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How the Iraq Poverty Rate Affects Children

The Iraq poverty rate has been steadily on the rise and has affected many, including children. The Iraq poverty rate increased from 16 percent in 2014 to 22.5 percent in 2016, according to Abdul Zahra al-Hindawi, the spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Planning.

The increase in poverty is due to ISIS taking control of the provinces in the north. This has caused a substantial amount of displaced people and the oil prices to spiral downward. Since oil generates a large amount of Iraq’s GDP, the economy has become incredibly stressed.

In Iraq, there are at least 800,000 people in need of food assistance and 10 million in need of humanitarian assistance.

Children are among those who have been dramatically impacted by Iraq’s economic downturn. According to UNICEF, of the three million people displaced in Iraq, half of them are children.

Schools have also been directly hurt by the turmoil in Iraq, with 138 attacks on schools within a three year period. Now half of all schools in Iraq are in need of repairs if they are to continue to function. Circumstances surrounding children in Iraq have caused over three million children to miss school on a regular basis and 1.2 million to be out of school permanently.

Children are also being targeted and killed as a method to deter families from feeling the violence and poverty occurring in Iraq. Since 2014, more than 4,650 children have been separated from their families.

Humanium recognizes the Iraq poverty rate is negatively affecting children. It works on raising awareness, providing legal assistance and supporting local projects to help children.

The Iraq poverty rate has been increasing and placing many at risk, including children. Humanium is one of many groups that are taking the initiative to step up and do something about it.

– Danyel Harrigan
Photo: Flickr

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Significant Need to Address Human Rights In Yemen

Human Rights In Yemen
Yemen is a nation located in Western Asia at the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. Yemen is also the second-largest country in the region and has a population of around 25.5 million people. Due to the unstable nature of the nation’s government coupled with the influence of insurgent groups such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda, human rights in Yemen is a topic that needs to be discussed for it to move from a developing nation to a developed one.

Human Rights In Yemen

Due to the influence of extremist Islamic groups in this region of the world, Yemen struggles to ensure the rights of its women. As a result, human rights in Yemen are not yet where they need to be.

Even though the Yemeni Constitution of 1994 states that women have equal rights as men, the country still struggles to provide this for all women. Yemen’s Personal Status law gives women fewer rights than men and excludes women from decision making and deprives them access and control over their resources and assets.

On top of this, women in Yemen do not have the right to initiate divorce in the same way a man can. Women must first go to court and justify to the public why divorce is imperative to their safety. Yemen has a horrible record of child marriage. According to a UNICEF study in 2005, 48.4% of women in Yemen were married before the age of 18. Worse yet, it was only in 2010 that a new law stated the minimum age for marriage in the country was 17.

Freedom Of The Press

Yemen ranks at 136 out of 167 nations in regard to its press freedom. The government has total control over all television and can ban anything that they deem to be releasing “incorrect” information. To further explain the severity of this situation, a journalist in the newspaper Al-Shura criticized Abdul Majeed al-Zindani in a 2001 newspaper. As a result of this action, this journalist was sentenced to 80 lashes.

Freedom of the press is a luxury that many individuals in the West take for granted. If human rights in Yemen are to improve, the ability to publish information without the threat of violence must first be allowed.

Freedom Of Religion

Due to the immense influence of insurgent groups in the region, freedom of religion is hard to attain. The constitution of the country declares Islam as the state religion and uses Sharia law as the source of all governmental legislation. Although Yemen does allow people to practice any religion, a citizen of Yemen is not authorized to convert to another religion if they are currently Muslim.

Different religious groups in the region often get into conflicts and attacks on Jews in Yemen are commonplace. Since the start of the Shia insurgency in the Middle East, many Zaidi Muslims were accused of supporting them. This accusation led to these groups being arrested, beaten, and at times murdered under false accusations. For human rights in Yemen to improve, and to allow people to have the freedom of religion that the Constitution dictates, a significant change must occur in the region.

Progress Is Being Made

Although human rights in Yemen are not ideal at this point in time, the government of Yemen is doing much work to fix this issue. Recently, Yemen has been involved in numerous treaties to repair the state of human rights in the country.

Continued political support of these treaties is one way human rights in Yemen can continue to improve. On top of this, attention from the media in countries with freedom of the press will continue to pressure the government of Yemen to improve these conditions.

– Nick Beauchamp

Photo: Flickr

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Turkey’s Tourism Industry Slowly Gains Back Visitors

Turkey's Tourism Industry
Turkey’s tourism industry is vital to the country’s economy. After declines in the past two years, Turkey now reports an increased number of foreign visitors again.

Domestic and international political tensions dramatically intensified the downward trend. Numerous terrorist attacks in late 2015 and throughout 2016, which were partly attributed to Kurdish militants and partly to ISIS, claimed hundreds of lives, including many foreigners.

In July 2016, a bloody military coup against the government of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan was quelled but led to the declaration of a state of emergency by the government that persists until this day. The situation has been used to justify an extensive crackdown on civil servants and civil society, including the closure of media outlets and non-governmental organizations and the detention of journalists, members of the parliament and human rights activists. The violence and political instability left tourists worried about their safety in Turkey.

The neglect of human rights and democratic values has also chipped away from the image of the country’s leader in Europe – an unfavorable image only further deteriorated by the “war of words” he has been waging with EU leaders. Recently, Erdogan has repeatedly made negative headlines throughout Europe, not only with his domestic policies but also with his hostility toward several members of the European Union, whom he accused of Nazism and fascism, for instance.

Visitor numbers from Russia also saw a steep decline in 2016. A diplomatic crisis had emerged between the countries, after Turkey shot down a Russian military jet close to the Syrian border in November 2015. The Russian government reacted by banning charter flights to Turkey and barring tour companies from selling deals to Turkey. Prior to the crisis, Russians had made up the second-largest group of visitors to the country, generating $34 billion in revenue in 2014 by themselves.

According to the Istanbul Culture and Tourism Directorate, the numerous crises amounted to a total drop of 25.9% of visitors in 2016 compared to the previous year, amounting to losses of billions of dollars in the industry, which is vital to the country’s economy: a report from the World Travel & Tourism Council stated that the travel and tourism sectors had generated 12% of Turkey’s 2014 GDP, based on its direct, indirect and induced GDP impact.

However, last year, many beds, beaches and restaurants stayed empty during the summer months, which in turn forced many businesses to drastically lower their prices. This tourism crisis threatens the livelihood of the eight percent of the workforce employed in Turkey’s tourism industry, as well as other businesses dependent on foreign consumers.

After the Russian government’s crackdown on travel to Turkey has ended, Russian tourists now flock back into the country. In April 2017, visitor numbers finally increased again compared to April 2016, but they still remained lower than pre-crisis levels.

Additionally, Turkish hoteliers hope to make up for some of their losses with domestic tourism, but visitors from within Turkey tend to spend less than tourists from Europe or the U.S. The German Tagesschau quotes a hotel operator in saying: “It is not only about increasing the number of visitors and filling up hotels. If the room rates remain low, our problems remain, too.” Despite recently increasing revenues, a challenging time still lies ahead for Turkey’s tourism industry.

– Lena Riebl

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On the Abysmal Violations of Human Rights in Iraq

Human Rights in Iraq
The issue of human rights in Iraq is a continuing problem that needs to be addressed due to the conflict between the people, government and the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). While the name ISIS frequents news sources in the United States, particularly in stories of the abuse of civil rights, the Iraqi central government also contributes to the systematic abuse of Iraq’s citizens.

ISIS uses citizens of Iraq as human shields, hurts them with random attacks using weapons, car bombs and suicide attackers, and blows up citizen areas with landmines. The government, which includes departments like Popular Mobilization Forces, loots and destroys homes, and tortures, executes and “disappears” its citizens. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) also implements the use of child soldiers.

Thousands of civilians are in prison without charge and denied legal counsel and access to their families. They are treated poorly at best and subjected to torture at worst. After extremely unfair trials, many receive lengthy prison sentences or death sentences. Most “confessions” are obtained while the civilian is being tortured.

While most violence and terrorism in Iraq is indiscriminate, women and girls have more restricted civil rights than men. They live in constant danger of sexual assault and domestic violence with little to no repercussions for the perpetrators of such acts. Gay men face acts of targeted violence due to sexual orientation as well.

In 2017 so far, no month counted less than 317 deaths (April) or 300 injured (June) in acts of violence and in violation of human rights in Iraq. In June alone, there were 415 killed due to violence, terrorism and armed conflict.

The protection of the innocent civilians and their human rights in Iraq is of the utmost importance, and so is the protection of the International Affairs Budget with regard to United States foreign policy. Iraq is now known as the deadliest country in the world for journalists and one of the deadliest for children. In a country that is labeled the third most prolific executioner, advocation for human rights is sorely needed.

– Ellie Ray

Photo: Flickr

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10 Things You Need to Know About Refugees From Iraq

Refugees from Iraq
Most refugees from Iraq were forced to leave their homes after the militant group ISIS invaded the region. ISIS began to infiltrate Iraq in 2014, creating a large-scale humanitarian crisis in the region. Since then, ISIS has gained control of some of the largest cities in the country and has caused 3.4 million individuals to be uprooted from their homes.

Increasing numbers of displaced persons are fleeing war-torn regions of Iraq, and in response to the crisis, international organizations are rallying to provide relief. Ahead are 10 facts about refugees from Iraq.

10 Things You Need to Know About Refugees From Iraq

  1. Many Iraqis are internally displaced and have relocated to safer parts of the country. Around 850,000 Iraqis have fled to the Kurdish region of Iraq, where 250,000 Syrian refugees are already living. Many people now live in displacement camps with access to emergency supplies and medical care.
  2. Nearly 16,000 Iraqis were forced into Syria, where ISIS is also controlling various regions of the country. Many refugees pay smugglers to lead them on dangerous and exhausting journeys across ISIS territory.
  3. Mosul, the second-largest city in Iraq, remains in the hands of ISIS. Around 500,000 people may be trapped in the western part of the city with minimal or no access to necessary aid. Those who live in the eastern part of Mosul are living in dangerous conditions as well and will also face the challenge of entirely rebuilding their lives.
  4. In October 2016, a military operation began to free the city of Mosul from ISIS control. Even if the operation is eventually successful and Mosul is retaken from ISIS, mines and other explosive devices will remain scattered throughout the city. This will prevent many refugees from returning home safely.
  5. In addition to food and shelter, many Iraqi refugees require trauma counseling and medical care. ISIS has imposed severe restrictions on the individuals who live in the regions it controls. People are left without jobs and struggle to meet their basic needs. Numerous religious buildings and heritage sites have also been destroyed.
  6. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) provides relief to vulnerable Iraqis. It provides counseling to women and girls, gives monetary aid to displaced families and provides business training to Iraqi youth in camps.
  7. The World Bank plans to offer Iraq financial support for reconstruction efforts after ISIS is defeated. The organization will also focus efforts on rebuilding the social fabric of the country upon the return of refugees. In December, the World Bank approved a loan of $1.485 billion to Iraq.
  8. In 2016, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) provided immediate relief to more than 118,000 people in Mosul. They also gave more than 156,000 people in the area access to safe water and vaccinated more than 13,500 children against measles. The organization plans to continue these efforts in 2017, with a goal of providing 1.3 million displaced persons with relief kits within 72 hours of a trigger for response.
  9. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) partners with local authorities in the Kerbala and Najaf governorates of Iraq to meet the needs of internally displaced persons. It provides medical and mental health services at camps in the region. In 2016, the organization oversaw the refurbishment of three schools and a water network benefiting 8,2000 individuals.
  10. Refugee camps run by the United Nations Higher Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) will have increasing space as displaced persons begin to return to east Mosul. In camps near the city, there are more than 4,000 family plots available for new arrivals. UNHCR plans to develop additional facilities and plots as need increases.

Though the situation of many refugees from Iraq is bleak, hope remains. Organizations are working to provide relief to those displaced by the conflict. The fight to return ISIS-controlled regions of Iraq to their people will continue.

– Lindsay Harris

Photo: Flickr

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Samaritan’s Purse Hospital in Iraq


In October of last year, a coalition including Iraqi, Kurdish and Assyrian troops launched what they hoped would be a final assault to retake Mosul from the Islamic State. Nearly six months later, the battle continues to rage on. Over 200,000 people have been displaced because of this conflict. In northern Iraq, Samaritan’s Purse is working to provide food and healthcare. The Samaritan’s Purse Hospital in Iraq opened on Christmas day and has cared for more nearly 1,000 patients.

The Samaritan’s Purse Hospital in Iraq is located in the northern plains of Nineveh. It has an emergency room and two operating rooms to serve patients who might not survive a lengthy trip to the nearest medical center in Erbil.

As expected, many of the patients being treated are victims of trauma, both physical and psychological. What may surprise people is that most of the patients at the Samaritan’s Purse Hospital in Iraq are women or children. For over two years, Mosul has been under ISIS control. The Iraqis have witnessed their communities destroyed by fire and bombs set off by the extremists. They have witnessed the beheading of those that have tried to resist.

Time seems to be running out for ISIS in Iraq’s second-largest city, and their desperation is clear. As Iraqi forces close in on the remaining ISIS stronghold, the extremists have resorted to using chemical weapons on innocent civilians. Patients at the Samaritan’s Purse Hospital in Iraq and other medical facilities have presented symptoms consistent with chemical exposure. Victims of chemical attacks can suffer from eye irritation, coughing, blisters, and vomiting. WHO activated an emergency response plan to help aid in the treatment of these patients.

These extreme measures being used by ISIS suggest that defeat is imminent. However, even after ISIS has been defeated in Mosul, and the Samaritan’s Purse hospital in Iraq can be closed, a battle remains to be fought — one with new, potentially more difficult challenges than the current conflict. In the absence of a shared, unifying enemy, disparate factions could prevent the country from recovering properly. Without sufficient support and leadership, the victory would be incomplete.

– Rebecca Yu

Photo: Flickr

Education in Mosul: Keeping Hope Alive

Education in Mosul: Keeping Hope Alive
Occupied by the Islamic State since 2014, Mosul has been in the news recently as the site of the most largely-deployed Iraqi army since 2003. As the state attempts to wrest control of the city back from ISIS, Mosul has suffered heavy casualties and numerous humanitarian crises.

Recently, 40 percent of Mosul’s population was cut off from their water supply as the conflict raged into its sixth week. Additionally, the onset of winter intensifies the anxiety surrounding the food supply.

Education in Mosul has always struggled against a myriad of obstacles over the past 15 years, and the arrival of the Islamic State has only worsened a shaky situation. Curriculums were overturned, textbooks destroyed and children were soon being indoctrinated with violent dogmas and the use of weapons. Students traveled to class to learn how to build bombs and load guns.

Families are removing children from school to avoid these militarized classrooms, the physical danger of traveling and attending school in a war zone. For those who have fled the city, refugee camps are often lacking in educational materials and teachers.

Despite these challenges, camps around Iraq are continuing their commitments to keeping education alive. In the Hassan Sham camp outside Mosul, teachers are seizing the opportunity to establish regulated learning environments for subjects like Arabic, English and Math.

Despite the surrounding chaos, the teachers’ dedication is matched by their students’ passion for returning to regular classes, thriving in the positive and controlled environment. When NPR correspondent Alice Fordham asked a young boy in the camp how it felt to return to school, he responded with, “The happiest.”

This dedication is not just restricted to the small children of the camp. Reviving education in Mosul is garnering support from many outlets, with organizations like the Iraqi Institution for Development, UNICEF and the Norwegian Refugee Council promising to aid Iraqis in their goal to continue education for their children.

– Emily Marshall

Photo: Flickr

Anti-Refugee Sentiment Grows Throughout Europe

Anti-Refugee Sentiment
On October 2, Viktor Orban, prime minister of Hungary, held a nationwide referendum to address growing anti-refugee sentiment. Orban asked the question, “Do you want the European Union, even without the approval of the Hungarian parliament, to be able to prescribe the mandatory resettlement of non-Hungarian citizens in Hungary?”

Resoundingly, 98 percent of voters backed the government’s opposition to the EU refugee acceptance quotas, even though Hungary would only have to accept 1,300 of the 160,000 refugees taken into consideration by the distribution plan. Although voter turnout was only around 43 percent, the rejection of refugees and belief in their inherent dangers is no anomaly.

Anti-refugee and anti-Muslim sentiment is spreading across Europe, especially in the wake of major terrorist attacks in Brussels, Paris, Nice and the everyday acts of violence consistently occurring throughout Europe. Opposition to refugees also heavily fueled the Brexit vote.

Within the Visegrád Group, an alliance of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland, refusal to accept refugees is at its peak. The Czech Republic and Hungary have only accepted 520 and 146 refugees respectively in the last year, a drop in the ocean of millions needing asylum.

In 2015, Hungary also built a heavily guarded, razor wired fence along its southern border to control the flood of migrants into Hungary. Many have criticized the country for treating refugees “worse than wild animals;” some have even called for Hungary to be temporarily or permanently expelled from the EU for its behavior.

Even in more accepting countries like France and Germany, growing fear and misunderstanding have lead to more anti-refugee and anti-Muslim policies. More than 20 French mayors have refused to lift their bans on the “burkini,” a full body swimsuit worn mainly by Muslim women, even though the national court system has deemed the ban unconstitutional.

Even in Germany, the biggest proponent of refugee acceptance, anti-refugee sentiment has spread. After several regional elections went to the far-right, Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, plans to take a step back from her heavily controversial open-door refugee policy.

Although the current situation for many refugees may seem bleak, the future may well be brighter. Even after several devastating attacks in France, French president Francois Hollande is still holding firmly to his open refugee acceptance policy. In Syria and Iraq, as well, the end seems to be near. After capturing Fallujah, allied forces have now moved on -to Raqqa, the ISIS capital, and Mosul. The U.S. and EU can now begin to rebuild infrastructure and resettle the remaining refugees.

– Henry Gao

Photo: Flickr

Global Terrorism and Foreign Aid

Global Terrorism and Foreign Aid
The greatest threat of the 21st century is arguably the rise of global terrorism. The devastating effects of this threat have been felt from France to Turkey, to Orlando. Organizations like Boko Haram, al-Qaida and the Islamic State group have been responsible for the deaths of thousands of men, women and children all across the globe.

Finding ways to combat these current groups and stopping more from taking their place must be a primary focus of the world’s governments. Investing in foreign aid is one such way.

In 2009, the Institute for the Study of Labor commissioned a study analyzing over 40 years of data on international terrorist events to identify why they occurred. The study concluded that domestic political instability is a fundamental cause of terrorism because it allows for terrorist organizations to develop the military, strategic and organizational skills necessary to carry out international attacks. Indicators of conflict and political instability such as civil wars, guerrilla warfare and riots have been known to increase terrorism by up to 30 percent.

Foreign aid can help to reduce terrorism by targeting both political stability and civil conflict. Studies by professor Erin Baggott of Harvard University and professor Paul Collier of Oxford University have both found that the more aid is given to a country, the less political instability and conflict there will be in that country. Specifically, Collier found that a combination of policy reform and increased foreign aid to a country lowers the risk of conflict by around 30 percent after five years.

A variety of different types of international aid can serve to stabilize a country and reduce the likelihood of violent conflicts.

Programs that help to improve the agricultural capabilities of a country, for example, can have the greatest impact by increasing the food security of that country. This is important in the context of political instability because the World Food Program found that food insecurity increases the “risk of democratic failure, protests and rioting, communal violence and civil conflict.”

More broadly, Namsuk Kim of the United Nation’s Organization found that “low levels of human development increase the risks of conflict outbreaks and recurrence.” This tends to have a cyclical effect as conflict can “destroy the accumulated physical, social and human capital” of a country thus further lowering human development. Aid programs that can raise the developmental level of countries can help to break this cycle.

Many see the fight against global terrorism as a military conflict that can only be solved militarily; however, this is an incomplete view. Killing individual terrorists will never solve the problem unless the underlying factors that cause global terrorism are confronted. Investing in foreign aid can help to address some of those factors.

– James Long

Photo: Flickr

How Extremism Affects Women in Jordan

Women in JordanThe country of Jordan, a critical American ally, has been mostly ignored while the spotlight has been focused on Syria’s other neighbors, such as Turkey, Iraq and Lebanon. Yet, it has recently been noted that Jordan has taken on the burden of housing as many as 635,000 Syrian refugees, and has struggled with a disturbing rise of extremism. Another issue that has gone unnoticed is the surprising effects of extremism on women in Jordan.

Jordan is the world’s third-largest contributor of ISIS supporters. Research has shown that about 9,000 to 10,000 Jordan citizens are supporters of ISIS or other jihadi groups.

Until recently, young men have been considered the leading targeted group for recruiting extremists and thus have served as the perceived main threat to adjacent moderates and to other countries including the U.S.

In response to a large number of ISIS supporters, Jordan’s government has declared it is going to implement a new plan to fight the threat of radicalization by increasing security measures as well as implementing a project designed to target radical preachers and the young men perceived to be at the highest risk of indoctrination.

However, U.N. Women has published a study that has shown women in Jordan are equally or more affected by radicalization than men. The study shows that women are affected because of women’s lack of public space, the strict gender norms, and the increasing violence against women. These issues often leave women feeling as if they have no sense of belonging, with animosity toward certain political groups and searching for a greater purpose and a greater sense of identity — the main triggers associated with radicalization.

Islamic extremists target women, specifically, so that their children and other family members will already be indoctrinated into the group. Also, women are used as messengers to spread a doctrine across the community and often radicalized women congregate and develop a type of sisterhood.

The causes of radicalization can be reconditioned so that women in Jordan, instead of being victims and perpetrators of extremism, can be allies in the fight against extremism.

In other countries, the report has shown women can serve as monitors for threats of radicalization and help reinforce the status quo within their communities and families. However, this can only be achieved by facilitating the voices of women in Jordan and including these women in the decision-making processes within politics and academia, as well as increasing the opportunities for female imams.

Although Jordan is making efforts to fight the threats of extremism, the effects of this extremism on the women in Jordan need to be addressed. In order to fight extremism, violence and discrimination toward women need to be alleviated. Women have a strong influence over their families and communities; therefore, it essential for them to feel appreciated and feel that their voices are being heard in order for them to feel less inclined to join the extremists. Although women are victims of hate crimes, they are also, surprisingly, powerful influencers of radicalization.

– Kayla Mehl

Photo: Flickr