Credibility and Integrity: What’s At Stake for the CBP

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It is early September and Guillermo Arevalo Pedroza is taking his wife and two young girls on a picnic on the south side of the Rio Grande. A couple of shots fired later and Arevalo is dying in the arms of his 9-year-old daughter. These are the types of atrocities that are occurring with dismaying frequency at the hands of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Juan Pablo Perez Santillan, Carlos Lamadrid, and Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca are some of the names of those who have lost their lives in similar incidents.

Questions continue to arise regarding the integrity of the CBP, especially in lieu of the recent shooting of 41-year-old Mexican native, Jesus Flores-Cruz.

The incident occurred on Tuesday, February 18th in Mission, Texas, when two agents on foot suspected multiple people of attempting to cross the border illegally from Mexico. One agent, whose identity remains undisclosed, fired two shots after being attacked by several rocks, killing Flores-Cruz. There were no witnesses.

In a statement following the incident, the Border Patrol claimed that the agent feared for his life at the time of the attack. Spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in San Diego, Kelly Thornton, said that prosecutors decided against charging the agent with a crime.

Amongst the responses to the shooting are many who are concerned about the continuing pattern of human rights abuses committed by the Border Patrol under their use-of-force policy.

Both the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), as well as the Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC), expressed their indignation following the event. In a statement on behalf of the SBCC, director Christian Ramirez said that the incident “is yet another reminder that the Border Patrol operates with impunity and on the fringes of the Constitution and international law.”

Although bold, this statement holds weight given the number of people killed with lethal force by the CBP. Since 2010, 21 Mexican citizens have been killed, and not one agent involved in the deaths has been prosecuted for their use of lethal force.

This continuing use of lethal weapons raises questions about the agency’s lack of both accountability and oversight. For example, agents are not required to carry non-lethal repellents, such as ‘pepper ball’ guns, which shoot pellets of pepper spray at long-range distances. However, those agents who have made use of such devices have been successful at repelling rock attacks such as that which occurred in the case of Flores-Cruz. 160 separate incidents have been resolved by using these non-lethal devices.

Given that this is the case, it is highly alarming that the CBP rejected a recommendation that they prohibit agents from using lethal weapons against rock throwers and assailants in vehicles.

So, what can be done?

Twenty members of Congress have recently asked to meet with ranking members of the CBP to discuss their growing concern. In addition, the Police Executive Research Forum an independent police review agency, has issued a report with recommendations for the CBP. Among the recommendations are ways for agents to de-escalate tense encounters by taking cover, moving out of range, and/or using non-lethal weapons.

Customs and Border Protection boasts of being the largest law enforcement agency in the United States, which carries with it the responsibility of being accountable to the American public. If attacks continue, it could have serious implications for the CBP’s credibility and integrity.

– Mollie O’Brien

Sources: Southern Borders Communities Coalition, Latin Times, Daily News, ACLU
Photo: Deviant Art

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Ben Affleck Testifies to the US Senate on DRC

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Ben Affleck may be famous for his role in movies such as Argo, The Town and Good Will Hunting, but nowadays he’s making an impact in a new role. Because of his philanthropic involvement in eastern Congo, Affleck went before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to testify about the Congolese people and the need for U.S. involvement in the region. The hearing provided an opportunity for Affleck to draw increased media attention to the precarious human rights situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo and pressure lawmakers to do more to help.

Affleck first became involved in the Congo through his grant-making and advocacy organization, the East Congo Initiative (ECI). This organization seeks to increase investments in Congolese-led programs that create safe and sustainable communities. Additionally, ECI advocates for increased U.S. involvement in Congo while working against key problems such as rape and sexual violence as well as inadequate education and health resources for children. The East Congo Initiative also seeks to reintegrate former child soldiers back into their homes while leading community-level peace and reconciliation programs.

During his testimony, Affleck highlighted many of the struggles the Congolese people are enduring every day. For instance, Affleck cited UN reports that not only indicate that 2.9 million Congolese had been displaced internally, but also that 428,000 others have become refugees in neighboring countries. These people are being scattered throughout the region by the armed militia known as M23 that had previously taken over the capital of a northern Congolese province. A UN peacekeeping force recently coerced the M23 to surrender and sign a peace agreement. Affleck cited the UN group as evidence that “when the international community acts, and the Congolese government rises to the moment, these challenges are in fact solvable.”

Affleck finished his testimony by sharing a story about one of ECI’s partners, Theo Chocolate. An organic, fair-trade chocolate company, Theo imports more than 50% of its Chocolate from the DRC. Theo Chocolate’s business was connected to small folder farmers in the DRC by ECI and has helped support many of these small Congolese business operations. Through professionally directed investments, ECI was able to help spur economic development in the Congo and improve the lives of several Congolese people.

Through his charitable initiatives with ECI, Affleck is an example of how ordinary Americans can make a difference in influencing Congress and bring attention to the issues they care about. Affleck acknowledged, “I am, to state the obvious, not a Congo expert. I am an American working to do my part for a country and a people I believe in and care deeply about.” Through his actions, Affleck not only successfully drew the attention of the United States Senate to the plight of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but he also gives hope for a better life to many impoverished people.

– Martin Levy

US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, East Congo Initiative
Photo: Heritage

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Physical Inactivity Taking a Toll in Middle East

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As life expectancy across the globe steadily increases, chronic and degenerative diseases are becoming the norm in many countries, fueled by the rapid rise of obesity due to physical inactivity.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Ministry of Health of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) convened in Dubai, UAE on February 23 for a two-day ‘Move for Health’ forum to address just that.

The push for the forum came following recent statistics naming the Middle East as the most unfit region for young adults, age 15 to age 29. It is also the second-most unfit region for adults and the most unfit region for women worldwide. Approximately 50% of Middle Eastern women are deemed physically inactive.

Given what people know about global inactivity trends, these statistics are not so shocking.

Physical inactivity is the fourth-leading risk factor for global mortality, accounting for 3.2 million deaths worldwide. It is also directly responsible for 27% of diabetes cases, 30% of heart diseases, and 21-25% of breast and colon cancer cases. More than 30% of people over the age of 15 are physically inactive, 28%t of them men and 34% of them women.

Given these daunting numbers, it is no surprise that physical inactivity is one of the most pressing global health challenges at present.

Among those who spoke at the forum was Dr. Ala’a Alwan, the regional director of the Eastern Mediterranean Region at the WHO. Noting the severity of the issue, Alwan reiterated the importance of making efforts to recognize physical inactivity as a public health priority by developing national awareness campaigns.

The forum also shed light on a new policy to be implemented in the UAE, as well as 34 other signatory countries. The policy follows a multi-sectoral approach and pledges to reduce physical inactivity levels by 10% by the year 2025. Included is a seven-step program targeting public education, school-wide programs, community programs, healthcare, sports awareness, urban design and transport policies.

Specifically, the policy aims at communicating to the general public the idea that physical activity is not limited to sports. It also includes any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that uses energy, from walking or cycling to dancing and swimming.

The WHO and UAE’s Ministry of Health are promoting having people exercise five days each week for 30 minutes to reduce current levels of inactivity across the globe, and in the Middle East.

– Mollie O’Brien

Photo: Niwemang
Sources: Emirates 24/7, Zawya, World Health Organization

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Ben Affleck DRC Testimony

Ben Affleck
Ben Affleck, co-star of the upcoming film Superman vs. Batman, spent time in Washington, D.C. on February 26 discussing the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Using his celebrity and networking super powers,  Affleck has previously launched the Eastern Congo Initiative (ECI) in 2010 and has since helped raise awareness and generate public action against violence in the DRC.

While in D.C. Affleck testified in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Committee Chairman  Sen. Robert Menéndez (D-N.J.). He began his testimony by acknowledging the significant progress made in the last three months. He also thanked Congress, U.S. President Obama and the State Department for their roles in achieving the surrender of M23, the Congolese Revolutionary Army, which has been violently rebelling against the DRC government.

Affleck emphasized that though progress has been made, it is important to stay on track, and that deviating could risk losing the fruit of their hard diplomatic labor.  The ECI created five key points for Congress to ensure sustainable peace in the country:

  1. Urge U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to ensure DRC special envoy Russell Feingold has the support needed to successfully achieve his mission
  2. Call on U.S. Embassador to the U.N. Samantha Power to support extending the intervention brigade past its March 31 expiration
  3. Foreign Relations committee hold an oversight hearing to consider a sunset to MONUSCO that compels the DRC to follow through and fully reform its security sector
  4. Have Obama directly engage with DRC President Joseph Kabila to encourage him to make good on his critical commitment to long-overdue security sector reforms by establishing a clearly defined road map
  5. Have the U.S. play a pivotal role and robustly participate in multilateral efforts to ensure that the Congolese holds free, fair and timely local and national elections that respect the Congolese constitution including strict observance of term limits
  6. Call upon USAID to scale up its economic development initiatives in Eastern Congo

Ultimately, the ECI believes the DRC can be revived through enhanced security on one side and injecting small amount of development aid throughout pockets of the community. This will allow the Congolese people to stand on their own and create a market economy, eventually joining the global market.

– Sunny Bhatt

Sources: YouTube, Eastern Congo Initiative
Photo: Ryot.org

World Bank: Economic Consequences of Discrimination

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United States history is rife with racial and sexual discrimination. This history has shown, however, that systematic alienation of particular social groups comes with costly economic consequences.

For example, the 381 days long 1955-1956 Montgomery Bus Boycott, spurred by the arrest of Rosa Parks, reportedly ameliorated 75 percent of the city bus line’s revenue. The damage translated to approximately a loss of $3,500 per day, calculating a total loss of over $1.3 million.

It is no coincidence that as segregation was outlawed, U.S. economic growth accelerated.

Discrimination based on race, gender or sexual orientation in the U.S. business practices are still rampant today. A report from the Center for American Progress revealed the significant costs involved in discriminatory practices—an estimated $64 billion of revenue per year.

On February 24, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed an anti-gay law. The legislation called for a 14-year prison sentence for each initial homosexual act committed and the possibility of life imprisonment for continued homosexual relations.

In response to this discriminatory law, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim has frozen all of the Bank’s loans, totaling $90 million, to Uganda.

Kim has also harnessed the seismic forces of this bold move to address further forms of discrimination worldwide, such as sexism and racial discrimination. He stressed that discrimination in any form is not only destructive in a moral sense, but harbors the growth of economies around the world.

In a recent public statement, Kim used the negative economic impact of he marginalizing women from job opportunities as a key example. In countries with low economic participation from women, a World Bank study revealed income losses of 27 percent in the Middle East and North Africa. The same study showed that raising female employment and entrepreneurship to equal male levels could improve average income by 19 percent in South Asia and 14 percent in Latin America.

Marginalizing people based on gender, race or sexual orientation is destructive to economies. Legislation that aims to alienate potentially some of the most talented and efficient of a country’s or business’s workers is nothing short of self-mutilation on a macro scale. As Kim said, “Eliminating discrimination is not only the right thing to do; it’s also critical to ensure that we have sustained, balanced and inclusive economic growth in all societies — whether in developed or developing nations, the North or the South, America or Africa.”

– Malika Gumpangkum

Sources: The World Bank, HuffPost, Bloomberg, The Washington Post, Robert J. Walker
Photo: Economic Times

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HRW Reports Violence Against Women in Iraq

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There are many women in Iraq who have faced and continue to face abuse within the Iraqi judiciary system, as outlined in a new report from the Human Rights Watch (HRW). According to the HRW, although both men and women suffer from the severe flaws of the criminal justice system, women suffer a double burden due to their second-class status in Iraqi society.

Iraq has had other allegations challenging its reputation for gender discrimination in the past. During the 1970s, Iraq guaranteed equal rights to women before the law by mandating compulsory education through primary school for both genders and changed labor, employment, and personal laws to grant women greater equality in the workplace, marriage, divorce and inheritance. These advancements were done, however, in order to create loyalty to the ruling government and Baath Party.

After losing the Gulf War, Saddam Hussein tried to boost his power and popularity by embracing Islamic and tribal traditions. This led to the rapid deterioration in social status for women in Iraq, which has only worsened since the Iraq War.

Although there has been some debate in the international community as to the legitimate use of interrogation tactics like water-boarding, the abuses these women sustained seem to have amounted to torture. Nearly all of the women in Iraq that were interviewed by the HRW were handcuffed, kicked, punched, beaten with cables, subjected to electric shocks, and subjected to falaqa, which is the practice of tying someone upside down and beating their feet.

Many also reported being raped and sexually assaulted by security officials who also threatened to do the same to their daughters. After succumbing to torture, these women were forced to sign and fingerprint confessions they could not read, or in some cases, that were just blank pieces of paper.

Although prohibited by both Iraqi and international law, corruption and a lack of government oversight ensures that these abuses continue with no repercussions for the abusers and no relief for the victims. By detaining women without arrest warrants, holding them for indefinite periods before allowing them to see a judge and demanding bribes for their release, the actions of the government are synonymous to kidnapping.

The current situation is also influenced by religious strife, as the vast majority of these women and girls are Sunni and being illegally detained by the Shia-led government solely because of their branch of Islam. The majority of the women interviewed were held for allegedly covering up for crimes committed by male family members, and charged under Iraq’s Anti-Terrorism Law. Many were convicted not by evidence, but based on coerced confessions and testimony from “secret informants.”

The response from Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki’s administration has been criminally insufficient. They have yet to begin investigating allegations of abuse, and many government officials have denied that there is a problem, with some even accusing the women of lying. To move past the legacy of corruption left by Saddam Hussein, a greater sense of transparency of and accountability for government procedures could greatly improve the situation.

– Kenneth W. Kliesner

Sources: Human Rights Watch, Al Jazeera
Photo: Aljazeera

Rehabilitation for Al-Qaeda Generation

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The youth who have grown up saturated with extreme jihadist ideology will form a criminal generation that poses a threat to not only their country, but to the world.

Children, almost exclusively young boys, are targeted by terrorist groups to be trained to be military-minded from a young age for several reasons. Most importantly, they are easier to persuade and control. Many recruited children are orphans who have grown up in conflict zones. The inclusion in a powerful group gives them the illusion of acceptance.

Children can also move around unnoticed much easier than adults; they are more likely to be overlooked in a situation where a man might trigger caution, and soldiers often hesitate to shoot them even if they know the child is carrying explosives.

Most importantly for recruiters, children who are trained as extremist soldiers will grow into adults willing to kill and die for those same ideals and will offer up their own children to the same training. Cairo University psychology professor and family relations consultant Waliyuddine Mukhtar says that “As a result [of their intensive training], years from now, a new generation of youth will emerge and pose a very serious threat not only to Syria but to surrounding countries as well.

Camps to train “cubs” have been opened in Syria and have released  footage showing children ages four to 17 years old shooting AK-47s, undergoing military training and shouting for the “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.” Recruiters rely heavily on orphans and the donated children of extremist families to fill these ranks.

Egyptian child psychologist and Ain Shams University lecturer Enas al-Jamal discusses the devastating effects on the psyche of child soldiers. “This child grows up on violence and the use of force, while internally suppressing fear that could erupt at any time after he is moved away from the fighting.”

Al-Jamal is realistic about the hardship of establishing these children in a peaceful civilian lifestyle. “The difficulty in rehabilitation stems from the fact that they were subjected to comprehensive brainwashing that turned them into killing machines convinced of the legitimacy of murder and suicide via suicide bombings.”

The work of undoing everything these children are being taught will take tremendous effort and a collective awareness. The leaders of al-Qaeda may be cut down, but they have planted their seeds deeply. However, people’s tending to those seeds could prevent their resurrection.

– Lydia Caswell

Sources: Al-Shorfa.com, Central Asia Online, Hudson Institute
Photo: Sodaheadr

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Katharine McPhee and BuildOn Help Burkina Faso

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When Burkina Faso gained independence from France in 1960, the school attendance rate was 6%. Now up to 66%, the country still has a long way to go if it plans to achieve the Millenium Development Goal of attaining universal access for children to primary education.

Why do Boys Have a Higher Literacy Rate?

A girl in Burkina Faso is more likely to be married and give birth before the age of 18 than she is to graduate secondary school. Before she received a scholarship, Burkinabe 15-year-old Lucie walked more than 10 miles to school each day. With her new bicycle, she has an easier time getting to school and fetching water for her family. Boys have a higher literacy rate than girls in Burkina Faso because they are given preference in schooling.

A project called Burkina Response to Increasing the Development of Girls’ Education sponsors school-aged children in Burkina Faso’s two regions with the highest dropout rates by building new secondary schools, adding more classrooms and girls’ dormitories to existing schools, providing scholarships for needy girls and working with community leaders, teachers and parents to build a supportive framework for girls’ education and development.

Primary Education: The First Step

Elementary education in Burkina Faso is required for children between the ages of 7 years old and 14 years old, but it is not strictly enforced. The elementary education system in Burkina Faso is based on the French model; thus, classes are taught in French. Only 29% of children finish primary school, according to UNICEF data. Burkina Faso has one of the world’s highest dropout rates, second to Niger.

Secondary Education Has a Price

Burkina Faso is the third-poorest country in the world as ranked by the United Nations. Some families hardly have enough money to buy necessities like food, much less pay for secondary education. While some countries in Africa are implementing a free secondary school system, Burkina Faso charges the equivalent of $166 per year for secondary school education, a mandatory fee that many Burkinabe families cannot afford.

Currently the free, public and compulsory education takes children through age 16. From age of 13 to 16 years old, children attend a “post-primary” school, which is intended to prepare the students for secondary school. When a fee is involved, as it is for secondary education, the government does not make schooling mandatory because many families do not have the means to pay for it.

A Pop-Star’s Dedication to Help

Burkina Faso is the seventh country to benefit from a BuildOn Project. Katharine McPhee, star of the NBC hit TV show SMASH and runner-up of the 2006 American Idol, and her husband, Nick Cokas, are partnering with BuildOn to expand access to schools in Burkina Faso. The couple provided mosquito nets to the country through Malaria No More and funded the construction of a school in the country’s capital, Oagadougou. Their dedication to Burkina Faso continues as they fund BuildOn’s first two schools in the country.

“Investing in education and opportunity for young people is a major priority in our lives, and we are thrilled that with the help of BuildOn, we can maintain our ongoing commitment to improving education for the children of Burkina Faso,” McPhee said.

– Haley Sklut

Sources: Looking to the Stars, UNICEF, Burkina Faso Embassy, Plan USA, Classbase, Intervida
Photo: Build On

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Guinea-Bissau: From Independence to Poverty

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Guinea-Bissau is one of the poorest nations in the world, ranked 176 out of 187 countries on the United Nations Human Development Index in 2012. With a population of 1.5 million inhabitants, approximately 40 percent are under the age of 14-years old. In many communities, women and girls have limited education and health services.  Many fall victim to forced marriage, exploitation, sexual violence and childhood pregnancy.

Guinea-Bissau has had substantial military and political upheaval since its independence from Portugal in 1974. Shortly after, a military coup appointed Joao Bernardo “Nino” Vieira as its president in 1980. Vieira created a nice path to a multi-party system and market economy, but his regime was characterized by suppressing his political opposition and by purging political rivals.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, there were multiple coup attempts against Vieira, but they all failed to cast him out. He was elected as president in the country’s first free elections in 1994 only to be expelled from the country in 1999 after a military mutiny and civil war that started in 1998.

A transitional government turned over power to the opposing leader Kumba Yala after he was elected president in transparent polling in 2000. After only three years in office, Yala ended up being overthrown in a nonviolent military coup in 2003, and Henrique Rosa, a businessman at the time, was sworn in as interim president. Vieira came back to Guinea-Bissau, was re-elected in 2005 and pledged to pursue national reconciliation and economic development, but he was assassinated in 2009.

In an emergency election in June of 2009, Malam Bacai Sanha was elected, but he passed away in 2012 from a pre-existing illness. To determine his successor, there was supposed to be an election in April of 2012, but a military coup prevented it from taking place. Currently, Manuel Serifo Nhamadjo is the transitional president and the transitional government keeps postponing the new presidential election that was supposed to take place two years ago.

All of this political strife has led Guinea-Bissau’s economy to be severely harmed and it has been very difficult for it to recover. A UN human rights expert called out the Guinea-Bissau authorities on February 28 in her visit to the nation to inform them how crucial it is that they help out their own people that are in extreme poverty.  She said the population cannot wait any longer for the transitional state policies to become effective and that the government needs to work to ensure the welfare of future generations, especially those living in abject poverty.

Much of Guinea-Bissau suffers from low levels of school enrollment, illiteracy and unemployment. Development of Guinea-Bissau is mostly dependent on the investment in basic services like health and education.  The country cannot successfully improve the situation of the poor until its framework is improved first.

– Kenneth W. Kliesner

Sources: UN News Centre, The World Factbook
Photo: Tia Mysoa

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NGO Profile: CARE

CARE
Care about what? Care about ending global poverty. CARE is an organization that works with other businesses, schools, communities, and more to help extract people from the condition of poverty. They have main office headquarters in Atlanta, as well as an office in each of the 84 countries in which they work.

The U.S. government, European Union and United Nations help support CARE financially as well as individual donations from over 100,000 people each year. CARE works to help young girls and women become self sufficient, sustain business opportunities and escape a life of severe poverty.

All of the financial records of CARE’s use of donations and resources are available online for public viewing. A huge reason why CARE is such a great organization in terms of aid and effectiveness is that they enhance local economies whenever possible.

Instead of accepting clothes or tangible items from donors, they attempt to buy these supplies locally to help the countries they are working with. When recruiting people to help execute programs and fundraising events, the CARE staff also tries to hire locally from residents of the nations in which they are currently holding the events.

The focus on women and girls stems from the impact that gender inequality has on the cycle of poverty. More often than not, men are afforded jobs and opportunities for education and a better future through manual labor or schooling that women are not. Denying females career options and land ownership as well as many other civil rights only serves to perpetuate the timeline of poverty. A population cannot be pulled from such bleak conditions if the men are the only ones with the ability to break free.

The CARE website is designed with excellence and provides tons of information on how the organization works, as well as how and when people can participate. One section brings viewers to learn more about the history, founders, and partnership network of CARE, while other sections promote newsworthy stories of people whose lives have been changed for the better. Links are provided to financial records, success stories, and the CARE Twitter feed.

The most recent twitter campaign was called #IamCourage and encouraged people to tweet their personally courageous photos to the CARE Twitter feed, @Care. Another recent campaign involves getting supplies to the south of Sudan before aid is blocked by the rain season and planes can no longer deliver food, clothes, or medicine due to the poor visibility conditions.

The country is in desperate need of help and the UN has been trying to generate contributions because they are concerned about a possible severe food shortage in Sudan next year. CARE helps not only the residents of nations in need, but other organizations who are also trying to help. They work to inspire others to not only care about saving people from global poverty but to actually take action and do something about it.

– Kaitlin Sutherby

Sources: CARE, Twitter, UN South Sudan, UN in South Sudan
Photo: Primary Care UK