Historically, children have often been used in conflict and, up until the Middle Ages, most cultures considered them equivalent to small adults. As of 2017, seven countries actively used both boy and girl children for armed fighting. However, countries, governments and armies have heard the many voices that call for the absolution of child soldiers.
Just at the beginning of February 2018, a few hundred child soldiers were released in South Sudan; last year saw the release of over 5,000 child soldiers. While this is a great step towards human justice, life after being a child soldier is still a difficult journey as well. Here are five ways humanitarians and psychologists have found useful for creating a healthy environment post wartime experiences.
Terminology
Child abductions are easy to classify as victimhood. While this title is true, it is only a small percentage of what the child has experienced. Children who escape their wartime prisons are survivors, and highlighting the importance of words helps shape a new identity in the life after being a child soldier. A victim can bring about a shame mentality and, depending on experiences, create ostracization.
The simple term ‘survivor’ puts an ex-child soldier in a different place in the world and in their own internal self-worth, as the word acknowledges what they have been through, while also underlines their strength. This phrase is much more preferable than than letting the one event — or victimhood — define them.
Check Western Thought
There is an overwhelming support and advocacy in the world for child soldiers. Many countries send people and finances to fight the use of child soldiers. Humanitarian aid can be amazing and overwhelmingly generous, but when the aid dries up (either people leave or funds are allocated elsewhere) it can leave some ex-child soldiers at risk again.
For example, typical Western group therapy can leave children more vulnerable if proper therapy is not continued afterward. Proper therapy can be difficult to follow through when a local solution and resources are not present and/or utilized.
Community
Unstable environments put children at risk for being recruited or abducted into armies in the first place. When a child returns home, studies have shown a community’s acceptance or rejection can be key to the success for a survivor. Utilizing local traditions and ceremonies for the life after being a child soldier cement a child’s place in local society.
Embracing local traditions or customs and incorporating that into a healing process is also a public announcement that the child is welcomed and supported.
Education
Many children are taken away from their home before they have a chance to finish school. Education is important because it brings normalcy back to the survivor’s life as well as prepares them for something other than fighting. Unfortunately, it is not always a perfect system.
A returning 16-year-old may feel shame if he or she needs to return to a 10-year old’s classroom. Fortunately, some towns have been able to create basic classes tailored for an older student.
This is still not completely reproducible as education, in general, is limited, but efforts have been made to create cheap and easy access to more educational opportunities.
Job Skills
Learning job skills is an important part of a survivor becoming successful in life post-war. Apprenticeship can be particularly useful in that it provides an education, community and small funds for food and shelter. Also, apprenticeship is reproducible and available for grown-up ex-child soldiers.
Apprenticeship has not been researched significantly compared to the importance of education or community, but the benefits of a job are acknowledged. Someone who has a skill and is able to provide for themselves and family become a part of society and prevent risk for later recruitment.
Children in at-risk areas are taken because their lack of fear, they are easy to control, and probably have little to no community support. Children returning home can find themselves in similar circumstances with the added trouble of psychological trauma. Finding ways to assist in lasting support for life after being a child soldier can transform ex-child soldiers into contributing members of society.
A combination of education and community with proper support are the key building blocks to taking back and reinventing the lives that armies stole in the children.
– Natasha Komen
Photo: Flickr
Life After Being a Child Soldier: Five Ways Things Are Changing
Historically, children have often been used in conflict and, up until the Middle Ages, most cultures considered them equivalent to small adults. As of 2017, seven countries actively used both boy and girl children for armed fighting. However, countries, governments and armies have heard the many voices that call for the absolution of child soldiers.
Just at the beginning of February 2018, a few hundred child soldiers were released in South Sudan; last year saw the release of over 5,000 child soldiers. While this is a great step towards human justice, life after being a child soldier is still a difficult journey as well. Here are five ways humanitarians and psychologists have found useful for creating a healthy environment post wartime experiences.
Terminology
Child abductions are easy to classify as victimhood. While this title is true, it is only a small percentage of what the child has experienced. Children who escape their wartime prisons are survivors, and highlighting the importance of words helps shape a new identity in the life after being a child soldier. A victim can bring about a shame mentality and, depending on experiences, create ostracization.
The simple term ‘survivor’ puts an ex-child soldier in a different place in the world and in their own internal self-worth, as the word acknowledges what they have been through, while also underlines their strength. This phrase is much more preferable than than letting the one event — or victimhood — define them.
Check Western Thought
There is an overwhelming support and advocacy in the world for child soldiers. Many countries send people and finances to fight the use of child soldiers. Humanitarian aid can be amazing and overwhelmingly generous, but when the aid dries up (either people leave or funds are allocated elsewhere) it can leave some ex-child soldiers at risk again.
For example, typical Western group therapy can leave children more vulnerable if proper therapy is not continued afterward. Proper therapy can be difficult to follow through when a local solution and resources are not present and/or utilized.
Community
Unstable environments put children at risk for being recruited or abducted into armies in the first place. When a child returns home, studies have shown a community’s acceptance or rejection can be key to the success for a survivor. Utilizing local traditions and ceremonies for the life after being a child soldier cement a child’s place in local society.
Embracing local traditions or customs and incorporating that into a healing process is also a public announcement that the child is welcomed and supported.
Education
Many children are taken away from their home before they have a chance to finish school. Education is important because it brings normalcy back to the survivor’s life as well as prepares them for something other than fighting. Unfortunately, it is not always a perfect system.
A returning 16-year-old may feel shame if he or she needs to return to a 10-year old’s classroom. Fortunately, some towns have been able to create basic classes tailored for an older student.
This is still not completely reproducible as education, in general, is limited, but efforts have been made to create cheap and easy access to more educational opportunities.
Job Skills
Learning job skills is an important part of a survivor becoming successful in life post-war. Apprenticeship can be particularly useful in that it provides an education, community and small funds for food and shelter. Also, apprenticeship is reproducible and available for grown-up ex-child soldiers.
Apprenticeship has not been researched significantly compared to the importance of education or community, but the benefits of a job are acknowledged. Someone who has a skill and is able to provide for themselves and family become a part of society and prevent risk for later recruitment.
Children in at-risk areas are taken because their lack of fear, they are easy to control, and probably have little to no community support. Children returning home can find themselves in similar circumstances with the added trouble of psychological trauma. Finding ways to assist in lasting support for life after being a child soldier can transform ex-child soldiers into contributing members of society.
A combination of education and community with proper support are the key building blocks to taking back and reinventing the lives that armies stole in the children.
– Natasha Komen
Photo: Flickr
How the US Benefits From Foreign Aid to the Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a small country, a fact that should not serve as an influencer in international affairs, and despite its size, the Dominican Republic came to serve as a major trading port and hub for the developing Americas in its early history. As a result, the small country still plays a huge international role and the U.S. benefits from foreign aid to the Dominican Republic.
Trade Economy
According the U.S. Department of State, the Dominican Republic is a strong partner of the U.S. because it still holds the title of second-largest economy in the Caribbean. The Dominican Republic has a strong bilateral trade economy with the U.S., and its economy is increasing steadily, making it one of the most economically stable countries in the region.
This being said, the Dominican Republic still has an issue with governmental impairment: numerous coups and upheaval has led to U.S. involvement to build lasting economies in the region. Before the U.S. benefits from foreign aid to the Dominican Republic, it has to help maintain the balance between state and its people.
U.S. Programs
The U.S. Agency for International Aid offers short-term and long-term solutions for three major programs in the Dominican Republic:
According to their website, USAID states that the Dominican Republic has high literacy rates, but that hunger and food security levels are at only half capacity. The U.S. can help the Dominican Republic build food security, as it helps in all these other areas. But what will the U.S. gain in return?
U.S. Benefits from Foreign Aid to the Dominican Republic
The U.S. benefits from foreign aid to the Dominican Republic through the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement — the trade agreement ties the U.S. to five other countries in respect to labor, manufacturing and opportunity creations. What the U.S. donates in funds, it receives in commodities, and vice versa. The U.S. benefits from foreign aid to the Dominican Republic specifically through the supply of medical appliances, electric components, textiles, minerals and tobacco.
The Dominican Republic is perhaps one of the most solid trading partners the U.S. has, and with consistent aid and communication on both ends, there is no reason that the Dominican Republic can not benefit just as much from the U.S. as the U.S. benefits from foreign aid to the Dominican Republic.
– Molly Atchison
Photo: Flickr
Ghana Health Service Partnerships to Fight Disease in Ghana
In recent years, researchers, doctors and health organizations have begun to target the high rate of pneumonia deaths. As one of the largest causes of death in children, pneumonia and researchers’ search for its solutions have not been taken lightly. The Ghana Health Service and partner GAVI, supported by UNICEF, launched vaccines to combat the infection in 2012.
What is Pneumonia?
Pneumonia is a bacterial, fungal or viral infection of the air-sacs in one’s lung or lungs, usually caused by the inhalation of specific or diseased germs. The infection causes fluid build up in the lungs, difficulty breathing, high fever, sweating, chills, chest pain and discoloration of fingertips. The best way to treat this infection is through immunizations and antibiotics.
Historically, pneumonia has been the leading cause of death in those under-five years old. Steps have occurred to decrease death rates from year-to-year, but yet unfortuantely, the number of deaths and the percentage of children lost to pneumonia is still staggering.
What Are the Impacts of Pneumonia?
In the year 2010 alone, pneumonia caused the deaths of 16,200 children, and the total number of deaths brought about because of pneumonia was a reported 13 percent. Subsequently, this percentage remained consistent between the years 2000 and 2010, and the percentage of deaths at the hands of this infection remained between twelve and thirteen percent, without substantial improvement.
Despite the decade-long absence of progress in pneumonia prevention and treatment, advancements have started taking place in more recent years. In April 2012, UNICEF supported the Ghana Health Service and partner GAVI, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations, in launching pneumonia and diarrhea vaccines and the first ever World Immunization Week. The introduction of these vaccines to Ghana was a monumental step towards decreasing fatalities.
Ghana Health Service and its Aid
Although the establishment of vaccinations was a large logistical undertaking — including increasing hospital refrigeration storage in all ten regions of Ghana — the children of the country have benefited greatly from such measures. Pneumonia, for the first time ever in 2013, was not the leading cause of death for those under-five, though it was still the second-largest cause. Consequently, the total percentage of pneumonia causing fatalities decreased by 44 percent by 2015.
The installation of the pneumonia vaccine to Ghana has helped combat the vast amount of children who are annually impacted by the infection; however, there is still much progress to be made. As of 2017, UNICEF worked diligently to decrease pneumonia cases through fighting poor sanitation and open defecation.
How to Create Sustainable Solutions
To combat such massive undertakings, the organization implemented latrines and water pumps to as many communities as possible. Many have poured great effort into this ‘war against pneumonia’ and the Ghana Health Service, but measures must increase for significant and permanent changes to be sustained.
– Lydia Lamm
Photo: Flickr
How Crowdfarming is Optimizing Livestock Production in Ghana
With adequate rainfall, plentiful vegetation and a low pest population, Ghana’s Northern Savannah Ecological Zone is an optimal environment for cattle production. Despite this prime landscape, livestock production in Ghana has remained low. Insufficient or otherwise absent livestock policies, uninformed ranching practices and lack of funding are among the many factors responsible for underperforming livestock production in Ghana.
Limitations of Meat Access
Over the years, the domestic meat industry has become so problematic that it became cheaper for Ghana to import its meat from South America and Europe. Furthermore, poor cattle production has contributed to nationwide nutrition issues. According to USAID, about 1.2 million Ghanains face food insecurity, and anemia and iron deficiency afflict much of the population.
Recognizing meat access limitations, nutrition deficiencies and cattle mortality in the country, Kamal-Deen Yakub, Damian Brennan and Luis Grolez came together to find an innovative solution to such a persisting problem. In 2013, the trio launched Farmable, a “crowdfarming” platform that connects investors to smallholder cattle farmers in the country.
Crowdsourced funding enables farmers to take better care of their cattle, receive education in agricultural best practices and business development and sell in the domestic market, ultimately improving livestock production in Ghana over time.
Here’s How it Works:
Since launching, Farmable has helped to revolutionize the cattle ranching industry for participating farmers. “The company has succeeded in bringing together 7,500 cows owned by 600 smallholder farmers. We have sold about 1100 cows through the platform direct from the farms,” cofounder Kamal-Deen Yakub told The Borgen Project.
Education and Optimization
In light of these successes, Farmable has had to put the crowdfarming platform on a temporary hold as it gears up for its next phase. The company is focusing on educating farmers and optimizing production in the interim: “We engage farmers through partnership with existing incubators working to build capacities of smallholder farmers,” Yakub explained.
Farmable recruits subject-matter experts from the University of Ghana, local veterinary officers and experienced farmers to provide training for participants.
Livestock Production in Ghana
Over the next few years, Farmable plans to establish renewable energy cattle ranches in Ghana to promote sustainable practices and cut down on costs. The company will use dung and agricultural waste to produce manure and biogas respectively to sustain these renewable energy ranches for free. Yakub encourages potential donors to stay tuned for this important next step.
The crowdfunding platform will go live again in the coming future, and Yakub hopes investors “are ready to participate in the crowdfarming and become cow backers.”
– Chantel Baul
Photo: Flickr
Danger of Diarrhea: How to End the Hygiene Crisis in Ghana
Diarrhea kills 2,195 children each day, more than Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, malaria and measles combined, and nearly 11 percent of Ghana’s population relies on surface water — water that collects on the surface of the ground or top layer of a body of water — for their daily hydration needs. This water is unpurified and unsafe for human consumption, yet Ghanaians lack a safe alternative. Ghanaians who ingest surface water are at risk for water-related diseases, such as ever-deadly diarrhea.
Risk of Diarrhea
According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, diarrhea is a global health concern with 1.7 billion cases occurring every year. Although diarrhea can affect any age-group, it is the second leading cause of death in children under the age of five; in fact, 2,195 child fatalities happen every day worldwide. The hygiene crisis in Ghana has escalated with diarrhea as the third leading cause of death for children under five, taking nearly 10,000 lives every year.
How Does Diarrhea Become Fatal?
Diarrhea depletes body fluids, causing dehydration, and children often die when they have lost too much water from their bodies.
Several organizations have implemented health initiatives to combat the hygiene crisis in Ghana. Preventing diarrhea is possible by increasing water availability and quality, distributing oral rehydration salts, breastfeeding infants until six months of age and educating the population on proper sanitization techniques.
UNICEF and IWASH
‘IWASH,’ UNICEF Ghana’s handwashing project, yields extremely promising results in entire villages in Ghana; the program educates schoolchildren on the health effects of not washing their hands. While touring a handwashing facility with 70 schoolchildren, District Resource Coordinator Issah-Bello said that students should share their knowledge in order to be an ambassador for behavior change and end the hygiene crisis in Ghana.
The Rehydration Project
The Rehydration Project cites oral rehydration salts, or ORS, as the most effective and least expensive way to combat diarrhoeal dehydration. ORS is a combination of dry salts mixed with clean water that replaces fluids lost from diarrhea. If ORS is unavailable, a homemade solution may be made with six teaspoons of sugar, one-half teaspoon of salt and one liter of clean water.
Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding infants until six months of age can reduce infants’ likelihood of contracting diarrhea because breastfeeding mothers do not prepare their infant’s formula with contaminated water.
Clean Water
Water.org believes that clean water is the way to end poverty, save lives and prepare for the future. Since 2009, Water.org has worked to increase access to safe drinking water and sanitization facilities in Ghana. The organization’s current project is expected to be completed in late 2017, and is in the process of constructing 61 water facilities.
Water.org has also reached 53,000 Ghanaians through water systems, health and hygiene education and borehole wells. With numerous solutions like these, the hygiene crisis in Ghana is well on its way to resolution.
– Carolyn Gibson
Photo: Flickr
Starbucks’ Partnership with ECI Benefiting Congo Farmers
Background of the Democratic Republic of Congo
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has a population of 75 million people and has some of the most fertile lands in the world. Most of the farming communities are found around Lake Kivu, in the eastern part of the country. Despite the conflict that has been ongoing in the DRC, the Lake Kivu area farmers have prevailed to provide some of the world’s best coffee and cocoa.
The DRC continues to work towards peace, with the completed Amani program for disarmament and the current Stabilization Program for Eastern DRC focusing on education, health and reintegrating soldiers into their communities.
The Success of Starbucks’ Partnership with ECI
Starbucks’ partnership with ECI began at the end of 2014. The goal of this partnership is to help sustainable agriculture and production of coffee grow in the Congo, mainly in the DRC. There are further plans to work with an additional 10,000 farmers and continue to build up the coffee industry in the Congo.
In 2014, when Starbucks’ partnership with ECI first began, the primary suppliers of coffee were in the Lake Kivu area. Over 4,500 farmers sold their coffee to Starbucks and were able to triple their income. With this increased income, the farmers were better able to send their children to school and gain access to healthcare.
By 2015, more than 4,000 farmers were able to export their coffee to Starbucks, who then sold the farmers’ coffee for a limited time at certain locations. Starbucks plans to purchase more Congolese coffee every year to support the ECI, the more than 10,000 farmers and their communities.
The Coffees
In 2016, Starbucks’ partnership with ECI continued, with even more specialty coffee becoming available at 1,500 locations across the United States and Canada, as well as online. This launch took place on March 22 and was a single-origin specialty coffee from South Kivu. The limited release from Lake Kivu included coffee from 4,500 farmers. The successful release was the result of a four-year project funded by the Howard G. Buffet Foundation and USAID.
Since 2015, there have been annual limited-edition coffees from Lake Kivu that have had bold and flavorful blends, available as part of the Starbucks Reserve coffee selection. All of this has been made possible because of Starbucks’ partnership with ECI.
– Amber Duffus
Photo: Flickr
The Ways the US Benefits from Foreign Aid to Panama
Panama is the dividing landmass between two major water sources, the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. A small sliver of a country, Panama is only 115 miles at its widest; such a small country should not by any means be an influencer in international affairs, but with the building of the Panama canal by the United States in 1914, Panama became perhaps the most prolific trading country in the world. As a result, the U.S. benefits from foreign aid to Panama in many ways, especially in access to trade and finances.
Fruitful Waters
According a National Geographic article, nearly 14,000 ships pass through the canal a year. Due to the length of time it takes to move through the canal (approximately eight to ten hours), the canal is a difficult route to navigate, but is crucial to increasing the speed with which shipping companies transfer goods between companies. Panama and the U.S. have had a friendly relationship since the conception of the canal, and it has continued into trading deals.
Location, Location, Location
The U.S. Department of State describes the ways the U.S. benefits from foreign aid to Panama incredibly simply: “Panama’s location and role in global trade makes its success vital to U.S. prosperity and national security.” However, it also notes that the Panama Canal is a hub for traffickers and illegal activity as well. Due to this, the U.S. greatly assists in Panama’s anti-corruption and anti-trafficking policy building and free-trade agreements in the area.
Police Presence
One main interest in Panama is building a strong police presence in the region, due to the amount of cargo coming and going through the canal’s system. The more the U.S. and Panama regulate the canal, the less opportunity traffickers have to transport illegal goods to other countries.
Trading and Transportation
Similarly, the U.S. is incredibly invested in the trading and transportation policies around the canal, because not only is the U.S. one of the biggest investors in the canal, but it is also one of its main users. The Canal’s official website offers a graphic which shows all of the major import/export trade routed through the Panama Canal, and each route begins or ends in the U.S. So not only does Panama benefit from the finances and security the U.S. provides, but the U.S. benefits from foreign aid to Panama by ensuring access to a major trading route that greatly benefits the U.S.
Mutual Benefits
The U.S. benefits from foreign aid to Panama through mutually assured success of U.S. involvement in trade routes and Panama’s maintenance of a secure canal system. As long as the U.S. continues to support anti-trafficking efforts in Panama and help the nation monetarily, it is almost impossible for the U.S. to lose this benefactory system.
– Molly Atchison
Photo: Flickr
New Database Designed to Combat Biopiracy in India
Traditional medicinal plant knowledge from people living in developing countries is often exploited by companies from developed countries who forage for plants with novel medication applications. To improve this situation, a new database will combat biopiracy in India so as to better protect traditional knowledge from misappropriation by foreigners.
What is Biopiracy?
Biopiracy is when drug manufacturers profit from traditional tribal knowledge without compensating the tribe for their knowledge. This robbery of intellectual knowledge deprives the tribe of the modern medications that are a direct result of their knowledge base, and it also deprives tribes of any form of compensation for the use of knowledge to produce new medical products.
Issues with Compensation
The major issue of biopiracy in India is that the tribe that initially discovers the medical application of plants in their region is not compensated for their knowledge; meanwhile, Western drug companies profit from the medical application of the plants. One of the main reasons it is so difficult to combat biopiracy is because patent inspection offices do not often have access to the knowledge of traditional healing practices in developing countries. To address this problem, the database to combat biopiracy in India contains translations of texts written in traditional languages about traditional healing methods.
Turmeric Exploitation
One example of such exploitation is the medical applications of the spice turmeric. Traditional Indian healers recently needed to prove in court that turmeric has been used since time immemorial for healing, and that the patent about using turmeric was not a novel medical application. The database to combat biopiracy in India will ensure that traditional knowledge is neither misappropriated by bioprospectors or misused because the researcher studying the plants was unaware of that the plant was already used by traditional healers as a medicine.
Traditional Knowledge Digital Library
The database to combat biopiracy in India is called the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TDKL), and this program solves language issues that make it challenging to eradicate biopiracy. Since traditional knowledge in India is written in numerous languages indecipherable to modern patent inspectors, many patents are granted plants that are already used in India.
By translating these texts and putting them in a database easy for patent officers to search, the TDKL has helped protect traditional knowledge in India and ensure such knowledge does not get usurped from biopiracy.
Preventing Foreign Misappropriation
Biopiracy can also happen in the production of food. A company in America tried to get a patent and trademark to gain a monopoly on the term ‘basmati rice.’ Basmati rice is a food staple grown in India and a major aspect of India’s heritage.
Since biopiracy is the attempt to use the legal methods available in developed countries, patent and trademark offices, to usurp the intellectual property of people who live in developing countries, traditional knowledge passed down usually by oral traditions are at risk for natives in developing countries.
– Michael Israel
Photo: Flickr
How the US Benefits From Foreign Aid to Iraq
Iraq is located in a volatile region, with war-torn Syria to its west, daily military incursions by Turkish warplanes from the north and covert funding of proxy militias from eastern neighbor Iran. It has undergone dramatic changes in its modern history, most notably the removal of dictator Saddam Hussein by U.S.-led forces in 2003 and the recent crackdown against the Islamic State. The prolonged state of civil war has devastated Iraqi infrastructure.
In a recent conference held in Kuwait, international donors pledged $30 billion, which falls short of the $88 billion required by the Iraqi government. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson stressed that “the war on terrorism can be affected by instability in the Gulf.” The current Iraqi regime walks a fine line of stability, brokering a power-sharing deal among its population. The U.S. benefits from foreign aid to Iraq are momentous, but wholly dependent on a stable and united Iraq.
Stability of the U.S. Dollar
Although the U.S. imports most of its oil from Canada and Latin America, its economic interest is still affected by activities in the Middle East. The U.S. dollar is not backed by gold, meaning that it lacks intrinsic value. However, if European or Asian nations purchase oil from Middle Eastern nations, the only acceptable currency is the U.S. dollar. The constant demand for the U.S. dollar ensures its status as the global reserve currency. Thus, its value largely comes from oil.
Likewise, the U.S. dollar is viewed by oil-rich nations like Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia as being reliable and accepted everywhere. The current Iraqi government, which accepts U.S. dollars, has safeguarded the continuance of petrodollars; this is one of the many U.S. benefits from foreign aid to Iraq.
The Security of NATO
A stable Iraq is one of many U.S. benefits from foreign aid to Iraq. The prospect of Iraq breaking up into ethno-religious microstates has kept Turkey, a NATO ally, on edge. Turkish forces have been battling armed Kurdish groups for decades, such as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which has been designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the EU. Washington, Ankara and Baghdad have reached an agreement to establish safe zones along their borders. This is to ensure the protection and accommodation of civilians who have been displaced by armed conflicts.
Profitable Contracts for American Oil Companies
Opening up Iraqi oil to the international market requires international investors building the necessary plants and infrastructure to drill and extract oil. The Iraqi government granted licenses to American-owned multinational oil companies to explore and extract Iraqi oil, including BP, ExxonMobil and Shell. These three companies employ a combined total of 200,000 Americans.
A Reliable Ally Representing Both the Sunni and Shia Sects
Iraq is unique when it comes to its demographics, as it is populated by Shia Arabs, Sunni Arabs and Kurds. The Iraqi forces have proven to be an effective fighting force against the Islamic State. Backed by U.S. air cover, its ground forces have recaptured major cities from the militants. This denied the militants any safe haven to roam freely and plot attacks against the U.S. and its allies next door, such as Jordan, Turkey, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
The exercise of soft powers, such as when the Trump administration removed Iraq from the controversial travel ban, has improved the image of the U.S. among Iraq’s population. Friendly relations between Washington and Iraq’s diverse population encouraged moderate voices in the region to voice their pro-U.S. stance as a result of foreign aid to Iraq from the United States. Continued support will ensure that the U.S benefits from foreign aid to Iraq by maintaining an important ally in a key region of the world.
– Awad Bin-Jawed
Photo: Flickr
10 Facts About Poverty in Brazil
The biggest country in South America is dealing with one of the most drastic poverty issues on Earth. Despite billions of dollars invested in event tourism like the World Cup (2014) and the Olympics (2016), Brazil’s economy has begun to spiral downward as the country faces its biggest decline in over a decade. These crucial facts about poverty in Brazil offer insight on the issues that plague them.
Poverty in Brazil
One of the recent facts about poverty in Brazil is that squatters there have collectively chosen to occupy abandoned hotels and are now facing the threat of eviction. One example is the Mauá Occupation, which houses over 1,000 people that make up around 237 families. Mauá was a unique idea back in 2007 when the homeless population was barely surviving on the streets and began taking up land by way of force. Now, it has become a full-blown movement. Like many countries, Brazil suffers from gentrification and increased living costs. Brazil’s gentrification has created a revolution of homeless people occupying space both as a protest and out of necessity. This past November, over 20,000 homeless marched throughout the city in direct protest of the housing inequity.
In 1888, Brazil became the last country in the Western Hemisphere to abolish slavery, and the social, economic and moral ramifications of it still ripple throughout the nation. This is one of the more subtle and lesser spoken facts about poverty in Brazil because it reflects an ugly part of a recent history. Known as Afro-Brasileiros, black and brown Brazilians make up 51 percent of the nation’s population and suffer from discrimination and exclusion more than their lighter-skinned neighbors. Afro-Brasileiros also make up the majority of the homeless and poor population, and only seven percent of the city’s rich self-identify as such. Despite being known as a racial democracy, 80 percent of Brazil’s richest one percent are white, while only 13 percent of black and mixed-race Brazilians between 18 and 24 are currently enrolled in college. Afro-Brasileiro activism takes many forms; the Quilombos are descendants of slaves fighting for reparations. Another group focuses on the disproportions of blacks dying at the hands of Brazilian police. They have the slogan #VidasNegrasImportam, which translates to “Black Lives Matter.”
The new spending cap, known as PEC 55, will cut public spending for programs that help the poor. A U.N. official lauded it as the most socially regressive austerity package in the world. With 60 percent of Brazilians opposing it, the 20-year spending freeze inducted by President Temer has been protested and deemed a direct attack on the poor by many analysts.
Since the end of the World Cup in 2014, Brazil’s economy has been steadily declining to a new low. Unemployment grew from about six percent in December 2013 to nearly 12 percent in November 2016, despite almost 30 million Brazilians rising out of poverty between 2004 and 2014. Economic inequality is now expected to increase and around 2.5 million more Brazilians will be forced into poverty in the coming years.
Roughly 20 percent of the world’s water supply is in Brazil yet much of the population suffers from a water shortage. The problem is that water is being used to power the economy, not the people. This is actually one of the older facts about poverty in Brazil, as the nation’s water misallocation has always been notoriously underserving. More than 60 percent of the nation’s energy is from hydropower plants while 72 percent of the water supply is consumed by agriculture via irrigation. In fact, Brazil is one of the most water-dependent nations in the world. More than eight percent of its GDP is agriculture and agroindustries, making it the world’s second-largest food exporter. Allocation of most of the nation’s water goes to the business sectors, and between 2004 and 2013, there was only a 10 percent increase in sanitation networks among the poorest 40 percent (i.e., households with toilets).
Formerly an emerging economy growing at a rate of 7.5 percent in 2010, it shrunk at about the same rate over the last two years. Shrinkage is expected to increase due to President Temer’s privatization plan, and around 57 state assets are set to undergo a privatized makeover. From highways to airports and even the national mint, the privatization is in an effort to increase employment and improve quality of the service provided by the sectors. There is some proof that this could work; back in the 90s, the privatization lead to the considerable modernization of several crucial sectors. The best possible scenario still leaves the majority of the population, specifically the poorest, out of the financial loop. Attracting international interests is great for the richest population looking to sell land to the highest bidder which happens to be China.
China’s overwhelming demand for food meets Brazil’s immense agricultural production in a way that primarily benefits the wealthiest of Brazil. The Brazilian government has been selling off large parts of the Amazon to China directly, ironically in an effort to help China’s pollution while hurting Brazil’s sensitive ecology and economy. China’s deforestation of the Amazon temporarily increases employment in Brazilian cities near the forest, but then once first stages of production are over, massive layoffs result in a plummet of employment with the social climate (increased crime and violence) going with it. The massive deforestation even threatens Brazil’s ecological promises involved with the Paris Agreement.
As of 2016, Brazil has significantly lowered it’s infant mortality rate from about 53 deaths per 1,000 (circa 1990) live births to about 14. While this is quite an achievement for such a developing country with so many social problems, UNICEF, the organization most responsible for helping the decline, remarked that the indigenous children of Brazil’s mortality rate is twice as high as those of city-born children. This shows that even for countries with relatively low levels of mortality, greater efforts to reduce disparities at the sub-national level are still needed. According to UNICEF, back in 2013 at least 32 municipalities still had an infant mortality rate of 80 deaths per 1,000 live births.
A recent law passed by President Temer allows employers to bypass nearly all hurdles set up by unions by eliminating a “union tax” that generates funding for worker’s unions. Designed to aid multinational corporations and not workers, the “reform” has been criticized by the International Labor Organization (ILO) as being in violation of international conventions. This permits inhumane working conditions and legalizes free labor. Legislation changes like this alter the future of the Brazilian workforce exponentially as multinational companies begin their migration into the Amazon.
Temer altered the definition of slavery so that it is defined by the victim’s freedom to leave. Meaning if a worker is kept in all the same living conditions as slavery, but not being physically forced to stay, it is to be considered legal labor. This is an emerging fact about poverty in Brazil because it has not happened yet, but legislatively, the absurd conditions do exist and the threat of slave labor is very real. This critical alteration of the definition has lead to the need for deeper investigations and, in alignment with the new changes, requires a police report with every case, creating more complications with each case. This drastically hurts the effectiveness of the ILOs ongoing fight against slavery which saw the liberation of more than 30,000 slaves in Brazil since 2003. The migration of businesses to the Amazon has made investigations much harder for the ILO and the conditions under which slaves work have gotten more brutal as well.
– Toni Paz
Photo: Flickr