The preacher has performed many cuttings like this before. He holds up some broken glass to the light – he will use this to cut out the clitoris of the young girl. No anesthetic will be used. The pain she endures is thought to be a sign of her strength.
The young girl screams out against this horrific abuse to her body.
Over 130 million girls and women have experienced some form of Female Genital Cutting in the 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East where it is most common, according to research from UNICEF.
The charity also estimates that 250 million women and girls alive today have been married since their 15th birthday.
In an attempt to highlight the issues of Female Genital Cutting and child, early and forced marriage, the UK government hosted the first international Girl Summit in London on July 22, co-hosted by UNICEF. Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai attended as well as women from across the world who have been affected by FGC.
The issue of FGC has been a growing concern in Britain where estimates from the Commons Home Affairs Committee reveal that 170,000 women and girls were living with FGC in the UK.
At the summit UK Prime Minister David Cameron revealed a £1.4 million prevention program aimed at ending the practice of FGC. New laws are set to come into effect, making it a crime for parents not to protect their children from female genital mutilation. Although illegal in the UK since 1985, no one has ever been convicted for FGC crimes.
The summit also revealed an “international charter” calling for the eradication of FGC and forced marriage within a generation.
Female Genital Cutting has no health benefits, is extremely painful and often leads to infections and in some cases death.
In its most severe form, the sensitive clitoris is completely or partly removed with crude and accessible implements in order to dull the sexual appetite of the girl. The genitals are then cut and stitched closed making sex impossible. Sometimes corrosive substances are poured in to scar and shrink the genitals.
Only a tiny piece of wood creates an opening so that urine and monthly blood can flow.
When the young girls are able to bear children they are un-stitched – and once the child has been born, stitched back up again.
The Girl Summit aims to raise the profile of this horrific practice which the Prime Minister has called a “preventable evil.”
He hopes that FGC can be ended in a generation. While so many of these types of summit fall short of meeting their goals, the issue of female genital mutilation and child marriage is finally being taken seriously by the international community. The new laws being introduced to the UK and the international charter raise the profile of this crime and may begin the process of eradicating this practice.
Female Genital Cutting Key Facts
· FGC Includes “the partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.”
· The procedure has no health benefits for girls and women.
· Procedures can cause severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later cysts, infections, infertility as well as complications in childbirth and increased risk of new-born deaths.
· More than 125 million girls and women alive today have been cut in the 29 countries in Africa and Middle East where FGC is concentrated.
· FGC is mostly carried out on young girls sometime between infancy and age 15.
· FGC is a violation of the human rights of girls and women.
· In December 2012, the U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution calling for all member states to ban the practice.
– Charles Bell
Sources: BBC 1, BBC 2, BBC 3, UK Government, WHO
Photo: FBNewswire
Emma Watson: UN Goodwill Ambassador
Emma Watson recently revealed that she has been named the United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for Women. The 24-year-old English actress and recent Brown University graduate now joins the ranks of Nicole Kidman, who was named a Goodwill Ambassador in January of 2006. Watson earned her humanitarian stripes advocating for girls’ education in Bangladesh and Zambia. She will now be tasked with promoting gender equality internationally.
U.N. Women was created by the United Nations General Assembly in July 2010 as the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. Its creation marked a broad understanding by member countries of the U.N. that gender equality remains a prominent issue of the 21st century. So far, U.N. Women has proved invaluable in terms of advocacy for the marginalized women of the world, helping to organize the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
In an era where globalization seems to have reached its zenith and global scrutiny has extended its reach to all issues, the continued subjugation of women is somewhat an anomaly. U.N. Women seeks to expose and root out this anomaly through advocacy that above all promotes equality. As an organization it is keenly aware of the cultural and socio-economic inroads it stands to make if successful in its mission. Mainly though, it is seeking to shed light on the disproportionate treatment of the sexes while reckoning with the systematic change that must take place to bring balance to society on an international level.
Though Watson might be most well known for her ability to cast spells and navigate the halls of Hogwarts, time-turner and all, her ability to navigate the din of media attention will prove of tremendous value to U.N. Women. Despite the multitude of opinions with which the average listener is constantly inundated, celebrities remain able to convey their message to some of the largest audiences imaginable. Watson’s brand of celebrity is only second to few.
– Taylor Dow
Sources: UN, The Independent, UN Women
Poverty in Vietnam
Over the years, Vietnam has made incredible strides against poverty. During the 1990s, the number of people living in poverty in Vietnam was around 60 percent and today that number has dropped to less than 20.7 percent. On July 17, 2014, the nation demonstrated its continued commitment to fighting poverty with the announcement of a joint government and World Bank Group study.
The study will detail policies Vietnam should undertake to continue increasing economic growth. It will also pinpoint the specific obstacles the country needs to overcome in order to ensure sustainable growth, modernization and prosperity for all social classes.
By working with the World Bank Group, the government of Vietnam hopes to increase the country’s economic competitiveness and, in so doing, help its citizens prosper. One way the nation seeks to reduce poverty is by improving the efficiency of the economy in attracting foreign and domestic investments. Increased private sector investments will lead to higher job creation, free flowing capital and innovation, which will be beneficial to everyone.
The study’s aim is to boost Vietnam’s economy to reform policies that widen inequality, and create more opportunities for everyone in the country. Such measures include demanding more transparency from businesses and state-owned enterprises.
Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim plan to have their agencies finish the study within one year. The hope is that, through observations made in the study, Vietnam will be able to guide its economy to reach the marker of a high-income nation within a single generation.
In addition announcing the study, Dung and Kim finalized plans for five new projects which credit Vietnam with over $876 million. The World Bank Group also loaned about $3.8 billion over the next three years to the country through the IDA, a fund used by The World Bank for the world’s poorest nations.
The financing now makes Vietnam the second biggest IDA recipient to date.
The government will use recommendations from the study to apply these funds in a way that increases private sector investment.
The effort comes as a continuation of the World Bank Group’s investment in Vietnam, as IFC, a World Bank Group member that deals only with private sector development, has contributed $5 billion to the nation’s private sector over the past 20 years.
With Vietnam’s growth rate averaging over 6.4 percent per year for over 10 years, it is hoped that renewed investment in the private sector will increase growth and help bring more individuals out of poverty.
The government of Vietnam and the World Bank Group’s efforts aim to lead the country down the path of economic growth and prosperity for all because, despite the nation’s sustained progress over the past 20 years, income inequality has grown. With this new study and loans from the World Bank Group, Vietnam seeks to foster growth that is accessible to all of its citizens and continue reducing the prevalence of poverty throughout the country.
– Kathleen Egan
Sources: World Bank, Thanhnien News, USAID
Photo: World Bank
Health Care and Taxation in Developing Countries
One of the reasons health care in developing nations is ineffective is that governments heavily tax medicines and other health care related products. While the combination of health care and taxation in developing countries is a good revenue generator for the government, it imposes a heavy burden on those who cannot afford to carry it. Those with low incomes and who mostly need these medicines find themselves castigated by high prices that result from government tariffs and taxes.
Developing nations tend to import many, if not all, of the medicines prescribed. In addition, patients usually are the ones paying the full amount for medical services due to the unavailability of health care in their countries. For instance, the average Indian pays for about 70 percent of health care services. After taxes and tariffs, the price of medicines can go up two-thirds, making even generic drugs unaffordable to the lower class.
This story repeats itself in other emerging markets. Countries like Argentina, Russia and Brazil impose tariffs of 10 percent on medicines. Other developing nations like Algeria and Rwanda impose tariffs of 15 percent, and in places like the Republic of Djibouti tariffs can even go up to 26 percent.
In the case of medicine, tariffs are only one part of the problem. Many countries also impose heavy taxes on top of tariffs. For instance, Brazil imposes a 28 percent tax on prescribed medicines, while India levies a variety of taxes that increase the value of medicine by about 8 percent on top of the states’ taxes, which can range from five to 16 percent.
Besides the fact that they place the heaviest economic burden on the poorest sectors of the population — which also tend to have the highest levels of health problems — these tariffs and taxes are economically counterproductive. According to Rod Hunter, senior vice president at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, higher prices on medicines limit people’s use of them. Illnesses go on unabated, in time leading to less productivity and a lower national GDP.
The effects of reducing or eliminating tariffs and taxes on medicines have been dramatic in places like Kenya, Colombia, Colombia, Ethiopia, Malaysia, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Tanzania and Uganda. For instance, after the Kenyan government removed tariffs and taxes on anti-malaria medicine, infant mortality and disease rates between 2005 and 2009 declined by almost 44 percent.
The initiative shown by these countries has resonated across the globe. Many African nations in 2011 pledged to lower tariffs and taxes on medicines. However, so far only a handful of nations have followed through.
It is in the best interest of countries like India and China to lower tariffs, especially considering India is the biggest exporter of finished medicines and the China produces 70-80 percent of the active ingredients contained in medicines.
The upcoming 2015 BRICS summit could be a good place to raise this issue again. These large stakeholders and developed nations alike could make it part of the agenda to change the practice of “taxing the sick.” Perhaps they could even form a coalition to press governments worldwide to change these practices and broaden access to health care in many developing nations.
– Sahar Abi Hassan
Sources: Project Syndicate, Voice of America
Photo: Huffington Post
The Effects of Poverty on the Adult Brain
A recent study examined the effects of poverty on the adult brain and how it is influenced by childhood development. Results of the study showed that children from poor families performed more poorly on academic tests later in life. Furthermore, the study found that children who dealt with stress inducing factors, such as poor housing, in addition to poverty performed the worst of all tested subjects.
What does this mean for the future of children that are presently living in extreme poverty? With more than 1 billion children worldwide who lack one or more essential needs critical to survival and development, this can present even more problems in the future.
Most children living in extreme poverty face stress-inducing factors in addition to poverty. According to UNICEF, 101 million children currently do not attend primary school, and 148 million children under the age of 5 are underweight. A total of 270 million children worldwide do not have access to health care, and one out of five do not have access to clean drinking water, according to CARE, a nonprofit aiding in the fight against extreme poverty.
With more than 300 million children worldwide chronically hungry and 90 percent suffering from long-term malnourishment, these stressors can have lasting effects on their intellectual performance, and subsequently their financial stability, as adults.
For every additional year of primary school in developing countries, a girl’s wages are raised by 10 to 20 percent. This shows a direct correlation between education and income.
Children from poorer households are three times more likely to not attend school than those from wealthy homes. The largest population of non-attending school aged children is in sub-Saharan Africa, where 45.5 million children do not attend primary school. Much of this is caused by poverty, as many parents and families cannot afford required school fees and supplies to send their children to school.
Extreme poverty certainly involves several stress inducing factors besides lack of money, and these issues compound the problem of intellectual performance further. According to Professor K. Luan Phan, the author of the study, “the stress-burden of growing up poor may be an underlying mechanism that accounts for the relationship between poverty as a child and how well your brain works as an adult.”
By this same logic, helping these children out of extreme poverty today will lead to more intellectual men and women of tomorrow – men and women who will have the education needed to help other children escape poverty.
– Christopher Kolezynski
Sources: PsyBlog, The Borgen Project, CARE, Compassion
Photo: Flickr
USAID’s Strategies to End Child Marriages
USAID recently renewed its commitment to end child marriages – as well as early and forced marriage – both by allocating U.S. $4.8 million dollars to be spent over the next year on prevention efforts and by announcing a new set of strategies for combating the practice that leaves so many children (mostly girls) devoid of resources, health, and dignity.
With the support of several key U.S. legislators, USAID will implement new prevention programs in seven nations: Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, India, Nepal, Tanzania, and Yemen. These prevention programs, which have been updated after analyzing the weaknesses of previous prevention programs, are customized to the needs and features of each of the countries USAID is targeting, making their eventual success very probable.
The advent of child marriage is highly correlated not only with increased rates of poverty, but also with increased maternal and infant mortality and increased incidence of HIV/AIDS and other sexually-transmitted diseases. Ending the practices of forced child marriage, which is “perpetuated by cultural norms, poverty, and lack of access to education,” will re-empower over 10 million girls per year, as well as the families from which they were taken, to make their own choices about their health, education, and futures.
Though child marriage by definition includes all children wed before their 18th birthdays, as many as a third of child marriages occur before the 15th birthday, and some children are married at as young an age as eight years old.
Among USAID’s new strategies for preventing child marriage are improved legislation advocacy measures, increased public awareness of the effects of child marriages and cash incentives to families whose girls have not been married at the age of 18. USAID is setting an influential and inspiring example to other organizations, like The Borgen Project, to continue to promote a change.
USAID’s previous commitment to preventing child marriage was already impressive. Their renewed focus will only serve to keep more children from the bonds of early matrimony.
– Elise L. Riley
Sources: USAID, AllAfrica, The Guardian
Photo: The Guardian
Central African Republic Ceasefire
After a year and a half of vicious bloodshed, Christian militia and Muslim Seleka rebels have drawn up a ceasefire in response to the deaths of thousands in Central African Republic. Requests have been subsided for both groups, with one of the failed demands being that the country is split based on the religious line on behalf of the rebel forces.
The warring groups traveled to the Congo to have the ceasefire initiated by the Congolese president, Denis Sassou N’Guesso, the formal mediator of the conflict. After the signing, President N’Guesso made a statement to the press: “We have taken the first step today. The journey is long, but we have made promises. After what has happened here, I am confident.” Both groups hold hope for future democratic elections to replace multiple informal and interim leaders.
The effects of this violence have not gone unnoticed, with over 1 million people fleeing their homes due to the conflict. While the Central African Republic ceasefire appears to be the first step to a different future, both sides took precautions at the signing ceremony with heavy military representation in case the other forgot their capabilities.
Both sides have shown their willingness to enforce the ceasefire, and those that are caught breaking the truce would face arrest.
Head of the Seleka delegation made a statement after the signing. “We have signed this ceasefire agreement today in front of everyone. Our commitment is firm and irreversible,” said Mohamed Moussa Dhaffane.
Seleka’s violent rule began back in March of 2013 when they rose to power, a group made up of various northerners from neighboring countries like Chad and Sudan. The “tit for tat” aggressions quickly developed the anti-balaka militia and the two warring sides immediately fell into an endless cycle of battle, even after the Seleka government stepped down in early 2014. Since then the violence has continued to affect Central African Republic, causing death tolls in the thousands for both sides.
Both the Seleka and anti-Balaka leadership appear willing to concede to the changes required by a ceasefire, but the amount of work to be done to bring the country together will take much more than a few agreements and a little time. The future of CAR is cloudy as both groups are forced to work with one another again and put on a united front for their people, as well as the rest of the world.
– Elena Lopez
Sources: Reuters, Big Story, The Guardian
Photo: The Guardian
UK Summit: End Female Genital Cutting
The preacher has performed many cuttings like this before. He holds up some broken glass to the light – he will use this to cut out the clitoris of the young girl. No anesthetic will be used. The pain she endures is thought to be a sign of her strength.
The young girl screams out against this horrific abuse to her body.
Over 130 million girls and women have experienced some form of Female Genital Cutting in the 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East where it is most common, according to research from UNICEF.
The charity also estimates that 250 million women and girls alive today have been married since their 15th birthday.
In an attempt to highlight the issues of Female Genital Cutting and child, early and forced marriage, the UK government hosted the first international Girl Summit in London on July 22, co-hosted by UNICEF. Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai attended as well as women from across the world who have been affected by FGC.
The issue of FGC has been a growing concern in Britain where estimates from the Commons Home Affairs Committee reveal that 170,000 women and girls were living with FGC in the UK.
At the summit UK Prime Minister David Cameron revealed a £1.4 million prevention program aimed at ending the practice of FGC. New laws are set to come into effect, making it a crime for parents not to protect their children from female genital mutilation. Although illegal in the UK since 1985, no one has ever been convicted for FGC crimes.
The summit also revealed an “international charter” calling for the eradication of FGC and forced marriage within a generation.
Female Genital Cutting has no health benefits, is extremely painful and often leads to infections and in some cases death.
In its most severe form, the sensitive clitoris is completely or partly removed with crude and accessible implements in order to dull the sexual appetite of the girl. The genitals are then cut and stitched closed making sex impossible. Sometimes corrosive substances are poured in to scar and shrink the genitals.
Only a tiny piece of wood creates an opening so that urine and monthly blood can flow.
When the young girls are able to bear children they are un-stitched – and once the child has been born, stitched back up again.
The Girl Summit aims to raise the profile of this horrific practice which the Prime Minister has called a “preventable evil.”
He hopes that FGC can be ended in a generation. While so many of these types of summit fall short of meeting their goals, the issue of female genital mutilation and child marriage is finally being taken seriously by the international community. The new laws being introduced to the UK and the international charter raise the profile of this crime and may begin the process of eradicating this practice.
Female Genital Cutting Key Facts
· FGC Includes “the partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.”
· The procedure has no health benefits for girls and women.
· Procedures can cause severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later cysts, infections, infertility as well as complications in childbirth and increased risk of new-born deaths.
· More than 125 million girls and women alive today have been cut in the 29 countries in Africa and Middle East where FGC is concentrated.
· FGC is mostly carried out on young girls sometime between infancy and age 15.
· FGC is a violation of the human rights of girls and women.
· In December 2012, the U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution calling for all member states to ban the practice.
– Charles Bell
Sources: BBC 1, BBC 2, BBC 3, UK Government, WHO
Photo: FBNewswire
Fighting at Main Libyan Airport
After an attempted ceasefire recently failed, rival militias escalated clashes over the main Libyan airport in the capital city of Tripoli. This renewal of fighting has already caused at least five deaths since fighting resumed on July 20. There have been reports that at least two of these were civilian deaths, as fighting moved from the airport to the neighboring residential area. While only five deaths have been confirmed, the intensity of the fighting and the limited area have prevented government officials from accurately declaring the number of deaths that have occurred. There has not been any official count of casualties released by the government since the start of this conflict.
The fighting over the Tripoli airport started on July 11, causing the airport to shut down indefinitely. The most recent skirmishes have been the most intense since the conflict started, and there have already been reports of missiles, rockets and tanks being used. This is the first time fighting has moved outside the airport into surrounding residential areas. Even if the fighting were to end now, it would take months for the airport to become functional again.
The combatants include a militia from the town Misirata and an Islamist led militia group known as the Libyan Revolutionaries Operations Room. Prior to this conflict, the airport was under the control of a militia from Zintan, a city in the western mountains of Libya.
The recent escalation of fighting indicates an entrenched conflict, and some have called this the worst fighting to take place in Libya since the Arab Spring Revolution in 2011. As Tarek Mitri, head of the U.N. Security Council mission in Libya, said, “As the number of military actors mobilizing and consolidating their presence within the capital continues to grow, there is a mounting sense of a probable imminent and significant escalation in the conflict. The stakes are high for all sides.”
Since Muammar Qaddafi was deposed and killed in 2011, Libya has struggled to maintain control of warring factions and militias. This one battle for control of the Tripoli airport is only one of many, albeit smaller, conflicts taking place all over the lawless country. Multiple governments that have been in power have struggled to keep these militias in check. Tensions are high across the country, considering the serious potential for both sides further entrenching their position and escalating attacks. For now, many inside and outside the country are nervously waiting to see how the conflict will continue to unfold.
– Andre Gobbo
Sources: BBC, Al Jazeera, CNN
Photo: BBC
Pakistan Women and Food Aid Violence
Over 40 tribal elders in the Bannu region of Pakistan voted to ban women from collecting food aid for Internally Displaced Persons fleeing the military offensive in North Waziristan, Pakistan. Witnesses report seeing men slap women who had joined the line for food rations. The women reportedly left quickly after experiencing such violence, but the question remains as to how widows or women unaccompanied by men will receive aid. One man distributed leaflets discouraging women from attempting to attain food rations with a warning to husbands who fail to keep their women at home. The Bannu region is especially conservative, where women wear full-length burqa robes and rarely venture outside their homes.
Violence and discrimination against women in Pakistan have plagued the country, as recently as on July 23 when unknown assailants threw acid at two women at a shopping center in Baluchistan. A similar attack occurred one day earlier when four women were attacked with acid. In both attacks, the perpetrators rode past on motorcycles spraying their victims with acid. Officials believe the crimes to be the work of religious extremists in the area.
In March, the Council of Islamic Ideology, a body that provides legal advice to the Pakistani government, said laws that ban child marriage are “un-Islamic.” Current laws require boys to reach the age of 18 before marriage, and girls the age 16. Chairman of the Council Maulana Mohammad Khan Sheerani continued, “Sharia allows men to have more than one wife, and we demanded that the government should amend the law.”
Child marriage in Pakistan, according to experts, explains the country’s high infant mortality rate, as early marriage results in frequent pregnancies with inadequate preparation. The country also has lower reproductive and maternal healthcare coverage for women than its neighbors India, Bangladesh or Nepal.
Over 990,000 people left the North Waziristan following the June airstrikes known as the Zarb-e-Azb operation, and 84 percent of these IDPs have fled to the Bannu District. North Waziristan has long served as a haven for militants in Pakistan and although the Pakistani government claimed to have targeted all militant groups equally, the U.S. and many locals say Pakistan protected the Haqqani group, which has been based in Waziristan for decades. Many accuse the Pakistani military of allowing Haqqani militants to escape before the operation began. The U.S. sees the Haqqani as a threat to stability in Afghanistan, and is withholding $300 million in aid to Pakistan until the Secretary of Defense determines Pakistan to have “significantly disrupted” the Haqqani network.
The Pakistani military has used militants as proxies in Afghanistan and India for decades. Experts believe the operation — which has killed over 450 since June — is intended to primarily target Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, central Asian and Arab militants in the region that militants have traditionally used to launch attacks on Afghanistan.
The U.S. military has since joined Pakistan with its drone strikes on Saturday that killed 15.
– Erica Lignell
Sources: Reuters, International Business Times, Business Standard, New York Times, Wall Street Journal
Photo: Reuters
The Seva Foundation
Subas Maya Rai lives in a remote area of Nepal. A few years back she became blind from cataracts in both eyes, and from that point on lived life in a vulnerable and isolated darkness. Having to rely on her husband, she wanted to give up hope, and began waiting for death to take her.
Her husband began hearing news that a Seva-sponsored eye camp would be coming, and together, they made a four-day journey by foot to the camp. The surgery took two days, and after a few days, Subas removed her bandages and was finally able to see again.
Starting out as a gathering of friends and colleagues at the Waldenwoods Conference Center located near Ann Arbor Michigan, The Seva Foundation began as a group of people looking to be of service. The conference was comprised of health professionals and activists who were introduced to Dr. G Venkataswamy, a retired eye surgeon who dreamed of making cataract surgery ubiquitous. Seva was soon born, focused on restorative eyesight methods.
The vision of Seva comprises the promotion of a world of people who are healthy and autonomous.
The Seva Foundation is best known for eyesight restoration to more than 3.5 million people in need of vital eye care service.
They have operated in 20 countries including Bangladesh, sub-Saharan Africa, Cambodia, Nepal and Tibet, and have operated with Native Americans in the United States. They support community outreach to spread awareness of services available for proper eye care. With their Global Sight Initiative, the organization collaborates on an international level to increase the efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability of its 50 partner eye-care institutions around the world. Its methods, in turn, increase the overall productivity and quality of eye-care treatments.
Yet, performing eye surgery requires trained staff/volunteers and up-to-date equipment. In response to the needs of the poor, Seva brings its vision centers to local communities and trains ophthalmologists, ophthalmic assistants and community health workers to use specialized equipment in order to exercise quality care.
The ability to bring people together in service of others is an innate quality of this organization. It stands to serve those who are underserved, and shines a beacon to those stranded in the dark.
– Ashley Riley
Sources: Seva Foundation 1, Seva Foundation 2
Photo: SFGate