A Human Shame - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Ananas · 08-24-2009, 02:18 PM

The statistics cited in this article are shocking. The comparisons to the slave trade and all genocides is mind-numbing, almost unbelievable.

Quote:

Gordon Brown and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
Posted: August 23, 2009 10:23 PM

Taking Women's Rights Seriously

The sustained degradation and subjugation of girls and women remains the world's most pervasive human rights violation.

Today, well over 100 million are 'missing' because of increased mortality from inequality and neglect and the majority of the 2.4 million victims of human trafficking, which treats people as products, are female. In its numbers and scale, the systematic discrimination outstrips even the wholesale abuses of the 18th and 19th century slave trade, which we today deplore as an obscene example of inhumanity from another era.

Yet, in supposedly civilised and enlightened times, girls and women around the world suffer unimaginable atrocities: forced marriage, rape, mutilation and death in pregnancy and childbirth. In Sierra Leone, a woman has a one in six chance of dying in childbirth in her lifetime -- a grotesque transformation of what should be the happiest time in a family's life into one of the most dangerous. Discrimination also means girls and women are more likely to be in poverty, denied schooling, deprived of health care, excluded from political and economic decision-making and die young.

In their important new book, Half The Sky, Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn tell very human stories of this abuse, discrimination and neglect. They argue that more girls have been murdered in the last 50 years simply because of their gender than all the people slaughtered in all the genocides. It is a conclusion which shames the modern world because, like slavery, this oppression is officially-sanctioned.

So a great challenge faces humankind: to match the abolition of slavery with the global emancipation of girls and women. This is not just moral reparation -- though it certainly is that -- rather, a fundamental empowerment essential for creating fairer, stronger and safer societies across the continents.

And it is in the interests of boys and men to do everything in their power to unleash the potential of girls and women and to champion their rights, because without their contribution we are all the poorer. So we will not rest until boys and men are persuaded to join our cause and therefore change their lives and our world.

Girls and women emancipated -- claiming and exercising power -- have made an enormous difference to their communities and the world. Enfranchisement also means more pressure to deal with the big issues affecting us all -- women, men and children alike -- transforming lives on the way. Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai has drawn attention to climate change with her Green Belt Movement. Cory Aquino brought democracy to the Philippines, while Aung Sang Suu Kyi continues to stand as a beacon of hope for the people of Burma. Their examples inspire us all and show that we cannot afford to let a future leader fail to emerge because she was never given the chance.

So in Liberia a nationwide network is giving rural women a voice from local to national to international level. A government-private sector partnership is also giving adolescent girls in urban centres, who missed out on a formal education, skills for the job market so that they can support their children.

We are clear that women are key to meeting the enormous challenges facing the international community. Thirty years ago this December, the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. And next year marks the 10th anniversary of UN Resolution 1325 acknowledging the effects of war on girls and women and enhancing their participation in conflict resolution. As these landmarks loom, it is imperative that we drive forward the emancipation agenda globally.

The UN has a leading role, yet its response has been too fragmented and has lacked coherence.
In 2006 a High Level Panel recommended a new, powerful agency that could empower women throughout the world.

Its creation has been delayed too long.

It must be urgently established with strong, high-level leadership to support national efforts and strengthen co-ordination of the UN's collective resolve to improve the lives of girls and women.

As evidence of Britain's commitment we will at least double the UK's core funding for the UN's work on women's equality through this new body, once established. We will also work tirelessly over the next three weeks to help make the agency a reality by the end of this current session of the General Assembly.

One of the new agency's key roles must be to address violence against women. We welcome the call by the Secretary-General for all member states to address the use of sexual violence in conflict situations.

Liberia is working closely with other African countries to establish the Angie Brooks Center, developing women's leadership skills around peace and security and ensuring that concrete action is taken on UNSCR 1325.

And all UK-led programmes tackling security and justice, particularly in conflict and post-conflict situations, will include support to girls and women affected by violence.

And because we know that keeping a girl in school is the best way to keep her safe and her community prospering, the UK and Liberia will give strong support to a major campaign being launched in October. Centered around the FIFA World Cup, it will help bridge the funding gap which denies most poor children -- and especially girls -- a basic education.

The experience in health, as in education, is that when fees are charged, girls and women are disproportionately deprived of essential care. So at next month's UN General Assembly there will be a major event to improve the health of women and children, including support for free access to quality services. This will build on the work of the Taskforce on Innovative Financing for Health Systems, of which we were both members.

Global economic and social progress lies in every country empowering their female populations, with full participation in economic and political decision-making essential.

It is impossible today to imagine that the slave trade could have been tolerated by the world for so long. So our duty is to deny future historians the opportunity to question how this generation allowed and participated in the abuse and suppression of girls and women.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gordon..._b_266578.html

percy · 08-25-2009, 02:23 PM

I'm guessing at a question to answer, so I'll get back to you

streak_56 · 08-25-2009, 02:33 PM

There's no clear question from the poster but the article makes references between slave trade/genocide and women rights, which in itself at face value is pretty shocking but whats the validity of such numbers?

I come from a nation that women are equal but honestly the human trafficing information is troubling. I wouldn't be surprised if more girls from industrialized nations are sent elsewhere to become slaves. As for access to education and healthcare, it depends on dollars in, dollars out, I personally thought that Canada was a world leader in loaning/donating money to other less developed nations to aid in whatever means see fit. Although I could have the wool pulled over my eyes.

filtherton · 08-25-2009, 04:45 PM

I got about half way through an article in the NYT on this very subject. This shit is truly heartbreaking.

Ananas · 08-25-2009, 04:51 PM

I guess it was the sheer magnitude of the numbers and the surprising comparison to slavery statistics that made me sit up. We hear about modern slavery, but it always seems to be happening "somewhere else" and no one bothers to think of the numbers, or the horror of it, or the lives taken by it.

Just recently, there were reports of NKorean women sneaking over the border who had chosen slavery and degradation over starvation. The situations in the Congo, Darfur, Liberia have been amply documented in various media (the film Blood Diamond touched on it). The traffic in Ukrainian girls was shown in film "Eastern Promises". The unequal treatment in various countries is known to us and always in the news (lashes for drinking a beer).

The story hit a little harder than I expected because it forced me to think, and not just in a superficial way. If we condemn the slavery that occurred in the past and fought to end it, why not now? To my mind, this is even worse because there are no communications gaps, no wooden ships plying the Atlantic Passage, no slave markets in the center of town. It's not like we cannot not know. Because there is no effort to end it, the abuses continue and worsen with impunity. It is slavery. It is sad. It is a human failing.

Strange Famous · 08-28-2009, 02:24 PM

atrocities effect both males and females... I hope I dont cause offense by saying the quoted article is one of the most ridulous things I have ever read.

---------- Post added at 11:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:19 PM ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ananas

I guess it was the sheer magnitude of the numbers and the surprising comparison to slavery statistics that made me sit up. We hear about modern slavery, but it always seems to be happening "somewhere else" and no one bothers to think of the numbers, or the horror of it, or the lives taken by it.

Just recently, there were reports of NKorean women sneaking over the border who had chosen slavery and degradation over starvation. The situations in the Congo, Darfur, Liberia have been amply documented in various media (the film Blood Diamond touched on it). The traffic in Ukrainian girls was shown in film "Eastern Promises". The unequal treatment in various countries is known to us and always in the news (lashes for drinking a beer).

The story hit a little harder than I expected because it forced me to think, and not just in a superficial way. If we condemn the slavery that occurred in the past and fought to end it, why not now? To my mind, this is even worse because there are no communications gaps, no wooden ships plying the Atlantic Passage, no slave markets in the center of town. It's not like we cannot not know. Because there is no effort to end it, the abuses continue and worsen with impunity. It is slavery. It is sad. It is a human failing.

Do you suppose, for example, that no "boys and men" have died in Dafur? Are you for real? or is this a joke?

Duskwynd · 09-11-2009, 07:22 PM

This is my first real post to the forum in general and I'm not entirely sure of the lay of the land, so I just wanted to state that my response to this thread is not particularly politically correct.

Anyway, from the article: "It is impossible today to imagine that the slave trade could have been tolerated by the world for so long."

Is it? How many people take even a moment to think about where the products they purchase at Wal-Mart or the dollar store come from and why they are so much cheaper than elsewhere? Speaking of Wal-Mart, last I heard it was the most litigated against company in the world for human rights and labour rights violations (the stories a friend told of what she had to do when she worked there and the ways they got out of paying her are astounding). But that's okay? Because everything is so much cheaper we can ignore that?

How many people have given a second thought to those folks in our cities who are working in deplorable conditions in sweatshops because they are underemployed, undereducated and have no other way to put food on the table? And I don't see only women being subject to this though, admittedly, there are more women than men in these situations. I see people working two and three minimum wage jobs just to be able to afford to house and feed their families and half the time if it weren't for local food banks they'd starve. How is this not slavery?

I'm not saying that this is not happening in third world countries and that the conditions are not infinitely worse, because I know that they are, but slavery IS also happening in the communities we live in, only it's dressed up much prettier. Should we be ignoring it because of that?

Again, from the article: "So, our duty is to deny future historians the opportunity to question how this generation allowed and participated in the abuse and suppression of girls and women."

How about we amend this to say "...deny future historians the opportunity to question how this generation allowed and participated in the abuse and suppression of people"? How about we started in our own communities? Isn't it kind of hypocritical to do otherwise? Look at Apartheid; Canada was one of the most vocal countries decrying the evils of Apartheid. I guess it was more convenient to completely ignore that South Africa used how the Canadian government and people treated (and in many ways still treat) its own Aboriginal population as the model to set up Apartheid.

Oops.

So yeah, while it is important to take action against the atrocities happening elsewhere, I think it would be negligent to do so while ignoring the atrocities happening in our own back yards.

Blessings!
Duskwynd

Ananas · 09-11-2009, 11:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Strange Famous

atrocities effect both males and females... I hope I dont cause offense by saying the quoted article is one of the most ridulous things I have ever read.

---------- Post added at 11:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:19 PM ----------

Do you suppose, for example, that no "boys and men" have died in Dafur? Are you for real? or is this a joke?

Sorry, I didn't see your response earlier.

You get no argument from me that males are subjected to atrocities as well as females. The point of the article was the specific targeting of women, and the increasing numbers of enslaved women. That was the point of the article. I'm sure someone can, or has already, gathered the statistics and written articles on the numbers of boys and men who have been enslaved or killed. I don't think the differentiation would matter to those affected.

I expressed my opinion after reading the article because the events, the numbers and the level of atrocity is incongruous with our supposedly modern society. So, yes, I was "for real", and no, I wasn't joking. Perhaps if you elaborated more on what ruffled your feathers....

---------- Post added at 03:36 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:26 AM ----------

Duskwynd:

As I stated in my previous response, I don't have a problem with including men & boys in the statistical enumeration of modern slavery. The articles specifically addressed the concerns two prominent people have about the increased targeting of girls/women who not only suffer death and other abuse, but are increasingly subjected to rape and slavery as an additional tool of torture (of course, I'm sure there are boys/men suffering this abuse, too).

Rather than divide the discourse between the sexes and which is suffering more, why not focus on the abuse and the existence of slavery period?

Duskwynd · 09-12-2009, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ananas

[/COLOR]Duskwynd:

As I stated in my previous response, I don't have a problem with including men & boys in the statistical enumeration of modern slavery. The articles specifically addressed the concerns two prominent people have about the increased targeting of girls/women who not only suffer death and other abuse, but are increasingly subjected to rape and slavery as an additional tool of torture (of course, I'm sure there are boys/men suffering this abuse, too).

Rather than divide the discourse between the sexes and which is suffering more, why not focus on the abuse and the existence of slavery period?

Who was it that said "There are lies, there are damned lies, and then there are statistics."? I think it was either Benjamin Disraeli or Samuel Clements....anyway, moving right along.

I agree with you completely Ananas - lets stop trying to compartmentalize things and, as you say, "focus on the abuse and the existence of slavery period." Let's also call a spade a spade where ever it is - be it in other countries or in the communities we live in.

Blessings!
Duskwynd

mixedmedia · 09-12-2009, 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duskwynd

Who was it that said "There are lies, there are damned lies, and then there are statistics."? I think it was either Benjamin Disraeli or Samuel Clements....anyway, moving right along.

I agree with you completely Ananas - lets stop trying to compartmentalize things and, as you say, "focus on the abuse and the existence of slavery period." Let's also call a spade a spade where ever it is - be it in other countries or in the communities we live in.

Blessings!
Duskwynd

It was Disraeli...Twain said 'men are fools and women are damned fools.'

I don't think that concentrating on the abduction and slavery of women in particular should be problematic when the conversation is indeed about oppression and injustice based on gender. I am aware as anyone when it comes to the horrors of the world that people inflict on each other and anyone who does should be aware of the significance that gender can play within these scenarios. Look at Darfur, look at the Rwandan genocide, look at the vibrant slave trade in Eastern Europe and you will see the extra brutal attention that women get from their attackers simply because of their gender.

Nicholas Kristoff has been following women's rights issues in his editorials at the NYT for years and he deserves a lot of recognition for so doggedly pursuing a topic that often gets overshadowed in our media reporting of events.

---------- Post added at 03:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:32 PM ----------

The Price of Sex: Women Speak | The Price of Sex

It took me a little while to find this site again...

Anormalguy · 09-14-2009, 04:07 AM

Duskwynd, I agree with you wholeheartedly, but in many cultures females have been and still are treated like crap. While things may not be great for males and females, it's usually the females who get treated the worst. I'm going track down a copy of Half The Sky.

GreyWolf · 09-17-2009, 03:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duskwynd

Look at Apartheid; Canada was one of the most vocal countries decrying the evils of Apartheid. I guess it was more convenient to completely ignore that South Africa used how the Canadian government and people treated (and in many ways still treat) its own Aboriginal population as the model to set up Apartheid.

I won't argue that the treatment of the AmerIndians in Canada hasn't amounted to wholesale, disgusting discrimination, because it has. And we should be ashamed of ourselves for it.

BUT... (saw that coming, didn't you?) the comparison of Apartheid and the treatment of the native population in Canada is simply not credible. AmerIndian Canadians have NO FEWER rights than any other Canadian. In fact, they have more... and should have, as long as treaties they signed in good faith many years ago remain in effect. Any right a non-native has applies to a native.

True, social and economic discrimination against natives is rampant. It is unfair and disgusting. But there are no rights a native loses by virtue of status.

Apartheid, on the other hand, was the systematic denial of rights to groups of people, and the discriminatory classification of individuals into rights bearing categories. That this lead to the economic and social oppression of blacks and coloureds in South Africa is similar in result to the situation of natives in Canada (although Apartheid's effects were far worse than the situation for natives in Canada).

But suggesting that the similar results equates to similar causes does not necessarily follow. Yes, both result from societal pressures to discriminate, but equating the Apartheid legal codification of discrimination with the Canadian absolute legal banning of such discrimination is unfair. We chose NOT to discriminate as a country, albeit not as a society.

And before I get royally flamed, I don't disagree with your contention that our treatment of people in our own neighbourhoods, be they native, immigrant, or simply culturally or racially different from ourselves, lacks the humanistic resolve needed to address the other greater global evils discussed here.

08-25-2009, 04:51 PM	#5 (permalink)
Ananas Still Crazy Location: In my own time	I guess it was the sheer magnitude of the numbers and the surprising comparison to slavery statistics that made me sit up. We hear about modern slavery, but it always seems to be happening "somewhere else" and no one bothers to think of the numbers, or the horror of it, or the lives taken by it. Just recently, there were reports of NKorean women sneaking over the border who had chosen slavery and degradation over starvation. The situations in the Congo, Darfur, Liberia have been amply documented in various media (the film Blood Diamond touched on it). The traffic in Ukrainian girls was shown in film "Eastern Promises". The unequal treatment in various countries is known to us and always in the news (lashes for drinking a beer). The story hit a little harder than I expected because it forced me to think, and not just in a superficial way. If we condemn the slavery that occurred in the past and fought to end it, why not now? To my mind, this is even worse because there are no communications gaps, no wooden ships plying the Atlantic Passage, no slave markets in the center of town. It's not like we cannot not know. Because there is no effort to end it, the abuses continue and worsen with impunity. It is slavery. It is sad. It is a human failing. __________________ it's gritty

09-11-2009, 07:22 PM	#7 (permalink)
Duskwynd Upright Location: Toronto, Ontario	This is my first real post to the forum in general and I'm not entirely sure of the lay of the land, so I just wanted to state that my response to this thread is not particularly politically correct. Anyway, from the article: "It is impossible today to imagine that the slave trade could have been tolerated by the world for so long." Is it? How many people take even a moment to think about where the products they purchase at Wal-Mart or the dollar store come from and why they are so much cheaper than elsewhere? Speaking of Wal-Mart, last I heard it was the most litigated against company in the world for human rights and labour rights violations (the stories a friend told of what she had to do when she worked there and the ways they got out of paying her are astounding). But that's okay? Because everything is so much cheaper we can ignore that? How many people have given a second thought to those folks in our cities who are working in deplorable conditions in sweatshops because they are underemployed, undereducated and have no other way to put food on the table? And I don't see only women being subject to this though, admittedly, there are more women than men in these situations. I see people working two and three minimum wage jobs just to be able to afford to house and feed their families and half the time if it weren't for local food banks they'd starve. How is this not slavery? I'm not saying that this is not happening in third world countries and that the conditions are not infinitely worse, because I know that they are, but slavery IS also happening in the communities we live in, only it's dressed up much prettier. Should we be ignoring it because of that? Again, from the article: "So, our duty is to deny future historians the opportunity to question how this generation allowed and participated in the abuse and suppression of girls and women." How about we amend this to say "...deny future historians the opportunity to question how this generation allowed and participated in the abuse and suppression of people"? How about we started in our own communities? Isn't it kind of hypocritical to do otherwise? Look at Apartheid; Canada was one of the most vocal countries decrying the evils of Apartheid. I guess it was more convenient to completely ignore that South Africa used how the Canadian government and people treated (and in many ways still treat) its own Aboriginal population as the model to set up Apartheid. Oops. So yeah, while it is important to take action against the atrocities happening elsewhere, I think it would be negligent to do so while ignoring the atrocities happening in our own back yards. Blessings! Duskwynd __________________ "A true master makes a life not a living." ~ Unknown

09-14-2009, 04:07 AM	#11 (permalink)
Anormalguy After School Special Moralist Location: Large City, Texas.	Duskwynd, I agree with you wholeheartedly, but in many cultures females have been and still are treated like crap. While things may not be great for males and females, it's usually the females who get treated the worst. I'm going track down a copy of Half The Sky. __________________ In a society where the individual is not free to pursue the truth...there is neither progress, stability nor security.--Edward R. Murrow

08-25-2009, 02:23 PM	#2 (permalink)
percy Addict	I'm guessing at a question to answer, so I'll get back to you

08-25-2009, 02:33 PM	#3 (permalink)
streak_56 who ever said streaking was a bad thing? Location: Calgary	There's no clear question from the poster but the article makes references between slave trade/genocide and women rights, which in itself at face value is pretty shocking but whats the validity of such numbers? I come from a nation that women are equal but honestly the human trafficing information is troubling. I wouldn't be surprised if more girls from industrialized nations are sent elsewhere to become slaves. As for access to education and healthcare, it depends on dollars in, dollars out, I personally thought that Canada was a world leader in loaning/donating money to other less developed nations to aid in whatever means see fit. Although I could have the wool pulled over my eyes.

08-25-2009, 04:45 PM	#4 (permalink)
filtherton Junkie Location: In the land of ice and snow.	I got about half way through an article in the NYT on this very subject. This shit is truly heartbreaking.