Understanding the Common Types of Human Trafficking

Common Types of Human Trafficking
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) defines human trafficking as “the acquisition of people by improper means such as force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them.” Sometimes victims are taken from their home countries, other times they are kidnapped abroad. Nevertheless, thousands of victims in almost every country in the world are impacted by this human rights violation.

Act, Means and Purpose

The common types of human trafficking can occur in a multitude of ways. The UNODC outlines three clear elements that define trafficking: the act, means and purpose. The act can include the recruitment process, kidnapping, or possible transfer and transportation of the victim. The means refer to how the act of trafficking gets done. The means could be defined as the kidnapping, coercion, fraud, or force to control the victim. Lastly, the purpose is the reason for the act, which in the case of trafficking is exploitation. Exploitation could consist of sexual abuse, forced labor, removal of organs or slavery. Human trafficking can occur in many variations, but the most common types of human trafficking are debt bondage, forced labor and sex trafficking.

Debt Bondage

The most frequently used strategy to employ against victims of human trafficking is debt bondage. It is used against victims of labor and sex trafficking. Specifically, agricultural workers are frequently exploited in this manner, as they are led to migrant labor camps and kept from contact with the outside world. Eliminating their debt is impossible for these workers, as prices for everything cost more and more money. Their initial debt, rent, food and even the tools they work with, are rigged in a way to never be compensated by their wages. Occasionally, victims are “fined,” so that they remain in debt. Victims often have very few resources to turn to, as many are illiterate and impoverished. In poor countries, children are sometimes sold into bondage to eliminate debt.

Forced Labor

Forced labor, or labor trafficking, is a type of modern slavery. Over 14.2 million people across the globe are victims of this, one of the most common types of human trafficking. Victims are lured in the prospects of high-paying jobs and life-altering opportunities. The reality for labor trafficked victims is far different from what they were promised. With little to no payments, their supposed “employers” assert both psychological and physical control over victims. Seizure of passports and money, physical abuse and countless other methods are used to give victims no other choice than to continue working in these terrible conditions.

Sex Trafficking

Sex trafficking, as defined by the Shared Hope International, “occurs when someone uses force, fraud or coercion to cause a commercial sex act with an adult or causes a minor to commit a commercial sex act.” A commercial sex act is considered to be pornography, sexual performance, or prostitution. The exchange can be done monetarily or to fulfill basic human needs such as food and shelter. As one of the most common types of human trafficking, sex trafficking is thriving because there is such a large demand for these type of services. Traffickers utilize several strategies to lure in the victims, as internet and social media being one of the most frequently used ones. The most common age range of victims of human sex trafficking is 14 to 16. Victims are encouraged by the false hopes of adventure, protection, opportunity and love.

These common types of human trafficking occur all over the world, but can be stopped. Organizations throughout the globe are fighting to stop these human rights violations. Shared Hope International, for instance, works as an advocacy organization to train professionals to spot the signs of human trafficking.

Furthermore, they work with the governments to strengthen laws against traffickers and protect victims. United Way, a group working to end modern slavery, has a set of six steps everyone can take to eliminate this global phenomenon.

Raising awareness, learning the signs, volunteering and knowing where your everyday products come from are simple steps that everyone can take to help end human trafficking.

–  Stefanie Babb
Photo: Flickr

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Top 10 Facts about Hunger in Uganda

Uganda
Uganda has rich, fertile soil and ample rainfall, and 82 percent of Uganda’s population work in agriculture. Despite these factors, which should lead to a surplus of food, Uganda still struggles with widespread hunger. This small country has a fast-growing population that is expected to reach 100 million by 2050. International nongovernment organizations (NGOs) are working hard to make sure Uganda will be able to feed its people. It is important to be informed in order to help, so here are the top 10 facts about hunger in Uganda.

Top 10 Facts about Hunger in Uganda

  1. Uganda’s poverty rate declined from 31 percent in 2006 to 19.7 percent in 2013. However, massive population growth in northern and eastern regions was significant; therefore, the actual number of people living in poverty did not decrease much at all.
  2. Approximately 84 percent of Ugandans live in rural communities and rely on agriculture for food and their livelihoods. This can make families vulnerable to weather cycles and natural disasters that can affect crop yields. Even if families can produce surplus food, they often do not have the means to reliably store their surplus.
  3. Food storage facilities are so inadequate that approximately 30 percent of food stored is lost. Facilities do not adequately protect food stores from pests, moisture or mold. Lack of reliable storage contributes to overall food insecurity and hunger in Uganda, especially during seasons with light rainfall.
  4. Approximately 21 percent of Ugandans do not have access to clean water, which impedes people’s ability to stay hydrated, avoid disease and cook meals. The Hunger Project has been working in Uganda to increase the number of facilities where people can access clean water and safely dispose of waste.
  5. Uganda has hosted more refugees than any other African country with 1.3 million refugees in 2017, primarily from South Sudan and The Democratic Republic of the Congo. The additional mouths to feed have severely strained Uganda’s food resources, and both malnutrition and anemia run rampant in refugee settlements.
  6. The most common foods in Uganda are matoke and posho, which are both very poor in vitamins. The lack of nutritious foods and balanced diets has led to high rates of malnutrition and related diseases such as vitamin deficiencies, stunting and anemia. This deficiency actually ends up costing the state a great deal of money.
  7. Malnutrition costs Uganda $899 million per year, in other words, 5.6 percent of its national income. Poor nutrition affects work productivity the most, reducing the physical capacities of the laborers. This ended up costing Uganda $317 million in 2009. Malnutrition-related health treatments have further cost Uganda $254 million.
  8. For children, malnutrition is even more dangerous. Between 2004 to 2009, around 110,220 children died of malnutrition. A large part of the problem is that 82 percent of cases of child malnutrition in Uganda go untreated, accounting for 15 percent of child mortality cases in the country.
  9. Approximately 29 percent of children under the age of five are stunted, meaning they are too short for their ages. Stunting is a result of undernourishment and malnutrition and can lead to a number of other physical and mental health problems. More than half of the adult population in Uganda was stunted during childhood.
  10. Undernourished children are more likely to drop out of school or repeat academic years. An estimated 133,000 Ugandan children per year have to repeat grades. Uganda’s government released a report in 2013 that said, “When the child is undernourished, that child’s brain is less likely to develop at healthy rates, and that child is more likely to have cognitive delays.” Children in poverty have even less of a chance of getting out of poverty if they cannot get an education.

Addressing the Top 10 Facts about Hunger in Uganda

A number of NGOs are working to reduce hunger in Uganda, such as Farm Africa (FA) and The World Food Programme (WFP). Both FA and WFP target Ugandan farmers to help increase their crops and process surpluses while improving the sustainability of the land. WFP also works to improve crisis responses by providing food and cash aid, helps to build resilience by providing important skills training and works with the government to provide nutritious meals to school children.

Two other organizations, The Hunger Project (THP) and Action Against Hunger (AAH), have already reached hundreds of thousands of people in Uganda. THP works in 494 villages to decrease poverty. They have helped 287,807 people access basic services by building sustainable and self-reliant communities around 11 epicenters.

AAH works in refugee centers and has helped 597,390 people in 2017 alone, focusing on nutrition, water, sanitation, livelihoods and food security. The health centers provided in Uganda work with families to screen for malnutrition and provide information on nutrition to prevent cases of under-nourished children.

Uganda has a long road ahead in its efforts to reduce poverty and hunger. By being aware of the underlying causes, NGOs and governments can work together to implement solutions. Providing sustainable farming practices, clean water and sanitation and access to medical treatment are key steps in alleviating hunger in Uganda

 

– Kathryn Quelle
Photo: Flickr

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Top 10 Facts About Living Conditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Top 10 Facts About Living Conditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Despite its abundance of valuable natural resources, including copper and oil, as well as a picturesque landscape that once drew wealthy tourists from around the world, The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been plagued by political instability, leaving the Congolese people struggling to survive. Here are the top 10 facts about living conditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Top 10 Facts About Living Conditions in The Democratic Republic of Congo

  1. Since acquiring the presidency following his father’s assassination in 2001, Joseph Kabila has followed the recent trend in accumulating wealth for himself and his constituents while ignoring the desperation the majority of his country endures. Nearly 50 percent of the DRC’s wealth belongs to the top 20 percent of its citizens while the bottom 20 percent has only 5-6 percent of the wealth.
  2. Almost 65 percent of people living in the DRC fall below the poverty line. This number has been decreasing in recent years; however, it still places the country near the very bottom of the list of wealthy nations.
  3. While the DRC has been trending towards urbanization in recent decades, more than 60 percent of the Congolese people still reside in small, tribal communities that have been regularly targeted by armed rebel militias. Raids by these militias have forced residents from their homes for fear of their lives, leaving many to seek refuge in displacement camps, such as The Mugunga III camp in the North Kivu province, whose lack of security has made it a target for militias to raid in search of resources.
  4. The DRC has one of the highest birthrates in the world with an average of 6.6 children per mother, which has led to an increasing shortage of food. Roughly 70 percent of the Congolese people lack adequate access to food and 23 percent of children are malnourished. Groups like Actions Against Hunger are working to provide food, household items and healthcare to displaced populations in the north.
  5. The infant mortality rate in the DRC is one of the highest in the world due to a lack of accessibility to hospitals and doctors. Because so many people are without health care, the infants who do survive often go unvaccinated until later in life. However, in recent years, these trends have shown improvement with the infant mortality rate dropping from 15 percent to 10 percent and vaccination rates increasing from 31 percent to 45 percent for children under 24 months of age.
  6. Despite Kabila’s efforts to block foreign aid to the DRC for fear that it will deter investors from putting money into his country’s industries, The U.N. has not slowed down in its effort to provide support. In April of 2018, The U.N. held a donor conference with the goal of raising 1.7 billion dollars to provide food, shelter and medical attention to the Congolese people.
  7. In October of 2017, The United Nations placed the DRC on its Level 3 emergency list, the highest recognition of crisis, due to unacceptable living conditions that roughly 4.5 million Congolese people have had to endure.
  8. Despite malaria being one of the DRC’s most prominent health crises, constituting nearly 20 percent of deaths for children under five years of age, groups such as The World Health Organization are working to promote prevention, education and treatment to combat malaria and other diseases.
  9. Life expectancy in the DRC is 48 years for men and 52 for women. Comparatively, life expectancy in the U.S. is 76 years for men and 81 for women. The top causes of death include treatable conditions such as malaria, respiratory infection and diarrheal diseases.
  10. Due to increasing pressure from the Congolese people, foreign aid groups and leaders of other countries threatening sanctions against the DRC, the Congolese government has increased its health budget by nearly five percent from 2011 to 2015.

Despite these top 10 facts about living conditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo revealing a history plagued by political corruption, disease and a lack of accessibility to basic resources, the DRC currently finds itself in a transitional period that could begin to reverse much of the damage that has been done.

Kabila announced in August 2018 that he will no longer seek reelection and will relinquish his presidency at the close of his term. This opens the door for a leader whose intentions lie not in personal gain, but rather in rebuilding the DRC’s economy, providing health care, access to basic resources to the people and restoring the country to a position of growth and stability.

– Rob Lee
Photo: Pixabay

Top 10 Facts about Hunger in Pakistan

Top 10 Facts about Hunger in Pakistan
Pakistan may have South Asia’s second-largest economy but it fares considerably worse than its neighbors when it comes to tackling hunger. Here are the top 10 facts about hunger in Pakistan.

Top 10 Facts about Hunger in Pakistan

  1. Out of the total of 113 countries in the Global Food Security Index of 2016, Pakistan ranked 78th. The country scored 47.8, lagging behind longtime rival India and several other African countries.
  2. According to the World Food Programme, 43 percent of Pakistan’s population faces food insecurity. Of this number, 18 percent of people in Pakistan severely lack access to food. This is linked to the fact that most of these people are heavily dependent on agriculture for a living.
  3. Pakistan has one of the most malnourished and poorest regions in the world. which is Tharparkar region in the Sindh province. Most of the region is desert land, with the majority of inhabitants depending on seasonal rainfall.
  4. In the province of Sindh, 50 percent of children below 5 years old are stunted and 19 percent are severely malnourished. The region’s intense food insecurity stems from lack of investment in the infrastructure and population coupled with the flood that hit Sindh especially hard.
  5. Pakistan ranked 106 out of 119 countries on the Global Hunger Index (GHI) with a score of 32.6, second only to Afghanistan in the region. The GHI is calculated according to four primary indicators: the proportion of the malnourished population, the frequency of child mortality, stuntedness of children and height to weight ratios of children.
  6. Agriculture in Pakistan is riddled with corruption. In September 2009, the government announced the “Benazir Tractor Scheme”. It was presented to the masses as a random computerized lottery that would award tractors to randomly selected small-scale farmers across the country. However, it turned out that the winners had suspiciously already had large acres of land and some were even related to the parliamentarians.
  7. Most of the budget is spent on issues of national security, rather than fighting hunger. Islamabad devoted $2 billion to security expenditures at a time when many poor Pakistanis were suffering the effects of sky-high inflation.
  8. The number of malnourished Pakistanis has increased since the early 1990s from 24 million to 45 million in 2008. Most of the population is suspected to be extremely lacking both Vitamin A and Vitamin D consumption due to fish, egg yolk and cod liver being in short supply.
  9.  Pakistan has also been heavily dependent on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, that have demanded from the country to cut back on public spending in the 1980s, which affected food subsidies.
  10. There is an organization called Action Against Hunger that is working to fight food insecurity in Pakistan by addressing malnutrition and mitigating the effects and causes of hunger. They ran the Woman and Infant/Child Improved Nutrition in Sindh in 2017 as well as operating outpatient therapeutic programs in Daud, Khairpir, Matiari and Ghotki districts.

Pakistan does have a long way to go before fully addressing the extent of the problem but it certainly has the impetus and ability to change the way it prioritizes food insecurity and hunger.

– Maneesha Khalae
Photo: Flickr

Which Countries Give the Most Foreign Aid?

Which Countries Give the Most Foreign Aid?
In 2005, 15 countries agreed to dedicate 0.7 percent of their Gross National Income (GNI) to Official Development Assistance (ODA). ODA, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OCED) stands for “the promotion of the economic development and welfare of developing countries”. The hope was to reach this goal by 2015, however, only seven countries reached this goal. Of these seven, five reached higher than the target percentage.

Wondering which countries give the most foreign aid? Here are the top five countries by the above-mentioned criteria.

Countries That Give the Most Foreign Aid

  1. Sweden – Sweden currently stands at number one in ODA support among countries from the European Union. In 2015, 1.4 percent of Sweden’s GNI, or $7.1 billion was ODA assistance. This was a dramatic increase from 2014 and was the result of in-donor refugee costs that cost $1.1 billion. That same year, over 160,000 people applied for asylum in Sweden. Most of Sweden’s ODA assistance was bilateral, meaning money was given directly to other governments. The money was mainly directed towards gender equality. More than $2 million were allocated and the focus of this money was largely geared towards population and reproductive health. During this time Sweden also integrated a Feminist Foreign Policy approach that ensures that women have the ability to access their human rights.   
  2. Norway – In 2015, Norway dedicated $4.3 billion to ODA support. This represented just over 1 percent of Norway’s GNI. This was a slight decrease from 2013, but Norway still remained above the dedicated 0.7 percent of GNI and ranks higher than most countries within the European Union. Most of Norway’s ODA support was for environmental causes. Thirty-four percent of their bilateral aid was focused on the environment (this translates to $1.3 billion). One of the biggest environmental issues that Norway addressed was climate change, and Norway developed an Oil for Development program for this mean. This program helps developing countries oversee their oil resources in a more sustainable way.
  3. Luxembourg – Luxembourg spent 0.93 percent of GNI od ODA, which totaled to $361 million. Most of this money was focused on economic development, more specifically strengthening the local private sector. Luxembourg helped developing countries economies in several ways. One of the most important was helping to improve trade performance and integration into the world economy. In total, $44 million went towards economic aid. The region that received a majority of this money was sub-Saharan Africa that took 44 percent of Luxembourg’s total bilateral aid.     
  4. Denmark – Denmark achieved 0.1 percent more than the established goal, which equated to more than $2.5 billion in ODA assistance. This was a slight increase from 2014, however, aid is expected to decrease slightly in the future. Despite this decrease, Denmark plans to remain at 0.7 percent of GNI spending towards ODA. Like Sweden, most of this money was provided to gender equality initiatives. The amount of bilateral aid that went towards gender equality was around $1 billion. Roughly 59 percent of this money had the objective of women’s empowerment. Denmark was above average in this category, since the average aid of countries from the European Union was 34 percent.
  5. The Netherlands – The last of the top five countries on the list is the Netherlands. ODA from Norway reached 0.76 percent of GNI spending or $5.8 billion in total numbers. This was an increase of 24 percent from the previous year and like Sweden, this was largely due to in-donor refugee costs. Also like Sweden, most of the Netherland’s ODA went towards gender equality, in the total of $1.6 billion. This is the result of spending toward reproductive health, water, sanitation and economic infrastructure, which all have an emphasis on gender.

Although many countries out of 15 that have promised to spend their GNI od ODA haven’t done that, the countries that did reach a goal showed that several developed countries view foreign assistance as an important piece of their economy. The top five countries presented in this text are the good examples of how can developed countries provide help to other, less developed countries.

– Drew Garbe

Photo: Flickr

Top 10 Facts about Living Conditions in Haiti

Top 10 Facts about Living Conditions in Haiti
Misconceptions about life in Haiti reach all around the world. After the devastation of the island in 2010 due to a magnitude seven earthquake, many citizens were killed or left homeless and scared. The image of Haiti in the eyes of the world has become that of a poor country stuck in a cycle of poverty. But, what are the living conditions in Haiti actually like? Here are the top 10 facts about living conditions in Haiti.

Top 10 Facts about Living Conditions in Haiti

  1. Rural life is much more difficult – A lot of attention is given to the capital city of Port-au-Prince in the news, but the living conditions in Haiti in rural areas show higher poverty rates than in the city. In the city, poverty rates declined between 2000 and 2012; however, they remained the same in rural areas, which often receive less help rebuilding after natural disasters and have less access to basic necessities.
  2. Tropical storms disrupt life – The major recurring disasters that strike Haiti are tropical storms. Because of its position in the Caribbean, hurricanes and other storms can often cause problems, destroying property as Haitians are trying to rebuild and contaminating water sources.
  3. Drinking water can be unsafe – Cholera is very common in both rural areas and cities due to contamination in the water. At most, 48 percent of the population has access to safe sanitation, but that is only in urban areas. In rural areas, fewer than 20 percent have access to clean water and sanitation. Malaria also poses a risk to many. These diseases can be fatal without access to healthcare.
  4. Hurricane Matthew in 2016 continues to affect crops and housing – Hurricane Matthew affected 2.1 million Haitians with the elderly being hit the hardest. Habitat for Humanity has provided housing kits and building materials to help elders rebuild since they often are responsible for other family members and have greater difficulty finding work. Additionally, since Haiti imports most of its food, the few crops that are grown are often destroyed in natural disasters like Hurricane Matthew, which has a strong impact on the elders who require good nutrition and better living conditions in Haiti.
  5. Environmental concerns affect the people – According to Human Rights Watch, “As of September 2017, authorities had failed to assist many of the nearly 38,000 individuals still living in displacement camps since the 2010 earthquake.” These people have neither been resettled nor allowed to return to their original homes. The living conditions in Haiti for these individuals are most threatened by widespread deforestation, pollution and limited access to safe water.
  6. Housing shortages are a big problem – Even before Hurricane Matthew and the 2010 earthquake, overcrowding and lack of housing were major issues, mainly in Port-au-Prince and other cities. Destruction has exacerbated this, forcing many into more cramped and unhealthy conditions, often living in tents and makeshift houses.
  7. Habitat for Humanity has made great strides in helping rebuild – Right now, Habitat for Humanity, in addition to sending supplies and volunteers, has been focusing on creating long-term renewal in Haitian housing. In 2014, they launched The Canaan Project, which focuses on community development and working with families to rebuild their homes.
  8. Tree planting offers hope against deforestation – Deforestation has been a big problem for Haiti, especially when it comes to using wood for fuel and cooking. It is being combated by government efforts to stop illegal deforesting and a plan to plant more than 10,000 hectares of land, which was implemented in 2013. The increase in trees is also expected to help lessen the effects of natural disasters by decreasing mudslides and helping protect water sources.
  9. Poverty has decreased – While almost 60 percent of people in Haiti were still living below the poverty line in 2012, this number is still an improvement on the estimated 80 percent living in poverty in 1999. This rate of improvement is promising to Haitians, and if it continues over the next decade, Haiti may no longer be considered the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.
  10. Literacy efforts are helping to educate Haitians – The key to lifting Haiti out of poverty is educating the workforce since there is a severe lack of skilled laborers. The labor force consists of about 4.6 million people, but most of these are unskilled laborers. Haiti’s literacy rate is currently only 61 percent, but charities like World Renew are working to help adults learn to write and read competently in order to find better jobs and improve the education of the younger generations.

Haitians have a long history of surviving repeated setbacks. In spite of some of the negative facts about living conditions in Haiti, many charitable organizations are working on the ground to change the status quo. Haiti is seeing improvement and has a real chance of overcoming some of the adversity it has seen and growing into a strong nation.

– Grace Gay
Photo: Flickr

The Global Findex: Financial Inclusion for Developing Countries

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
The importance of financial inclusion for developing countries has become much more evident in recent years. Financial inclusion, the process of making financial services accessible and affordable, connects people to a formal financial system. This allows them to make better investment decisions, build assets and savings and make general daily living easier.

Often times, poor people around the world rely on cash to facilitate transactions, which can be unsafe and difficult to manage. Financial services, such as bank accounts and digital payments, can help people escape poverty by helping them to make investments in education, business and healthcare.

In fact, financial inclusion for developing countries is part of seven of the seventeen U.N. Sustainable Development Goals, including zero poverty, reduced inequality, and decent work and economic growth. Studies by the World Bank show that mobile money services that allow users to store and transfer funds on their phones lead to higher income earning potential, thereby reducing poverty.

Providing Financial Inclusion for Developing Countries

In 2011, The World Bank Group launched the Global Findex Database, funded by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Global Findex increases financial inclusion by tracing financial inclusion efforts globally. By putting a quantitative measure to global financial inclusion efforts, The World Bank Group and other large organizations are able to track and record progress as it relates to increasing financial inclusion and its role in reducing poverty.

The World Bank recently published a report called The Global Findex Database 2017: Measuring Financial Inclusion and the Fintech Revolution. The report demonstrated that the 69 percent of adults owned a bank account in 2017, which is an 18 percent increase from the 2011 report. This translates to over 1.2 billion adults receiving access to financial tools.

Overall, the rise of financial technology (fintech for short) alongside the greater use of mobile phones and the internet have bolstered financial inclusion efforts over the past decade. Additionally, the data underscores the idea that not only are financial services expanding to more adults across the world but also the increase in financial technology is promoting greater services for those who already have bank accounts.

Financial Inclusion at Work Around the World

A recent study in Kenya found that access to mobile money reduced extreme poverty by 22 percent in households headed by women. Because mobile money allowed users to increase their savings by over 20 percent, 185,000 women in Kenya were able to leave the farming industry and move on to business development and retail, increasing their incomes and overall development.

These women were able to save at higher rates and, therefore, invested an average of 60 percent more in their businesses. Similarly, in Nepal, women who received free savings accounts spent 15 percent more on nutritious food and 20 percent more on education.

The intersection of information and technology is changing how we perceive poverty and financial access around the world. The Global Findex increases financial inclusion by allowing researchers, scholars, technology founders, development practitioners and banks across the globe to have access to data that can help navigate where financial inclusion needs to be more accessible.

The Global Findex increases financial inclusion for developing countries by creating accountability. With The Global Findex, The World Bank will be much closer to its goal of achieving Universal Financial Access by 2020. Furthermore, more people living in poverty will have the means to better allocate, save and eventually invest money in their futures.

– Shefali Kumar

Photo: Flickr

Ending Sexual Violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Ending Sexual Violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Despite the Second Congo War officially ending in 2003, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) remains a nexus of civil unrest. The country’s decades-long cycle of armed conflict has fuelled impunity, lawlessness, brutality and an epidemic of sexual violence against Congolese women. A study in the American Journal of Public Health found that 48 women in the DRC are raped every hour. In a 2013 nationwide survey of 18,000 households, more than 57 percent of women reported experiencing physical or sexual violence at some point in their lives.

Personal Testimonies

These numbers are alarming, especially when paired with personal testimonies of trauma. One young woman, Sandra, recounts being infected with HIV after her neighbor raped her at the age of 16. Jeanne, another survivor, was tied to a tree and gang-raped for several weeks. She had surgery to repair the damage, then returned home only to be raped again.

Their experiences are not unusual within the country’s current climate. Sexual violence against Congolese women is, in the words of activist Eve Ensler, “the cheapest and most effective way to instill fear in and humiliate a community. It doesn’t even cost a bullet.”

The Fight Against Sexual Violence

Individuals like Ensler are working to combat this systemic violation. Ensler is the founder of City of Joy, a leadership program for survivors of rape. Geared towards survivors that have healed physically, City of Joy supports 90 women aged 18 to 30 at a time, giving them an interim place to emotionally heal, gain valuable life skills and build a community of empowerment among themselves. Since opening its doors in 2011, City of Joy has served and celebrated more than one thousand women survivors in the DRC.

For those in need of physical treatment, pioneering gynecologist Denis Mukwege founded Panzi Hospital. The hospital specializes in complex gynecological injuries, with 60 percent of its collective 85,000 patients coming from a background of sexual violence. In addition to repairing physical trauma, Panzi Hospital offers counseling, reintegration and the accruement of legal evidence in the hope that, one day, the evidence can be presented to secure justice for its victims.

Organizations Stepping in to Help

There are many other beacons that exist to empower, mend and prevent further sexual violence against Congolese women. The World Bank recently committed $100 million to The Gender-Based Violence Prevention and Response Project. The project’s intent is to promote social parity while directly aiding 400,000 women and girls over the next four years. In 2017, United Nations agencies provided medical assistance to approximately 5,200 survivors of sexual violence and referred hundreds more to MONUSCO-supported legal clinics. Hope and Health Vision strives to provide a safe environment for women and children traumatized by civil conflict. Women for Women International offers a year-long training program for women, as well as engagement programmes for male allies.

Something is slowly being dug to the root, reaffixed. Mukwege says, “Africa’s future begins when girls know that they are equal to boys. We share the same humanity and we cannot continue to allow economic wars to be fought on women’s bodies.”

– Yumi Wilson

Photo: Flickr

Solar-Powered Sanitation Solutions: The Way of the Future?

Solar-Powered
Limited access to clean water and sanitation lies at the center of a litany of poverty-related issues. Without adequate access to clean water and sanitation, low-income communities are at a severe disadvantage in the fight against poverty. Everyone, but especially their young and elderly fall prey to waterborne diseases, and countless school days are lost due to children being sick or having to fetch water.

In many low-income communities, this issue is only compounded by aging or inadequate water and sanitation infrastructure. Replacing or updating these intricate water systems requires both government initiative and an enormous amount of funding, which creates a difficult hurdle to overcome in the fight for adequate global access to clean water and sanitation.

The Gates Foundation Challenge

In response to this crisis, in 2011, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation issued the “reinvent the toilet challenge”, a competition where a variety of research groups vied to propose a new, self-contained wastewater treatment system design. A small team of chemists from Caltech was awarded first place, and, like the rest of the finalists, was awarded a $400,000 grant to continue their work in solar-powered sanitation solutions. 

This new toilet design relies on a series of electrochemical reactions to both sterilize and break down the waste, and in turn, produce hydrogen, which is released into the air. The entire system can effectively sterilize and recycle water so that it can be re-used for toilet flushing or hand washing while being powered only by solar energy. Overall, the solution combines both sustainability and reliability in one compact package.

“So it’s a closed loop system, and it can be powered by solar panel, so the whole thing can be off the grid. (…) because it can be off the grid, it’s really well suited for the developing world”, said Cody Finke, a Ph.D. candidate in electrochemistry working with the team.

The Future of Sanitation

This emphasis on independence bypasses the necessity of infrastructural support, meaning with the use of the technologies present in these futuristic toilets, the government of low-income nations could potentially provide sanitary bathrooms to its citizens without investing billions of dollars in a clean water infrastructure updates.

Although side-stepping billion dollar infrastructure investments is important, it’s not the only challenge at play when it comes to solar powered sanitation solutions. “One of the other things that’s a challenge is if you put a complex technology in the field, often the infrastructure and access to education and to skilled labor isn’t there to repair it when it breaks”, Finke said, in discussing the challenges that complex water treatment technologies face.

So, alongside the toilet’s self-sustaining construction, Finke and the rest of the team are committed to making the toilet modular easy to repair. In conjunction with developing improved electrochemical catalysts that aid in low-impact water sanitation, the team has been building an app “Seva” that works alongside the toilet systems. The app, which can be installed on low-cost smartphones, provides its users with easy-to-understand updates on the inner workings of the system, and step-by-step, pictorial repair instructions should the system malfunction.

Cost Concerns Are Causing Minor Setbacks

Today, somewhere between 30 and 40 prototypes are operational or being installed in low-income countries, which will have an impact on the lives of about 1,000 people, give or take. Despite growing interest in solar-powered sanitation solutions, the market is still small; therefore, production costs remain high. 

Regardless of some of the setbacks, this technology is a valuable contribution to the world of clean water technologies. “You can make the argument that there are different wastewater treatment technologies for different purposes, so I imagine that there’s definitely going to be a blend between our technology and other technologies [in the future]”, said Finke, in consideration of the future of his team’s technology.   

With the support of a growing number of business partners and The Gates Foundation, this treatment could still be the next big thing in renewable toilet technologies. With innovative people working together, we are coming up with ways to alleviate poverty by providing clean water and sanitation to developing countries. Hopefully, financial solutions will be made available to start implementing some of these projects on a larger scale.

– Ian Lloyd Greenwood

Photo: Flickr

Top 10 Facts About Living Conditions in Suriname

Top 10 Facts about Living Conditions in Suriname
Suriname, a former Dutch colony, is one of the most diverse (ethnically, culturally and linguistically) countries on earth.

Top 10 Facts About Living Conditions in Suriname

  1. Suriname ranks 77 of the 100 most corrupt countries in the world. The International Narcotics Control Strategy Report issued by the U.S. government in March 2017 stated that corruption at the bureaucratic level was deeply endemic and played a role in the inefficient policy-making environment.
  2. Suriname was ranked 94 out of 182 countries on the Human Development Index (HDI). In the same year, the World Bank classed Suriname as an upper-middle income country. Since 2005, the HDI has continually increased which explains the increase in GDP.
  3. Officially, Suriname does not have a minimum wage. However, unofficially, this figure is estimated to be SRD 600 per month, the lowest possible wage for civil servants. This amounts to $3,998 per year.
  4. Suriname has a relatively high poverty rate, with 70 percent of its population living beneath the poverty line. Most of its population works in the mining industry which is extremely vulnerable to shocks in the market. The mining industry contributes to 85 percent of exports and 27 percent of government revenues.
  5. Suriname has one of the lowest GDPs in South America. The country’s economy is heavily reliant on trading natural resources which left it particularly vulnerable to low international prices for commodities such as bauxite.
  6. Between the years 2000 and 2015, there have been 57,811 local cases of malaria in Suriname. However, there has been a significant reduction in the rates of malaria between 2006 and 2015. This has been the result of intensive efforts to contain the disease, such as distributing free, long-lasting insecticide-impregnated mosquito nets as well as several policlinics run by the Medical Mission, providing care for the indigenous population.
  7. Suriname’s cost of living is 70 percent cheaper than in the United States. People in Suriname pay 3.3 percent less for groceries, 58.6 percent less for entertainment and sports, and 82.7 percent less for housing. A one-bedroom apartment in a downtown area of the U.S. costs $1075.75 on average, as compared to $162.92 in Suriname.
  8. Suriname also has high inflation rates, with 55.5 percent inflation in 2016 and 22.3 percent in 2017. Given that the average gross salary in Suriname is $28,093, the inflation rates affect the working poor and middle-class people the hardest, as they are unable to afford basic necessities.
  9. Suriname has four hospitals, as well as several district-level hospitals and private clinics. General access to health care in Suriname is fairly high with around 90 percent of locals living within a 5km radius of a hospital.
  10. Suriname has free, compulsory education up until the age of 12. Children who attend public schools are taught completely in Dutch, but there are private or international schools which teach subjects in English. Many students continue their education to the tertiary level in either the Netherlands or the U.S., even though the Anton de Kom University in Paraimbo offers degrees in medicine, law and some sciences.

In conclusion, the top 10 facts about living conditions in Suriname shows that while there is a considerable way to achieving a developed nation status, the relatively good access to education and healthcare will contribute to a burgeoning economy.

– Maneesha Khalae
Photo: Flickr