Modern media and legislation are flooded with facts about asylum seekers because of refugee crises in the Middle East. The numbers in facts about Guyana refugees, albeit minuscule compared to 24 million Syrians, represents the refugee crisis on a smaller scale.
In 1994, there were 822 asylum applicants out of the South American country of Guyana. This figure drastically dropped over the following seven years, and increased again in 2002, with 847 applications. In the next year, 2003, 729 Guyanese sought asylum to main asylum countries like Canada and France. Additionally, more than 640 of those 729 applicants sought asylum in Canada and 45 applicants sought asylum to France.
The asylum-seeking number plummeted again in 2004, with only 315 total applications. There were even fewer the next year. The total number of asylum applications to main asylum countries in 2005 was just 279.
More recent facts about Guyana refugees show a downward sloping trend. A world database reported the total number of initial and continuing asylum applications of refugees from Guyana in 2015 to be only 122. The database provided a breakdown of which countries received the applications and how many were rejected.
Guyanese asylum seekers filed 46 applications seeking refuge to the United States, 38 to France, 31 to Canada and seven to the United Kingdom. Of those 122 applications, 40 were rejected. The United State rejected five applications, France rejected 19, Canada 10 and six were rejected by the United Kingdom.
According to the Migration Information Source, there were 2.86 million South American immigrants in the United States in the year 2014. Guyana represented 273,000, or 9.6 percent of those South American immigrants. In 2013, five percent of South Americans obtained green cards as refugees or asylees.
In that same year, there were reportedly 700 outgoing refugees from Guyana. More than 180 asylum seekers’ cases were pending at the start of 2014, and 145 asylum seekers’ cases were pending at the end of the year.
In 2014, there were 94 rejections, 27 asylum seekers were recognized and 31 asylum seekers’ applications were marked as closed. In total, 153 decisions were made and during the year and 145 new asylum applications were filed. Of all decisions, 17.6 percent were determined to be recognized refugees, with less than one percent receiving complementary protection status. More than 60 percent were rejected.
Current and ongoing refugee crises in Afghanistan and Syria have flooded the news cycle with facts about asylum seekers. Although small in comparison with three million refugees coming out of Afghanistan, the facts about Guyana refugees represent the crisis on a smaller scale.
– Shaun Savarese
Photo: Flickr
Facts about Guyana Refugees Put Crises in Perspective
Modern media and legislation are flooded with facts about asylum seekers because of refugee crises in the Middle East. The numbers in facts about Guyana refugees, albeit minuscule compared to 24 million Syrians, represents the refugee crisis on a smaller scale.
In 1994, there were 822 asylum applicants out of the South American country of Guyana. This figure drastically dropped over the following seven years, and increased again in 2002, with 847 applications. In the next year, 2003, 729 Guyanese sought asylum to main asylum countries like Canada and France. Additionally, more than 640 of those 729 applicants sought asylum in Canada and 45 applicants sought asylum to France.
The asylum-seeking number plummeted again in 2004, with only 315 total applications. There were even fewer the next year. The total number of asylum applications to main asylum countries in 2005 was just 279.
More recent facts about Guyana refugees show a downward sloping trend. A world database reported the total number of initial and continuing asylum applications of refugees from Guyana in 2015 to be only 122. The database provided a breakdown of which countries received the applications and how many were rejected.
Guyanese asylum seekers filed 46 applications seeking refuge to the United States, 38 to France, 31 to Canada and seven to the United Kingdom. Of those 122 applications, 40 were rejected. The United State rejected five applications, France rejected 19, Canada 10 and six were rejected by the United Kingdom.
According to the Migration Information Source, there were 2.86 million South American immigrants in the United States in the year 2014. Guyana represented 273,000, or 9.6 percent of those South American immigrants. In 2013, five percent of South Americans obtained green cards as refugees or asylees.
In that same year, there were reportedly 700 outgoing refugees from Guyana. More than 180 asylum seekers’ cases were pending at the start of 2014, and 145 asylum seekers’ cases were pending at the end of the year.
In 2014, there were 94 rejections, 27 asylum seekers were recognized and 31 asylum seekers’ applications were marked as closed. In total, 153 decisions were made and during the year and 145 new asylum applications were filed. Of all decisions, 17.6 percent were determined to be recognized refugees, with less than one percent receiving complementary protection status. More than 60 percent were rejected.
Current and ongoing refugee crises in Afghanistan and Syria have flooded the news cycle with facts about asylum seekers. Although small in comparison with three million refugees coming out of Afghanistan, the facts about Guyana refugees represent the crisis on a smaller scale.
– Shaun Savarese
Photo: Flickr
Poverty in Thailand
Thailand is being touted as a development success story. Sustained growth and poverty reduction are the reasons for the incredible progress. Poverty in Thailand was reduced from 21 percent in 2000 to 12.6 percent in 2012 and 7.5 percent in 2015. Between 1999-2005 the economy grew annually by five percent, which created jobs and improved education.
While Thailand has become a middle-income country and an active development partner, the country’s growth has slowed to only 3.5 percent between 2005-2015. Despite this, Thailand is making great progress towards meeting their Millennium Development Goals.
Thailand’s economic success is not shared with all citizens. Poverty in Thailand mainly affects those living in rural areas. There are 7.1 million people living in poverty and 80 percent of those live in rural areas. The inequality is not limited to those living in rural areas. Some areas and ethnic groups are affected more than others, particularly in the Northeast, North and Deep South.
Poverty and inequality create a challenge for a country with a faltering GDP. While the World Bank predicts that growth will increase 3.2 percent in 2017, it has grown by less than 2.5 percent annually between 2014-2016.
A 20-year strategic plan to end poverty in Thailand and help attain developed country status includes reforms to stabilize the economy and provide equal economic opportunities, environmental stability, and effective government bureaucracies. The country has already implemented large-scale public infrastructure projects, renewable energy tariffs, strengthened the renewable energy market, identified opportunities for energy efficiency improvement, diversified fuel sources and created a state enterprise policy committee. On a more economical level, the country has transferred supervisory oversight of specialized financial institutions to the Bank of Thailand, created a National Savings Fund and created a retirement safety net for workers.
Thailand may achieve its desired goals and see an end to poverty in the country if it can sustain growth and implement additional sound reforms.
– Mary Barringer
Photo: Flickr
10 Facts About Poverty in Tanzania
Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in Eastern Africa that is home to more than 67 million people and natural wonders like Mount Kilimanjaro and Lake Victoria. Although the country is rich in natural resources, poverty in Tanzania persists. Here are some facts you need to know about poverty in Tanzania:
While improvements have been made in reducing poverty in Tanzania, much of the population still suffers from malnutrition and poor living conditions. Continuing to strengthen the economy through initiatives such as cash transfer and family planning programs could help further reduce poverty in Tanzania.
– Alexi Worley
Photo: Flickr
Updated: June 01, 2024
Healthcare in Lebanon
For citizens, healthcare in Lebanon has become hard to come by. Most people in the country struggle to afford access to health care, despite government attempts at regulating expenses. Now, due to the recent influx of Syrian refugees, access for anyone in Lebanon has become a luxury. Here are the three things you need to know about healthcare in Lebanon.
Three Facts About Healthcare in Lebanon
According to al-akhbar.com, “those enrolled with the National Social Security Fund lose their benefits upon retirement or loss of job, or in other words when they need them the most.” This is an example of how hard it is to receive and maintain healthcare coverage in Lebanon.
– Maria Rodriguez
Photo: Flickr
New Tech Improves Crop Yields for Farmers in Developing Countries
In the last century, worldwide water utilization, most of which is used in agriculture, has surpassed population growth, and many developing countries are facing severe water scarcity. While water usage goes up, climate change brings more droughts and extreme weather, reducing the water available for agriculture. That’s why the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has turned to water accounting, a process that measures the efficiency of water use in agriculture and helps farmers in developing countries improve their crop yields.
FAO recently launched WaPOR, which stands for Water Productivity Open-access portal. WaPOR, as its name suggests, is an open-access database that uses satellite data to track water usage. Part of a $10 million project funded by the government of the Netherlands, WaPOR will evaluate water usage in Africa and the Near East, focusing on countries facing water scarcity.
WaPOR measures evapotranspiration, a phase in the water cycle which consists partly of water that evaporates into the atmosphere via plants and foliage. Evapotranspiration provides a measure of the water that plants and crops consume during a growing season and helps farmers understand the efficiency of their water use based on their crop yields. In brief, WaPOR monitors how effective current irrigation schemes are and offers cost-effective solutions for farmers in developing countries.
The program uses satellite data show how many crops farmers produce per cubic meter of water used. Using WaPOR’s data, agricultural extension agents help farmers in developing countries create sustainable ways to grow more reliable crop yields. FAO updates WaPOR’s water maps every one to 10 days.
The International Water Management Institute, a nonprofit that focuses on sustainable uses of water in agriculture, and the IHE Deft Institute for water Education, the largest international school for water education in the world, will help developing countries use WaPOR by boosting capacity in those areas.
WaPOR allows smallholder farmers to have access to critical information that they didn’t have before. This new technology will help farmers improve water availability and protect them from climate change.
– Rachel Cooper
Photo: Flickr
Education in Portugal
Historically, Portugal has had disadvantages when it comes to education. Now in the middle of an economic crisis, the government is trying to find solutions, find jobs for graduates and figure out how to improve education overall.
However, schools are facing budget cuts due to the country’s debt. Teachers, curriculum and funding are all being chopped as the country scrambles to dig itself out of its financial crisis. With cuts like these, the country is facing the fact that 63 percent of adults have not even finished high school.
Even while experiencing an economic downfall, Portugal has recently seen a decrease in dropout rates. In 2005 there was a dropout rate of 39 percent, but in 2011, that number dropped to 21 percent. This decrease in dropouts could be contributed to the government’s many cuts to school programs and the fear and extreme competitiveness students will face finding the few jobs that are available upon graduation.
Overall the country is facing a 14 percent unemployment rate, while among youth there is an unemployment rate of 35 percent.
Although these numbers are discouraging, with a flood in the Asian market in tech products, Portugal hopes to follow the trend of producing high tech products and investing in renewable energy sources, such as wind energy, which will hopefully stimulate the economy and help provide jobs to both the less educated adults and to the educated youth.
In the past year, Portugal has seen some improvements in its economy and education system. The budget deficit fell from 11.2 percent of GDP in 2010 to 3.5 percent in 2015 while unemployment fell from 12.4 percent in 2015 to 11.3 percent in 2016.
In 2016, Portugal’s school of architecture was regarded as one of the most famous, prestigious architecture schools in the world. In addition, the country has tried to increase student enrollment with the specific curriculum in social sciences, engineering and a cheap education. In fact, the country is known as a great place to study abroad because of its cheap tuition and cultural background.
Teaching students around the world Portuguese language and culture and showing students the various natural wonders have helped attract students to Portugal to learn and enhance their knowledge.
The vast history, language, culture and improving economy have contributed to the mending of education in Portugal.
– Amira Wynn
Photo: Flickr
Top Diseases in Chile
The top diseases in Chile are primarily noncommunicable and reflect the development and increased urbanization of the country, currently at 89 percent.
One of the most concerning issues in Chile is the high level of income inequality. Chile is the only South American country in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; however, nearly 15 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. Poverty is closely linked with noncommunicable diseases, and high levels of NCDs increase household healthcare costs and hinder efforts to reduce poverty levels. Those in poverty are more likely to use tobacco and have unhealthy diets. The long and expensive treatments associated with NCDs deplete household resources and those in poverty die at a much higher rate due to NCDs compared to their wealthier counterparts. Below are three of the of the top diseases in Chile.
Top Three Diseases in Chile
The most common risk factors for death and disability are dietary risks, high blood pressure, obesity and alcohol and drug use. All these risk factors are modifiable behaviors, and all are large contributors to the three top diseases in Chile. Additionally, almost 30 percent of the population is overweight. Of those individuals over 15 years of age, 76 percent are overweight or obese.
A positive note is that many of the leading causes of death and disability in Chile require similar lifestyle changes – reduction in tobacco usage, increased physical activity and healthier eating habits. Finding effective interventions that promote lifestyle modifications can contribute to the reduction of many of the top diseases in Chile. While Chile implements a tax on tobacco, the only country in the Americas to do so, 39 percent of the population still engages in tobacco use. A comprehensive tobacco law passed in 2013 bans all tobacco advertising, including at the point of sale, as well as requires tobacco prevention education at every level of schooling. The long-term impact of these laws in addition to the tax is to be determined.
To promote healthier eating habits, in 2016 Chile was the first country in the world to require that warning labels be placed on foods high in salt, fat, or sugar content. These labels are in the form of black stop signs, designed to make them more reader friendly. Additionally, items required to be labeled are not permitted to be sold to children under 14 years of age or sold with toy incentives. These items are also not allowed to be sold for purchase in or near schools.
To combat some of the top diseases in Chile, the country is focusing on broad public health measures, particularly those that target the younger population. The country is clearly thinking far ahead, focusing not just on treating diseases currently affecting the adult population, but also attempting to prevent the rise of NCDs as the younger population ages.
– Nicole Toomey
Photo: Flickr
Hunger in Taiwan
Taiwan is leading the way on international food aid projects to alleviate malnutrition abroad. The island nation off the coast of China, whose sovereignty is the center of political debate, is home to more than 23 million Taiwanese.
With a literacy rate higher than 98 percent, an estimated GDP per capita of $47,800 and the unemployment rate of almost four percent in 2016, poverty and hunger in Taiwan aren’t seemingly large issues. In 2012, there was an estimated 1.5 percent of the population living below the line of poverty.
It is debated whether Taiwan should be considered a developed or a developing country. When it comes to the topic of hunger, Taiwan is actually a leader in providing food for others who are suffering around the globe. Over the past few years, the country has begun producing many foods within their own borders with a focus on self-sustainability.
According to Food for the Poor, Taiwan has spent more than the past ten years, “providing life-saving food for hundreds of thousands of people in Haiti and many other countries.” At the end of last year, Taiwan was even specifically thanked by a group of volunteers from Africa for the significant role the country is taking on in alleviating world hunger.
In 1985, after nearly 20 years of help from abroad, World Vision Taiwan reached a point to be able to handle the hunger issues within their own country. Since then, Taiwan has been giving to hunger initiatives in more than 70 countries.
It’s clear that the issue is not so much those dealing with hunger in Taiwan — instead of that, “Taiwan is making tremendous contributions to combating global challenges such as poverty and hunger.” With famine and malnutrition being a life-threatening reality for many right now, perhaps other countries can follow Taiwan’s lead.
– Shannon Elder
Photo: Flickr
Mobilizing Youth in Cambodia
As more youth in Cambodia become politically aware, the country has seen significant strides by these individuals in advocating for change.
Such advocacy makes sense in light of changing technologies. As Ou Ritthy, the founder of a Cambodian discussion group, states: “Youth have two things: Information — from social media — and smartphones. They are more independent in terms of information.”
Not only has this allowed Cambodia’s youth to become more educated regarding governmental matters, but it has opened up opportunities for political networking. Through applications such as Facebook, these individuals can now unite through common interests. Together, they can plan rallies, organize volunteer efforts or simply instigate debate.
Furthermore, these efforts are having a bigger impact than ever before. As the New York Times reports, “Two-thirds of the population is under 30,” meaning youth in Cambodia now have the greatest capacity to bring about political change.
Student Thy Sovantha serves as one example. Sovantha created a Facebook page and posted Youtube videos supporting Sam Rainsy, the opposing candidate to Cambodia’s current prime minister Hun Sen, during the country’s 2013 elections. Her actions resulted in thousands of followers.
Sovantha is not the only one who opposes Sen, however. Youth protests were widespread during the 2013 elections, and efforts against his rule continue to this day. Cambodia’s elections later this year will be the final determinant of his power.
“The image of Cambodia in the international community has been damaged because they can see that…Cambodia is moving to dictatorship,” comments Ren Chanrith, a member of Cambodia’s Youth Resource Development Programme.
Regardless of Cambodia’s future regarding Sen, it is certain that youth in Cambodia will continue to have a big impact in what lies ahead for the country. This demographic change, combined with new technology, puts Cambodia’s youth at the forefront of politics.
– Genevieve DeLorenzo
Photo: Flickr
Education in St. Kitts and Nevis