibit genocide. They say they are not the courts therefore, they can not decide. The Musuem says they are not academic institution. I am not sure what this has to do with using the term genocide or not using the term, but at this time they are not going to use the term genocide. The Museum says it will wait to use a term after speaking to the aboriginal community. The statements made by the museum reminded me of the reading regarding Institutional racism (Garcia & Sorest, 2006). “ Instituinal racism typically isn’t ugly , rather than being expressed through hostile, racial slurs, it is often wrapped in righteous proclamations of traditions, fairness and high standards” (Garcia & Sorest, 2006, p. 44)
Robert Falcon Quelette (Quelette) does not think the term will be used officially in the future. As he believes that it is not being used because Canadians are not ready for it. Quelette has the opinion that Canadians would like to believe they are the rescuers of other countries acts genocide which leaves them to denial of their history.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2013/07/26/mb-cmhr-aboriginal-genocide-debate-winnipeg.html
It is always interesting reading about race relations in other countries besided the United States. Just like the gentlemen pointed out in the article that Canada is not ready to claim that they had any part of what is considered "genocide" because of what they do currently when they go to other countries to help out with mass murders in Rwanda and Bosnia. I believe it will take some time for other countries to admit what they did to other races and ethnic groups within their countries just like how long it took for African Americans to get an apology from President Bill Clinton on slavery.
DeleteJalena - I found your article fascinating but after reading it, I was left more questions than I had answers to. I wanted to know about these residential schools and meal experimentation. So, I found an excellent explanation on Canadian Encyclopedia website. It describes desparaging circumstances where individuals did not have a right to choice of much of anything. They were practically forced to work to keep the schools afloat, could not speak their native language or practice their own religious beliefs. They were not fed properly and the way it is described in this entry, it sounds just short of a concentration camp that one would expect in a genocide situation. So, I can see why Mr. Kelly is so upset that they would not label it for what it is. That must be very frustrating for somebody that loved through it. At the end of the CE entry, it describes that Canadian officals apologized to the aboriginal people similar to the way that Shianne describes President Clinton's apology. I can see how that would be frustrating for survivors and I also believe that it is a good representation of genocide.
Deletehttp://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/residential-schools
Jalena, this is an interesting article for genocide. Although it is known that the western countries used genocide on their native peoples, it is still strange and unexpected to read about Canada's government policies of this inhumane treatment. After reading your response and article link, I considered how much has changed for the good even though there is still debate about the topic. It is relieving and an indicator of progress to see that Kelly is now able to exercise his rights to speak out of his treatment while placed at the institutional school. I would assume that when he was a child, adults (and children) were not able to utilize these rights with protection. The situation is different from today since he can publish whatever his experience is on the internet for all to read.
DeleteI also found the article very interesting and like Kristin, was left with many questions. I had never heard about the treatment of aboriginal children in Canada. History has a funny way of minimizing the pain and consequences of diffirent races and cultures. America is the land of the free but there are definitely some dark moments in our history. The eradication attempts and re-education of the Native Americans, slavery, and even the syphilis experiments on the tuskeegee men, show that even countries based on freedom and equality, have moments in time where certain groups suffered well beyond what any human rights declarations of today would allow.
DeleteThanks for sharing the additional info Kristin.
Melissa McIntosh
ReplyDeleteTopic: Human Rights
9/7/13
Link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23987183
While searching for articles related to human rights this week I stumbled upon this very interesting article written by, Geeta Panday, BBC News. The article is entitled, "Zubin Mehta in Kashmir: Concert hits controversial note".
To understand this article, the reader must first understand what is taking place in Kashmir, India. During the 1980’s an intense struggle began between India and Pakistan for control of the area known as Kashmir. This has been an intense conflict and thousands of Kashmiri people losing there lives. Pakistan and India both claim full ownership of the area and neither is willing to back down.
Imagine experiencing all of this bad blood between the people in this area and the tensions felt there and along comes the announcement that there will be a concert held. Now this is not just any concert. It is a very big deal! The man who is planning the concert is Zubin Mehta, a famous conductor. This concert is drawing much publicity. The name of the concert is Ehsaas-e-Kashmir. This can be translated as, feelings for Kashmir. 1,500 people have been invited to attend this fabulous shin dig. Some of the most prominent people in India plan to attend. Mehta reports that he hopes to inspire the people of Kashmir with a message filled with hope through his music.
Many human rights activists and separatists do not feel the same as Mehta however, and they openly are opposing the concert. Many people in opposition to the concert are reporting they are suffering and dying as a result of extreme oppression by the Indian authorities. These activists report that this concert is an attempt to paint a picture of peace that is the farthest thing from the truth.
Activists plan to strike for an entire day to demonstrate opposition and there are plans to schedule a simultaneous concert during Mehta’s event to raise awareness of human rights issues in this area. This concert has not been cleared officially yet by the authorities in the area.
Syed Ali Shah Geelani is a separatist leader in India. He voices that he feels the concert is a stab at Pakistan and a method to gain support for Indian rule is Kashmir. He feels that Germany and India have joined together to put out this message and gain support. Khurram Parvez, of Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Societies poses the question, how can you collaborate with India, which is involved in human rights violations in Kashmir”, with a shame on you indication toward Germany.
This article relates to a discussion that we had in World Problems and Advocacy class last Thursday. We talked about human rights and discussed the UN’s Universal declaration of human rights. In Article 19 of the UN’s human rights document it is stated that everyone has a right to freely express there thoughts and opinions. It is apparent in this article that many people are freely expressing there beliefs in regard to the up and coming concert. In article 20 the right of peaceful assembly and association is discussed. This comes into play with the possibility of a concert to demonstrate opposition to the other concert, Ehsaas-e-Kashmir.
Article Date: September 2, 2013 Article: India passes massive program to feed 800 million in poverty
ReplyDeleteBrian Tucker
This article is about India and how they are addressing the issue of poverty in their country. According to the article, the World Bank has done a study and the results show that India has one third of the world’s poverty. Around 30% of the food in India is not properly stored or refrigerated, political misuse of funds and resources, along with roads that are in poor conditions lead to the food not reaching citizens once it is gathered at farms. According to India’s own governmental research, half of the country’s children five years of age and under are malnourished. The International Food Policy Research Institute lists India as one of 15 countries with severe poverty. Despite India having a large economic growth, it has declined in the past several quarters to around 5%. The GDP, according to the article, is of concern to India since it is at 4.8%.
To address the poverty in India, the government has enlisted a bill entitled National Food Security Bill to provide food for 800 million citizens. This bill would give the right for two thirds of the country’s citizens to buy 12 pounds of food, such as rice, wheat, and other cereal types of food for no more than 3 cents per pound. The bill would also allow for pregnant women, breast feeding mothers, and children less than 6 years of age to have food for free.
There are two political sides for this bill. Those who support the bill state the bill is long overdue to address the poverty issues in India. They feel that the economy of India can manage the funds appropriately and give millions of poverty stricken citizens the much needed food that is lacking in the country now. The supporters state that the cost to India would be $18 billion a year, while supplying 62 million tons of food. The supporters also state that this bill will assist with the citizens protecting their own rights for food, and will address issues with the public food distribution in India. Those who oppose the bill refer to it as a “shameless” political venture to elicit votes for those who are in office, and report that they feel the country cannot afford such a plan. The opposition to the bill agree that the poverty issues need to be addressed, but state that there are programs already in place to address these issues. According to the article, the opposition report the bill is another way of naming the programs already in existence, and blame the mismanagement of funding and resources as the reasons to why the poverty rates continue to rise in India.
This article ties into our class discussion of how economic growth and social growth need to be built upon at the same rate, otherwise there will be a gap between the two. The article discusses that India has had much economic growth over the past two decades, however, the majority of the countries citizens are still in poverty. Part of the reason for this, as discussed in the article, is due to mismanagement of funds, poor planning, and mismanagement of addressing issues that prohibit the food from reaching those in poverty.
http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-india-food-program-20130902,0,2565188.story
I find it sad to here that critics feel the need to say that the feeding of 800 million impoverished people “is a ploy that will encourage waste and corruption”, and “that this is nothing but a populist bribe”. The country of India as the article stated ‘was ranked in the 2012 Global Hunger Index as one of the 15 countries with the most severe hunger’. If a survey can be taken, and a country can be shown as whose citizens are starving, then them having food becoming available to them is not an issue of waste or over-consumption. It sounds like those particular critics do not believe in protecting or allowing the citizens to have any rights, and furthermore passing this bill is just a gimmick. Even though prior to this bill the people in India have been starving, and their rights to have aid were forsaken.
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMichaela Vaillant, Terrorism, September 6, 2013
ReplyDeleteBBC “Terrorist” documentary gets sequel - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-23969422
This article intrigued me in that it relates to terrorism as a “lived experience” addressing the conflict in cultural, political and family dynamics due to a changed worldview. The article itself actually just reports about the follow-up of a preceding documentary – My brother, the Islamist (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21798432, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12900460),which in conjunction with several other related articles present the core idea of how a family got separated through cultural and ideological influences. Robb Leech’s (Dorset, UK) documentary is about his stepbrother Richard Dart, who converted to Islam and joined an extremist Islamic group. Leech presents segments of Dart’s journey into Islam, his strict adherence to the concept of Jihad, support of Sharia-Law and the establishment of a world-wide Islamic state, leading to his imprisonment in April 2011 after substantiated accusations of preparing acts of terrorism. Because it presents a timely reflection of the global political climate, Leech received green light from his producer to film a sequel about how his brother moved from being Islamist to terrorist. His objective is to bring understanding about people’s growing disconnection from the culture and society form they grew up in and show reasons for the radical change, including interviews with the extremist’s group leader Anjem Choudary, Dart’s mentor, as well as converted and de-converted friends of Dart. The conflict here is not necessarily Dart’s conversion to Islam, but its participation in its extremist wing which condones taking lives, treatment of women as second-class and encouragement of violent worldwide Islamization. The concept of violent “persuasion” for religious reasons in itself is not new, as Christianity for example itself has to struggle with those stains in its history. But religion as a motivating factor is driving political action and the accommodation of cultural diversity is pitted against the protection of basic human rights. Many countries with Muslim population (Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq) are members of the UN but violate rights they have voluntarily agreed to protect. According to International Human Rights laws, these are obligations which “... States are bound to respect…, to protect and to fulfill human rights…and protect individuals and groups against human rights abuses.” http://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/Pages/InternationalLaw.aspx. However, these governments have “worldviews that hinder improvement” in these areas (class PP). One positive factor of globalization is technology giving us immediate access to the various developing currents in religion, politics, economics etc. However, with this comes the responsibility and exercise hereof as a global citizen. As a global citizen, Leech has to accept his brother’s conversion, but is he not also obligated to advocate against him or – if applicable – for his sister who does not agree his beliefs? Where does he draw the line of self-determination? For example, family interaction has become extremely strained (i. e. Dart greeted his stepbrother only with his “dirty hand” because he is regarded an infidel). Dart’s beliefs clash clearly with his brother’s or any other “non-believer”, including his entire family. My ethical issue here is that I have problems respecting Dart’s form of religion because it disregards the worth of human life and does not promote social justice. Yet, his religious point of view seems to emphasize the utilitarian form of social justice. And, putting myself in their shoes, extremist Muslims can “justify” their desire of expansion as a reaction to the prevailing racial/social contract which is still based on Western culture or white people’s power while disregarding other ethnic group’s involvement or decision-making right.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-23512334
ReplyDeleteScottish independence: Welfare reforms 'possible but potentially costly'
This article explains how Scotland’s welfare program spends more per person than the entire Great Britain. If Scotland becomes independent from Great Britain it can reform its policies to cater the needs of its population. According to their benefits and pension report Scotland’s population is aging faster than its counterparts Wales and England. Therefore policies need to be created for future decades.
The most expensive welfare benefit programs for Scotland are the state pension, child and working tax credits, and disability living allowance. When trying to figure out how to redesign its program and benefits Scotland has to take a lot of things into consideration. The article goes on to state any redesign will require Scotland spend money and some people will be highly affected such as the low income families. According to the Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore: "… there would be huge cost pressures on an independent Scotland, particularly as our population is aging, and particularly because of the challenges we have in raising the money to pay for that increasing bill."
I believe this article ties right into the material covered in class. In class we talked about the different forms of social justice and advocacy. Social justice: a sense of fairness for all and that it is a process and a product; to include economic, political, and social equality between individuals as well as institutions. The political leaders in Scotland are trying to figure out how to organize distributive justice. This would be Scotland’s obligation to take care of its citizens. The article also points out Scotland’s finance secretary stating “Social protection”. I believe this is an explanation of the Egalitarian (Social Contract). We can see policymakers in Scotland trying to give basic liberties such as welfare aid to disabled and the elderly.
I find this article interesting. I never knew that Scottland spent so much money on the state pension, child and working tax credits, and disability living allowance and attendance allowance. In Great Britian, their third most expensive benefit was housing benefit. I know that the secretary of state for Scottland has stated, "We've had a tough few years, but what this report really nails is the fact that, under independence, there would be huge cost pressures on an independent Scottland, particularly as our population is aging, and particularly because of the challenges we have in raising the money to pay for that increasing bill" I just can not help but to wonder, how did they survive at all.
DeleteYolonda Armstead
ReplyDeleteSep 8, 2013
Topic: Over-population
Mass birth-control programmes
This article examines the use, or potential use, of mass fertility regulation as a form of population control. In the Bible scripture “be fruitful and multiply”, the articles seems to state that some may be taking that verse a little too literal, which is causing some countries to become over populated, which is giving certain people a desire to want to look into mass birth control programmes.
The article addresses general objections such as imperialism, human rights, eugenics, and gender bias. As for imperialism in summary the rich countries would control, and fund the implementation of the birth control programmes in exchange of financial or other aid. Human rights- the person rights to choose how many children they would like to have would be taken away from them, and the choice would be made for them. Control in the form of eugenics, birth control would affect certain classes or ethnic groups, and lastly gender bias the article states that mass birth control programmes operate by controlling only female fertility such as the pill, hormone implants, and IUD’s.
There were other objections that were listed such as bribery or incentives. These objections would be used in the form of coercion, unfairness, eugenics, human dignity and even abortion. The article stated that ‘there are particular ethical objections to birth control programmes that use incentives of money, food or other benefits to reward people who take part:’ With that statement in mind I do not see giving someone food as a reward towards using birth control. That sounds a bit inhuman. That statement sounds as if they are with-holding food along with other benefits from them if they do not take part in the mass birth control program as the ‘overseer’ deems fit. The article did not address which country this form of coercion is occurring in, but for a person who is starving or watching their family starve it is probably an effective mechanism of control.
As the article states this has been going on since the 1970’s in place such as India and China, but through the lenses that I view life with, this is definitely a violation of our human rights.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/contraception/mass_birth_control_1.shtml
Yolanda,
DeleteAfter reading your article the one thing that stood out to me that was not included in the article was the possible side effects of long term birth control use. Forcing women to take birth control for long periods of time could result in health problems. For instance, high blood pressure, stroke, and heart disease can all result from the prolonged use of birth control. This is certainly a human rights issue. I cant imagine how the government would decide how many children a person could have. as I read your article many questions popped into my head, What would be the punishment if someone's birth control failed and they had too many children. Also would people in power be able to have more children or bend the rules? I can't imagine a life where others controlled me to this extent.
Yolanda, I really liked your article but am left quite dumbfounded. This is a huge human rights issue! This really reminds me of when the government forced sterilization onto people with disabilities years ago. To think that our right to reproduce could be altered or to think that we could no longer have the right is heart wrenching. The article also talks about objections to using coercion to get people to comply with taking birth control. For example, a person who is starving is offered food in exchange for taking birth control; How could they refuse an offer like that when their belly is telling them everyday to eat! It also worries me that this could someday be widespread, and that people really would not have a choice. Most women have to take a certain type of birth control due to genetics, and health conditions. Sometimes these issues are unknown until they have been on a certain form of birth control for a few months. How would the government deal with that? Some women can't take birth control at all, and what would happen to them? Would they be forced to get a hysterectomy or thrown into jail for corruption? So many things to think about..
DeleteTheresa May pledges modern-day slavery crackdown
ReplyDeleteDebra Smith
9/9/2013
In last week’s article, I discussed children and adolescents being bought, coerced and kidnapped from their homes, to work in garment factories. This week I will be discussing what one place is trying to do to stop human trafficking. The United Kingdom has made it their top priority according the article “Theresa May pledges modern-day slavery crackdown.” In my opinion I think these are the more important articles about human trafficking because without laws and regulations people are going to traffic humans for whatever reason they deem fitting. In the article it talks about how their first concern is to free the slaves, and to convict and imprison more modern-day slave drivers. After they have been imprisoned they will no longer be eligible for what is called Gang masters. Gang masters, according to the article are individuals who supply large numbers of workers for agriculture, forestry, horticulture, shellfish-gathering or food processing and packaging. I can understand how this would make sense because it is essentially these people’s job to “supply” workers and what better and more cost efficient way to do that than to traffic them for little to no pay? I just can’t believe how these are not “common sense” laws but I guess that’s what I get for being in my little American bubble, where hopefully people who are trafficking are punished. I particularly liked this article because it gives me hope that in at least some countries Human Trafficking is not taking lightly, and it allows thinking that a war of traffickers does exists. While reading these articles I think of the UN declaration of human rights that we discussed in class because nearly ALL of the rights of the victims of trafficking are taken away. For example, in the game that we played one of our hottest topics was forced labor, and whether someone has the right to force another person to work. Although most of our conversation related to prisons, I still firmly believe that no one should be forced to work. No woman, man, or child should be taken from their homes and forced into servitude, slavery, or any form of forced labor. I commend the United Kingdom for standing their ground and tightening their belts when it comes to trafficking.
Side Note: I also, found this article interesting because you never hear of trafficking occurring in the UK, or at least I hadn’t.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23831304
I found this article about educating women in Afghanistan compelling because so many women cannot and do not attend school in this country for a variety of reasons. As mentioned, one of the primary reasons for this is fear. It is no secret that safety is a major concern among women in Afghanistan. Many abandoned their studies during the war because of fear for their lives. While they are considered “free” to attend school, they can still face repercussions from insurgents who are looking to impact fear and violence in their communities.
ReplyDeleteThis article goes back to the discussions that we have been having in class, as well as the Universal Declaration of human rights document. Specifically, this story relates to Article 26 which states that everyone has the right to education. It also says that, “Education shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace” (United Nations, 1948). I found this quote especially significant because women are not seeking out education for the exact opposite reasons as those listed above. Afghanistan is trying to attempt peace with other countries but can only go so far with it because they are still in a time of war. Women, especially, are caught in the cross hairs. Even if they wanted to attend school, the author notes that the schools are still in much need of work. Since we also discussed how one person can snowball a change, I researched more into the problem and what is being done to try to fix it. I found a YouTube video from last year that documents the change that one woman is trying to make in order to help women and girls receive their education. As she notes during the start of the video, education is the ticket for a better life. This is an opportunity that many girls and women are not able to have because they cannot enjoy a basic freedom such as education. I found the video heartwarming because not only is she educating her students, she is teaching them necessities for their culture such as sewing. Finally, she truly is practicing social work by raising her amount of students from 300 to 15,000 students in just one year. She is hope for their future.
Educating the next generation of girls in Afghanistan . (2012, October 1). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzUh99sPuT8
Khan, A. A. (2013, September 20). Universities need more women students, says world bank. University World News. Retrieved from http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20130906162934480
United Nations. (1948, December 10). Universal declaration of human rights . Retrieved from https://tigernet.campbellsville.edu/ICS/icsfs/declaration__eng.pdf?target=62c18842-b88b-4e98-9a5e-98fe734135ee
I have no idea why it jumbled up all of my APA references :( but here are the sites I used to support my stance.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzUh99sPuT8
http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20130906162934480
I really enjoyed reading your article for this week. I was amazed to read that only 19% of the individuals enrolled in Afghan universities were women. I also thought that is was interesting that some of the things that they were contributing to this low enrollment was social issues. The article mentioned that one way to get more women to enroll would be to provide them things that were important to them such as adequate sanitation on campuses and safety in the residential facilities and during transportation. The inequality that women face with access to education was found in our readings for this week. One interesting thing that was mentioned in Sernau was that societies that have differences in access to education access and quality are more likely to be marked by turmoil, unrest and even civil war (page 117). This is definitely applies to Afghanistan. Reading this article and the readings for the week made me feel especially blessed for the situation that I am currently in. Not only am I able to attend a university that I feel safe at, I am also able to have a family while working outside of the home with the support of my husband. It's sad to think that not all women around the world are afforded these same privileges.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThe situation that women in Afghan are confronting looks desperate because the reason why they cannot get access to education was because of war and one lady's story who was trying to make a change by creating the opportunity to educate women in the middle of war surprised me. Obviously there is hope as long as even one person's courageous action can enlighten in the darkness. Nobody would think being educated is important when we are surrounded by the threat of death because of war. This girl not only believed that way but she took an action. Who knows, those educated women in Afghan can change entire nation and entire world because of this one woman who started this education movement.
Deletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-23885377.
ReplyDeleteWhile looking for an article that discussed food or water issues/concerns, I came across an article titled “Could smuggling be to blame for Venezuela’s food shortages?” This article discusses the current food shortages in Venezuela. According to the article individuals in Venezuela are allotted a certain amount of rice, chicken, wheat, and sugar due to shortages in the area. Individuals come from miles around and stand in line for hours in scorching heat to be able to get their allotment. One issue that the country has with this is that many of the individuals who show up to get their allotment are smugglers.
These smugglers buy up as much as they can and sell their goods to other smuggler s that then transport the goods across the border to Columbia. Smugglers have a huge incentive to do this. The goods are sold for a fixed rate inside of the supermarket in Venezuela. Once the goods are in Columbia they face inflation. The article read that a bottle of milk can be sold as much as seven or eight times more if it is sold on the Columbian side of the border. In fact, the article mentions that milk and butter are rarely seen in Venezuela due to the smugglers.
Another issue that the article mentions is leading to the food shortage is the lack of security. Gangs in Columbia are the ones who are controlling the smugglers. Because of the lack of security, many of the food producers have to spend their own money on security for their protection.
One way that this article can be tied to our class discussions and readings is through the term the invisible hand. The invisible hand states that individual decisions do not add to the common good, but create the worst for all. Due to the individual decisions that the smugglers have made to make quick, but illegal, money, they are creating food shortages and harming other citizens in their country. The citizens that do not have the financial stability to be able to go across the border to Columbia to pick up the basic goods that they might need are the ones who get harmed the most in the long run. The article mentions that the smugglers are also creating shortages in medical supplies and that many gunshot victims have died due to not having these medical supplies. In a violent country such as Venezuela, this hurts many more people than it helps. Hopefully the government will step in and force them items to be better regulated.
Civil Wars/Conflicts
ReplyDeleteShawn Lanham
Iraq still in Civil War
Syria has been dominating all news sources for my civil war searches, so what I thought would be an easy topic, has proven more difficult since any search for conflicts/civil war quickly returns results for the Syrian crisis. I had to research further and more in depth this week to locate information on other conflicts around the world.
Iraq is still embroiled in civil war primarily between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims as evidenced by this article from a couple of weeks ago regarding ongoing bombings, civilian deaths and violence. According to the article, tensions are rising and through coordinated bombing attacks, set mainly in markets and shopping areas, civilians are the ones suffering and dying.
Over 1,000 Iraqis were killed in July, which is the highest monthly total since 2008. The article posits that rising death tolls are attributed to the neighboring Syrian civil war. Attacks have reached levels higher than anytime over the last five years in an area where car bombings are an everyday occurrence. Further research shows that since 2008, an average of 300 – 600 civilians are killed each month. The surge of deaths in July shows an increase in violence and turmoil that has been minimized since the Syrian conflict dominates the news.
How many of the U.N.’s Declaration of Human Rights are being violated during civil wars, when so many civilians are being killed and/or displaced? In these war torn areas I could not find a single Article of the 30 listed, that would not be violated or at risk during a conflict like those occurring in the Middle East. Furthermore, our readings in the Sernau text this week highlight the struggles of women and their dependent children, which become evident with the loss of soldier/rebel/civilian husbands killed in the conflict or civilians that become displaced or find themselves trying to provide for their families in the markets that often are targets for bombings. This leaves mothers desperately trying to find a way to provide for the family in an area with limited opportunity, and this scenario is currently happening over 30 times per day in Iraq. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23890978 (August 29,2013)
While the issues in Syria are certainly important to follow, it is unfortunate to realize that other major news is neglected. I thought it was especially sad that the article reported that one of the car bombs was set off at a time when there are more shoppers in the market because prices are reduced during that time. This tells me that it was intentional for the bomb to kill/injure women and children as they are likely the ones to be doing the shopping.
DeleteThis article also reminds me of the exercise we did outside in our first class. We all made a complicated web to show how one thing affects so many other things that we normally would not think of. Like that exercise, here we can plainly see how the Syrian crisis is affecting conflicts in Iraq.
You bring up such a critical point about Syria dominating the world news leaving other areas which are suffering from the same kinds of terrorism and hatred. As the article stated with the amount of innocent civilians dying, it is disheartening to acknowledge that individuals have so much disdain for their country and those who live in it to cause such pandemonium and chaos. In our first class when we were discussing what we considered our rights and responsibilities and the statement was made about how we bring our rights with us to other countries. Yet, in our second class a document was produced that have been in existence for over 60 years stating just those rights for EVERY individual and still we do not abide by them. At what cost is it to us? Apparently, it is great! The examples that are being set for our children (and theirs) of what effective leadership looks like is disappointing and in my opinion the only thing being accomplished is diminishing the worlds’ population. As we demonstrated with our outside activity, when one resource is strained, it places pressures on others leading to a ripple effect where one is unable to identify where the problem began. We discuss corrupt governments, officials turning a blind eye to oppression, and advocacy groups being a target of hate crimes, yet in the meantime, about 1 individual has lost their life and for nothing. After reading about the individuals who are left behind searching for a way to survive, I was able to relate it to my article about government agencies displaying posters and stickers on chairs encouraging immigrants/migrants to return to their home country, but my question would be, what are they returning to? Everything they know, loved, trusted is no longer there, only the painful memories remain.
DeleteTanzzania: Witness- a Boy’s Mining Accident Richard’s Story, Tanzania
ReplyDeleteThis article is interesting because it gives a more personal account of a child’s life working as a miner for gold in the country of Tanzania. Richard, the child miner, is eleven years old and regularly worked in a mine pit to earn money for his family. On one day, the mine collapse which resulted in a landslide burying Richard waste deep in dirt. Once rescued and taken to the local hospital, Richard survived the landslide. However, after one year, Richard still has pain from the internal injuries sustained from the landslide. The pain makes walking difficult for Richard.
The article explains this situation is typical for a child in the rural south of Tanzania. Busy small towns simply pop up anywhere that is barren to birth a local temporary gold mine. Although people of all ages mine for the gold, children are very vulnerable to this type of work due to their size and limberness. They also are exposed to mercury in the mining process which is very harmful. The mercury is used to divide the ore from the gold so alternatives to its use are unlikely. Richard explains that he has mined since he was nine years old and the money is used to support his aunt and pay for his school costs.
The article further explained that Human Rights Watch indicates that children eight years and older are found to be working in these mines where they must drill very deep, work up to twenty-four hours a day. During these times, they crush and transport heavy bags of gold ore out of the mine. This labor involves both boys and girls who are enticed at the idea to remove themselves from poverty. Yet, reality shows them the mining is a dead-end toil with desperation and injuries. Richard admits that not all mine owners will employ him and officials have chased him away from mines; however, the government rarely enforces its laws against child labor so Richard keeps working.
The article stated that Richard had no idea that handling and breathing the mercury during the process of removing the gold from the ore was actually hazardous to his health. Mercury poisoning may damage the eyes, liver, and other body organs/ systems and can be fatal. Tanzania has global treaties in place to prevent mercury exposure. Yet Richard continues to mine whenever he can to make money for school and living expenses. Richard explained that his teachers inform the students to not mine as their grades will drop.
This article related to the readings in a plethora of connections. Tanzania is an African country and has many children engaged in child labor. This labor security is short-lived and risky; furthermore, it robs these children of their human capital opportunity for success as it removes them from school. The lack of education will likely force them to live in poverty and experience physical pain/ disability resulting from their work in unregulated, illegal child labor. Additionally, the article explained that genders are not discriminated in this form of child labor which was surprising because it is labor intensive.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201308280125.html?aa_source=slideout
Michelle,
Deletenice summary of the article. Although the laws and regulations are in place, I agree that they should be better enforced. However, I would think that the real solution would be to make education more affordable or hopefully free for all the children of Tanzania, so that children like Richard would not have to work to pay for his education on top of supporting his family. If the gold mines are making so much money, should they not be forced by the government to be more heavily taxed and use this funding for additonal allocations made to education? Perhaps including a monetary incentive for school attendance paid by those that are benefiting from the mining would be the answer. This would make more sense to me in finding a long term solution. Atleast the nonrenewable resources (gold) would be providing a better future for the renewable resources (people).
Amanda Florence
ReplyDeleteTopic: Religion
Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/10/woman-sudan-hijab-flogging_n_3894950.html?utm_hp_ref=religion
Woman In Sudan Refuses To Wear Hijab, Faces Flogging
In the country of Sudan, Article 152 of the Sudanese Penal Code of 1991 states that "Whoever does in a public place an incident act of an act contrary to public morals or wears an obscene outfit or contrary to public morals or causing an annoyance to public feelings shall be punished with flogging which may not exceed 40 lashes or with fine or with both." This article has given local police the authority to arrest women simply because they believe the women are not dressed appropriately, typically based on religious views. If the arrested women are convicted, they are subject to a fine or to be flogged.
On August 27th, Sudanese woman Amira Osman Hamed was arrested for refusing to wear a hijab, a headscarf worn by Muslim women that covers the hair. She will be tried on September 19 for her refusal to cover her hair. However, she has stated that she is willing to face the flogging as an act of protest against wearing the hijab.
In Sudan, there are many others who also view this law as unfair. The director of Amnesty International's Africa Program reported that "Women are routinely arrested, detained, tried and then, on conviction, flogged simply because a police officer disapproves of their clothing."
Sudan's legal system is partially governed by Islamic Sharia law which allows for brutal punishments to be randomly enforced. According to previous articles, this government system allows for its' people to be sporatically punished very harshly when the government deems that it is needed. Sudan's use of flogging is banned internationally by the Organization of African Unity's Charter on Human Rights. However, it is clear that there have been multiple cases where women have been punished and flogged for refusal to wear traditional Muslim dress.
This article reminded me of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that we discussed in class last Thursday. When looking at those rights, this article shows that Sudan is guilty of abusing Articles 5, 18, and 19. Article 5 states that "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." Article 18 speaks about the freedom of religion the freedom to practice religion, and this woman obviously did not have the freedom to choose which religion she wanted to practice, if any, or even how to practice. Finally, Article 19 says that everyone has the freedom of opinion and freedom to express their opinion. This freedom is also clearly violated because she was not given the freedom to express her opinion about the use of the hijab.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteLeslie Carver
Delete9/10/13 3:45pm
Religion and women are always a topic to rustle people’s feathers up in every country. Man cannot exist with out woman and vise verse. Biblically women are to be submissive to an extent, but how individuals misinterpret things blow my mind. It makes me wonder with the mindsets of many are in the United States. Many of our Social Worker mindsets and hearts would be right up in the mix of things with Amira but, what we would be doing if we were in Amira’s situation or even one of her friends. The article stated that Amira did not want her friends and family to pay the fine but they did anyways. Amira has courage and determination to advocate for the women in her country. In some eyes the little gestures of her wearing trousers and refusing to wear a hijab, may seem minor to us in the United States but in her culture it’s a gesture of disrespect and dishonor. We discussed in class about globalization and how it basically is how we do things is forced. Now in many cases we have headlines and cases involving domestic violence. As social workers- as Americans many advocate for those individuals for justice, peace, and freedom. I personally think it is okay to state that women have more freedom in our country than anywhere else in the world, and our policies and our fights for human rights haven’t rubbed off on everyone. Sudan chooses to perform “flogging” as a form of punishment. What would be my stance if that were a punishment here? Would I have been as brave as Amira? Your choice for the article this week, can make oneself, especially being a female that more appreciative for living in the “land of the free, and the home of the brave.”
Titerriell Macklin
ReplyDeleteSeptember 10, 2013 10:10 a.m.
Gendercide
The article by Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor, talked about the full extent of India’s ‘Gendercide’. “Its population is expanding at breakneck speed, yet its schools are empty of girls.
In the past three decades, there has been up to 12 million baby girls aborted. In India, the parents want to ensure that they have a son. A son is the heir.
There is a social problem for the future of brides in some towns. The sex ratio is lowest since 1961. With some families in India the first daughter is welcomed; the second child is desired to be a son. Selective abortion is high in these families. The wealthy are the worst for selective abortion.
In India the families want a son to carry the family name, earn money, and look after his relatives. Now I understand why this country is engaging in this social issue. The country has no social security for the elderly. I am not saying that I agree, however, there is clarity. I learned by reading this article that a female takes her riches with her when she marries. I have a better understanding as of to why selective abortion is causing a widening imbalance in the child sex ratio.
I will have to say that it was interesting to hear there was a law to protect the unborn female. The act passed in 1996, it is the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act (to stop the use of ultra sounds to determine the sex of the child). However, this law is not respected. Even though politicians are raising a concern to deal with the imbalance in the sexes, there is not a lot of belief that politicians will do much about the concern.
I feel like, the way people from India think has to be reprogrammed. It has been reported through this article that “the sex bias found among second-borns recorded in India, has also been found among Indians living in the USA, WHERE THE SAME SOCIAL PRESSURES DO NOT EXIST”!
Wow! There are some major and big decisions that have to be made in India to stop what I call a social crisis!
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia
Marshall Allen
ReplyDelete9/10/13
Topic: Natural Disasters
“Solomon Islands is Better Prepared for Disasters through Gender Awareness”
This article examines disaster preparedness trainings that focus on the different roles and needs based on gender to promote equal quality of care. The article reports that the pre-cursor to disaster trainings in the Solomon Islands happened after an earthquake and tsunami hit the region in 2007 without having a disaster management plan in place. The inclusion of “gender awareness” in the trainings is a newly implemented strategy to better serve its inhabitants in such an emergency.
The article uses the example of pregnant women needing specific medical attention beyond what may be available without being prepared. The article also brings up the issue of needed security for women as inferred that they are more vulnerable to abuse and or assaults after a disaster has happened. The acknowledgement of the roles of both men and women can often be different in a disaster to adequately and equally serve all affected. At first I was surprised that such training was really needed to teach this idea. I had always thought that putting a woman’s needs ahead of men was a universally learned and accepted honorable thing to practice.
I think in Western culture we always think of the old analogy of “women and children first” when life-boats are filled departing a sinking ship. I then thought about the “feminization of poverty” explained in Chapter three. Women living in a male dominated power structure have often been left to deal with hardships on their own, due to males abandoning them to fend for themselves and their children when survival becomes difficult, and resources are in short supply.
While must of us in America would like to think that this kind of abandonment does not happen, we see it in our own community everyday. We saw it in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in our own country how women were raped and abused due to little to no security or protection. I think it is a good idea to include gender awareness training in any disaster management plan regardless of geography or what we as a culture “think” we know about ourselves.
http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2013/09/05/solomon-islands-is-better-prepared-for-disasters-through-gender-awareness
Who Really Has the Power?
ReplyDeleteLeslie Carver 9/10/13 3pm
“If it is true that one death is tragedy and a million deaths as statistic, this is a story about statistics.” –Dylan Gray
Dylan Gray is a producer, writer, editor, and director of a documentary called “Fire In The Blood.” MSNBC had Gray on for a story to discuss an epidemic of aids that has swept through over the past 20 years. They questioned Gray asking him the number of lives that have been taken by AIDS and he estimated a minimum of 10 million lives that were an unnecessarily lost- death that could have been prevented with the existing affordable medication. What seems to be the issue?
From our Ezell readings in chapter 2 we learned about advocacy. A frequently used definition is, “to defend or promote a cause.” Ezell also states that advocacy is goal seeking and a process, the process of advocacy is that it involves, “obtaining, modifying, and promoting.” Dylan Gray is doing just that, he is advocating for Africa and putting up his gloves in the ring against pharmaceutical companies who are choosing to block the access to affordable drugs that could have saved lives.
So why would anyone deny life? Gray states that HIV/AIDS is a disease that primarily affects people in the developing world, also stating that 95% of the people living with HIV are in developing countries. Therefore, pharmaceutical companies blocked this access to affordable drugs it in order to maintain their profit margins, and keeping in mind future profits in major emerging markets. It is ideal for them because they can charge whatever price for the drugs, and those who are on “anti-retroviral drugs have to remain on those the rest of their lives, it is the perfect type of drug.” Why would it be in anyone’s best interest to block cheap, and affordable drug therapy? Gray stated that drug companies were afraid that the western countries would find out how much lower their prices were, and that was something that mattered to them.
The conversations and question continues touching more on former President Bush’s program in Africa and how that impacted the country, that essentially made these drugs available to the millions that needed them. Dylan Gray gives credit to Bush and stated that universally people can look back on all sides of the political spectrum and universally give Bush praise for this one. Gray continues to state that Bush continues to stay very popular in Africa because of it. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states in Article 25, (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services…” Hmm, who seems to be having the power?
Drug companies are continuing to keep their costs high, it’s about their emerging markets. They didn’t want to create a “war” per say by lowering prices for this and that country. Is this okay? Dylan Gray has put his gloves on in the ring because millions of lives are dwindling due to the lack of affordable drug therapy, is money that much more important than saving a life? Are you willing to join him in the ring?
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3036789/ns/msnbc-morning_joe/vp/52910556#52910556
Press Release: Accounting red tape cut for smallest UK companies
ReplyDeleteIn search for an article this week, I found a recent report for micro businesses in the United Kingdom. The article reports the measures were taken to reduce micro businesses with financial problems which has confirmed today September 9, 2013 by Business Minister Jo Swinson. The response from the EU’s Micro’s Directive, the 1.5 million entities will be exempt from certain financial reporting requirements. The micro entities are not subject to the same financial rules as small companies. The consultation indicated that because of their size this was unfair to the micro entities. Micro entities now are able to prepare and publish reduced financial statements. Business Minister Jo Swinson reports that thriving micro businesses helps make a stronger economy, however due to size, they do not have financial support that is greatly needed. He suggests they focus on growing their businesses instead of completing unnecessary paperwork. Business Minister Jo Swinson also reports that the measures used to cut bureaucracy will allow micro businesses to grow and create more jobs. According to the Notes to editors, the United Kingdom negotiated exemptions for micro entities and family supports efforts to decrease burdens of the small companies. The United Kingdom has approximately 1.56 million micro entities. The micro entities are able to decide which form of financial reporting best meets their company’s needs, the exemptions are optional. The UK wants to become the best place in Europe to start and grow a business. I do believe that by reducing government red tape the micro business will focus on growing and improving their companies. In a small business it takes money and man power to be able to meet all the government requirements. I think the UK is headed in the right direction to grow micro businesses.
http://foreignaffairs.co.nz/2013/09/09/press-release-accounting-red-tape-cut-for-smallest-uk...
Greece’s debts crisis.
ReplyDeleteJunghyun Lee,
Sep 9, 6:20pm 2013
Topic; Debt
Recently, many nations have been involved in debt problems as Greece has been going through. Greece was the one of the fastest growing countries until the middle of 2000s, but when the global financial crisis happened in the late 2000s, Greece had to confront economic hardships because its main industries depend on shipping and tourism and these areas were easily influenced by the economic current. After all, Greece government asked 45 billion from the EU and International Monetary Fund (IMF) to meet its financial needs in 2010. After this happened, Greece's sovereign debt rate came to be default status in which case investors were supposed to lose 30–50% of their money. This caused stock markets over the world and the euro currency to decline. After a series of austerity measures being carried out, Greece’s primary deficit was improved little, but as a side-effect, it caused recession. As a result of this, 111,000 Greek companies went bankrupt and unemployment rate grew from 7.5% in September 2008 to 27.2% in January 2013. To solve this problem, some experts suggested that Greece would withdraw from the euro zone and reintroduce its national currency the drachma at a debased rate. But it would also lead to a 60% devaluation of the new drachma, wipe 20% off Greece's GDP, increase Greece's debt-to-GDP ratio to over 200%, inflation and Eurozone National Central Banks (NCBs) may lose money in debt claims against the Greek national bank. So the Troika (EC, IMF and ECB) agreed to provide a second bailout package worth €130 billion, under the condition of carrying out another harsh austerity measures. This bailout deal included a debt restructure agreement for the first time and the world's biggest debt restructuring deal. As a result of this, the predicted debt burden now indicates a more sustainable size equal to 117% of GDP by 2020 which is lower than the initial goal of 120.5%.
It was impressive to study how Greece fell in serious debt crisis and how the country could be relieved from the crisis through reading the web news article. Greece was well known country by its famous historical inheritances. In a global perspective, this article taught me the importance of knowing each country’s economic base which is relating to their debts level closely. Instead of depending on only past time inheritances and shipping, developing other industrial areas that are not easily influenced by worldly business system, Greece might have not been confronted major economic crisis. To solve the global poverty problem, it is important to find out what could be the major economic resources in that country as we all watched in the case of one African girl’s story that raised goats for her village.
When I read this article, I learned the process to solve the debt problem in global level. I was not sure whether Greece could receive the bailout money from the Troika (EC, IMF and ECB) because it belonged to Europe. But obviously the role of the Troika was critical for Greece to be relieved from the pressure of debts. When financial assistant was given to Greece, it was always given under the certain conditions, implementing hard austerity measures. Through performing these conditions, the indebted country can learn how to spend the money wisely to get out of debts. But this can also bring side effect, economic recession and Greece asked Troika to extend due date of payment. Through observing the process, I learned that it is important for the financial institutes that give the bailout money to assist the indebted country patiently, faithfully and wisely until the indebted country can finally be relieved from debts. The relationship between Troika and Greece can be compared with the relationship between teacher and student. To see improvement, the efforts of the both side are required.
Source; http://news.google.com
The global topic of immigration/migration brings about numerous hits. In several parts of the world, immigration/migration is a heated topic that sparks many opinions about the issue and ways to go about addressing the global concern. This is true for Glascow and West Scotland in the United Kingdom. The article titled UK Border Agency posters branded ‘racist’, discussed a campaign that began at the end of July and will go through the first few days in October. The Glascow charity’s director of the Positive Action in Housing, Robina Qurehi, was appalled that a government agency would hang such racist and degrading posters in an office where the primary purpose is helping those migrants/refugees find shelter. Although an attempt has already been made to the Home Secretary stating the poster campaign should be aborted due to the negative stigma it places on those served by the government agency. In response, the spokesman stated that it was only a campaigned geared toward a range of services, help, and advice for those to return home with dignity rather than be forced and traumatized through forcible removal. The overall intention is that those who are here illegally should leave on their own, and the agency is there to help make that happen through their services.
ReplyDeleteThe article discussed xenophobia, an irrational fear of foreigners or strangers, I had never previously heard of that before, but it did remind me of a personal experience with a group of educators who did not want to alter their teaching tactics/approaches to teach to all students including those who spoke another language. In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations listed 30 articles which stipulates the rights that belong every person, equally. Two specific rights that are violated are article 5, where no one should be subjected to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, or punishment and article 14, the right to seek and enjoy on other countries asylum from persecution. Despite these rights that are granted to every person, developed more than 60 years ago, they are still be violated, by government agencies none the less. I can only imagine the embarrassment, confusion, and isolation, one must feel while trying to start a new life and being judged and stereotyped by others.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-23897533
Kasey Gray
ReplyDelete09/10/2013
As Coal plants shut Down, United Kingdom Faces a Power Crunch.
The article states that currently the United Kingdom operates on 13 coal plants, half are supposed to shut down by the year 2015, and all will be shut down by the year 2023. According to the article, Ofgem, who is Britain’s industry regulator states “he first warned that electric power capacity was tightening back in 2009, but now says this is happening faster than previously expected”. The article says the United Kingdom went on coal binge and bought cheap coal from the United States. Basically the UK did this to keep their lights on and to keep the countries electric bills from going up at the current time.
The article suggest that if the United Kingdom were to keep the coal plants they would have to have them transformed to avoid violating pollution regulations. But in order for this to be done the customer’s bills may sky rocket, and then the idea would eventually be proposed for the customers to gradually pay a little on each bill to pay for the cleanup. I think the customer’s need to know this up front so the problem can be managed soon. If the customers are getting a bill each month that just keeps going up and then they are proposed the plan to pay for the cleanup, then their will likely be some resentment toward the electric companies and the officials who did not put the word out. The article states “customers are most at risk for higher prices than blackouts”. Again I strongly believe the electric companies should propose this to their customers before they have to pay double or tipple for the price of their electric bill.
I choose this article for three reasons. One is because my family comes from a background of coal miners, and we believe “coal keeps the lights on” it always has. I am fearful, but also conscious that this is happening in the United States at the current moment. Although I do believe in clean energy and am not reluctant to say so, coal has always been in our family and is considered “a way of life” especially form my area. Two, I would feel comfortable saying that some of these families in the United Kingdom are probably in the same boat as some families in my area who have generations of coal miners and they are currently watching their jobs diminish. Three, I can relate this to classroom learning, because to me it’s sad that the United Kingdom’s electric companies and/or government would do their citizens and customers like the article proposed. So I will say this would be like the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. Because the coal and gas companies are already getting more for less, hence the cheap coal from the United States. But you also have to look at who is still paying for electric? The customer’s! So if the electric company decides to raise the bills then they would be getting richer yet again, while the customers are getting poorer with no idea what the companies are trying to do. \
Link: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2013/08/130829-united-kingdom-power-crunch/
WOW!!! How intense!! It is so aggravating to see governments not being upfront to their citizens ESPECIALLY if the citizens will be able to see changes in the amount they pay! It makes me a little paranoid about my bills ;) I think that the UK should have made this information more available not only so the country could start coming up with ways to decrease their usage but also so they could start formulating ideas about how to get energy when the coal plants are completely depleted. Later in the article where it gets into the political implications, I was shocked to see how crazy this really will be! Not only will the European Union become heavily involved if they go against the Environmental Regulations, but the political parties and elections will be heavily effected! Doesn't it seem sketchy that the rich are always stable and the citizens will have to make up for the rich's lack of preparedness?
Deletehttp://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2013/09/03/218558466/thai-fishing-sector-among-worlds-largest-cited-for-abuses
ReplyDeleteFishing, a leisurely practice for some in America, has been an intense burden on many workers in the fishing industry. The big boom in the fishing industry has left Thailand with a great source of income, but the Thailand fishing industries seem to continue the "deceptive and coercive labor practices" to save even more money. Both National Public Radio and the International Labor Organization have covered the importance of adding pressure to the Thailand government to begin regulating the country's fishing industry. Unsafe working conditions, unfair wages, and human trafficking have all become immediate issues of concern when it comes to this daunting work for those tricked or forced into this 'decent' living. Most of our fish, even in America, has most likely come from Thailand fishing industries, using laborers from underdeveloped countries, to catch the product. Seemingly endless amounts of time on small, cramped fishing vessels, undergoing unsanitary conditions, force, harsh treatment, or even just unfair wages toward the workers has caused an uproar from countries who are catching on. For the past two weeks, international involvement in many forms on a broad scale, whether it be intervention in Syria, to the basic avocation for human rights abroad, has been questioned as necessary or uncalled for. This news article shows the importantance of international intervention when it comes to labor. Our fish may be coming from Thailand, so when we do not address issues and express concerns for the humans that provide this product, we are supporting a deprivation of human rights, whether it be unfair wages or unsanitary working conditions.
Through my work in the Coast Guard, I have talked to co-workers that have caught fishing vessels carrying humans in their cargo, attempting to either get them over the boarder or attempting to human traffic them. But what about those who have willingly accepted the hard work knowing the risk? People need money and this is why the dehumanizing acts toward labor workers are even more unjust. Taking advantage of a universal need (money to buy food) and using it to gain personal monetary value is exactly what these fishing industries are doing. I have boarded vessels myself and have had to go through vessel's documentation on navigable waterways to make sure they are compliant with ILO's standards for their workers on board. Because of international intervention, the United States is able to make sure ships treating their workers unjustly are detained until their policies are fixed before they can even transit into the US water or drop of their product in our country. In class we are continuously talking about how the US is a powerhouse nation. The US imports so much from so many different counties via the water, and since countries know they need to comply to our standards for workers on board before we will take in their product, we make a point that we will not accept inhumane treatment for the benefit of anyone. We have in someway depleted a little bit of the safety and wage issues that affect so many fishermen. Fishing industries have no option but to comply with ILO standards if they want us to buy their product. I am so glad this story is bringing fishing vessels to our attention and hopefully other countries will follow suit to help decrease the lack of human rights established in the fishing industry in Thailand.
Chellsey, first off I wanted to say your response to this article is very well thought out and articulated. Second I want to commend you for your service in the cost guard and with being apart of loading these boats you've had first hand with it. When reading the article I never ever really think about where my seafood comes from, but furthermore I never would have thought that people would be held unwillingly on a boat to catch them!. This article is really shocking, and it really opens up eyes to the things that we eat here in the US and things we take for granted in everyday life. Another thing that is shocking is that these people can are human trafficked for catching fish, who would have thought of such a thing?, plus Thailand being 2nd worst in the human trafficking position for 4 years in a row, this is a huge eye opener, and can relate to lots of things we have been talking about in class.
DeleteTopic: Debt
ReplyDeleteRachel Moran
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23846627
BBC news is reporting on living costs in Australia and how people struggle to get by. There is a lot of uncertainty in the job field on a day to day basis. Although the woman interviewed had a job and a business, she stated that “several businesses were declining and always seen signs of for sale on the way to work”. This article was very intriguing. When thinking about the United States and how we struggle, I do not think about other countries having problems paying mortgages and bills. I just always have this one track mind, especially when it comes to countries like Australia. The article stated at one point that Sydney, Australia is one of the top 10 most expensive cities to live. Adam Boyton, Chief economist with Deustche Bank Australia states, “In a way Australians have become victims of their own success and that’s made Australia a more expensive place than it used to be.” Just like any country when the economy is “strong and wealthy, prices can go up” causing those that are less fortunate to struggle. It really puzzled me at first. Reading that Australia has issues of debt would not be expected from a country where people are relatively wealthy. Just like the woman in the article, Ms. Hayes, reported in the article when prices increase it gets harder to know that you will be financially secure. Most people stress the thought if they will be financially stable tomorrow or the day after or knowing because of income they will have to transition to a different job. In order for economic growth people have to migrate to a more stable job so that they can better support their lives. I think this has a great effect on a person and their basic human rights. Some people may have grown up in Australia or in a particular job and would not dream to leave either because of it but end up having to because they cannot afford the prices. As Social Workers that is part of our job to advocate for those who are struggling and who are wondering if they will be financially stable. Although some may have stressful financial issues, the article mentioned that Australia did have “a relatively low unemployment rate of 5.7%” which is amazing!
Sarah Yates
ReplyDeleteTopic: Major Health Concerns
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/09/06/experts-urge-caribbean-nations-to-prepare-for-climate-change-or-risk-fresh/
Article: Experts urge Caribbean nations to prepare for climate change or risk fresh water scarcity
Rising sea levels are prompting experts to warm residents about the possible scarcity of fresh drinking water. Rising sea levels could contaminate their fresh water supply as well as the changing climate patterns could produce less rain; this would be detrimental to those living in the country because most depend on underground water sources for all of their needs. Although this has not happened yet, some of the areas are already experiencing periods of droughts—kind of preparing them for what could and most likely will come. The changes in weather patterns alone are worrying scientists everywhere and they say that people are not likely to be prepared for what will occur. There are currently 168 countries whose water demands exceed natural water supplies for their area. The Caribbean islands rank high on that list. Scientists are urging residents and tourists to monitor their water usage, for fear of scarcity coming quicker than anticipated. Barbados has already started rationing their supply and they have even started to cut off supply to some areas. Due to the over usage of wells which has lead to salt water seeping into the water supply, many desalination plants have been constructed all over the Caribbean. Due to the high cost of these plants, most countries cannot and will not be able to afford their construction.
Although this article is mostly discussing what will happen in the near future, when it does, there will be a huge health and safety issue. This make me think about our Not for Sale book. I started reading it last week, and in one the stories the character (Can’t think of their name for the life of me) had to go to a well and fetch water. Many villages in different countries do this numerous times a day to fulfill their water needs. What would happen if they no longer had that convenience? Most of the villages already have to walk a decent distance for access, and if the government has already started cutting off water supply to some regions, how are the people supposed to survive? People will start to move to different regions, thus causing that water supply to diminish even faster and it will be a never ending cycle! What are we without clean water? We are sick, disease ridden and dead! I worry so much for these villages as I fear most of them are not being properly educated on the climate changes and what they should expect. This is something very scary to think about, and something all of us in the United States take for granted until there is a boil water advisory.