Niger, one of the largest countries in West Africa, holds the highest rate of child marriages compared to the rest of the world. In fact, 75% of young girls marry before turning 18. This is because the nation’s legal marital age is 15 for girls and 18 for boys. Although Niger has made efforts to reduce child marriage, the country has noted only minimal progress in the last 20 years. As a result, many consequences have arisen from child marriage.
Why Does Niger Have a High Child Marriage Rate?
First, child marriage in Niger harshly affects girls deprived of attending school because they need to rely on others to survive. In addition, many young girls choose to drop out of school because of the unsafe learning environments. As a result, they cannot live an independent life due to the lack of income and confidence to make rational decisions. Due to few other options for their futures, many families decide to marry their daughters off for financial stability.
According to the World Bank, Niger has a poverty rate of 42.9%. However, Niger’s population continues to increase, causing the number of people in poverty to grow. Currently, many families are struggling financially, so they view child marriage as a way to alleviate their financial burdens. Because of this, marriage becomes “a strategy for economic survival” due to the lack of social protection, according to Save the Children.
Moreover, child marriage in Niger is common because many communities believe a woman’s purpose is to become a housewife and bear children. Due to this belief, families tend to prioritize the education of sons over daughters. To add, marrying young is a way that Niger communities attempt to prevent pregnancy before marriage, which is “a source of shame for the family,” Save the Children reports.
Consequences of Child Marriage in Niger
Although families aim to avoid pregnancy before marriage and look for financial stability by marrying their daughters off at a young age, this only causes more damage in the long run. For example, without education, young girls are unaware of the risks of early pregnancy. In fact, these young girls are at greater risk because 30% of the young girls show signs of malnutrition. As a result, “maternal mortality constitutes 35% of all adolescent deaths between ages 15 and 19,” according to Save the Children.
Not only do women face physical challenges but they also face mental health challenges caused by marrying at a young age. This is because young girls have to abruptly transition to adult life and take on responsibilities they are not mentally prepared to tackle. They are still at an age that requires guidance from a guardian. In a BMC Public Health study, many Nigerian girls expressed emotional distress and depression due to fulfilling their marital responsibilities and sexual demands from their husbands.
Due to the common practice of child marriage in Niger, young girls do not have the opportunity to have a childhood and face threats to their lives and health. For instance, some experience domestic violence and cannot return to school to escape these living conditions. Unfortunately, young married girls “have worse economic health outcomes than their unmarried peers, which are eventually passed down [sic] to their own children,” UNICEF reported.
How is Niger Receiving Help to End Child Marriage?
UNICEF is working to help implement laws and policies to help end child marriage and work within Nigerian communities to address the social norms that encourage child marriage. UNICEF partnered with the Niger Traditional Leaders and Association and the Islamic Congregation because they are well respected in their communities and can create new rules for people to follow.
Due to these advocacy efforts, the Niger Government created a national action plan, “Towards the End of Child Marriage in Niger,” that convenes every month to discuss what the community needs to do to advocate for better treatment of young boys and girls. Fortunately, “Education sessions by the Village Child Protection Committees were able to prevent cases of child marriage through direct mediation with parents and assisted girls to return to school,” UNICEF reported.
Lastly, Plan International Niger is helping girls establish confidence to fight child marriage in their communities. As a result, the young girls are using their voices and asking their leaders to end child marriage and provide them with an education to gain independence through employment. The Plan International Niger placed child protection committees throughout Niger and provided them with the tools to protect the rights of young girls to ensure change.
Child marriage is common in Niger, but it has far-reaching negative impacts on girls, such as emotional stress and depression. To add, young girls are at risk of domestic violence and pregnancy complications due to their age and malnutrition. These young girls have to become adults at an early age, which strips them of their childhood experiences. Fortunately, many young Nigerian girls are receiving help in an attempt to end the cycle of child marriage.
– Kayla De Alba
Photo: Flickr
3 North Korean Defectors Who Became Human Rights Activists
Kim Seong-Min
Born in 1962, Kim Seong-Min served 10 years in the North Korean military before working as a propaganda writer for the totalitarian regime. In a harrowing journey, he fled to China in 1996 only to face capture, repatriation and an execution sentence. Miraculously, he managed to escape once again and arrived in South Korea in 1999.
Seong-Min became one of the first and most active North Korean defector-turned-human rights activists. Most notably, he founded Free North Korea Radio (FNKR) in 2004. FNKR broadcasts news into North Korea and counters the regime’s propaganda. Only North Korean defectors now living in South Korea produce and voice the station. The station’s programming includes defectors’ personal narratives as well as news related to North Korea and knowledge about the outside world.
While it is impossible to track FNKR’s exact audience numbers, research consistently ranks it as the most popular broadcast in North Korea. Many listeners also covertly spread the broadcast’s news to their neighbors by word of mouth, creating a significant “secondary audience.” Seong-Min’s numerous awards include the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy’s Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award and the Reporters Without Borders’ Media Award.
Ji Seong-ho
As a teenager in the 1990s, Ji Seong-ho helped his family during the famine by hopping on coal trains, taking pieces of coal and trading them for food. At one point, falling from a coal train onto the tracks, a train crushed his left hand and foot. Several sections of his limbs were amputated, leaving him dependent on crutches. At age 24 he escaped to China, nearly drowning in the Tumen River in his attempt. From there, he traveled on crutches thousands of miles to freedom through China, Laos and Thailand before finally reaching South Korea.
Ji Seong-ho founded Now Action & Unity for Human Rights (NAUH) in 2010. The organization reaches out to North Koreans to inform them of their rights and helps prepare both North and South Koreans for the peninsula’s future unification. As of July 2019, NAUH had rescued 450 North Koreans and brought them to South Korea. Once in South Korea, NAUH provides education on democracy, human rights and leadership development. The organization runs a number of national and international campaigns geared toward raising awareness of North Korea’s human rights violations. It also broadcasts a radio program targeting North Korean youth. Ji Seong-ho received the 2017 Oxi Day Foundation Oxi Courage Award for the work he and NAUH continue.
Yeonmi Park
Yeonmi Park fled North Korea with her mother in 2007 when she was 13 years old, only to discover that her brokers were human traffickers. After several years of bondage in China, she and her mother walked across the freezing Gobi Desert to Mongolia. From there, she moved to South Korea, and eventually, the United States.
Park debuted as a human rights activist at the 2014 One Young World Summit in Dublin. She gave a widely popular speech detailing her experiences. After that, she published her memoir, became a sought-after speaker on North Korean human rights issues and conducted countless interviews. Perhaps most impactful is her YouTube channel, which, as of January 2022, claims more than 81 million views and is the leading English-speaking channel hosted by a North Korean defector. She was also selected as one of the BBC 100 Women 2014, and in 2017, the Independent Institute awarded her the Alexis de Tocqueville Award for her contributions to liberty as the foundation of free, humane societies.
Fighting for Freedom
The lives and missions of these three North Korean defectors demonstrate their incredible tenacity and the many different ways that activists can bring awareness to human rights issues. Whether through radio broadcasts, education, direct rescue missions, speeches and even Youtube channels, human rights activists can reach millions and change the world for the better.
-Andria Pressel
Photo: Flickr
Victory for Finland’s Tech Workers
The electronics and technology development industry is one of the largest employers of the Finnish workforce. Finland’s tech workers are fighting for higher wages and in December 2021, they got their guaranteed wage increase after threatening a strike.
The Importance of Finland’s Tech Industry
Finland’s tech industry is the country’s largest and most profitable export industry. It also has the biggest workforce for Finland too. The information and technology sector alone employs 6.8% of the workforce, making it the largest tech industry in the European Union. Directly and indirectly, up to 27% of Finland’s workers receive their income from the tech industry.
Finland’s tech industry also brings in €18 billion in taxes and earns €5 billion annually in investments for private and public technology companies. In 2020, the lowest amount that the tech industry earned, which was in the consulting sector, was €5 billion. The highest amount earned and contributed to the Finnish economy was €33 billion from the mechanical engineering sector.
Production and work in Finland’s tech industry slowed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the unemployment rate in 2020 peaked at just above 11.2% but has since declined and dropped to 9%. As the tech workers have realized their importance, they have begun a fight for better wages to increase their pay and move away from being at risk of poverty.
A Finnish Tech Worker’s Need for Higher Wages
Finland’s tech industry workers earn around €3,900 per month. The starting salary is approximately €3,000 in the tech industry, with a slightly higher starting pay for those who graduate with a degree relating to the tech industry in any way. The lowest-paid industry workers in Finland are data professionals.
The cost of living has been rising dramatically in Finland since 2015. Making Finland an often expensive place to live, Finland’s tech workers feel their wages should increase as well to accommodate the rising costs. Finland’s tech industry employees felt their employers undervalued their work and as a result, felt underpaid. Salaries began to slowly rise in 2018, but the increase in wages has not kept pace with rising prices and the necessity for increased wages in 2021 and 2022. The need for higher salaries has caused Finland’s tech industry workers to formally organize a potential 10-day strike to force their employers to provide raises.
Impacts of the Workers’ Victory
At the end of 2021, more than 40,000 Finnish tech workers agreed to a formal strike if they were not assured of a “significant” increase in wages. The Finnish Industrial Union, which covers the tech industry workers, promised the strike and announced the withdrawal of the formal strike within a week.
According to Yle, the agreement reached includes an increase of 2% across the union for all workers. The union covers 90,000 workers at least. The increase must be agreed to by the end of November 2022 and swiftly enacted before 2023.
When Finland’s tech industry workers have fought for wage increases in the past, they have almost always won. Their victories have led workers in other business sectors to push for their wage increases with similar successes.
The service sector is one of the more underpaid sectors in Finland, with the industry workers earning between a third and a half of the average salary that workers in the tech industry do. The significant gap in wages and the victory for Finland’s tech industry workers could lead other groups to push for increased wages so that they can keep pace with rising prices and the costs of the standard of living. Finland’s tech industry workers started a movement for higher wages and more strikes are bound to take place in the coming months.
As long as more Finnish workers begin fighting for higher wages, the poverty and at-risk-of-poverty rates can drop. Increased wages across industries can increase general demand for services and goods and generate economic growth nationwide.
– Clara Mulvihill
Photo: Flickr
The Rise of Renewable Energy in Portugal
Portugal’s Coal Plants
The Pego plant’s shutdown came nine years earlier than planned since Portugal’s target year to eliminate coal use is 2030. Countries around the world are agreeing to implement renewable energy sources, with Portugal doing exactly that. While Portugal was not the first to go coal-free, it is inspiring other nations to do the same. Austria, Belgium and Sweden all ditched coal-sourced energy with more European countries following their examples. However, the nations prefer different plans and estimates for their energy trajectory. For example, Germany plans to end coal energy by 2038 and France by 2022.
The Pego coal plant was the second-largest carbon dioxide emitter in Portugal. Environmental groups applaud the elimination of coal energy as a large step toward improving the quality of life in the nation. However, while the Pego closure resulted in an obviously positive impact on energy, coal’s impact on poverty constitutes a very different relationship.
Poverty and Coal
It is a worldwide goal to implement renewable energy sources. However, some areas feel the loss of coal energy more than others. It is not always easy to replace coal, especially for those who have no other option. The Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration (SME) explains that “As much of the world lacks access to modern, clean energy, coal is still essential to alleviating worldwide energy poverty.” For example, rural communities that lack access to electricity often depend on coal for cooking, heating and lighting. Coal fuels more of the world’s electricity than any other energy source. However, impoverished and rural populations that depend on coal for energy also risk the negative impacts of coal-sourced energy.
The issue with coal-dependent energy is not with its usefulness but with its aftermath and effects. Coal energy impacts air and water supplies, making it a less than ideal method of energy production. Coal plants compete for water with local farmers, which ultimately leads to tension and societal backlash. With these consequences of coal energy, people in poverty struggle to better their lives. The chances of escaping poverty decrease when people’s health becomes deficient and water and food supplies diminish.
Reasons to Transition to Renewable Energy
Mining displacement affects many communities around the world due to coal consumption. In the 40 years between 1950 and 1990, 2.55 million people suffered displacement in India alone as a result of coal mining. Mining threatens to displace hundreds of thousands more people, with the brunt of difficulty falling on citizens of developing nations that lack strong laws regarding involuntary displacement.
Coal energy and mining directly impact impoverished communities while wealthier communities do not fully see the effects. Debates arise concerning the use of coal energy versus renewable energy, particularly since those in poverty require cheap and effective energy sources. While a switch from coal energy to renewable energy seems far-fetched, this change contains major benefits. In a study by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), experts foresaw significant positive benefits to doubling worldwide renewable energy use by 2030. The benefits include a 1.1% increase in global GDP, a 3.7% increase in welfare and the creation of more than 24 million jobs. With the possible environmental and economic benefits that renewable energy provides, coal seems to be an unfavorable option.
An Optimistic Future for Renewable Energy in Portugal
New forms of energy production are not always available in developing countries. In these regions, coal use is vital to the lives of citizens. Yet, coal energy has a short future ahead of it. Major nations are pledging to stop coal energy use completely and utilize new forms of renewable energy. Replacing inefficient energy sources and production methods will greatly improve clean energy and reduce poverty. As Greenpeace explains, “The rapid expansion of clean and sustainable energy offers a win-win for the [impoverished] and the environment. For the [impoverished], particularly the rural [impoverished], without basic energy services, renewable energy is often the cheapest option.” Energy is instrumental in improving the lives of those in poverty. The European Union sets a remarkable example in the sustainable energy movement and developing countries will soon follow suit.
– Anna Montgomery
Photo: Flickr
Poverty and the Drug Trade in Myanmar
The drug trade in Myanmar is a critical contributing factor to poverty in the country. However, the relationship between the drug trade and poverty in Myanmar is very nuanced and complex. Factors such as decades of civil war, the military coup and foreign economic sanctions create complications in addressing the relationship between poverty and narcotics.
The Drug Trade in Myanmar
The drug trade in Myanmar is both a large-scale and persistent problem. Myanmar is central to the narcotics trade throughout Southeast Asia. In fact, Myanmar is one of the largest producers of synthetic drugs in the world. Along with ongoing conflicts, the drug trade is an issue that the country has grappled with for decades.
The lack of development and economic opportunity within the nation is an essential contributing factor to the scale of the drug trade in Myanmar. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) recognizes that lack of rural development means few viable economic alternatives for impoverished rural communities other than engaging in the drug trade.
UNODC recognizes that creating jobs and other industries in rural areas stands as a potential solution for mitigating the drug trade. By providing alternative forms of income to Myanmar’s rural impoverished, it would be less necessary for people to rely upon drug production for income.
In an interview with The Borgen Project, the director of Counter-Narcotics Interdiction Partnerships at Rigaku Analytical Devices and former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) attaché to the Myanmar government from 2017 to 2019, Michael Brown, discussed the relationship between narcotics and poverty. Brown noted that the lack of economic development and the prevalence of the drug trade in Myanmar are two of the central pillars of instability and poverty in the country.
Conflict, Coup and the Drug Trade
Decades of conflict in Myanmar play a central role in the prevalence of the widespread drug trade in the country. Brown discusses how many of the armed groups fighting the government of Myanmar have become heavily reliant on the drug trade. Essentially, armed groups utilize the drug trade in Myanmar to support their war efforts against the government.
In addition, much of the country’s most productive regions for drugs are directly under the control of various armed groups. Armed groups view poppy fields and synthetic drug laboratories as a vital economic resource. Brown also told The Borgen Project that some of these armed groups have essentially abandoned their initial political motivations for fighting the government of Myanmar. Instead, the groups have shifted their focus to operating as criminal organizations that focus on drug production and distribution activities.
The coup that occurred in February 2021 has also created complications in addressing poverty and the drug trade in Myanmar. Political instability from the most recent coup significantly compromises the ability of the nation to combat the issue of the drug trade. Additionally, much of the international community has levied sanctions on Myanmar, creating economic upheavals that the U.N. predicts will drive more people into the drug trade to make ends meet. Brown also noted that the military could no longer focus on combating the drug trade as its first priority is maintaining the military government’s rule.
Poverty and the Impact of COVID-19
The pandemic also heavily impacts the relationship between poverty and the drug trade in Myanmar. Much like the economic sanctions stemming from the coup, the pandemic has created economic upheavals that could make the drug trade more appealing to those seeking to make ends meet. Since the onset of the pandemic, more than 80% of families have reported a loss of income. Rising food and fuel prices also undermine food security.
Efforts to Help
Brown explains that the coup and the following economic sanctions against Myanmar make it more difficult for the international community to help the nation combat poverty or the drug trade. Despite this, he discusses that the U.S. DEA, U.S. companies such as Rigaku and law enforcement in Myanmar have worked together successfully in the past to combat the drug trade in Myanmar. For example, several years ago, Operation Viper successfully curtailed the flow of precursor chemicals into the country essential to synthetic drug production.
To address the effects of worsening rates of poverty in the country due to the impacts of both COVID-19 and the military coup, the Myanmar Red Cross stepped in to provide emergency humanitarian assistance. The organization mobilized its volunteers to provide “lifesaving first aid, health care and ambulance services” to citizens amid political unrest. According to the Red Cross website, “since February [2021], 2,000 volunteers have provided first aid services to more than 3,000 people.” The Myanmar Red Cross is also supporting people with both food and cash assistance.
Mercy Corps recognizes that strengthening economic prospects for impoverished citizens helps to both keep them out of the drug trade and raise them out of poverty. By increasing the economic prospects of farmers in Myanmar’s rural and conflict-riddled regions — areas that typically form the centers of the drug trade in Myanmar — Mercy Corps has addressed the issue at its roots. Mercy Corps helps farmers “increase productivity and incomes by accessing new technologies, adopting diversified and environmentally-friendly agricultural practices and accessing financial services like loans and insurance.” Mercy Corps also addresses the instability in Myanmar by working to enhance the agency of individuals and communities with programs designed to increase trust, accountability and conflict resolution.
Looking Ahead
For years, the vibrant drug trade in Myanmar has been a critical component of poverty in the country. Armed groups looked toward narcotics as an economic base. In addition, the lack of economic development in many parts of the country and economic upheavals from the pandemic and foreign economic sanctions make the drug trade a more appealing source of income. Despite efforts to provide direct assistance to the impoverished of Myanmar and to curtail the narcotics industry, much work remains to address the relationship between poverty and the drug trade in Myanmar.
– Coulter Layden
Photo: Flickr
Hunger in South Korea
South Korea is one of the largest economies in the world as well as one of the best-educated countries. Over the last few decades, unprecedented economic growth and democratization have marked this nation. It currently ranks number five in relative income poverty among the 33 countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). More specifically, 16% of the overall population is impoverished whereas 12% of citizens between 0 and 17 years of age and 43% of South Koreans 66 years of age and older are in poverty. Despite this data, hunger in South Korea is relatively low.
About Hunger in South Korea
South Korea ranks 32nd alongside Australia on the Global Food Security Index with a score of 71.6. During the last 15 years, the undernourishment percentage has remained stable at approximately 2.5%. This is due to the measures and programs that the government uses to prevent malnutrition in the country. About 50 years ago, South Korea was one of the most impoverished countries in the world. The Korean War devastated the nation. South Korea went from receiving food assistance until 1984 to currently standing as one of the 20 largest donors to the World Food Programme (WFP). South Korea has successfully transitioned from receiving help to providing it.
Food Safety Management System
The government has launched various programs to help fight hunger in South Korea, such as the Food Safety Management System to ensure food is safer and healthier. All food that the country produces goes through three steps: manufacturing, distribution and consumption. In the manufacturing process, the operator must submit an item manufacturing report; in addition, South Korea carries out self-quality inspections to guarantee the safety of the product. The products undergo distribution along with inspections to ensure product safety and to rule out harmful foods. Finally, in the consumption phase, the announcements and the sanitation of the food undergo monitoring.
Food Waste Recycling
The prevalence of food waste in South Korea is high. Currently, the nation recycles up to 95% of these scraps when in 1995 it recycled only 2% of the total food waste. This is due to the introduction of biodegradable bags within which citizens put their food waste. South Korea then uses the leftovers as fertilizers or animal feed. Seoul, the capital of South Korea, has installed more than 6,000 containers that weigh the amount of food discarded and charge the citizen. This has helped reduce the amount of food that the city wastes by 47,000 tons. The inhabitants of South Korea each produce 130 kilograms of food waste per year, while in other areas such as the United States or Europe, the number decreases to between 95 kg to 115 kg of food waste per citizen each year.
International Aid
South Korea has managed to build a strong economy and lift most of its population out of famine. The post-war in the 1950s left the country with a high rate of famine. However, in the last decades, South Korea has been able to achieve economic growth. Currently, in addition to the national policies that help in the fight against hunger in South Korea, the government is helping the international community combat hunger by providing aid and donating rice. In 2021, South Korea provided aid to six countries suffering the impacts of the pandemic, including Yemen, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Syria and Laos, donating 50,000 tons of rice.
Overall, the nation has made significant progress in reducing hunger in South Korea and will continue on an upward trajectory with continued commitments to alleviating food waste and improving food security.
– Ander Moreno
Photo: Wikipedia Commons
Closing the Gender Wage Gap in Iceland
Poverty in Iceland
The gender wage gap, no matter how small, can have a significant impact on one’s vulnerability to poverty. The gap between the earnings of men and women means that pay cuts, unemployment and economic downturns more dramatically impact women, which can and have historically led to increases in poverty in Iceland.
The poverty rate in Iceland is much lower in comparison to its Nordic neighbors, with about 9% of Icelanders earning an income that falls below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold in 2018. In other Nordic countries, this figure sits “between 12% and 16.4%” while the average in the European Union stands at 21.9% in 2020.
Another indicator of poverty, the unemployment rate, is also very low in Iceland, standing at 3.9% in 2019. Further, there is little disparity between the unemployment rate for men and for women. However, there remains a difference in the employment rate, with 88% of working-age men having a paid job in comparison to 83% of women. This difference links to roles of childcare and housekeeping, which traditionally fall on women. However, Iceland has robust subsidized childcare policies, which lessen the burden of traditional gender roles and allow women to participate in the labor force more freely.
The Gender Wage Gap in Iceland
The Global Gender Gap Report finds that Iceland has closed 89.2% of its gender wage gap as of 2021, taking the lead as the most gender-equal country in the world. There is a strong culture around social safety nets and welfare in Iceland, ensuring that gender and income inequalities are minimal. According to the OECD Better Life Index, wage bargaining in Iceland helps promote income inequality and decrease poverty rates. In addition to this, the government has implemented several policies in recent years with the intention of addressing the gender wage gap in Iceland.
Gender Equality Policies in Iceland
First, and most well-known, is the Equal Pay Certification, the first policy of its kind in the world. This policy, which went into effect in 2018, requires all companies with 25 or more employees to provide annual proof of equal pay for men and women. The policy previously only required companies to disclose information on wages, but the government expanded it to further increase job satisfaction and transparency in the pay system. This one-of-a-kind policy is making strides to close what is remaining of the gender wage gap in Iceland.
Iceland also requires a near equal gender balance on the boards of all publicly traded companies and requires a certain percentage of employees to be of each gender. All companies with 25 or more employees must also disclose the gender composition of their employees — an initiative aimed at pressuring companies to improve gender equality in the workplace. While this policy does not directly address the gender wage gap, it is a step in ensuring overall gender equality that is likely to promote equal pay.
Looking Ahead
All in all, the Icelandic government has shown success in continuously narrowing the gender wage gap through the implementation of these policies. This success allows the nation to stand as a world leader in gender equality. Despite this, there is still room for progress, especially as Iceland’s demographics change and the country struggles with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Statistics Iceland reports that immigrants represented 15.2% of the population in Iceland in 2020 — a figure that is consistently growing. Immigrants are at greater risk of poverty in Iceland because they are “less likely to be employed” compared to “their native-born counterparts.” Furthermore, the gender wage gap disproportionately impacts immigrant women, therefore, as the immigrant population in Iceland increases, strong gender equality policies remain important.
Another threat to narrowing the gender wage gap in Iceland is the COVID-19 pandemic, which has stalled progress in gender equality and poverty eradication worldwide. In Iceland, like in all countries where women face a double burden of working while caring for children and the household, lockdowns and social distancing force more women to stay home from work. These pandemic effects may threaten to reverse progress in gender wage gap policies. However, there is hope that the constant and unyielding work of the Icelandic government will ensure progress for years to come.
– Emma Tkacz
Photo: Flickr
Consequences of Child Marriage in Niger
Niger, one of the largest countries in West Africa, holds the highest rate of child marriages compared to the rest of the world. In fact, 75% of young girls marry before turning 18. This is because the nation’s legal marital age is 15 for girls and 18 for boys. Although Niger has made efforts to reduce child marriage, the country has noted only minimal progress in the last 20 years. As a result, many consequences have arisen from child marriage.
Why Does Niger Have a High Child Marriage Rate?
First, child marriage in Niger harshly affects girls deprived of attending school because they need to rely on others to survive. In addition, many young girls choose to drop out of school because of the unsafe learning environments. As a result, they cannot live an independent life due to the lack of income and confidence to make rational decisions. Due to few other options for their futures, many families decide to marry their daughters off for financial stability.
According to the World Bank, Niger has a poverty rate of 42.9%. However, Niger’s population continues to increase, causing the number of people in poverty to grow. Currently, many families are struggling financially, so they view child marriage as a way to alleviate their financial burdens. Because of this, marriage becomes “a strategy for economic survival” due to the lack of social protection, according to Save the Children.
Moreover, child marriage in Niger is common because many communities believe a woman’s purpose is to become a housewife and bear children. Due to this belief, families tend to prioritize the education of sons over daughters. To add, marrying young is a way that Niger communities attempt to prevent pregnancy before marriage, which is “a source of shame for the family,” Save the Children reports.
Consequences of Child Marriage in Niger
Although families aim to avoid pregnancy before marriage and look for financial stability by marrying their daughters off at a young age, this only causes more damage in the long run. For example, without education, young girls are unaware of the risks of early pregnancy. In fact, these young girls are at greater risk because 30% of the young girls show signs of malnutrition. As a result, “maternal mortality constitutes 35% of all adolescent deaths between ages 15 and 19,” according to Save the Children.
Not only do women face physical challenges but they also face mental health challenges caused by marrying at a young age. This is because young girls have to abruptly transition to adult life and take on responsibilities they are not mentally prepared to tackle. They are still at an age that requires guidance from a guardian. In a BMC Public Health study, many Nigerian girls expressed emotional distress and depression due to fulfilling their marital responsibilities and sexual demands from their husbands.
Due to the common practice of child marriage in Niger, young girls do not have the opportunity to have a childhood and face threats to their lives and health. For instance, some experience domestic violence and cannot return to school to escape these living conditions. Unfortunately, young married girls “have worse economic health outcomes than their unmarried peers, which are eventually passed down [sic] to their own children,” UNICEF reported.
How is Niger Receiving Help to End Child Marriage?
UNICEF is working to help implement laws and policies to help end child marriage and work within Nigerian communities to address the social norms that encourage child marriage. UNICEF partnered with the Niger Traditional Leaders and Association and the Islamic Congregation because they are well respected in their communities and can create new rules for people to follow.
Due to these advocacy efforts, the Niger Government created a national action plan, “Towards the End of Child Marriage in Niger,” that convenes every month to discuss what the community needs to do to advocate for better treatment of young boys and girls. Fortunately, “Education sessions by the Village Child Protection Committees were able to prevent cases of child marriage through direct mediation with parents and assisted girls to return to school,” UNICEF reported.
Lastly, Plan International Niger is helping girls establish confidence to fight child marriage in their communities. As a result, the young girls are using their voices and asking their leaders to end child marriage and provide them with an education to gain independence through employment. The Plan International Niger placed child protection committees throughout Niger and provided them with the tools to protect the rights of young girls to ensure change.
Child marriage is common in Niger, but it has far-reaching negative impacts on girls, such as emotional stress and depression. To add, young girls are at risk of domestic violence and pregnancy complications due to their age and malnutrition. These young girls have to become adults at an early age, which strips them of their childhood experiences. Fortunately, many young Nigerian girls are receiving help in an attempt to end the cycle of child marriage.
– Kayla De Alba
Photo: Flickr
The Issue of Human Trafficking in Paraguay
In the last few decades, human trafficking has become rampant in many Latin American countries. Landlocked by Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil, Paraguay finds itself grappling with this issue, putting many of its citizens at risk of becoming victims of trafficking. For the year 2021, the U.S. State Department ranks Paraguay at Tier 2 in regard to the nation’s handling of human trafficking. This ranking means that Paraguay does not meet the minimum requirements for combating trafficking as outlined in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 but “is making significant efforts to do so.”
Victims of Trafficking in Paraguay
According to the Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP) of 2021, men, women and children are all susceptible to human trafficking in Paraguay. However, the most prevalent and concerning act of human trafficking in Paraguay involves the exploitation of children under a practice called “criadazgo,” which entails the exploitive labor of children as domestic workers.
A child, usually from an impoverished family, provides domestic work to middle and high-class families in exchange for “varying compensation that includes room, board, money, a small stipend or access to educational opportunities.” Estimates indicate that about 47,000 Paraguayan children work under this practice, often girls. However, this practice is a form of exploitation “similar to slavery.” In fact, many victims of criadazgo experience physical abuse and sexual abuse. Although officially outlawed in Paraguay due to child rights violations, the practice continues.
Barriers to Combating Human Trafficking in Paraguay
Law enforcement officials are often complicit in human trafficking crimes. Allegations include accepting bribes to overlook acts of trafficking in “massage parlors and brothels” and “issuing passports for Paraguayan trafficking victims exploited abroad.” According to the TIP, Paraguay’s national law against human trafficking does not “align with international law.” Furthermore, the official anti-trafficking unit lacks the resources to operate effectively. Considering the significant number of trafficking victims in Paraguay, the nation does not have adequate services and infrastructure in place to adequately serve victims.
The Good News
Paraguay developed the Ministry of Adolescents and Children (MINNA), which “maintains a unit dedicated to fighting child trafficking and a hotline to report cases of human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of children.” This unit also offers “social services” to child victims of trafficking.
MINNA created Program Abrazo (Embrace Program) in 2005 to aid children within exploitative child labor by supplying the children and their family members “with health and education services, food deliveries and cash transfers conditioned on children’s school attendance and withdrawal from work.” In 2020, MINNA collaborated with “local institutions” to “open new Embrace Program attention centers for street children and to strengthen services at existing centers.”
In 2017, Paraguay created a child trafficking awareness initiative to reduce “child commercial sexual exploitation” within the tourism industry. The initiative made use of flyers, banners and stickers “at hotels, airports and places of mass circulation” in Ciudad del Este, the second-largest city in Paraguay, as well as the Paraguay border area.
Looking Ahead
These efforts are placing the country on the right path for Tier 1 categorization as a fully compliant nation. It is important to raise awareness of human trafficking to help eliminate it. Human trafficking can put any one of the 7.6 million people residing in Paraguay at risk. Most importantly, the vulnerable population, such as children and impoverished people, face this risk at a higher proportion than anyone else. Through continued efforts to combat human trafficking in Paraguay, the government can safeguard the well-being of vulnerable Paraguayans.
– Kler Teran
Photo: Unsplash
How AFR is Improving Rwanda’s Financial Sector
Access to Finance Rwanda (AFR) is a nonprofit that began in 2010. It aims to stimulate the economy by increasing the use of financial services. AFR addresses the barriers that restrict financial sector service to the low-income population, with hopes to bring sustainable change and financial inclusion. The COVID-19 pandemic impacted their poverty levels and economy drastically, making AFR critical to recovery. Here is some information about Rwanda and how AFR is improving Rwanda’s financial sector.
Poverty in Rwanda
Poverty is not new for Rwandans, since it is one of the poorest countries in the world with 56.5% of the population living on less than $1.90 a day. However, this was before the COVID-19 pandemic which brought this percentage higher. The World Bank explained that “the overall increase in the poverty headcount is 5.7 percentage points, indicating an estimated additional 625,500 people falling into poverty.”
The harsh reality of the pandemic hit Rwanda hard, making foreign aid more important than before. The unfortunate aspect of the situation is the step back from previous successful progress.
How AFR Works
Access to Finance Rwanda (AFR) aims to help boost Rwanda’s financial sector, which is essential for its growth. It implements phases, each lasting five years with specific goals and targets to achieve. Each phase consists of Micro, Meso and Macro level achievements which all aid Rwandans in poverty.
Between 2010 and 2015, almost 1 million people in Rwanda were able to access and use financial services thanks to AFR and its partnership with other institutions. During the second phase, between 2016 and 2020, AFR partnered with the public and private sector and implemented interventions and allowed the access and use of financial services to around 2.5 million people in Rwanda. Its work speaks for itself and with more phases to come, Rwanda has a loyal and strong team fighting on its behalf.
AFR’s Objectives
AFR’s objectives are clear and demonstrate the importance of their job.
AFR upholds values of respect, integrity, collaboration, responsibility, quality and value for money. Its mission and vision are to bring inclusivity and diversity to Rwanda’s financial sector. This could bring sustainability and resilience to the economy and people.
Rwanda’s Future
Although the pandemic brought setbacks to Rwanda’s development, its previous progress brings hope for the future. Rwanda continues to have one of the fastest-growing economies in Central Africa. By 2035, Rwanda hopes to gain Middle Income Country Status and High Income Country status by 2050.
The pandemic resulted in Rwanda’s first recession since 1994, which is extremely impressive for this country. Not to mention, its economic growth brought immense improvement in living standards, “with a two-thirds drop in child mortality and near-universal primary school enrollment,” according to the World Bank.
Organizations like AFR grow every day in strength and number, so expect great improvement in years to come. Rwanda could return to making the progress it started over 20 years ago and the benefits could continue to improve life for Rwandans.
– Anna Montgomery
Photo: Flickr
Cash Handouts to Reduce Poverty in Afghanistan
As winter approached and the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan worsened, the United Nations (U.N.) proposed cash handouts to help the millions of Afghans who were struggling in the country. The U.N. announced the proposal of the program on December 1, 2021, as it believes that cash handouts will be the best and most plausible solution to deal with the increasing poverty rate in Afghanistan.
The Problem
Still reeling from the effects of the full United States withdrawal combined with the Taliban takeover of the government in August 2021, millions of people are suffering. On December 10, 2021, the United Nations humanitarian chief, Martin Griffiths, warned that Afghanistan is inching closer and closer to “economic collapse.” As such, Griffiths urges donor nations to “support basic services” along with “emergency humanitarian aid.” Griffiths said that “4 million children are out of school” and the education of another 9 million children is in jeopardy because 70% of educators in Afghanistan have not received remuneration since August 2021.
Winters in Afghanistan are especially brutal, and this season, the U.N. expects wintertime temperatures to go down to -25 C. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated in early December 2021 that as many as 3.5 million displaced Afghans require essential support to make it through the winter. On top of this, UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch has stated that more than half of Afghanistan’s population, equating to 23 million people, are enduring extreme hunger, which may spiral into famine without prompt intervention.
UNHCR is providing essential humanitarian assistance to 60,000 people per week, which involves providing food, thermal blankets and winter clothing as well as rebuilding shelters and supplying cash assistance. This work will continue until February 2022, according to Baloch, at which time the next round of funding will need to begin as he estimated that another $374.9 million is necessary for 2022, especially during the winter.
The Solution
As a potential solution to the severe problems that Afghanistan is facing, the U.N. proposed a program that would provide $300 million annually in cash handouts to Afghan households with children, elderly people and Afghans with disabilities.
At the same time, the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) wishes to bolster an existing “cash for work” initiative in Afghanistan with another $100 million to increase employment rates and $90 million to support small businesses with cash payments.
The “cash for work” initiative began in October 2021 in the three provinces of Mazar, Kunduz and Herat, with the intention to expand to more provinces. So far, through the initiative, UNDP has distributed $100 million worth of cash payments in exchange for work, creating employment opportunities for 2,300 people.
UNDP estimates that poverty in Afghanistan may reach a staggering 90% by the middle of 2022. In October 2021, with the Taliban in control of Afghanistan, UNDP created “a special trust fund” with an initial $58 million pledge of financial support from Germany to supply urgent cash directly to Afghan citizens. By early December 2021, the fund reached $170 million in pledges from countries around the world.
The Effectiveness of Cash Handouts
The possibility of handing out cash directly to people who need it most seems easy enough, but will Afghans use the money effectively? The World Food Programme (WFP) strongly supports cash transfers as a form of humanitarian aid. In 2020, WFP handed out $2.1 billion worth of cash transfers across 67 nations.
According to WFP, research shows that disadvantaged households that are empowered to make their own decisions through cash transfers “make choices that improve their food security and wellbeing.” For example, in 2018, 91% of households in Lebanon put cash assistance toward food, rental fees and medical costs. Cash handouts also boost local markets as people purchase resources locally, consequently bolstering economies.
Looking Ahead
Though the situation looks dire, there is hope as global organizations step in to assist vulnerable Afghans. However, urgent assistance is still necessary to prevent the collapse of the nation. With more support from the international community, organizations can bolster efforts to safeguard the lives of the people of Afghanistan.
– Julian Smith
Photo: Flickr