Breast cancer is a deadly disease caused by cells that grow out of control in the breast. It mostly occurs in women, but men are also at risk of developing the disease as well. Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women and is one of the leading cancers in the world, and has only gotten worse over the years in many countries. Here are eight facts about breast cancer in developing countries.8 Facts About Breast Cancer
- 600,000 women and men died from breast cancer around the world last year. That is one death every 50 seconds, and since 2012 it has been the leading cause of death from cancer in all of the developing countries.
- New breast cancer cases around the world have doubled in the last 30 years. There were two million cases in just 2018 alone. Most cases came from areas in North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.
- Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in women in 140 out of 184 countries. Lack of awareness has proven to be the main reason why women with the disease are often too late to treat it.
- Five percent of global spending on cancer is aimed at developing countries. Breast cancer accounted for $26 billion needed in developing countries, with the money going towards healthcare, screening and education.
- In developing countries, breast cancer is detected in the later stages. Women do not usually detect it until it reaches Stage III, but it is harder to treat once it reaches that stage due to how much the disease has already spread around the breast. Little access to treatment and lack of awareness are the main reasons why it is too late before the patient is treated. 48 percent of women in Latin America had Stage III breast cancer before they found out.
- Since 2016, 70 percent of breast cancer deaths occurred in developing countries. Women have longer lifespans and live a better lifestyle in the more developed countries, which can play a factor as to why women in developing countries can develop the disease earlier.
- Breast cancer diagnosis in Australia number 95 per 100,000 people. Australians also have a 10 percent lifetime risk. Genetic mutation and family history are the main reasons why Australia currently has the highest incident rates in the world.
- Most breast cancer deaths occur in women 50 years and older. The risk of breast cancer increases with age due to abnormal changes in the cells as someone gets older.
NGOs Helping
The disease has taken many lives and is still the most common cancer in women and in developing countries. However, there are organizations dedicated to stopping the disease for good. The Susan G. Komen foundation is the leading breast cancer organization in the world that is currently using their donations toward research and education for all women with breast cancer. Another example is The Young Survival Coalition, an organization that focuses on treating women under 40 who develop the disease. It uses the donations toward research and life improvement for women who have it and who survived it. All these facts point towards a bright future for the fight against breast cancer.
– Reese Furlow
Photo: Pixabay
Heart disease and related illnesses like hypertension, diabetes, and stroke, are devastating illnesses that according to World Health Organization (WHO) are on the rise. According to the WHO, 17.9 million people die of cardiovascular-related deaths each year and over 75 percent of these deaths occur in developing countries. A UN report in 2017 stated that Pacific and Caribbean regions had 14 of the top 25 obese countries in the world. “The Panorama” a report put out by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN cited that malnutrition and obesity heavily affect low-income families, women, indigenous communities, rural communities and people of African Descent. Studies have for decades indicated that people of Afro Caribbean descent are more likely to experience high blood pressure. However, recently heart disease in the Caribbean continues to rise at a fast pace.
Factors Contributing to Heart Disease
There are several risk factors that contribute to heart disease. According to the World Health Organization, reducing salt intake, reducing alcohol intake, avoiding tobacco, eating fruits and vegetables and getting physically active consistently can reduce cardiovascular disease. Low-income families are at risk because of a lack of proper health-care. The WHO stated that opportunities for early intervention are often missed because primary health care programs aren’t always available to low-income families. Late detections of cardiovascular diseases more often than not mean early deaths.
The Financial Impact of Cardiovascular Disease on Families
Caring for someone with cardiovascular disease can be time and energy-consuming, and without sufficient healthcare, paying for the bills out of pocket heavily impacts families. According to the WHO, cardiovascular diseases further contribute to poverty. According to a Harvard study, by 2020 the Global cost of Heart Diseases will rise by 22 percent. The current global cost of cardiovascular diseases is $863 billion. As cardiovascular diseases rise countries must spend money on screening, primary and secondary prevention, hospital care, and lost productivity due to premature deaths.
Jamaica and Barbados Hit by The Risk of Heart Disease
Countries like Barbados and Jamaica demonstrate that heart disease in the Caribbean is becoming more prevalent. In 2015 Barbados reported spending $64 million treating cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, and an economic loss of $145 million dollars. Surveys done in schools in Barbados found that 18 percent of students eat fast food more than twice a week and nearly three-quarters of students drink soda more than once a day.
Jamaica is also experiencing an alarming rise in cardiovascular-related diseases. In early 2018, a report found that in 2017 30,000 children in Jamaica between the ages of 10 and 19 had been diagnosed with hypertension. In Trinidad and Tobago, the situation is similar to one out of every four deaths being caused by a noncommunicable disease with heart disease as the leading cause.
The Reason Behind Cardiovascular Disease
The rise in heart disease in the Caribbean over the years is concerning. In Barbados, Sir Trevor Hassell, the President of the Healthy Caribbean Coalition believes that an increase in processed foods and a decrease in “locally grown indigenous staples” are to blame. The director of George Alleyne Chronic Disease Research Centre at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Cave Hill, Barbados, Professor Alafia Samuels said, “We do not eat the way our grandmothers used to eat. In the Caribbean, we have been importing more and more food and some of the main things that we are importing are the things that are leading to some of the challenges.”
Looking to the Future
Despite these harrowing statistics, there is hope. Expansive efforts to tackle cardiovascular disease in the Caribbean have been taken. In 2017 The Healthy Caribbean Coalition enacted the Civil Society Action Plan 2017-2021: Preventing Childhood Obesity in the Caribbean.The plan aims to bring the rising trend of obesity to a complete 360-turn by 2025. By collaborating with governments, civil society organizations, and other international partners, the HCC will tackle childhood obesity on a number of different levels. Some of the HCC’s top priorities are Trade and fiscal policies, nutrition literacy, early childhood nutrition, marketing of healthy and unhealthy foods and beverages to children, school-and-community based interventions, and resource mobilization. Upon providing assistance and education to the citizens and their governments alike, the HCC will positively impact the health conditions of the people in the Caribbean.
– Desiree Nestor
Photo: Flickr
Schistosomiasis (also known as bilharzia) is a disease that is rarely heard outside of scientific circles. This has less to do with the severity of schistosomiasis, and more to do with the fact that its parasitic sibling, malaria, is a far more common and well-known illness. The largest concentration of schistosomiasis in the world, a staggering 90 percent, is in Africa.
Schistosomiasis: What is it?
While schistosomiasis tends to be overshadowed by its well-known cousin malaria, there is still a wealth of information on how it functions, spreads and affects the human body. Schistosomiasis is caused by parasitic worms that inhabit the bodies of some freshwater snails. Humans are infected when they interact with bodies of water containing these snails. Common recreational and domestic activities like swimming and washing clothes in and near infected waters are attributed to the spread of schistosomiasis.
Schistosomiasis comes in two different types: urinary schistosomiasis and intestinal schistosomiasis. Urinary schistosomiasis is characterized by extensive damage to the kidneys, bladder and ureters. Intestinal schistosomiasis is characterized via symptoms of an engorged spleen and liver, which leads to intestinal damage and hypertension in the abdominal blood vessels. The first symptom of schistosomiasis is a light skin rash known as “swimmers itch.” Once a human is infected, symptoms (chills, aches and coughing fits) can appear within one to two months. However, many infections are asymptomatic; the infection is there, but no symptoms appear.
Schistosomiasis is transferred from person to person when an infected individual’s excrement reaches a water supply. The parasitic eggs from then hatch, infect another snail (or human) and the cycle begins anew. Proper sanitation and potable water are the main ways to prevent the spread of this disease.
The disease schistosomiasis does not always result in death. Schistosomiasis commonly ends in stunted growth and anemia in children, and can even lead to infertility in cases of urinary schistosomiasis. Children can also find themselves with a reduced ability to learn due to the crippling symptoms this disease comes with.
There is no vaccine to cure schistosomiasis and no antibiotic has proven effective in preventing infection. However, there are effective means to diagnose and treat schistosomiasis before the infection truly takes hold. The drug, praziquantel, has proven useful in removing the worms and their eggs from the human body. Although there is poor access to praziquantel, this treatment has reached more than 28 percent of people around the world.
Where Schistosomiasis Congregates
Africa has a truly staggering number of schistosomiasis cases compared to the rest of the world. Nigeria has the most cases out of any African country, with approximately 29 million infected. The United Republic of Tanzania has the second-most cases of infection at 19 million with Ghana and the Democratic Republic of Congo tied at 15 million.
Schistosomiasis and Poverty: The Correlation
Schistosomiasis is predominantly found in areas of extreme poverty; where ever this disease goes, destitution soon follows. Schistosomiasis and poverty are intrinsically linked, and the most common reasoning for this occurrence is that extreme poverty often restricts access to clean water sources, which in turn causes people to use unsanitary water sources where schistosomiasis thrives and infection occurs. From there, the infected individual will succumb to the crippling disabilities that schistosomiasis infection eventually brings. This leads to reduced productivity in the community as the disease continues to spread, ensuring no end to this vicious cycle of poverty without outside intervention.
What Next? The Future of Schistosomiasis
There is hope, however, as NGO’s like the SCI foundation (founded in 2002) have dedicated themselves to the eradication of parasitic worm diseases. The SCI foundation’s biggest success in the fight against schistosomiasis is in Mozambique, where SCI has treated more than 30 million people of parasitic worm diseases. Further, SCI has already treated more than 12 million people in Tanzania alone since 2004. The foundation also recently (as of 2016) started to extend their treatment programs to Nigeria. With more than 2 million people already treated in such a short time, the SCI foundation can be trusted to reach Tanzania levels of treatment soon enough.
The future is bright for communities burdened with schistosomiasis and poverty, as many countries have been able to eradicate this disease from their lands. Tunisia and Japan were able to completely eradicate schistosomiasis within their borders, and China, Brazil and Egypt are well on their way to reaching that end goal.
– Ryan Holman
Photo: Flickr
Many countries around the world do not have sufficient access to clean water and two of the most deprived counties are India and Pakistan. Both countries are seeing rapid population growth, but they also lack the proper infrastructure to provide their citizens with water. There is a long history of conflict between the two neighbors, and the heavily disputed Kashmir region has added to the conflict. The water crisis in Kashmir should be the focus, however.
Background on Pakistan
Pakistan is in eastern Asia, bordering Iran, Afghanistan and India, as well as sharing a small border with China. It is the sixth most populated country with around 207 million people. The country also borders the Arabian Sea to the south. It recently ranked 140 out of 180 countries in the quality of water and sanitation on the Environmental Performance Index. Regional conflict, arid land, inefficient sanitation and water conservation resources have contributed to Pakistan’s lack of clean water. In Pakistan, about 21 million people are without clean water.
Background on India
India has the second-largest population in the world at 1.3 billion people and it lives within an area smaller than the United States. Despite many improvements to water facility access, India still lacks the adequate resources necessary to provide its large citizenry with clean water. Rapid urbanization has caused sprawling urban areas, where the people who live on the outskirts have no access to water unless they build wells.
Close to 600 million people are facing acute water shortages, and 21 cities might run out of groundwater by 2020. Both India and Pakistan commit much of their water to agriculture. India is a grain-producing country, which requires large amounts of water. India and Pakistan both have very low groundwater levels due to using it for farming.
The Indus Treaty
In the 1960s, the two neighbors agreed on a treaty to allocate the water that flows through the Kashmir region. The World Bank brokered the treaty, called the Indus Treaty, in an attempt to properly divert the water that flows into India and Pakistan throughout the disputed area.
Both sides have threatened to leave the treaty. Indus is the name of one of the longest rivers in Asia and its tributaries provide many countries with water. As the conflict over the Kashmir region has risen, the Indian government has threatened to divert one of the rivers by building dams and ultimately reducing the amount of water that flows to Pakistan.
India is also looking to build a dam in the Rari River. Since the creation of the treaty, the Rari River has been one of the main sources of water for Pakistan coming from the Kashmir region.
The Feud Over Kashmir
In 1834, the Sikh Empire annexed Kashmir, but after the war with Britain, the British gained control in 1846. Kashmir ultimately became part of Britain’s Indian colony, with the name Jammu and Kashmir.
Britain relinquished control of India in 1947, after which the Pakistani and Indian nations emerged. Pakistan controls the northern part of Kashmir, while the more southern Jammu and Kashmir are under Indian control. At the time of the British withdrawal, the ruler of Kashmir wished to stay neutral and maintain control over the region.
Kashmir has undergone long disputes. It stands at the northernmost point in India, and to this day, looks to obtain as much autonomy as it can from the Indian government. Both Indian and Pakistan lay claim to the Kashmir region and the region has been the basis of two of the wars between the neighboring countries. In fact, one of the wars was the first war between the two nuclear-armed nations.
As a way to maintain control over the region, the Indian government recently revoked the special rights afforded to the Muslim population in the Kashmir region and took many steps to diminish dissent. These steps included sending troops, enforcing a curfew, shutting down telecommunications like text messaging and internet services and arresting people the government deemed political prisoners.
Many in the region look to obtain independence or even to succeed in Pakistan since their Muslim majority sees Pakistan as a more welcome nation to be a part of. Pakistan and India have fought over the divided region to maintain control, but just recently, India looked to use the region as a weapon against its neighbor. After a suicide attack in February 2019 on Indian soldiers, which the Indian government blamed on Pakistani backed militants, relations between the countries have worsened with both sides threatening the other, and the conducting of airstrikes against Pakistan.
The Conclusion
The disputed Kashmir region will only increase in importance as both India and Pakistan face growing populations and decreasing groundwater levels. India and Pakistan are two of the most water-scarce countries in the world, so the water coming from the Indus River system is essential. The water crisis in Kashmir is affecting both countries, and both countries are working to improve access to clean water. There are also many organizations making it their mission to provide people with clean water.
UNICEF has promoted WASH programs to provide communities with education and resources on the importance of hygiene. Groups like charity: water has dedicated itself to providing clean water to countries in need, including Pakistan and India. It does this by building wells, improving sanitation to ensure clean water remains clean and other techniques to obtain and maintain clean water. With better techniques, the water crisis in Kashmir should diminish significantly. Also, the use of water as a political tool would no longer be a viable option.
– Jared Hynes
Photo: Flickr
Despite Guyana having the image of being a land of many waters, the country underfunds and underregulates its litter, sewer and waste management, thus compromising sanitation in Guyana. The country, however, shows excellent foundations for sanitary progress with controlled landfills, water and sewer improvements.
10 Facts About Sanitation in Guyana
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Underfunded Waste Management: Foundations for Guyana’s Solid Waste Management exist within The Municipal and District Councils Act as it designates the maintenance of sanitary services, including the removal and destruction of trash to the Mayor and City Council. Likewise, individuals must appropriately dispose of trash in receptacles. However, services remain underfunded due to inadequate tax collection. For example, in Georgetown (Region Four) and Linden (Region 10), the collection is respectfully at 70 and 20 percent. Thus, waste collection and transportation are constrained, resulting in irregular pickups.
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Unregulated Waste Management: National and regional regulations exist for sanitation, like penalties for illegal littering and dumping at G$5,000-$20,000. However, the Ministry of Health, municipalities, the police force and the EPA follow through on monitoring and enforcement duties at a minimal level. For example, due to a lack of sensitization in waste management, police refuse to see littering as a real issue.
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Littering Increases Plastic in Waterways: Littering and dumping persist due to minimal monitoring and enforcement. Data from a 2018 study focused on Guyana’s coastal regions, including Corriverton, 63 Beach, Rossignol, Mahaicony and Georgetown. It indicated that the highest concentration of litter including plastic bags, bottles and fragments was at 48.2 percent. Combined with an underfunded and unregulated waste management system and the forecasted Guyanese waste generation of 0.77 kilograms per person a day by 2024, non-biodegradables in waterways will continue to increase, resulting in blocked drains and exacerbating flooding.
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Sewage Access and Wastewater Management: Only 13 percent of the Guyanese population, mostly within the main Georgetown area, have access to modern sewage of flushable toilets, septic tanks, latrines or compostable toilets. As a result, untreated waste contaminates already flooding waters as both the Georgetown and Tucville sewage systems release untreated waste into the Demerara River and Laing Canal, compromising sanitation in Guyana.
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Disease from Disposal and Flooding: Due to litter and untreated sewage, flies, rodents and mosquitoes spread deadly diseases including typhoid, cholera, dysentery, leptospirosis, dengue, yellow fever, malaria and filariasis. On the other hand, contaminated water spreads diarrhea, typhoid, cholera, hepatitis, gastroenteritis and dysentery. For example, from 1996 to 1998, gastroenteritis deaths increased from 2,200 to 8,604. However, the country shows excellent improvement given that although such diarrheal diseases ranked number two for causes of death in Guyana at 8.9 percent in 1990, and that by 2010 it was number 12 at 2.9 percent of total deaths.
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Contaminated Water: Drinking water contamination is mostly due to improperly disposed of waste, including household, animal, agricultural, industrial, chemical and untreated sewage. Despite water contamination, safe drinking water is more accessible than previously. In 1994, only 88 percent of the population had such access as opposed to 98.3 percent in 2015. Such success is in part due to initiatives like the 2008 Turn Around Plan with Guyana Water Inc (GWI), that completed the rehabilitation of 100 kilometers of networked pipes and 24 Tucville sewer pumping stations. To further TAPs’ success, the 2012-2016 Water and Sanitation Strategic Plan increased Hinterland water coverage to about 80 percent, treated water coverage to 50 percent and invested $1.5 billion in new meters, pumps, motors and panels.
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Legal Disposal in EPA Landfills: While illegal methods of disposal threaten sanitation in Guyana, legal methods exist as a remedy. For example, the Environmental Protection Agency approved controlled dumping sites in at least six out of 10 regions because it intends to protect the environment from contaminants in the disposed waste.
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Improved Sewage in Georgetown: Local systems in Stevedore Postal Housing Scheme, Wortmanville, Werk-en-Rust and Albouystown to Queenstown received maintenance thanks to aid from GWI in 2016. For instance, the organization invested a part of its G$80 million capital to reduce blockages that illegal dumping caused.
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Upgraded Sanitary Facilities Outside of Georgetown: In 2016, loans from the Caribbean Investment Facility of EUR$10.6 million and the Inter American Development Bank of $16.8 million aided in The Water Supply And Sanitation Infrastructure Improvements Project of upgrading sanitary facilities. About 1,000 families across Georgetown and outer areas of Cornelia Ida, DeKendren, West Coast Demerara, Diamond, Herstelling, East Bank, Demerara, No. 19 Village Corentyne, Sheet Anchor, Good Bananen Land, East Canje and Berbice benefitted from Sanitary upgrades, signifying an important step as only 13 percent of the population had access to sanitary services before.
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GWI Sustainable Development Goal: GWI seeks sustainable water and sanitation management by 2030. Thanks to the loans this article discussed above, the free installation of 335 septic tanks in September 2019 should ensure that progress. The initiative favored those of low economic standing, including single mothers, teen girls, elderly and disabled, thus providing these demographics with an important human right.
These 10 facts about sanitation in Guyana show that it is on a progressive path. Developments such as legal disposal, improved sewage and sanitary facilities, eradicate water contamination and instead allow for Guyana to work on being the land of abundant clean water.
– Elizabeth Yusuff
Photo: Flickr
The Solomon Islands has reached a deal with Australia to help develop telecommunication technology in the country. Only about one-sixth of the country’s 660,000 people are currently connected to the Internet, with most of that population concentrated in the Solomon Islands’ urban areas and relying on satellite connections to use it. The Solomon Islands tech deal with Australia will allow the country to connect to outside servers and develop telecommunication connections within. Australia had also previously helped the Solomon Islands quell civil unrest between various indigenous militias between 2003 to 2017.
The Giant Undersea Cable Project
The Australian communications company Vocus is in charge of the construction of a major underwater cable known as the Coral Sea Cable System. Australia granted it in 2017 with a grant of $137 million, and Australia, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea agreed to the deal to build the cable in 2018. The Coral Sea Cable System is a 4,700 km (2920 mi) underwater cable that will link Sydney to Port Moresby and Honiara, with the latter also connecting to Solomon Islands Domestic Network linking the archipelago. The cable will transfer over 40 TB of data to all three ports in the network, which would allow for 300,000 new jobs and growth of $5 billion in GDP for Pacific countries such as the Solomon Islands by 2040. As noted previously, only a small percentage of the population that uses the Internet use satellite to connect to it. As such, the underwater cable should grant the island nation more reliable and stable connections in part for the Solomon Islands tech deal which has helped to develop telecommunication technology significantly.
Since making the deal official, the project has made much progress in building its undersea cable network. The project installed landing sites at Port Moresby and Honiara in July 2019, symbolized by a golden buoy marking the occasion. In August 2019, it installed the landing site in Sydney and the final splice in September 2019. The Solomon Islands Domestic Network planned to finish in time for the December 2019 activation. Once complete, the Solomon Islands, alongside neighboring Papua New Guinea, can connect to a more reliable broadband connection and reliable Internet access.
Other Developments
Before the Solomon Islands tech deal with Australia, the Solomon Islands’ fisheries brokered a deal with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) for training tech. Beginning in May 2018, the WWF provided funds for new tech such as tablets that allow for training of observers to monitor and observe fishing levels in the Solomon Islands and currently has 85 percent of electronic reporting by satellite commutation with the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources (MFMR). This efficient approach also lets observers electronically report between fishing boats out at sea and stations back on land. While the deal occurred before the Coral Sea Cable system deal, the e-reporting will benefit greatly from the system implementation upon its completion in 2019.
The Solomon Islands tech deal with Australia will build the internal infrastructure and bolster the Internet connection in the country by connecting the Solomon Islands with not only neighboring Papua New Guinea and Australia but the archipelago as well. The project also will bolster existing tech programs with improved infrastructure once completed. The project should complete by the end of 2019. Continuing to develop telecommunication technology is important for the global population.
– Henry Elliott
Photo: Pixabay
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, located on the northern coast of South America, is well-known for its education system. For many years, Venezuela was the pinnacle of education in the region for decades, but following recent political and economic crises, the education system has suffered greatly. Here are eight facts about education in Venezuela.
8 Facts About Education in Venezuela
- The School System: School for all children between ages 6 and 15 is mandatory and free. Under the country’s 1999 constitution, higher education is still free throughout the country, although not many pursue it. The education system shows astonishingly low levels of discrimination on social grounds as well, boasting nearly equal enrollment rates of male and female students.
- Higher Education: There are 90 institutions of higher education in Venezuela. Most students come from the wealthiest 20 percent of the population since less-wealthy students may have to get jobs immediately. Universities feature a universal entrance exam that they use to boost enrollments in the millions nationwide. In 2017, only 44,000 enrolled at the University of Carabobo, compared to 56,000 10 years before.
- School Attendance: In addition to a drop in college enrollments, many children have dropped out of regular school as well. In 2013, there were only around 254,709 school-age children and adolescents who did not attend the free schools. According to a 2019 UNESCO study, the numbers reached 557,327, which is more than doubled compared to just six years ago. Children and adolescents have poor attendance because there is a lack of water and food at school and at home, and are all side effects of the current economic issues in the country.
- Colombia’s Education System: Many of the primary-school-age children not attending Venezuelan schools are instead trekking across the Colombian border to attend classes there. The mass influx of students is placing a strain on Colombia’s education system.
- Absence of Teachers: Many teachers are also quitting. As of 2018, the average teacher in Venezuela currently makes the equivalent of $10-30 USD a month, which is below the poverty level. This makes teaching a much less desirable profession, forcing teaching positions to fall to new graduates and other professionals that do not have the qualifications to teach.
- Studying Abroad: The U.S.-Venezualan relations have harmed study abroad prospectives for Venezuelan students. Following the U.S. travel ban that has impacted countries such as Venezuela and Yemen, many students have been unable to obtain student visas to study in the United States. While the ban does not prevent students from applying to institutions in the U.S., it puts their applications under scrutiny, leading many to pursue an education in other countries.
- Literacy Rate: On the bright side of these eight facts about education in Venezuela, 97.13 percent of Venezuelans over the age of 15 can read and write. This is the highest literacy rate in the entire region.
- Foreign Aid and Nonprofits: As of 2019, Venezuelan President Maduro conceded to requesting foreign aid, which gives countries in the United Nations the ability to help with the economic crisis at large, despite the fact that most of the money will not go to education specifically. Within the country, organizations, such as Cuatro Por Venezuela, provide the aid they can. Cuatro Por Venezuela provided over 480,000 individual meals from 2017 to 2019, and are still doing more.
To conclude these eight facts about education in Venezuela, one should note that the main reason Venezuela’s education system was so successful in the past is because of the amount of resources it dedicated to it. The country has not changed this and combined with the worldwide collective desire to ensure the protection of education as a right, it should have a hopeful future.
– Anna Langlois
Photo: Flickr
Despite the constant divisive debates about whether to welcome refugees, they have protection under international law by the 1951 refugee convention, a multilateral United Nations treaty. It defines who people can consider refugees and outlines their basic rights, including access to fair and efficient asylum procedures. Despite the ever-present debates about acceptance, very little of it has actually been to talk about what happens when countries refuse asylum seekers including the problem of ensuring safe and voluntary refugee repatriation rather than returning them to dangerous situations in their home countries.
Refugees in the US
A country must ensure that refugees live in safety and dignity while it is processing their claims, and safety and dignity are also integral to voluntary repatriation. In 2020, the United States will only accept 18,000 refugees. This will be the lowest number of refugees that the U.S. resettled in a single year since 1980 when Congress created the nation’s refugee resettlement program. In light of such low acceptance rates, a national debate around safe and voluntary repatriation is crucial so that those a country turns away will have safe alternatives. Without debate, there is no clear answer to where those refugees should go, if not the United States.
Migrants, Refugees and Asylum Seekers
People often confuse the matter even more because they use the terms “migrants,” “refugees” and “asylum seekers” interchangeably, despite very different legal meanings and obligations. Amnesty International defines an asylum seeker as an individual who is seeking international protection whose claim a host country has not yet determined. In short, a country will not recognize every asylum seeker as a refugee, but every refugee is initially an asylum seeker. “Migrant” is a broad term that describes anyone who moves to another country for at least one year, for any reason.
“Repatriation” is when a person returns to their country of origin, whether it is because conditions have improved and they want to go home or because their host country has refused their request for asylum. According to the U.N. Refugee Repatriation Agency, safe and voluntary refugee repatriation requires not only the commitment of the international community to safely bring displaced people home but also the cooperation of the country of origin, which has to do the difficult work of reintegration and ensuring stability and safety.
So who will be the 18,000 refugees the U.S. allows in 2020? In 2019, refugees coming to the United States from the Democratic Republic of Congo far outnumbered those from other countries. D.R. Congo accounted for nearly 13,000 refugees, followed by Burma (Myanmar) with about 4,900, then Ukraine (4,500), Eritrea (1,800) and Afghanistan (1,200).
Repatriation
As of November 13, 2019, a total of 1,439 individuals repatriated. ReliefWeb, an online news source for humanitarian information on global crisis and disasters, reported that approximately 14,700 refugees chose to return to their country spontaneously and by their own means. However, home countries and the international community are working together to help with safe and voluntary refugee repatriation.
The United Nations, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Angolan government collaborated on organizing convoys for voluntary repatriation. Wellington Carneiro, UNHCR’s interim representative in Angola, stated that voluntary repatriation faced challenges like poor road conditions in the rainy season and the need to find suitable vehicles as a result. However, Carneiro assured that the operation, which he expected to finish by mid-December 2019, would fully guarantee the returning Angolans’ safety and dignity. While the international community’s collaborative work was a big part of the success of these trips, the Angolan government played the most important role. Paolo Balladelli, the U.N. Resident Coordinator in Angola, highlighted this when he said that “the Angolan authorities have shown their solidarity by welcoming people, including children, who were at risk of life due to serious ethnic conflicts. The conclusion of this chapter demonstrates to Africa and the world that Angola is a good example of good international practices.”
– Julia Stephens
Photo: Flickr
Political corruption has long plagued Argentina’s government, dating all the way back to the 1800s. In the country’s modern history, there has rarely been a decade where some sort of political scandal has not occurred. However, the country has been steadily improving over the past decade. Here are 10 facts about political corruption in Argentina.
10 Facts About Corruption in Argentina
- Corruption Index Rating: The country had a Corruption Index rating of 40 in 2018, which was its best rating since 1995. This rating is based on the level of perceived corruption in a country’s public sector. The rating reached its lowest in the early 2000s during the tenure of former Argentine President Fernando de la Rua but has steadily risen in the following years, reaching higher numbers in the late 2010s. Its 2018 corruption index of 40 is fairly high if one compares it to other Latin American countries, although it is well below more developed countries.
- Police Corruption: Several Argentine businesses have reported that the police are among the most corrupt government agencies in the country and that Argentinians cannot rely on the police force to enforce the law. The Economist reported in 2014 that the police were reforming their systems, however. This started with giving policemen a higher salary, which is still increasing to this day, to reduce the risk of metropolitan police officers accepting bribes in exchange for their silence. While many issues remain with high ranking federal officials, Argentina is taking more action to reduce the amount of crime happening on the streets.
- Political Corruption: Political corruption often plagues businesses in Argentina due to excessive taxes and expensive, difficult customs process, with much of this revenue going to Argentina’s elite. In 2018, Forbes reported that people siphoned nearly $36 billion and put it into the pockets of wealthy businessmen in a corrupt public-private ring. Reports have determined that legislators have also taken bribes, leading to a messy lawmaking and enforcement process.
- Human Rights: The constitution of Argentina guarantees freedom of the press and speech, although journalists do receive threats. Because the government lacks federal legislation pertaining to access to information for the public, the government is able to manipulate economic statistics. There remain some problems pertaining to the safety of the press, but the government highly respects freedom of speech and it has taken reports of human rights violations very seriously. Argentina is also the first country in Latin America to pass laws protecting LGBT rights.
- The Justice 2020 Initiative: According to Anti-Corruption Digest, in response to issues revolving around legal loopholes and lack of criminal convictions, Argentine President Mauricio Macri enacted the Justice 2020 Initiative. This plan seriously overhauled Argentina’s court systems, which are in need of legal upgrades, along with fixing several legal loopholes. ACD cites that the changes from this act have doubled the court system’s productivity and helped clear the prior backlog of people waiting for prosecution.
- Prison Conditions: Prison conditions in Argentina are very poor. Prisons in the country tend to suffer overcrowding and violence between inmates; police abuse and bad upkeep of prison facilities are also very common. Under the Justice 2020 Initiative, President Macri made a commitment to prevent these abuses from happening further, and in 2011, members of the police made a commitment that it would only use force when absolutely necessary.
- Judicial Corruption: High ranking officials in Argentina are among the largest problems in regards to corruption in Argentina, with many of them accepting or demanding bribes for political favors such as pardoning crimes. High court judges are especially at risk of corruption; since 2003, with the approval of the senate, the president can handpick people for the courts, leading to poor separation of power between the executive and judicial branches. There are a president, vice president and three justices that currently preside over Argentina’s supreme court, making the policing of high ranking officials challenging to do. The federal court system is small, understaffed and underutilized, making the trial and removal of high ranking officials a long and difficult process.
- Quality of Life: Despite government corruption in Argentina, it remains one of the best countries in Latin America in terms of education. Nearly everyone in the country also has access to a reliable source of water and sanitation, with only around 1 percent not having access to water and less than 4 percent not having sanitation. Part of this could be due to Argentina’s abundant natural resources and booming economy, but one should also credit the country’s increasing focus on human rights enforcement.
- Abortion: While Argentina is a Latin American pioneer when it comes to human rights, women’s rights still remain an issue in the country. Abortion is illegal in Argentina unless the pregnancy is a danger to the mother’s health. The Catholic Church, which is the faith of the vast majority in Argentina, condemns abortion. Women’s rights groups have lobbied for legal abortion, including in 2018 when the country held a vote on the status of it.
- The Fundacion Banco de Alimentos: There are many nonprofits in Argentina that dedicate themselves to helping improve the quality of life for those who live in poverty. In the wake of severe socio-economic issues, the Fundacion Banco de Alimentos, a nonprofit food bank that emerged in 2000, acts as a channel for citizens to give food to Argentina’s most impoverished inhabitants. The vast majority of donors are local companies, farmers and supermarkets that donate food that would have otherwise gone to waste. Considering the country’s most recent economic issues, this is a great way for businesses to give back to the less fortunate in Argentina and reduce poverty without going through the government; over 1,000 communities participate, and people have donated over 5,000,000 food products with the food bank reaching over 143,000 people.
Political corruption in Argentina has plagued the country for centuries and one can trace much of this corruption back to issues with federal officials. There is not enough separation between the executive and judicial branches, which has led to the country’s continual issues with properly handling crime and enforcing justice. More citizen lobbying and human rights groups will be necessary to end government corruption and further push for the protection of human rights in Argentina’s near future.
Photo: Flickr
In 1989, spurred by economic stagnation and political discontent, the Velvet Revolution ushered in a post-communist, democratic era in the emerging states of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. In the late 1980s and 1990s, along with the rest of the Soviet-aligned states, the authoritarian regime of Czechoslovakia had begun to collapse. Popular unrest, which had been repressed for decades, boiled over into nonviolent revolution. The outcome of this uprising was a transition to democracy. November 2019 marks the 30 year anniversary of the Velvet Revolution. To commemorate this moment in history, House Representative Peter Visclosky introduced a resolution to Congress. Here are 9 facts about the Velvet Revolution.
9 Facts About the Velvet Revolution
- The Velvet Revolution began on Nov. 17, 1989, when a peaceful, government-sanctioned ceremony to commemorate Czech-resistance against the Nazis erupted into a massive protest against the communist regime. Ten days after this demonstration, anti-communist activists led a two-hour general strike to show the popular support for the opposition. By the end of the year, democratic activists forced the communist regime out of power and instituted a democratic regime in Czechoslovakia.
- An important precursor to the Velvet Revolution was the Prague Spring of 1968. In the Prague Spring, Alexander Dubcek, then-leader of the communist party in Czechoslovakia, created major social reforms, including a free press and human rights. However, Soviet leaders in Moscow feared such reforms and sent Warsaw Pact troops to suppress the upheaval. This Soviet crackdown erased the 1968 reforms and significantly restricted the economic and political rights those reforms sought to grant, such as freedom of speech. Even though the Soviets successfully suppressed the political unrest, civil resistance prevented them from being able to gain full control over the country for eight months. Thanks in part to the Prague Spring, Czechoslovakia had a strong civil society and history of nonviolent resistance by the late 1980s. Thus, the Velvet Revolution was a result of long-term developments and movements rather than one immediate catalyst.
- Ratified by the Czechoslovak Federal Assembly on Nov. 11, 1975, the Helsinki Final Act was one of the key structural factors that allowed for democratization in Czechoslovakia. It forced the communist leaders of Czechoslovakia to abide by the human rights commitments made in the agreement. A failure to do so would mean breaking with Moscow, something the Czech regime could not afford to do. The Act gave activists the ability to form organizations such as Charter 77 because they could claim the group’s purpose was to assist the government in carrying out its new policy on human rights.
- Charter 77 was a civic initiative that laid the groundwork for the Velvet Revolution. In the first week of 1977, anti-communist activists, former communists and non-political intellectuals came together to form Charter 77. It was a group of activists working to hold the government accountable for its human rights record. Charter 77 demanded that the Czech government abide by its own human rights commitments in the 1975 Helsinki Final Act. Václav Havel, one of the leaders of Charter 77, became president of Czechoslovakia following the Velvet Revolution.
- Gorbachev’s reforms of Perestroika and Glasnost also set the stage for broader political reform in Czechoslovakia. Perestroika, meaning restructuring, was a set of political and social reforms, which Gorbachev set in motion throughout the Soviet Union. Perestroika led to the decentralization of the Soviet economy and the loosening of the communist party’s grip on power throughout the Soviet bloc. Similarly, Glasnost, meaning openness, legalized criticism of the communist government and allowed for a free press.
- The Civic Forum (CF), a successor to Charter 77, was created in the immediate wake of the Velvet Revolution’s protests on Nov. 17. A nonviolent coalition, CF professed itself to be non-political and allowed anyone who wanted to be a member to join. It organized large grassroots demonstrations, including one in which citizens clinked their keys to signal the end of the communist regime. Along with Charter 77, CF was the most important organization during Czechoslovakia’s transition to democracy.
- One of the central social movements in the Velvet Revolution was the student movement. Nov. 17, the day the Revolution began, was International Students’ Day, and Prague students filled the streets of the city in what turned out to be a massive anti-regime protest. In the coming days, students around the country began striking and speaking out against the regime on an almost daily basis. A committee of Prague students worked with the Civic Forum to organize the general strike on Nov. 27.
- The Civic Forum and its allies achieved even greater concessions than initially asked for. On Nov. 29, the communist regime struck down a clause in the Czech constitution that permitted a one-party rule. In the coming days, the Czech people voted in free elections for the first time in three decades. The first non-communist Parliament since 1948 was formed on Dec. 10 of that year. On Dec. 29, the Czech parliament unanimously elected a democratic president.
- In June 1991, the Soviets withdrew the last of the Soviet Central Group of Forces from Czechoslovakia. On July 1, they terminated the Warsaw Pact. The fall of the Soviet Union gave Czechoslovakia more independence and confidence to turn westward. Elections in June 1992 set the stage for a break between the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic as both agreed remaining together was not economically profitable. In 1993, Czechoslovakia split in what was called a “velvet divorce.”
H.Res. 618
On Oct. 4, 2019, House Representative Peter Visclosky [D-IN-1] introduced H.Res. 618. The resolution congratulated “the peoples of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic on the 30th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution” and the progress that each country has made in gaining independence. The House referred the resolution to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which will debate the resolution before it is brought to the entire chamber.
The Czechoslovakian Velvet Revolution of 1989 catalyzed the process of democratization in the Czech Republic and Slovakia through a nonviolent, popular uprising against an oppressive regime. Civic society and grassroots movements were essential to this revolution. Thus, these 9 facts about the Velvet Revolution prove the importance of civic protest to change a society’s political, economic and social culture.
– Sarah Frazer
Photo: Flickr
