The hungriest place on Earth

I thought that was one of the most compelling and solemn headlines I have read in a longtime. It refers to the region in Southern Sudan that UN officials say has a level of malnourished people that is as at least three times below the WHO's threshold for an emergency.
One of the key reasons for this is that due to ongoing fighting people have been forced to flee their homes and their land, which means they cannot grow food for themselves and have limited means of survival. Its not like they can just pop out to the local shop or go over to their friends house for dinner.

I'm ashamed to co-exist in sort this world where there is such an abundance of food and utilities for many of us. It feel so superfluous and wrong, criminally wrong.

Save the Children appear to be very active in organising food programs and donating to them is an immediate way to help the situation.

To read more about Southern Sudan, there is an interesting article released by Media Global http://www.mediaglobal.org/article/2010-04-22/urgent-food-assistance-needed-as-southern-sudan-stands-on-the-brink-of-serious-famine

Held hostage by your own family - and it's legal.

I read the Human Rights Watch article about a young Canadian (and Saudi Arabian) citizen who went to visit her Father in Saudi for three months in 2007. Its now 2010 and she is still in there because under Saudi law men can essentially control the lives of their female "charges", which is basically any female in their family.

The Father of this woman Nazia Quasi (who is only 24) has decided to exercise his rights under the law to keep his daughter in Saudi Arabia despite the fact that she wants to return to Canada (where her Mother and siblings are) and under Saudi law it would appear that there is little that she can do to go back home if her Father won't let her.

This is completely outrageous, especially given the fact that the United Nations have told (or more diplomatically "advised") Saudi Arabia to get rid of this "Legal Guardianship" system, but it appears to have fallen on deaf ears.

As a 28 year old Irish woman living in Canada I cannot imagine the injustice of a country of which I am a citizen allowing a male family member to dictate how I live my life. It is unfathomable that such a system still exists, particularly in a developed nation.

I'm not sure what can be done to help Nazia and I realise there are two sides to a story but to put this in its simplest form, she is being held hostage in Saudi Arabia. How is it that the Canadian government are not actively involved in trying to bring one of its citizens back? I will continue to follow the plight of Nazia and if anyone knows how I can get involved in creating some noise and concern for her, please let me know.

Empowering Women Farmers in Rwanda

I learnt a lot from this article by Media Global about the incredible work that Women for Women International is doing in Rwanda.
http://www.mediaglobal.org/article/2010-03-06/women-in-rwanda-promote-holistic-development-through-financial-indpendence-and-rights-awareness
I thought this quote, from Zainab Salbi, CEO of WFWI, was particularly thought-provoking and very simply put.

"... women are 70 percent of the farmers in the world, producing 50 percent of the food in the world, and actually about 90 percent of the major staples in the world, earning only 10 percent of the income and owning less than 2 percent of the land. So there’s a problem here.”

The idea that women can, in time, come to have more control and autonomy over their work, and in turn have a sustainable income is the kind of thing that will go a long way towards creating a better life for many people in the developing world. I have so much respect for the work that Women for Women International does. It reminds me of one of the central thoughts in Greg Mortenson's Three Cups of Tea, that if you educate a woman, she will likely stay in her village and educate the next generation, whereas (and I realise this is something of a generalisation) a man is more likely to take the education he got and go to a bigger town to create a new life for himself.

UN Declaration of Human Rights - For beginners

Forgive my ignorance, but I find the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights a little hard to understand. I do understand, however, that any universal declaration of anything is going to be lengthy and meaty. So, I've spent a bit of time reading through each article and have tried to simplify each one by rewriting it in potentially easier to understand language. Of course the law is written in a certain way for a reason, and I respect that. But I think its as important for people to be able to understand what the Declaration actually says if we hope to create more awareness of and interest in Human Rights. This is part of my mission (albeit a pretty slow one) to try and Humanise Human Rights.

Notes:
1. There are several articles with which I had some difficulty understanding the point that was being made. I hope to read into them so I can find out what they mean, rather than write something of little meaning and add to the confusion.
2. As I dug into each article, I made some notes on thoughts that came to mind. I have included these where relevant, but acknowledge they are just my thoughts and are not connected to each article.



UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS - IN NON LEGAL SPEAK. FOR BEGINNERS.
1. We are all equal.


2. We are all entitled to the same rights irrelevant of where in the world we live, what race we are, what we believe in, what the government of our country believes in, xual orientation is, what we own or what we don’t own.

3. We all have the right to live, to be free and to be safe (does capital punishment not violate this one?) (also, if we have the right to live, do we not have the right to die)

4. Nobody should be a slave, slavery is illegal everywhere.

5. Nobody should be subjected to torture or to any sort of treatment that is considered inhuman.

6. Not too sure what is meant by this one, will have to research.

7. We are all equal under the law and entitled to the same treatment and protection under the law.

8. We all the right to have our human rights fixed under a competent tribunal if our fundamental rights have been violated.

9. None of us can be randomly arrested or detained or exiled. (does Guantanamo Bay not violate this?)

10. We all have the right to a fair and non-biased tribunal, be it to establish our rights or to be defended in any convictions against us.

11. (a)If we are accused of a crime, we have the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty under a court of law. In addition, we have the right to have every bit of defense there is available to us.

(b) Don’t quite understand this one. Will have to look it up

12. It’s not right for someone to interfere our home or our family, or our correspondance. It’s also not right to attack somebody’s reputation. In such cases, we are entitled to protection under the law.

13. (a)We all have the right to move around and live within each state.

(b)We all have the right to leave any country, including our own, and return back to our own country.

14. (a)We all have the right to look for and in turn enjoy asylum in other countries in the event of persecutions in our country of residence.
(b)However, this right does not apply if we are seeking asylum from persecution that is not related to problems with the government or from acts that do not relate to the reasons why the UN was created, including the protection of human rights.

15. (a)We all the right to a nationality, to be from somewhere. (is this not against the concept of Terminal, the film)

(b)None of us can randomly have our nationality taken away from us, or be denied the right to change our nationality. (that’s a bit vague..)

MARRIAGE
16. (a)Men and women over a certain age have the right to get married and to have a family. Men and women are entitled to equal rights during the time they are married and if ends. (pretty sure the equal rights of men and women and marriage don’t apply in many countries)

(b) Marriage should be a result of the both the man and woman freely choosing to get married to each other.

© Family is natural and is considered to be the most important unit in society. For this reason, the family as a unit is entitled to protection by society and by the State. (interesting one. How do we protect the family? Is the family unit more important than an individual child?)

17. (a)We all have the right to own property in our own right or along with multiple others.

(b) Nobody will have their property taken away at random.

18. We all have the right to think freely and to be religious as we so choose. This also means we can change what we think and what we believe in. We also have the right, either publicly or privately to talk about our religious beliefs, and we can teach it, practice it, worship it and observe it as we so wish.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH
19. We all have the right to speak freely about our opinions and how we choose to express them. This includes the right to hold opinions without others telling us that they are wrong. We have the right to look for and share information and ideas in any way that we wish, using any form of media that we wish.

20. (a)We all have the right to come together as a group peacefully.
(b) Nobody can be forced to belong to a group that they don’t want be part of.


21. (a)We all have the right to part of the government of our countries
(b)We all have the right to equal access to areas of public service in our countries
© Governments should be organised according to the wishes and beliefs of the people of that country. People will get to express such wishes and beliefs through frequent elecetions that everybody has the right to be part of.

22. We all have the right to have access to social security in our country, and to be able to take advantage of the economic, social and culutral rights that we need in order to live our lives as well as possible.

WORK AND EMPLOYMENT
23. (a)We all have the right to work. To choose what we want to do, and to work in honest and fair conditions. We also have the right to be protected against unemployment.
(b) Everyone, with the exception of no one, has the right to equal pay for equal work
© We all have the right to get fair payment for the job that we do, and that this payment is enough to live a life that makes sure we live with dignity. If needs be, this payment can also be supplemented by social protection.
(d) Everyone has the right to create or join a trade union so that our interests are protected.

24. We all have the right to take holidays and to have paid holidays. We also have the right to not be overworked in a way that is considered reasonable.



FAMILY
25. (a) We all have the right to live to a standard that allows us and our family to be healthy and well. This includes having enough food, clothing, housing and medical care. We also have the right to receive financial security if we become unemployed, get sick, become disabled, are widowed, through old age, or any circumstance that affects our quality of life, and is out of our control.
(b) Motherhood and childhood merit special protection. All children are entitled to the same social protection, irrelevant of whether or not they were born in wedlock (what about parentood, or fatherhood meriting special protection?)

EDUCATION
26. (a) We all have the right to be educated. Early and elemenatry education should be free. Everyone is obliged to undertake elementary education. (this rest of this article is a bit vague)
(b) Education should be about developing the human personality so that we all understand and respect human rights and the concept of freedom for all. Education should promote friendship, respect and understanding among all nations, and racial and religious groups and should go towards helping the United Nations maintain peace
© Parents have the right to choose the kind of education they give their children.



27.(a)We all have the right to be involved in the culural side of our community and to invovled in things like the arts and to benefit from any scientific advancements that are made.
(b) If we are the author/producer of any scientific, literary or artistic pieces, we then have the right to have these pieces protected.

28. We all have the right to live in a world in which the rights and freedoms of this Declaration can be achieved.

29. (a) I don’t quite get what this is saying, Must research.
(b) in the pursuit of exercising our rights and freedoms, the only limitations that we will be bound by are those that are already set by the law, with the purpose of respecting the rights and freedoms for others, and the laws that are there so that we can all live in a moral, safe and democratic society.

30. There is nothing in this Declaration that can be interpreted as allowing any actitivy or act that is aimed at destroying any rights or freedoms that are outlined in the Declaration. This applies to every country.

UN Declaration of Human Rights - not at my school

On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Following this historic act the Assembly called upon all Member countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and "to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories." (source: UN website)

On paper I'm well educated. I grew up in a prosperous developed country. Yet the basics of human rights were not part of my primary or secondary or third level education. Taking a responsible interest in current affairs means many of us have a brief familiarity with the concept of human rights as it pertains to many countries and situations around the world, but a brief familiarity doesn't seem to be enough. In fact, maybe it's exactly that, the fact that many of us don't really understand human rights or feel any sense of responsibility for the Declaration that allows many human rights injustices to occur around the world.

A global declaration sixty-two years ago has a lot to compete with. But if the last ten years formed a decade of technological innovation could the next ten be about human innovation? In other words we have (in theory) created a constantly connected world meaning that many people with no real voice should be empowered and represented. But how can this theory become a reality, what can we change in this decade to really impact continued human rights injustices?

I will explore different thoughts such as the current model of capitalism and the more interesting creative capitalism. I'll look at how young people (and old) are educated about human rights around the world. It could also be interesting to look at the consumption of travel, with more people and previously unexplored destinations, how could this impact increased knowledge of human rights. I also want to consider the fact that the application of human rights is just as important in developed as well as non-developed countries.