Archive for category: Government

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Threats to Human Rights in Armenia

Human Rights in ArmeniaHuman rights is an internationally discussed topic, with the issues spanning from free speech to the rights of detained suspects. International councils have long harbored an interest in building alliances to eradicate violations of human rights in as many nations as possible. Human rights in Armenia are of special interest now. In June 2017, a human rights defender, Artur Sakunts, received death threats.

Sakunts is the director of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor Office (HCA-Vanazdor). HCA-Vanazdor is a high-profile defender of human rights in Armenia. Sakunts received a highly specific death threat via Facebook, which illustrates that the issue of human rights is hotly debated in Armenia. The Armenian government’s record with respect to human rights is somewhat uneven. In 2008, the government pledged to combat violence against women. However, no legislation was passed since. For example, there is no law criminalizing domestic violence.

LGBTQ populations also do not have anti-discrimination protection or legal protection against hate speech. The lack of legislation makes it difficult for women and LGBTQ groups to find a legal solution to advocate for their rights. Peaceful protesters are sometimes met with excessive force and with ill treatment in custody.

Founding Parliament, a radical group opposed to the government, seized a police station in the capital of Armenia, Yerevan, killing a policeman and taking several others hostage on July 17, 2016. The gunmen eventually surrendered on July 31. Yet the seizure of the police station proved to be a catalyst for protest movement against the government.

In late July, peaceful protesters were showing their support for Founding Parliament in the same neighborhood of the seized police station. Without warning the protesters, police fired stun grenades into the crowd. The protesters sustained first and second-degree burns and fragmentation wounds. Other protesters were beaten with clubs.

Journalists covering the protest were warned by the police, but some journalists suffered the after-effects of stun grenades fired specifically at them. Protest leaders and participants were detained, with the authorities citing criminal charges leveled against them. Detainees were held up to 12 hours without documentation. Authorities relied primarily on police testimony to press criminal charges. Detainees were also denied access to lawyers and were not permitted to inform relatives about their detentions.

The explosive events of July 2016 demonstrate the palpable tensions between Armenian citizens and the government.  Fortunately, groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch continue to report violations of human rights in Armenia. Generating awareness for human rights issues can pave a path towards finding legal, political and more permanent solutions for such human rights violations.

– Smriti Krishnan

Photo: Pixabay

Achieving Sustainable Peace After Colombia’s Class War

Colombia's Class War
In 2016, Senators Ben Cardin, Bob Corker and 14 co-sponsoring senators of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed a resolution to help Colombia end its armed conflict of about 50 years. The violence of Colombia’s class war between the rebel militias Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN) and right-wing paramilitaries has resulted in the displacement of three million people and the harming of more than eight million people.

The resolution reaffirms its commitment to the continued partnership between the United States and Colombia on issues of mutual security. These include counternarcotics cooperation, combating transnational organized crime and ensuring justice for those who caused indelible harm to our populations. In addition, it commands effort to end Colombia’s armed conflict and encourages informed public debate about the details of potential peace in advance of voter verification.

After deliberation, the United States Agency for International Development commenced the resolution called Justice for a Sustainable Peace (JSP). Responding to Colombia’s class war, JSP is a four-year commitment to expand Colombia’s justice institutions in order to serve justice at the local level. Therefore, it strengthens local civil society organizations that will increase citizen participation and support. The resolution is implemented in 45 municipalities in Cauca, Choco, Narino, Norte de Santander and Putumayo.

USAID explains that JSP promotes the rule of law in targeted areas by:

  • increasing citizen awareness of justice sector institutions and services
  • strengthening civil society engagement with government on justice issues
  • increasing citizen use of formal and informal justice services
  • strengthening ethnic justice and community conflict resolution mechanisms
  • developing effective judicial services and remedies
  • improving the effectiveness and transparency of land restitution judicial processes
  • addressing impunity for crimes such as gender-based violence, forced displacement, enforced disappearance, child recruitment, kidnapping and homicide.

Rebels and the government have been speaking on many topics, such as rural development, guaranteeing the exercise of political opposition and citizen participation, the end of armed conflict, drug trafficking and the rights of the conflict victims. Amplified communication between the people of Colombia and their government will surely produce mutuality. The methods of JSP will allow the resolution of abuses caused by Colombia’s class war and unify the people.

– Tiffany Santos

Photo: Flickr

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Historic Abuses of Human Rights in Chile

Human Rights in Chile
During the period of 1973 to 1990, Chile was occupied by a military rule under Augusto Pinochet. In these two decades, General Manuel Contreras, who commanded Pinochet’s secret police, was responsible for an alarming number of violations of human rights in Chile.

It seems many of Chile’s current human rights issues derive from this era, as the Constitution adopted during the military government under General Pinochet made provisions outside of international human rights law. Between April and August 2016, the Chilean government began a consultation process open to all citizens as the first step toward drafting and adopting a new Constitution. The process is ongoing.

It was reported in March 2015 by the chief justice of Chile that 1,056 cases of human rights violations from the previous military rule were under investigation. A tenth of the cases were for torture, and other cases included killings and enforced disappearances. For example, in 1986, during a street protest, two teenagers were set on fire, killing one and maiming the other for life. Soldiers were forced under duress to testify that the students accidentally burned themselves with their own Molotov cocktail. It was revealed in 2014 that a patrol commander ordered soldiers to douse the students in gasoline and set them on fire.

Torture in the period of Contreras is not the only violation of human rights in Chile. Currently, torture is a common problem for detainees. Additionally, detainees are placed into overcrowded prisons where they often face repeated torture and violence.  More than 2,000 inmates were surveyed in 2013 by a Chilean prison service, and it was noted that more than 30% claimed to have suffered violence from prison guards and over 20 percent claimed to have been tortured. Chile’s current criminal code does not ban or address torture in any form.

Another issue present under the current constitution comes from the power that military courts possess over the legal process. For abuses committed by the Carabineros, the uniformed police, military courts usually hold the cases. Under the military courts, criminal proceedings lack independence and due process guaranteed under normal criminal proceedings; the investigations are held in secret, usually only conducted in writing; and most of the time lawyers cannot cross-examine witnesses.

While there are still many steps Chile needs to take in addressing both its past and ongoing human rights violations, it has recognized these as problems and is making progress towards prosecuting human rights offenders and ensuring this is a part of its history never to be repeated. Hopefully, after a new constitution is drafted, Chile can look away from its dark past and towards a better future.

– James Hardison

Photo: Flickr

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Four Facts About Higher Education in Russia

4 Facts about Higher Education in Russia You need to Know
Russia seems to constantly struggle with one political or economic issue after another. It is important not to forget education in the chaos. Here are a few salient facts about higher education in Russia and how it affects the growing number of people living in poverty.

  1. Entrance exams: As in many countries, students in Russia must take a unified state exam to enter university. This system has pros and cons. The exams are extremely competitive and force teachers in secondary school to “teach to the test” to ensure students can pass exams. However, doing so leads to problems later on when students must spend time in university relearning material they should have learned in high school.
  2. Changing demographics: Until the mid-1990s, universities were comprised mainly of well-to-do urban young adults. After reforms were made, enrollment expanded, and in the early 2000s, universities became more popular among the masses. Lately, however, Russia’s gap between the rich and poor has been growing. Nearly 20 million Russians currently live in poverty, and the poverty rate has increased by 20% since last year. Consequently, history is beginning to repeat itself, with a more socioeconomically homogeneous student body developing in universities.
  3. Right to free education: According to the Russian Federation Constitution, all Russian citizens have a right to free education. Russia’s 2013 Law of Education ensures that state governments enforce this right. The right to free education is granted on a competitive basis based on grades from the Unified State Exam.
  4. Government spending is low: Only about 4 percent of Russia’s GDP goes toward education, according to the latest U.N. Human Development Report. Compared to other countries with consistently high-ranking education systems, Russia’s spending on education is low. Finland, for example, spends 6.8 percent of its GDP on education.

Increased government spending on education, as well as more well-rounded secondary education, could greatly benefit higher education in Russia and the nation as a whole.

– Sabrina Yates

Photo: Flickr

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How Can Companies Improve Global Education?

Improve global education

Many CEOs don’t realize that helping improve global education is an investment in the future — not in an abstract future, but in their future. The more educated a country’s population is, the higher its gross domestic product (GDP) usually becomes.

With increased capital, more people can buy more products: someone living on less than a dollar a day will likely not buy Colgate toothpaste or Axe body wash, for example, because that money is reserved for food.

So how can companies help improve global education?

Justin W. van Fleet, director of the International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity, lists five strategies businesses can use when helping improve global education. Two important approaches are discussed below.

Prioritize Global Education

Companies can’t make a difference if they don’t prioritize doing so. Recognizing that alleviating global poverty — whether through health concerns or through education concerns — is investing in businesses’ futures, companies like Coca Cola have already made global poverty concerns a priority.

Coca Cola decided to invest in Tanzania in 1952, and the company has reaped benefits ever since. Coca Cola now has a presence in a previously untapped community.

“Whatever has to do with improvement of the Tanzania community it also touches improvement of, and welfare of, our company,” said a Coca-Cola Kwanza manager.

Education is integral to a healthy community, so businesses that prioritize developing countries’ education prioritize their own futures.

Collaborate with Governments

Governments are the largest sources of funding for education in developing countries. If businesses partner with government programs, then businesses may receive money for improving global education. In addition, not all funding efforts have to be out of pocket for companies.

Businesses and governments can work together in other ways, too. In 2006, for example, the Hess oil company invested $20 million in an Equatorial Guinea national educational initiative. Equatorial Guinea’s government matched that investment.

According to Brookings, “It is estimated that the program has reached roughly half of the students enrolled in primary school in Equatorial Guinea.”

Hopefully, more companies will adopt these strategies and others to improve global education in the future.

– Tyler New

Photo: Flickr

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How Statelessness Affects Global Poverty

Statelessness

Statelessness is as much of an economic burden as it is a social and political one. According to a recent Foreign Policy article, statelessness results in “chronic economic instability” because it is often accompanied by joblessness and poverty.

According to the U.S. Department of State, a stateless person is someone who does not “enjoy” the rights of  “citizenship – the legal bond between a government and an individual – in any country.” In other words, these individuals do not have the same rights and opportunities as people who are recognized as citizens by the nations in which they live.

Although the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees counted 3.5 million stateless people in 2011, they estimated that the number could be as high as 12 million people. Foreign Policy reports that as many as 15 million people might be stateless today.

The Department of State notes that the causes of statelessness are diverse. They include failure to register newborns properly, birth to stateless parents, discrimination against minorities and traditional attitudes towards registration, to name a few.

Not only are stateless people denied government-issued identification, preventing them from acquiring formal labor jobs, but they are also subjects of social discrimination. These realities exclude them from even more employment opportunities, leads to fewer chances of regular employment and leaves stateless persons even more destitute.

Foreign Policy also reports that very little research exists about the effects of statelessness on economies. Some existing studies suggest that stateless persons have a negative economic impact on smaller nations in which they may make up a more significant percentage of the population. In this case, granting citizenship to stateless persons might actually improve these nations’ gross domestic product output.

Although stateless individuals can obtain cards which signify their status, only a few thousand people have been able to take advantage of this opportunity. One of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations aims to provide everyone with legal identity by 2030, which will give people access to formal job markets and increase economic opportunities for individuals and nations.

The U.S. State Department suggests that universal birth registration and increasing access to naturalization and citizenship will help solve statelessness. As Foreign Policy points out, nations must want to increase inclusiveness with stateless persons and cease the use of political reasoning for ostracizing them before changes can occur.

Policies and prejudices might take many years to change, but the economic, social and humanitarian advantages of granting citizenship to stateless people are worth the fight.

– Addie Pazzynski

Photo: UNHCR

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Differences Between Senators and Congressmen

Legislature
Within the legislature of the federal government, there are two chambers: the House of Representatives and the Senate. Senators and Congressman work within these two lawmaking bodies. Both are representative voices for their constituents, but their roles differ in terms of  length, power and apportionment. Here are some key facts on the differences between Senators and Congressmen.

House of Representatives

  1. Each state represented in Congress is entitled to at least one representative, but the number per state is determined according to population. Under the constitutional rule regarding the size of the House, “the number of Representatives shall not exceed one of every thirty Thousand.”
  2. There are currently 435 Congressional seats.
  3. A Congressperson’s term lasts two years.
  4. The minimum age for a member of the House is 25 and the elected official must have been a U.S. citizen for at least seven years.
  5. The six non-voting members in Congress are the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands. Although these districts are unable to vote, they may vote in a House committee and introduce legislation.
  6. In the legislature, only the House of Representatives can introduce spending bills.

Senate

  1. Each state has a total of two senators, regardless of the state’s size. For this reason, there are always 100 senators during a given period.
  2. A senator’s term lasts six years. Only one-third of the Senate seats are elected every two years. That way, only 33 or 34 seats are up for election at a given time.
  3. The minimum age for a senator is 30, and that person must be a U.S. citizen for at least nine years.
  4. The Senate has sole power of approval for foreign treatises and cabinet and judicial nominations, including appointments to the Supreme Court.
  5. The Senate is headed by the Vice President, who only votes in case of a tie.

– Nora Harless

Sources: Diffen.com, USGovInfo
Photo: Flickr

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The Progress of Democracy in Africa

Africa_parliament_democracy_womenAccording to the Economist, only three out of 53 African countries had democracies by the end of the Cold War.

Now countries like the one-party presidential republic Eritrea and the absolute monarchy Swaziland are becoming irregularities on the continent. Indeed, this is because Africa has experienced increasing engagement in the democratic process.

While African countries have made significant progress in regards to the spread of democracy, there is still significant work to be done. For example, according to the Guardian, nine African leaders have been in power for more than 20 years with three of them holding power for more than 30 years.

This is an example of the popular notion that African countries are directed by a group of authoritarian heads called “Big Men,” who dominate and control every aspect of the country.

Although authoritarian heads have not lost complete power, women in Africa have benefited greatly from democratically held elections.

For example, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected president of Liberia in 2011, becoming Africa’s first democratically-elected, female head of state. She was followed by Joyce Banda, who became president of Malawi in 2012 and Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, who was elected president of Mauritius in 2015.

The Guardian labels the notion that the transition of power in government is inherently violent to be “misguided.” There are many factors that could incite violence during the election process aside from transition of power.

These events include voter belief of election fraud, opposition initiated violence as a result of an act being considered unjust, or violence being instigated by leaders threatened by the opposition.

Kenya’s 2007 election proved to be an example of the devastation that can result from the election process when 1,133 people were killed and 600,000 displaced. However, while this kind of violent election gains the most international attention, it is the exception and there are more peaceful elections.

For example, the Guardian cites a recent peaceful election that took place in the Central African Republic, during which voters went to the polls in February in hopes of restoring democracy in Africa and ending years of struggle.

Post-Cold War advancement has been substantial for the African continent in many ways and the foundations that make up democracy in Africa have been overwhelmingly embraced by its citizens.

Alex Vines, head of the Africa program at Chatham House, a London-based think-tank told the Economist, “Progress comes in waves,” and much of West Africa has experienced a huge shift to democratic representation.

Many countries that have experienced devastatingly violent conflicts, such as Sierra Leone and Liberia, now possess, if not perfect, adequate political systems.

– Heidi Grossman

Sources: Economist 1, Economist 2, The Guardian
Photo: Flickr

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Open Society Foundations: Giving Countries Their Freedom

Open Society FoundationsBillionaire George Soros’s Open Society Foundations (OSF) is committed to building “vibrant and tolerant societies whose governments are accountable and open to the participation of all people,” according to the organization’s website. “We seek to strengthen the rule of law, respect for human rights, minorities and a diversity of opinions, democratically elected governments and a civil society that helps keep government power in check.”

Authoritarian governments, in which absolute power is held by a single dictator or ruling party, have been linked to an increase in poverty. To unveil the full impact of authoritarian government on poverty, the Human Development Report of the United Nations analyzed the condition of sub-Saharan Africa over the last 30 years. The study revealed authoritarian governments are more likely to become corrupted, have greater levels of violence than democracies and often favor the poverty of their citizens.

Conversely, open societies allow for freedom of belief, flexible social structure and availability of information. Citizens have a greater say in the running of their own countries and lives.

George Soros founded OSF in 1979 when he realized he had the funds and connections to make a real difference. By 1984, he had established his first foundation in Hungary, which involved the distribution of photocopiers in a bid to lessen the communist control on freedom of print. Within two decades, OSF had become active in all regions of the world.

Despite its positive aims, some countries have not welcomed OSF’s mission. In May 2015, Russia banned ‘undesirable’ foreign organizations that could compromise its constitutional order or national security. “The ‘undesirables’ law and its implementation have been a terrible blow for civic freedoms in Russia,” said Hugh Williamson, the Europe and Central Asia director of Human Rights Watch.

Despite resistance, OSF continues to grow by way of a two-part strategy. First, it operates the Central European University, where future political leaders can research and analyze new solutions to ensure that open societies remain stable. Students from more than 100 countries attend the university.

Second, current OSF president Christopher Stone created the New Executives Fund, a $2 million fund to start off nonprofit organizations that support education, social change and public health. Every year, two or three selected nonprofits receive two-year grants ranging from $25,000 to $250,000. This fund, as well as supporting worthy causes, has directed global attention toward OSF.

Making inroads to transforming authoritarian governments into open societies helps to reduce poverty and improve standards of living. OSF is committed to forming governments across the globe “where all people are free to participate fully in civic, economic and cultural life.”

– Sarah Prellwitz

Sources: Philanthropy, HRW, Open Society Foundations 1, Open Society Foundations 2, Tide Global Learning
Photo: Google Images

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Electrify Africa Act Signed Into Law

Electrify Africa
President Obama has signed into law the Electrify Africa Act of 2015, which will bring electricity to millions in Africa.

About two-thirds of people in Africa do not have access to reliable power, according to BBC News. The Electrify Africa Act will establish a strategy to help sub-Saharan countries implement power solutions to promote economic growth and reduce poverty.

For people without electricity, simple tasks such as cooking or reading are complicated without a light source at night. Many people in Africa are also unable to use modern technologies, like cell phones or computers, or do basic tasks such as refrigerating food and medicine.

The lack of electricity causes some families in Africa to use fossil fuels or charcoal, which has a negative effect on the environment and health.

According to BBC News, House Committee on Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce stated that this initiative will “improve the lives of millions in sub-Saharan Africa by helping to reduce reliance on charcoal and other toxic fuel sources that produce fumes that kill more than HIV/Aids and malaria combined.”

Electrify Africa
Power Africa was launched by President Obama in 2013. It took nearly two years for it to pass through the Senate and House of Representatives and become the Electrify Africa Act of 2015.

The U.S. initially invested $7 billion in the project but that number has since risen to nearly $43 billion. According to Voice of America, the high cost of energy in sub-Saharan Africa makes producing exports impossible, so it would be beneficial to the U.S. to help Africa become a major trading partner.

In addition to the U.S. government, African governments and private companies are involved in the development of the Power Africa initiative. The Electrify Africa Act provides a framework for companies to invest in African energy solutions.

The long-term goal is to double the amount of electricity available to people in sub-Saharan Africa, bringing electricity to 50 million people in the region by 2020.

– Kaitlyn Arford

Sources: BBC, Christian Science Monitor, Voice of America