Jordan Wilson
9/17/10
11:17 am
Governments are ignoring the poorest people and abusing their basic human rights. This will make it difficult, if not impossible, for countries to meet their Millennium Development Goals that will help alleviate poverty and increase equality across the world. A large majority of the people living in poverty are women. Many governments and other people of authority are abusing women, ignoring them or discriminating against them, preventing them from acquiring adequate food, clean water, sanitation and housing. Moreover, crime and violence against women mainly go unpunished. A lack of proper health care has helped increase the numbers of women and children dying during childbirth. Slums are also in danger in parts of Africa. The city officials plan on demolishing settlements where 200,000 people will be displaced, driving them deeper into poverty.
The main goal of the MDGs is to eliminate poverty and to bring more equality to people all over the world. This is a great and admirable goal. But to ignore the most impoverished and desperate people is counterproductive. The article does not state why the Nigerian officials who want to demolish a slum area and displace 200,000 people. It could be to rebuild a better structure that will house even more people with a higher standard of sanitation and safety. If that were the case, Nigeria will be doing something more aligned with the MDGs and it will be to the benefit of all those people. But because the article is not explicit on why they are demolishing the housing, it is assumed that the city just wants to rid itself of such settlements. Elsewhere, there is little improvement for the poorest people, women in particular. As the majority of people living in and affected by poverty, women need to be a higher priority for governments to begin to make their countries more equal.
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=18995
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