Somalia is the World’s Worst Humanitarian Crisis

BBC NEWS | Africa | ‘Thousands’ desert Somalia forces.

Somalians sit in the sun as they wait for food provided during Operation Provide Relief, Somalia

Somalia, the African country where 13 year old Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow was stoned to death last month, is a the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, even worse than Sudan, according to the UN.

• The population of Somalia is 8.4 million.
• More than 3.2 million need humanitarian aid
• More than 1.1 million are displaced.
• Refugees from Somalia last year: 457,000
• Doctors per 100,000 people: 4
• Population with access to clean water: 29%
• Children under-five under height for age: 38%
• Under-five mortality rate: 145 per 1000 live births
• Children attending primary school: Boys -24%; Girls – 20%

Humanitarian aid often fails to reach those who need it because of conflict, high inflation, corruption, pirate attacks on sea deliveries, roadblocks and armed attacks on aid convoys.

Somalia is one of the most dangerous places in the world to work so aid agencies do not base personnel there. 80% of Somalia’s security forces; soldiers, officers and police have deserted, taking with them weapons, uniforms and vehicles.

Piracy is a multi-million dollar industry employing between 1000-1500 pirates and using over 60 small boats and mother ships. Pirates invoke legitimate Somali grievances regarding foreign exploitation of marine resources such as illegal fishing and toxic waste dumping in Somali waters, thus gaining community support. In September, the pirates seized a Ukrainian freighter loaded with 33 battle tanks and off Kenya in November they seized a Saudi supertanker carrying $100m worth of crude oil. So far this year, they have attacked 100 ships and raked in an estimated $30m in ransoms for ships and crews. At present, the pirates hold 14 ships and 250 crew.

It is piracy that has finally provoked some action. Today, the Bush administration asked the UN for authorization to hunt Somali pirates on land with the co-operation of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government in one of the Bush administration’s last major foreign policy initiatives. The US circulated a draft Security Council resolution proposing that all nations and regional groups co-operating with Somalia’s government in the fight against piracy and armed robbery “may take all necessary measures ashore in Somalia”, including its airspace.

I can’t imagine how this intervention will make life better for the people of Somalia. Stopping the piracy is just treating a symptom. How will the people be better off if they are bombed by American planes? If peace, security and the rule of law were restored to Somalia, and all of the people had a chance for a decent life then the piracy would stop.

Sins of the Father

P.O.V. – Inheritance | PBS

Yesterday was the 60th anniversary of the adoption by the United Nations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Drafted in the aftermath of the appalling suffering, death and destruction of World War II, the Declaration expresses humankind’s deepest aspirations for a better future for all people.  Fittingly, PBS premiered the film Inheritance last night on P.O.V. – a showcase for independent, non-fiction films.  P.O.V.’s website introduces the film with these words:

Imagine watching Schindler’s List and knowing the sadistic Nazi camp commandant played by Ralph Fiennes was your father. Inheritance is the story of Monika Hertwig, the daughter of mass murderer Amon Goeth. Hertwig has spent her life in the shadow of her father’s sins, trying to come to terms with her “inheritance.” She seeks out Helen Jonas, who was enslaved by Goeth and who is one of the few living eyewitnesses to his unspeakable brutality. The women’s raw, emotional meeting unearths terrible truths and lingering questions about how the actions of our parents can continue to ripple through generations.

At the beginning of the film, Monika says, “Every father who is in a war should think about his children… they will never live a normal life.”

During the 60 years since the Declaration was adopted the world has continued to witness appalling acts that violate human dignity.  I’ve written a number of times in recent weeks of the stoning of Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow. I was shakened and sickened to my core by the callous and brutal murder of that little girl, but I didn’t think at all about what the effect of this atrocity would be on the children of those 50 men who threw the stones.

Around the world, men, women, and children still march off to war. Civilian populations are terrorized. Inheritance reminds us that future generations will feel the effects of this violence. Our children live by the choices we make.

You can watch the entire film online until January 4, 2009 at: http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2008/inheritance/fullfilm.html

Questions about the Sex Trade in Amsterdam

Amsterdam’s brothels and cannabis cafés furious over mayor’s ‘clean-up’ | World news | The Observer.

Red Light District in Amsterdam

I’ve been accused of naiveté regarding the sex industry. I’ve had a hard time imagining that some women freely choose to become prostitutes. I’ve always assumed that they had few other options, that someone hurt them when they were young, or that they were supporting a drug habit, or that they were somehow forced into it. Now, after lengthy debate I am prepared to concede that some women do freely choose to enter the sex trade, but I still have questions. This article about the ‘clean-up’ in Amsterdam raises them again.

Here’s why. According to this article from the Guardian, the city of Amsterdam is concerned about the involvement of organized crime in the city’s sex and drug trades. Behind the facade of Amsterdam’s jovial party – city of sex, drugs and rock and roll image, is a sordid underbelly of “money laundering, extortion and human trafficking.” People who are making money in Amsterdam from prostitution and cannabis are furious about the ‘clean up’ and it’s no wonder. The top three most profitable industries in the world today are the arms trade, human trafficking and the drug trade. We’ve got two out of three here. The prostitutes’ union, De Rode Draad says that limiting the sex trade will cause the women to go out on the streets and into the hotels, compromising their health and safety.

So here’s my questions and I’d love someone to answer them.

1. How can anyone tell if the women in the windows are selling themselves or being sold by others?

2. Can prostitutes in Amsterdam refuse to have unsafe sex or sex acts they do not want to perform without suffering retribution?

3. Women who belong to the union receive health screenings, do the customers?

4. Am I correct in assuming that the members of De Rode Draad are women who have freely chosen to be prostitutes?

5. Does De Rode Draad look out for trafficked women and girls and try to assist them in any way?

I’m looking forward to some answers.

for Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow

for Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow, originally uploaded by mezze.

13 years old, raped by three, then convicted for ‘adultery’ and stoned to death by 50 men, arranged by the al-Shabab militia in Somalia. There were lots of spectators.

There is a Cholera Epidemic in Zimbabwe. What is Cholera Anyway?

Cholera Epidemic Is Latest Zimbabwe Crisis to Spill Into Neighboring Countries – washingtonpost.com.

When I read this headline I thought, “Cholera was a disease that killed a lot of people in Victorian London.” Then it occurred to me that I really didn’t know what cholera is, so I looked it up.

Cholera causes diarrhea so severe and so acute that unless oral rehydration therapy is started promptly, death can occur within hours. The diarrhea results in such extreme dehydration that victims become dried up caricatures of their former selves before dying. The description of the scene this week outside the hospital in Musina, a South African border town crowded with refugees from Zimbabwe explains why cholera is feared more than many other serious diseases because it is so dehumanizing.

Beneath trees exploding with yellow and red blossoms, more than 100 adults and children lay inside steamy tents and under bushes, intravenous tubes stretching from the backs of their hands to bags of liquid hanging from tree trunks. Some, suffering through the gravest stages of an illness that causes severe diarrhea and dehydration, wore nothing but adult-size diapers.

People get cholera when they do not have access to clean water. Cholera is transmitted from person to person through ingestion of water contaminated with cholera infected feces.  This epidemic is a direct result of the dire political situation in Zimbabwe and the resulting destruction of infrastucture and health systems. In recent months the disease has killed 570 people and infected 12,700 more. Now cholera is spreading to neighboring countries including Botswana and Mozambique.

Clever Kachitigu (23) said, “We’re just praying that the Lord will help us, because our president is killing us now.”

Visit: UNICEF to learn more and see what you can do to help.

Why Does Honor Killing Occur? How can we end it?

At the DPI briefing in November on violence against women this video about honor killing was shown.

In 2003, a man fatally stabbed his daughter twenty-five times because she refused to tell him where she had been following a three-week absence. In 2002, a man killed his sister after seeing her “talking to a strange man during a wedding party.” In 2001, a man killed his sister “after seeing a man leave her house.”   Honoring the Killers – Human Rights Watch

The United Nations Population Fund estimates that 5000 honor killings occur worldwide each year. Most victims of honor killings are women and girls who are said to have dishonored their families by refusing to enter into an arranged marriage, attempting to leave an abusive husband, being the victim of sexual assault, having a relationship outside of the their own tribal or religious group or allegedly committing adultery. There is evidence that some men have been killed by their relatives because they were homosexuals.

Honor killings had been reported in Egypt, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, Punjab, the Syrian Arab Republic, Turkey, Yemen, and other Mediterranean and Persian Gulf countries. They have also taken place in Europe and North America within migrant communities.

Honor killings, regardless of where they take place are a gross violation of human rights. In some countries where the practice is deeply rooted, ending impunity for killers and programs to change the minds and hearts of men and boys is slowly leading to change.

Countries in Europe and North America treat honor killings like any other murder, but struggle to find ways to integrate migrants into western society that are religiously and culturally sensitive. For an interesting perspective on this read: “The Whore Lived Like a German”,  from Spiegel Online International.