a guide to action

So, here it is, the end of the blog. Speaking from a purely academic standpoint, I am so glad this is over with. Although I think that blogging was an interesting and different idea, I feel that it didn’t really achieve what it set out to do. I think everyone learned a lot on their particular topic, but there wasn’t really any sharing of information going on among us.

But anyway, from a “world citizen” standpoint, I enjoyed the things I learned about. I guess I kind of set out thinking tht conflict diamonds were kind of an isolated issue in Africa and in the past. However, I found out that there were blood diamonds being smuggled in from all over the world, and some are still being trading today. I realized how much our actions really affect the rest of the world.

As far as what I plan to do regarding the issue, I don’t think it will be anything darastic, but I will be doing my part. I plan on making sure that my friends and family are aware of the blood diamond issue, so that we can make sure that our local jewellers have their diamonds certified and know where they are mined and traded.

For those who want to do more, here are some organizations fighting for the cause:

http://www.worldvision.org - World Vision is a Christian humanitarian fund designed to promote and aid efforts to end poverty and war. They also have a section specifically for blood diamond trade and a list of what you can do to contribute ( they have a few offbeat options on there, such as “praying”, but it is still a good site).

http://www.sierraleonefund.org – This fund is designed to help reduce poverty in Sierra Leone and accepts donations to provide education and medical relief to victims of the civil war.

http://www.kimberleyprocess.com - Official KP website, with tons of information regarding the movement and list of things you can do.

 Well, it’s been fun. But this is where I say goodbye. 

conflict diamond policies reviewed by multiple nations

This week approximately 300 officials are meeting in Brussels to discuss efforts and policies to end diamond trading. Today the European Union commissioner said that through anti-conflict efforts, most notably the Kimberley process, there has been significant progress in eradicating the issue. However, she said that more could be done.

http://www.eupolitix.com/EN/News/200711/596ee72a-6334-469c-aa89-0693c58a73fb.htm

women’s rights – megan’s blog

A Guide to Action

Through this blog project, I have learned a lot about the issues women face around the world. Although it was difficult to find stories describing the daily routine of women European countries, I was at least able to find news articles reflecting current trends. My hypothesis that all women essentially want the same thing has shown to be true. Every woman I have researched has sought health, respect, independence, family, and love. Or, as we would say it in America, all women pursue life, liberty, and happiness. If we really examine ourselves, deep down, we are all the same.

Also through my research, I have found various organizations seeking to aid women facing the vast array of problems this world contains. All of them provide ways of donating money to or participating in their organization. If you would like to become more active in helping women around the world to conquer the many challenges they face, I recommend you look into these websites.

Women Victims of the Tragedies of War:

http://www.womenforwomen.org/searchlp3/?gclid=CO3Z06rRoo8CFRUHWAodYCQ5fgmy

The Women for Women organization aids war victims and refugees in many countries, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Columbia, Sudan, Rwanda, Nigeria, and Kosovo. According to the site, 75% of civilians injured or killed due to war violence are women and children. They help these women and their families by providing emotional and financial support, job and business skills training, and rights awareness and leadership skills education. Their help allows women to rebuild  their lives and nations.

WADT- Women Are Dreamers Too:

http://www.wadt.org/index.php?gclid=COv43qfvoo8CFQdqIgodFwS7IQ

Women Are Dreamers Too is an international organization seeking to help women and children who have suffered due to domestic violence. They help these women and children to overcome the severe emotional trama from the abuse and train them so they have the skills they need to pull themselves out of poverty and homelessness. They also teach women to finally the cycle of abuse that many battered women seem to follow, helping these women to finally achieve the independence, respect, and happiness they deserve.

Madre:

http://www.madre.org/

This organization helps women internationally who are facing violations against their basic human rights. Madre not only provides food and job training to these women and their families, but also seeks to force governments to take action against atrocities occuring in their countries and change the attitudes of those living in abusive communities. Madre promotes the education of the young people, both boys and girls, to change perspectives on women to be more equal,  and they help communities to better distribute their resources to everyone.

The Hunger Project:

http://www.thp.org/overview/mission.html

This non-profit organization seeks to destroy hunger in countries suffering from extreme poverty. They teach communities to support themselves through gender-focused strategies so that entire communities may work together to become and remain successful.

• Blogroll

  • Feminist Majority Foundation
  • Human Rights Watch: Women’s Rights
  • International Women’s Day
  • Madre
  • The Hunger Project
  • WADT: Women are Dreamers Too
  • Women for Women International
  • Women in German Society
  • Women in Middle Eastern Life
  • Women News Network
  • Women’s Issues Resource Sites
  • Wonder Women of India
  • WordPress.com
  • WordPress.org

No comments

Comments feed for this article

Your comment is awaiting moderation.

November 5th, 2007 at 9:49 pm

katiegrey

hey megan! your blog is really interesting, and i like the approach you took to it. i didn’t realize that 75% of the civilians killed in wars were women and children. many of the things you have talked about on here i didn’t know, which makes me think that american media is not doing a very good job of informing citizens. anyway, you did a great job!

new hope for sierra leone

Previously known as one of the most dangerous places in the world, Sierra Leone is making a comeback. With a new government in power after the brutal 11- year civil war (fueled by the blood diamond trade), the country is beginning to promote its tourism sector by advertising its pristine beaches. Although having a bad reputation and a serious financial problem, officials hope that investors will see the promise in Sierra Leone and help breathe life back into the country.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200710310612.html

lack of medicine in africa – alissa’s blog

For Love of Money Monday, Nov 5 2007 Breaking News! davisac 5:20 pm Dilemma: Help the world by letting others do research and make generic drugs-or make money? That is the question for most pharmaceutical companies these days. And sadly, the answer is usually the latter. One of the biggest obstacles for many countries who cannot produce their own drugs is being able to get them from other countries. If a country cannot produce its own medicine, it must buy the medicine from other countries. However, this can be a very expensive option. For most Africans, buying a supply of medicine for HIV or AIDS is absolutely out of the question. Many of the problems stem from TRIPS, which is an international property rights agreement. This agreement is supposed to protect the patent rights of countries while still trying to protect against monopolies and abuses. However, this does not always happen. An example of this is Brazil. Brazil asked a pharmaceutical company, Abbott Laboratories, if it could make a generic form of an HIV drug to continue to cut the HIV epidemic. The company declined. Brazil then decided to use its right to allow a company inside the country to make a generic brand. Even though this was legal under the TRIPS document, the US threatened trade sanctions against Brazil and only removed them due to bad press. So I ask; which is more important-a healthier world or money? Trackback URI

No Responses to “For Love of Money”

katiegrey Says: Your comment is awaiting moderation. November 5th, 2007 at 9:32 pm

hey i remember us having a discussion about this situation in class, and it is sad that most of the time companies/ countries seem to act with only their interests in mind. anyway you have some really interesting info on here!

child soldiers in africa – katy’s blog

Classroom Ties

October 23rd, 2007 at 3:03 am (Background and Analysis)

Last year I took a class called Comparative Government. Unlike the usual one semester U.S. government requirement, Comparative government lasted an entire school year. There was only one class period comprised of less than thirty students. With a senior class of well over 700 kids, this is somewhat depressing. The purpose of this class was clearly stated in the title: we compared governments. We didn’t simply sit around and analyze the effectiveness of foreign regimes in comparison to the U.S. government, rather we talked about several governments, as time provided, and discovered how each government was related, how they differed, why they were efficient for the place they governed, etc. There was no “Us vs. Them” mentality yet there was an even split of conservative, moderate, and liberal students. This did not cause argument as one would expect. Instead, it provoked conversation and led to a greater understanding of the viewpoints of others.   

It was a lot of work, it was more government than required for our school, and it was challenging. But everyone had a curiosity for international affairs. That is why the class was successful and that is why we were able to learn so much.

Our teacher constantly persuaded us to attend lectures outside of class, and for students who were usually busy, some very interesting in-class presentations were arranged. One of the most memorable events was a visit from a film crew and 15 year old girl called “Madeleine.”  

Madeleine was not the girl’s real name. It was a sort of code name to protect her family from possible government repercussions. She is a former child soldier from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) who is working with AJEDI-Ka/Projet Enfants Soldats. AJEDI-Ka is an organization based in the South Kiva province of in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo that tries to prevent the use child soldiers and reintegrate them into society after they are rescued. Madeleine spoke to our class about the hardships of being a child soldier—about what they do to the girls and boys and the trauma that they have to face at such an early age. We then watched a short part of the documentary the AJEDI-Ka crew put together. What we learned was eye-opening.

The children are recruited at a very early age and are often manipulated to believe they are invincible. They are provided “lucky charms” or “protective amulets” that are said to contain magical powers that prevent them from injury. So that they will not fear fighting on the lines, they provide the children with drugs and assault rifles—obviously the two are not a great combination. Girls are usually used as sex objects and are horribly abused. The victimization of these children is tragic and inexcusable.

When the children come out of the service, it is difficult for them to adapt to normal lives. Some of them are addicted to drugs, some will have children to care for, and some will have altered realities. One main goal of AJEDI-Ka is to help rehabilitate these children so that they can function in regular society again and go to school or get jobs.  Before this visit, I had no idea what some of these children had to go through. I had heard of genocide, infanticide, poverty, abuse, and neglect, but the idea of children fighting in wars was unknown to me. To think that children were forced to do something that even adults have serious emotional issues with was inconceivable.  

That is why I chose this topic and I hope that my project may inform others of the cruelties that some children have to face and inspire them to find some way to help fight this injustice.  

For more information on AJEDI-Ka go to this website:

http://www.ajedika.org/index.html

Comments

1. katiegrey said,

   November 5, 2007 at 9:22 pm

   wow. that is awesome that your school/ class was able to get a speaker like that. for my blog i’m doing the blood diamond trade in africa, and some of the information i found has talked about child soldiers. It is horrible what some of these kids were subjected to, and it is even more tragic that the majority of people in america have no idea that this took/ takes place. Anyway, I was reading through your blog and you have some interesting things on here and I like your perspective on things. Muy Bueno!

blood diamonds siezed in belgium

It was reported that last week that Belgian authorities confiscated over $20 million worth of illegal diamonds en route from Cote d’Ivoire to Antwerp (consider the wold diamond center). The diamond trader suspected in the smuggling is a manager of Peri Diamond Company in Belgium. If proved guilty, Petri will lose Belgian permits and a place on the stock exchange. Antwerp in recent months apparently had been working to eradicate blood diamonds in the country.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-10/28/content_6957564.htm

african diamonds today

Today, the civil wars in Angola and Sierra Leone have ended, and fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo has largely been quelled. As I mentioned earlier, reports estimated that blood diamonds only make up 1% of the entire industry today. However, diamonds mined by rebel groups in multiple nations are atill being smuggled into other countries and are making their way into the legitimate gem market. Here are some examples proving that there is still a problem that needs to be addressed:

•  Current diamond smuggling has been linked to numerous terrorist groups, most notably Al-Qaeda. The Conflict-Free Diamond Council has proved that Al-Qaeda was and still is directly involved in conflict-mining in Tanzania, South Africa, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
• In 2005, it was discovered that 49 of Brazil’s 147 legal diamond certificates had been forged.
• A 2006 report showed that a large portion of Guyana’s diamonds had crossed at least one national border illegally.
• The UN Expert Group issued a report in 2006 stating that $23 million in conlict diamonds from Ivory Coast have found their way onto the legitimate gem market every year.
• Although diamond mining is a significant part of Venezuela’s economy, the country has reported no diamond shipments since 2005. Further investigation showed that buyers and smugglers were operating freely without reprimand in the country.

Obviously there is still some work to do.

some thoughts

So, the technical aspects of blogging have been going well lately. Nothing bad to report/ complain about this time.

One thing I’m kind of surprised about as far as researching is the amount of news still relating to the blood diamond trade. When I first started this project and learned that these illegal gems only made up 1% of all those produced and traded today, I thought that it would be pretty tough to find information because the subject was kind of dead, done, and over with. However almost everyday there is some article relating to someone going on trial due to their relationship with the conflict, a country is suspected of doing under-the-table illegal trading, etc. This makes me think that this issue isn’t as controlled as is advertised, and that it is quite possible that blood diamonds make uo more than 1% of the industry.

This being said, I plan on covering the after-effects and current state of conflict trading to try to see what’s really going on.  

some relief in sight for RUF victims

On October 24th, Brilliant Earth, a company dedicated to provide environmentally and socially conscious diamond choices to consumers, announced a partnership with The Conflict Free Diamond Council (CFDC) to send medical supplies to two hospitals in Sierra Leone. The medical supplies, sponsored by Medshare, include many prosthetic limbs to assist victims who had their arms or legs amputated by the RUF during their diamond-fueled civil war.

I believe that this can do nothing but good for the citizens in Sierra Leone. Although from what I gather from the article the medical supplies will by no means provide relief for all Sierra Leonians, it is at least a big step in the right direction.

http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2007/10/emw563328.htm