Blog 5- Child Brides: More Needs to be Done

This article addressed several preventable measures that should be taken in Pakistan relating to child brides and the age in which a woman should pursue marriage. Amongst these preventative measures is that of instituting international legislature stating an increase of legal age of marriage to 18, a consensual marriage and relationship rather than forced, and lastly instituting more education and awareness for young girls (Salwar, 2015).

These three measures are currently underway, according to author Amina Sarwar, stating that Punjab government has raised the “penalty for parents and clerics who perform child marriages to one month to a six month prison term” (Salwar, 2015). Another hopeful sign of a country free of child brides is the fact that United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children has made progress with “giving women the same rights as men” and establishing “the right to free and full consent of marriage” (Salwar, 2015). Regarding the third measure of education and awareness, UNICEF is stressing this importance and is attempting to get Pakistani government to allow girls access to more education (Salwar, 2015).

There are a lot more measures that need to be taken to ensure freedom for children and though only three things were spoken of and brought about, it is a sure sign that the world is coming around and more things are bound to be done.

                                                            Work Cited

Sarwar, A. (2015, March 18). Ending child marriages: more needs to be done In dailytimes. Retrieved from http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/opinion/18-Mar-2015/ending-child-marriages-more-needs-to-be-done

Time Stamp: 9:16pm 3/20/2015

Blog 5: Clashes erupt at pro-morsi demonstrations in Egypt

Clashes erupted today in the streets of Egypt today incited by pro Morsi supporters. Mohammed Morsi was elected by the Egyptian people as president following the ousting of the Egyptian former dictator Hosni Mubarak. Mubarak's exit from power was fueled by Egyptian citizens protesting in the streets. Morsi like his predecessor was also ousted from power due to similarities citizens saw with him and the former dictator. Unlike his former dictator, He was ousted by the military due to unstable conditions in the country. The country is divided by pro Morsi supporters and anti Morsi supporters. The pro Morsi supporters are mainly islamist who also support the Muslim Brotherhood which Mohammed Morsi is a part of. Since the military deposed Morsi in July, hundreds of Islamist protesters have died while thousands of members of the Muslim Brotherhood have been detained. Mohammed Morsi is currently held on charges of incitement to violence and murder.

Morsi supportes have said they will be intensifying their demonstrations as the 40th anniversary of the 1973 Arab Israeli war approaches. Military troops have increased security at several key points in Egypt to quench any violent form of protests. An early curfew has been placed on the streets of cairo. BBC's correspondent reported quietness in the streets of Cairo far prior to its early 1900 local time curfew. This quietness was a result of a strong military presence. The brotherhood continue to protest because of their inability to accept the military deposing of Morsi; claiming Morsi was rightfully elected by the people.

Under Hosni Mubarak's rule, peace reigned and Egyptians had the freedom to practice whatever religion they wanted to. Under Morsi/ the Muslim Brotherhood, freedom of religion wasn't present. The  regime was trying to turn Egypt into an Islamic state which is not right considering Egypt compromises of other religions. It's just sad that Islam is always being linked to terrorism and violence in this day and age.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24402976

Is Income Tax Unfair? Blog 5, Lakeisha Richardson

A big debate hitting the U.S presidential elections this term is income tax. Ravi Agrawal journalist from CNN wrote an article titled “We’re all makers and takers.” The article talks about the debate over rather high income earners are paying too much in income tax or too little. According to the article, only 53% of U.S citizens pay income taxes. In India, only 2.8% of the population pays income tax, which is only slightly higher than the 1.72% out of China’s population of 1.34 billion. Some people believe people receiving higher income should not have to support the rest of the population. Agrawal mentions a quote from Mitt Romney stating that “his ‘job is not to worry’ about the ‘47 percent of the people’ who ‘pay no income tax’ has divided America.” Ravi Agrawal writes while it seems as if citizens who pay no income tax are receiving all the benefits, in reality everyone is benefited, and we are all “makers and takers.” In the United States the 53% of citizens paying income tax still benefit from subsidies we receive or products such as gasoline. While gasoline may be $4 a gallon here, many other countries such as Europe, India, and China pay at least twice that amount. We benefit from having police, fire and rescue, and even the highway system.

Everyone around the world benefit from government services and/or programs made possible through income tax payments from its citizens. In the U.S this includes getting water, food, electricity, gas, radio services and numerous other needs for a far less price than you would if there were no income tax payments. Income tax helps keep families safe and secure. Only a small amount of the world pays income tax. China and India are one of the largest countries on earth. What happens if people decided it’s not fare they have to pay income tax, but others don’t?  Many families depend on government programs, especially those in poverty. Many families around the world live in poverty. Cutting down on tax will not help the problem. Is there a way to make tax payers feel better about paying tax while at the same time helping families stay (or get) secure? Families around the world safety depend on the funds coming from taxable income paid by some citizens around the world.

http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/26/were-all-makers-and-takers/?hpt=wo_r1

Blog 5: Woman allegedly raped by police faces prosecution

Tunisia: Woman allegedly raped by police faces prosecution

A Tunisian woman is now being summoned to court on indecency charges after she accused security forces of raping her.  Amnesty International has deemed that rape by any security official should be considered as torture because it is used as a form of repression.  The report explained that the woman and her fiancé were found in an “immoral position” inside their car by three police officers.  The couple denied the charges.

  

The woman later filed a report with officials that two of the security officials raped her inside the car while the third allegedly took her fiancé to an ATM and proceeded to extort money from him.  The officers were arrested and charged with rape and extortion.  However, instead of the officers being held for their crimes, the woman was arrested for indecency charges.  Many fear that the treatment of the victim will deter other women from reporting incidents of rape to authority. 

The officers are not coming off as caring much about this woman’s story.  An investigation should take place to help with her story.  This is a clear violation of the female’s human rights; from being raped and humiliation of the charges brought against her.  Authority figures should take the time to notice that there should be a change in their justice system in terms of protecting rape victims and the how authority figures may be abusing their powers.  They are intimidating and deterring those who might actually have a problem from coming forth and reporting it. 

Here is a link to the original article: 

Blog #5 Creator of anti-Islam film arrested on probation violation

Creator of anti-Islam film arrested on probation violation

        A man by the name of Nakoula Basseley Nakoula was arrested on Thursday for making an anti-Islam film. He has been in hiding since he released the film. According to ABC news “The 55-year-old has been on probation for a 2010 federal check fraud conviction and served a 21-month prison sentence. Under terms of his probation, he was not to use computers or the Internet for five years without approval from his probation officer”. A court hearing was on Thursday but the public had no access to this. The film was titled “The Innocence of Muslims”. It is 14 minutes long and has led to a lot of street violence. Violence has mainly been occurring in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt and elsewhere in the Arab world. This beings me to the point that media can cause violence. Something as small as a 14 minute video had a huge effect on people. There is so much empirical evidence that shows that violence in the media has effects on the people watching it. A perfect example would be that within hours after the 14 minute trailer was released violence issues started coming up all over the world. According to my second source, “A vast empirical literature on the impact of television exposure on aggression has accrued over the last four decades, mostly in the fields of psychology and broadcasting. Reviews of this literature typically conclude that there is evidence that viewing violent media is associated with aggression”. This just goes to show you that this is a global controversy/issue that we have been dealing with for years. The question now is at this point what can we do about it? I would say limiting what games your children play and what they watch will help somewhat for your family. At this point I think there are precautions we can take as humans to help our family in decreasing violence but if we can get rid of violence in the media there is not much we can really do.

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=8827607

http://bscw-app1.let.ethz.ch/pub/bscw.cgi/d5907581/Savage-Does%20viewing%20violent%20media%20really%20cause%20criminal%20violence.pdf

A Patchwork of Financing Complicates Foreign Study - Blog 5

The article I chose to read about this week discusses some of the issues with financing a foreign education. Many students who choose to study in a foreign country experience difficulties applying for and receiving loans, grants, and scholarships. For example, the article mentions a student from Bulgaria who is trying to study in the United Kingdom at the London School of Economics. Ivailo Vasilev experienced much difficulty getting a student loan from his home country, and his parents were forced to take out a regular loan to finance his education. Most student loans from smaller countries are not applicable for study in a foreign country, so students seeking graduate-level education are struggling to finance their dreams. People are taking notice of this issue – this month, the European Association for International Education “adopted a charter that said: National student loans and grants should always be portable. Students on grants that cover tuition and expenses while studying abroad should be provided with safeguards against arbitrary withdrawal of their funding” (Dzhambazova, 2012). There is a program in the works now for a loan program for European Union students, although it is being met with some criticism. The opposition states that as the costs of living and typical salaries vary greatly throughout the European Union, many students will face difficulties in paying back their loans. 

As a student who recently spent a semester abroad, I can understand a bit of the concern that students have regarding financing an international education. While I had help from outside scholarships, as well as scholarships and grants from UNC-G, it was still very expensive for me to spend a single semester abroad. I cannot imagine the difficulty that students trying to finance a more expensive graduate-level education must experience. It is interesting to me that we talked about class, race and ethnicity recently, as I’m wondering how this plays into the financial difficulties that students in the European Union are facing. Is the issue of education and attainability rooted in perceived racial and ethnic standards and differences? I don’t have the answer to this question, but I think that this is an important issue to watch. I personally agree with the critics of the E.U. loan program in that it will be difficult for students from varying countries and socioeconomic backgrounds to pay off, but I think that it is an interesting idea, and one that could provide many benefits to students seeking foreign education throughout the world.

Dzhambazova, Boryana. "A Patchwork of Financing Complicates Foreign Study - NYTimes.com." The New York Times. N.p., 23 Sept. 2012. Web. 26 Sept. 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/24/world/europe/24iht-educlede24.html?ref=internationaleducation&_r=0>.

Blog 5: Gender Inequality within the Olympics

On Thursday, February 17, 2012, the chairman of the London 2012 Olympics, Sebastian Coe, asserted the fact of gender inequalities within the Olympics. These inequalities were focused on certain countries, those being Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the small southeast Asian nation of Brunei. These countries were especially criticized by the Human Rights Watch. The Olympic charter has a pledge to equality, which many are saying is broken specifically by Saudi Arabia. In these three countries mentioned, women and girls who want to play sports are not allowed to train, nor participate in any part of the Olympics and have never been able to. The nation of Qatar has mentioned their intention of sending women to the London 2012 summer Olympics this year, but it has not been confirmed.
The Human Rights Watch has reported a case of systematic discrimination against women in Saudi Arabia, specifically in sports and other activities. Gender discrimination is very prominent in Saudi Arabia, including women being banned from driving and requiring permission of a male relative to be able to work and travel. Brunei and Qatar have recently supported the right of women to participate in athletic competitions but have still never sent a female athlete to the Olympic games. Sebastian Coe stated "I think you can use sport in a way to encourage social change at a sensible rate. The world is diverse, it's very complex, there are sometimes barriers that are not going to be broken down overnight," also mentioning that the International Olympic Committee will be confronting the core Olympic value of equality.
I think that this social problem of inequality can be solved, like Coe stated, but that it will take some time and will not happen overnight. To know that only these three places around the world are the main problem causing gender inequality within the Olympic games shows us how far that we've come in history of gender inequalities. These three areas, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Brunei, are all very conservative places, having very strict views on what women should be able to participate in. Qatar and Brunei have shows their acceptance of women being able to participate in the Olympic games, which is a good start, but considering neither have ever sent a women to the games shows that soon enough they will have to stand up to their word on gender equality. Saudi Arabia, being the main issue, is a very tough country to challenge considering their nation's problem with gender inequality. We can hope that these countries will soon learn to accept women's rights and let them participate in whatever they please, especially the Olympic games. I hope to see women from these areas participating in London's 2012 games. At least we are seeing some type of forward movement with gender equality in sports, but we've still got some work to do.


Source: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/nationworld/wire/sns-rt-us-olympics-chairman-womentre81g0dd-20120216,0,4349993.story

Blog 5: Extent of drug Trafficking via FedEx and its Rivals is Unknown

It didn't surprise former U.S. Customs investigator Jamie Haase that a drug trafficker testified in federal court about cocaine sent from Mexico into the U.S.  using FedEx.  Haase said the FedEx Express world hub in Memphis, which handles about 1.5 million packages on a typical night, just doesn't have enough people, drug dogs and detection gear to catch everything.  "The sheer volume of packages that goes through there makes it a win-win for drug traffickers.” It's unclear how much narcotics traffic moves to and around the United States through air cargo carriers like FedEx and UPS, but it's thought to be a lot.  Nationally, Customs seized nearly 5 million pounds of narcotics in 2011 and 4.14 million the year before. Customs in 2010 processed nearly 334,000 flights with cargo and screened more than 57 million regular and express air waybill records. Spokesmen at FedEx and UPS, declined to discuss cargo screening aimed at rooting out contraband.  Haase said Customs officers and security personnel use sophisticated intelligence and technology tools to identify suspicious packages and set them aside for closer examination.  "The mass volume is too much to handle," he said. "They can put new procedures in place and catch what they can catch. It's going to be very minuscule, and it makes you wonder if it's going to be worth it."  According to this article, drug trafficking appears to be a major problem around the world.  Obviously, certain measures need to be taken to prevent trafficking that are not currently being taken.  According to Haase, the measures that are currently being taken are not enough, but it is unlikely that anything will be done about it because there is just not enough man power.  It may be true that there is not enough man power, but if it is also true that they have certain technology that can detect these drugs, then more of this technology needs to be produced.  It has to be taken care of somehow.  Otherwise, this illegal activity will continue to increase around the world.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2012/feb/19/carriers-on-alert-to-illegal-cargo/

Blog 5: September 30th Lauren Epperson The United States, Canada, and resource debate

The United States and Canada and the oil industry are about to launch a new program if the United States legislation passes the right legislation. The project would expand the oil pipelines from the Gulf Coast to Canada. The Canadian Government is excited about the expansion of the pipeline because it will bring new jobs and increased economic activity. The talk of the expansion has raised concern in environmental groups. Some environmental groups are protesting by creating at the government. The environmental groups fear that the expansion will cause major destruction to land, water, and other resources. The government is doing all it can to take precautions. Environmental research has been conducted. One study showed that greenhouse gas emission has grown by 300 percent since 1990. It is the number one source of pollution in Canada. The future of what is going to happen is unclear. The Political Director of the Council of Canadians said “There is so much concern across the country around the tarsand, the destruction of water, the impacts on the first nations people and the amount of climate emission release”. I am taking Introduction to Environmental Studies. We talked about the tarsand and extraction to get the oil. Basically, the United States has such a high energy demand that we have run out of resources of places to get oil to meet the high demands. We are looking for new sources. The deal with Canada will provide more oil but the catch is that it will require a third of the energy to extract the oil than the amount that we can get from the source. In other words, it is not going to be that beneficial for us to make this deal with Canada. If this deal does go through it will change the kinds of social environment problems we will have and some of the relationships that the United States. If the United States decides to pass the legislation we will have more relations with Canada and depend less on other foreign sources. The relationship with the Middle East Oil Companies might change. This could shift the global market and globalization. This shift to tarsand would create more environmental destruction in the United States and Canada because the pipelines cover so much area. If there was a problem with the pipelines it would cause environment all across the United States. It would effect a large of the population and people already see the expansion of the pipelines as a problem. We will waste what little resources we have.