Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

Will Obama’s Riyadh Trip Improve Saudi Relations?

U.S.-Saudi Relations
Amidst deteriorating popularity in the Middle East and the Arab world, United States President Barack plans to meet with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh next month. The March visit will be Obama’s first to the Saudi capital since the outbreak of the Arab Spring in late 2010 and early 2011.

The Obama administration’s support for Egypt’s overthrow of Hosni Mubarak and subsequent rise of the Muslim Brotherhood to power; this is in addition to other policy positions during the series of Arab Spring revolts and uprisings that contributed to the rift that formed in U.S.-Saudi relations.

The meeting with King Abdullah will follow Obama’s attendance at the third Nuclear Security Summit in the Netherlands, a summit meeting in Brussels and a discussion on income inequality with Pope Francis at the Vatican. The sequence of visits serves to highlight the President’s commitment to global security in a religiously charged world.

Discussion topics between President Obama and King Abdullah will inevitably concentrate on peace in the Middle East; the primary focus will be the conflict in Syria. The horrific civil war that began three years ago threatens security in the region as extremism grows an incubator of hopelessness and strife. If either country wishes to play a helpful role in the situation and not leave Syria to the bidding of Russia and Iran, both will need to acknowledge past mistakes and work together for an improved future.

In addition to improving U.S.-Saudi relations, analysts have speculated that the trip to Riyadh may have to do with the question of the Arab Israeli conflict. With Iran and Saudi Arabia competing for ultimate power in the region, Obama recognizes that Saudi Arabia maintains the potential to facilitate the Arab initiative for peace with Israel. By addressing King Abdullah’s stated commitment to Arab Israeli peace, Obama hopes to earn favor in the region for normalization with Israel.

The Arab world in recent years has experienced a surge of civil and political upheaval. Obama’s visit to Riyadh in March could create a reactionary current of improved leverage and relations throughout the region.

– Jaclyn Stutz

Sources: Huffington Post, Jerusalem Post, Washington Post
Photo: Outside the Beltway

Vietnam Convicts Human Rights Lawyer Le Quoc Quan

le_quoc_quan
Prominent human rights lawyer Le Quoc Quan was recently convicted for tax evasion in Vietnam in another example of Vietnam’s arbitrary detention practices aimed at those criticizing the Communist Party.

This is not the first time Le Quoc Quan has run afoul with the Vietnamese authorities.

In 2007, Quon returned to his home country after spending several months researching civil society and economic development in Washington, D.C., at which time he was promptly arrested on trumped up charges of subversion. After much public anger over his arrest he was released, but the authorities kept close watch of his activities.

His most recent run-in with the law came in December 2013, when he criticized Article 4 in the Vietnam constitution, which enshrines the superiority of the Communist Party.

The court convicted him of tax evasion, a common charge for those who are considered political dissidents by the Communist party. He is currently imprisoned in Hanoi.

Despite the seeming hopelessness of his situation, Le Quoc Quan has not lost his vigorous penchant for dissent. As of February, he is currently on a hunger strike within prison.

His situation has garnered international attention, specifically from the United Nations, who has called for his immediate release or for an independent court to conduct his trial.

Unfortunately, Quan’s predicament seems to be too common of an occurrence in a country that rests in the firm grip of the Communist Party; the only legal party in Vietnam.

The list of episodes exhibiting Vietnam’s unwillingness to support basic human rights enjoyed in more developed nations is quite lengthy. For instance, no independent media is permitted; freedom of assembly, expression and religion are extremely restricted.

Also, workers who toil away in factories are not allowed to speak out against the harsh working conditions they endure. In 2010, several factory workers were convicted and imprisoned with sentences ranging from seven years to nine years simply for organizing their fellow workers in the shoe factory that employed them.

Le Quoc Quan’s future seems uncertain, but not without a glimmer of hope. The appellate division of the Hanoi Supreme People’s Court will hear his case on February 18.

The international attention Quan has gained could tip the court’s ruling in his favor. But despite the possibility of a small victory, Vietnam has significant steps to take before their human rights situation improves.

In a brazen display of hypocrisy, the Vietnamese government announced several lofty goals at its Universal Periodic Review conducted by the UN Human Rights Council. The country’s representative stated that protecting human rights through judicial reform is a chief government concern.

Several of the measures stated such, as the right to a fair trial, providing independent judges to serve on courts and allowing lawyers to freely defend their clients would be a welcome change. But many nations remain skeptical of the government’s alleged enthusiasm for initiating these much needed reforms.

– Zachary Lindberg

Sources: Human Rights Watch, The Diplomat
Photo: Front-line Defenders

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What is Social Change?

Social_Change
Social change is defined as “the alteration of mechanisms within the social structure, characterized by changes in cultural symbols, rules of behavior, social organizations or value systems.”  Such changes affect our way of life on both a macro and micro level, with the former involving major social institutions, and the latter our value and belief systems.

Collaborative efforts between groups or organizations are becoming major sources of social change by establishing social solidarity, pooling of resources and empowering larger scale and more long-term efforts for reaching specific goals.

A multitude of factors can cause social change, including:

  • technological and economic changes
  • social structure/modernization/urbanization
  • bureaucratization and institutions
  • conflict and competition
  • political and legal power
  • ideas/ideologies/attitudes/values
  • physical environment
  • population changes
  • isolation/contact

Activists for social change are no longer relegated to traditional outlets such as television, radio and newspaper.

Some use direct grassroots avenues such as “state and local ballot initiatives, electoral politics, lobbying and advocacy, direct action, media events and litigation.”  Others are achieving previously impossible endeavors by reaching millions of people globally through online and social media activism.

For example, Breakthrough, a United States and India-based non-profit human rights organization, uses “media, arts, pop culture and technology to reach mass audiences, challenge norms and make human rights real and relevant.”  Among its unique projects for social change was the launch of “America 2049” via Facebook games.

The game pits the player into the role of a special agent tasked with capturing a fugitive.

The player then faces a series of events forcing him or her to make tough decisions about pressing international issues.  The fugitive is played by Harold Perrineau, an American actor most known for his role in the television series “Lost.”  Perrineau talks about the importance of America 2049’s message, stating, “I hope that through playing America 2049, young people in particular will be inspired to help stop institutionalized hatred and intolerance – today.”

Alternately, there are those who are bringing social change by “injecting market principles into funding” and utilizing the strength of the business and economic sectors.

Toby Eccles, founder and development director of Social Finance, has pioneered such business models for change.  Social Finance is a United Kingdom-based non-profit organization that operates under the belief that “if social problems are to be tackled successfully, organizations seeking to solve them need sustainable revenues and investment to innovate and grow.”

Eccles developed innovative outcomes-based contracts known as Social Impact Bonds and, more recently, Development Impact Bonds.  In a talk he gave at Technology Entertainment Development Global in June 2013, Eccles said, “If you make the economic case, then the value of doing something would be completely compelling.”

Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) “aim to improve the social outcomes of public services by making payment for those services conditional on achieving independently measurable outcomes.”

The bonds allow for private investments to provide upfront funds for prevention and early intervention services to be delivered by seasoned service providers; the public sector only pays back if the intervention is successful.  Development Impact Bonds are the newest SIB spinoffs, where instead of governments being responsible for paying back investors, the onus is placed on international donors or development agencies.

– Rifk Ebeid

Sources: TED Talks, Encyclopedia Britannica, Sociology Guide, Social Finance, Salon
Photo: Be Social Change

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Malala Yousafzai Promotes Education in Syria

Malala_Yousafzai_education
Malala Yousafzai has become one of the world’s most prominent advocates for children’s education, following an assassination attempt against her from the Taliban. This young girl, who almost died standing up for her right to learn, who lived to tell the tale of being shot in the head for simply going to school, has become a symbol for the dignity of an education.

At least three million children have been displaced as a result of the current conflict in Syria, according to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates. On average, these children are likely to spend 10 years in refugee camps or in temporary shelters. The right to receive an education or to be educated upon reaching adulthood and to experience childhood with dignity and hope for the future cannot wait.

Malala is making efforts to ensure that the masses of Syrian children are afforded these basic rights. On February 18, the 16-year-old girl visited the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan in an effort to raise money for children’s education in the camp.

“When I think of these children, I can feel what they would be feeling now and what they are suffering through. So that’s why I think that it’s a responsibility to protect these children,” Malala said.

Currently, 50,000 students are educated in only three schools. Despite the tremendous difficulties facing refugee camps, such as food, shelter and adequate hygiene, Malala expresses the importance of education for young children coming from violent circumstances. Whereas aggression and brutality can negatively influence a child’s behavior, education and school environments help teach children to work in groups and solve problems in a healthy manner.

In Lebanon, some schools are going on double shift in efforts to equip Syrian refugee children with a proper education. The double shifts allow more lessons for more students without requiring any new facilities. Within weeks, these institutions have shown results that children have started to recover from their traumatic experiences.

Malala Yousafzai has taught the world that an education is something worth fighting for. Home or no home, all children deserve to learn.

– Jaclyn Stutz

Sources: CNN, New York Daily News, NPR
Photo: Should-Know

Distinguishing Absolute, Overall, and Relative Poverty

Overall Absolute Relative Poverty
Many reports discuss the high and unacceptable rates of poverty in wealthy countries such as the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom. This can be confusing to readers when they think of images of people starving and dying of preventable conditions in the developing world. It is important to note that poverty in the developed world is very different in the developing world; therefore poverty means something different in the US than it does in does in the Democratic Republic of the Condo. Discussed below are terms frequently used to describe the different kinds of poverty: absolute, overall, and relative poverty.

 

Examining Absolute, Overall, and Relative Poverty

 

Absolute Poverty

In 1995 the United Nations defined absolute poverty as severe deprivation of basic human needs including food, shelter, safe drinking water, sanitation, healthcare, education, and access to information. This deprivation can either come from a lack of income or a lack of services.

Overall Poverty

The United Nations defined overall poverty as the lack of income or resources to avoid hunger or malnutrition, morbidity and mortality from illness, limited access to education, homelessness or inadequate housing, and social discrimination or exclusion. Overall poverty occurs in all countries, it is widespread in developing countries and is occurs in pockets in developed countries.

Relative Poverty

Relative poverty is defined in relation to the income or consumption of others in the same region. For example, a girl who attends a school where all the other teenagers own smartphones when her parents cannot afford to buy her a cell phone would be experiencing relative poverty; she is poor in relation to those around her.

In the same way, poverty lines can be determined using absolute or relative poverty.

Absolute Poverty Line

Absolute poverty lines are based on absolute minimum standards of what families should be able to afford (either through income or services) in order to meet their basic needs. This is normally calculated by the amount needed to feed a family and cover basic necessities taking into account the cost-of-living in the area.

Relative Poverty Line

Here poverty can be measured in relation to the income of other members of the population, for example the poverty line may be an income that is less than 50% of the median income in the country. The OECD typically uses measures similar to this to measure poverty in developed countries.

It is argued that as large percentage of the population in developing countries are very poor and do not have the resources to meet their basic needs, poverty in these countries should be measured in absolute terms.

Therefore when reports are published on amount of poverty in the US it is important to remember that they are mostly likely talking about overall or relative poverty, whereas poverty in the developing world is often a mixture of overall and absolute poverty.

– Elizabeth Brown

Sources: The World Bank, UNESCO, PSE
Photo: Nathan Colquhoun

Starvation War Strategy in Syria

Starvation War Strategy
It is hunger, more than traditional warfare, that is taking the most lives and causing people to flee from Syria. Several parts of Syria have been cut off from food for several months and the World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that three million people are hungry. The WFP has been able to deliver food aid to two million people, but over one million people are trapped in areas where no food is getting in and people cannot get out. Civilians who are in areas under siege are starving; hunger is being used as a weapon of war.

Hunger in Homs

In the city Homs, which has been under siege for the 18 months people are surviving on olives, “water soup” made of water and spices and grass and weeds picked from the street.  As of mid-February, 1,300 people, including 500 children as well as and many women, elderly, and disabled persons fled the city with the help of Red Crescent and United Nations workers.

Men between the ages of 15 years old to 55 years old were forced to stay and fight.  A temporary evacuation was allowed, but many evacuees and aid workers were wounded and many civilians were too afraid to try and leave.

Hunger forced the people to leave; food has dwindled down to nothing in the city and a one kilogram bag of rice costs $50. People were fighting over the small amount of food the U.N. was able to get into the city.  Gerard Araud, France’s U.N. Ambassador was quoted saying “We are facing the worst humanitarian tragedy since the genocide in Rwanda in 1994…starvation is used as a weapon by the regime.'”

Children Starving to Death

CNN broadcasted video footage of an emaciated one-year girl at the National Hospital in suburbs of Damascus. The child’s organs were slowly deteriorating due to hunger and she reportedly died in hospital after her heart stopped. Her distraught mother reported that she had nothing to feed her child.

Doctors have told activists and journalists that this horror story is now happening frequently here. Starvation is being used as a weapon and infants are dying as their mother’s breast milk runs dry. The elderly, the sick and pregnant women are also especially vulnerable.

Parents are risking death by leaving their homes to look for food for their children. A nurse told Amnesty International that at least four people a day suffer gunshot wounds while picking plants and shrubs in the fields nearby the Yarmouk Palestinian Refugee Camp in Damascus.

Starvation War Strategy is a War Crime

Amnesty International Secretary General Salil Shetty says Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been starving his citizens and blocking access to humanitarian aid as a war strategy and this is considered a war crime. Reuters reports that one Syrian security official called the situation the “Starvation Until Submission Campaign.”

Save the Child recently released a report stating that parts of Homs, Aleppo, Idlib and Damascus have been besieged. Talks between the U.N. and large humanitarian organizations are underway to negotiate a way to end the suffering of civilians.

The chief of Amnesty International said that European nations are not doing their part by taking in refugees. The five countries surrounding Syria are taking in 97 percent of the refugees and they are collapsing and now in need of help themselves.  Wealthy European nations with space and resources need to step up to the plate.

– Elizabeth Brown

Sources: CNN, BBC, Arutz Sheva, Reuters, Al Arabiya
Photo: Spillers of Soup

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Action Plan to 2014 Improves South African Education

Action Plan to 2014
At about seven percent of gross domestic product and 20 percent of total state expenditure, South Africa has one of the highest rates of public investments in education in the world. The South African Schools Act of 1996 makes education compulsory for all South Africans from the age of 7 to the age of 15.

President Jacob Zuma told Parliament on February 13 that the country’s matric pass rate went up from about 61 percent in 2009 to 78 percent last year. The matric pass rate is calculated by annual national assessments.

South Africa has 23 state-funded post-secondary institutions, 11 universities, six universities of technology and six comprehensive institutions.

As a result of education inequalities during apartheid, 18 percent of adults are illiterate. Today, almost 59 percent of whites attend higher education institutions; only 14 percent of blacks attend. The disparate percentage is a consequence of inadequate primary and secondary schooling due to apartheid.

The Accelerated Schools Infrastructure Delivery Initiative has delivered 370 new schools throughout the country. The program replaces unsuitable infrastructure with schools.

Meanwhile, enrollment at universities has increased 13 percent since 2009 and Further Education and Training (FET) college enrollments have increased by 90 percent.

South Africa has implemented a plan for schools called Action Plan to 2014, a part of a larger vision called Schooling 2025, which aims to improve learning and teacher training. By 2025, South Africa wants to see students attend school every day and are on time. The country aims for schools to be accessible, clean and safe learning environments.

The program also includes teacher training, which will improve their capabilities and confidence. The focus of the program is on literacy and numeracy. This curriculum is known as the national Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS,) which provides specific guidelines for what is taught in schools.

Improving educational opportunities helps create tomorrow’s leaders. By giving students the opportunity to learn in a safe, clean and accessible environment, South Africa is helping to alleviate poverty, one step at a time.

– Haley Sklut

Sources: All Africa, South Africa Info
Photo: YWC Project

Violence Against Polio Workers in Pakistan Escalates

Violence Against Polio Workers
In the most recent attack against health workers, one doctor, three guards and two local employees of the World Health Organization (WHO) were kidnapped while administering polio vaccine in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a north western region of Pakistan.

Although no group has yet claimed responsibility, militants in the area have a history of inflicting violence against polio vaccinators, whom they accuse of sterilizing their children and being United States spies.

This attack follows a bombing in Peshawar, where a bomb targeting another polio vaccination team killed a policeman.

Polio workers have encountered violence in Pakistan since late 2006, when Taliban officials took control of Swat in the Himalayan region. They prohibited polio vaccination campaigns and vilified Lady Health Workers, many of whom stopped working due to direct threats to their lives.

Matters escalated even further after the assassination of Osama bin Laden in 2011. Under the ruse of a vaccination-campaign, CIA operatives infiltrated Bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, which allowed them to test his children’s blood and guarantee his presence at the complex.

Since then, Taliban violence against polio workers has continued unabated, with more than 40 people, including health workers, the police teams guarding them and bystanders having been killed in Pakistan. Torture is also not unheard of, as experienced by three members of a polio vaccination team late last year.

After a particularly violent week against workers in December of 2012, UNICEF and the WHO issued a joint statement condemning polio attacks.

“Those killed or injured, many of whom are women, are among hundreds of thousands of heroes who work selflessly to eradicate polio and provide other health services to children in Pakistan,” said the statement. “Such attacks deprive children in Pakistan of their right to basic life-saving health interventions and place them at risk for a disease that causes lifelong disability.”

Typically affected children under the age of 5, the virus may result in paralysis and death.

Polio remains endemic only three countries in the world, including Pakistan, but if left untreated, officials warn it could trigger as many as 200,000 new cases every year.

– Emily Bajet

Sources: UNICEF, The Express Tribune, The Guardian, Newsweek Pakistan, Open Democracy
Photo: Washington Post

Mexican Vigilantes Battle Cartels

Mexican Vigilantes
The cancerous effect of drug-related violence over the past six years has nearly stripped Mexico’s resources to the bone. Drug lords and cartel members have continued to control the better part of the region by striking fear into residents through brutal extortions, kidnappings, and murders.

This has all but halted the local economy, as many business owners are afraid to open up shop out of fear of reprisal. With more than 70,000 lives already lost to gang and drug-related violence, a recently approved initiative by the Mexican government has started to build its foundation in an effort to put an affirmative end to the war.

“Guys from the self-defense groups are moving around the city, co-operating in certain ways with the federal government. Many, many people have been detained,” said Hipolito Mora, the leader of an unlikely group of vigilantes who have arrested approximately 200 gang members.

These arrests come at the heels of a recently passed initiative allowing “self-defense” movements to assimilate and work with federal forces to combat violence and gang activities. These quasi-military units have sprouted up around Michoacan and have seen their membership grow into 20,000 strong.

The agreement was formed between the leaders of the Mexican vigilantes, army and police officers; President Enrique Pena Nieto’s envoy to Michoacan, Alfredo Castillo. Wearing white-T-shirts as a symbol of identification, the Rural Defense Corps, as referred to by government officials, recently breached the central square of Apatzingan, a stronghold and command base for the Knights Templar drug cartel.

Working with governmental forces, the Rural Defense Corps cleared the area out of cartel gunman who notoriously fired upon them in October 2013, when they entered the city unarmed in a convoy of hundreds. The recent presence of vigilante forces is a much needed boost for residents who have been forced to live under viscous rule for several years.

“We need to enter Apatzingan, which is the heart of the whole region and, as we all know, of vital importance for the criminal organization,” Mora said. Currently, the Knights Templar survives off a steady supply of methamphetamine and marijuana smuggling in addition to extortion and a controlling thumb over the local economy.

Since the beginning of January, these “self-defense” vigilante groups have launched a series of attacks against the Knights Templar gang in order to take back several overthrown municipalities in Michoaca in hopes of liberating communities. Many offenders have been arrested and detained through roadblocks around western Mexico in addition to door to door searches.

While such news is encouraging, atrocities and violence continue to remain a looming factor for rising forces. Recently, a mass grave with approximately 20 bodies was discovered in the Michoacan town of Tinguindin as well as four other murders in the nearby village of Zacan. While Mora believes these acts of violence to be retaliation for his group’s recent triumphs, he remains determined. “There can’t be any further delay, as that would put under risk the lives of so many people who are supporting our movement.”

– Jeffrey Scott Haley
Feature Writer

Sources: The Guardian, BBC, Daily Mail
Photo: Borderland Beat

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ChildFund International Tackles World Hunger

Childfund International
The United States Census Bureau has forecasted the population of the world to reach eight billion by the year 2025. In terms of hunger this can be considered an extremely daunting statistic. How will eight billion people eat in the future when people cannot even adequately feed everyone living on Earth today? Eliminating global poverty and giving children necessary skills to survive and thrive in the coming years are crucial parts of the world hunger solution.

ChildFund International is one organization that focuses mainly on children and improving their quality of life in order to sustain a better future. It is known for sponsoring children in over 50 countries. Giving to countries in need with specific guidelines involving nutrition and social development have been proven effective in comparison with unspecific cash donations.

Focusing on making sure children and families have access to food and health living environments is a great strategy for charities to implement. Once starvation is off the table, kids can go to school and parents to work. Eventually they can become self-sufficient, disbarring the notion of welfare dependency.

Supporting children with food, water, school supplies, and access to decent medical care is all part of the sponsorship benefits that ChildFund International distributes. A recent article on their website notes how population increases are only exacerbating the problem of widespread hunger. Developing countries are becoming more urban; building cities means destroying farmland. Farmland is necessary for agricultural production, and the less natural farmland there is, the more difficult it becomes to produce food.

Solving global poverty and solving world hunger are interrelated goals. Providing access to clean drinking water, food and medical care boosts the economy by increasing the number of healthy learning and working children in a community. The more educated the children are, the more likely they are to grow up and secure sustainable employment.

Having a stable job will mean having a stable income and the ability to break the vicious cycle of poverty. Studies have shown that poverty in the United States has decreased significantly over the past 50 years and the goal of eradicating poverty altogether is very possible with governmental assistance and appropriate policy implementation. However, poverty is still a huge issue in foreign nations and every effort is needed to help resolve it.

There are still billions of people living on barely $2 per day and suffering from hunger and the absence of clean water. Foundations like ChildFund International and everyone who gets involved can make sure everyone has the chance at a better tomorrow.

– Kaitlin Sutherby

Sources: The Economist, The Huffington Post
Photo: TriCounty Sentry