Power Play

1. 81 Countries have not signed up to the International Criminal Court including Seven G20 Countries

2. 111 Countries have tortured people or ill treated prisoners

3. 55 Countries have allowed unfair trials (that’s 35% of all countries world wide)

4. 96 Countries do not allow freedom of expression (that’s 60% of all countries worldwide)

"You can imprison a man, but not an idea. You can exile a man, but not an idea. You can kill a man, but not an idea."
-Benazir Bhutto

" The evolution of the human rights movement clearly illustrates humanity's ongoing struggle toward creating a better world."
-Robert Alan

Power Play is a term used in Amnesty International’s 2010 Report on Human Rights. Omar Al Bashir is the first head of state to have an arrest warrant issued for Crimes against Humanity. This was a first major step in ensuring Human Rights but still atrocities continue to happen. Some of the most powerful governments including the United States have not signed up for the International Criminal Court.

I wonder if this is or continues to be the best solution. It seems as though the International Criminal Court would be practically the best solution because it allows the opportunity for justice to run its due course and because the International Criminal Court deals with some of the most difficult and heinous crimes, it seems fitting that a trial and a punishment decision is made. What these leaders are doing is not considered petty, they are large, erroneous errors that impede a country from moving forward.

I wonder how much of a role politics has to play in countries like the United States not moving forward with the International Criminal Court. Are they afraid that it would symbolically look like the country is recognizing a higher court than the supreme court? Do those in the extremely liberal or extremely conservative side not want to be associated with the International Criminal Court? Or possible the International Supreme Court is not a current priority when the United States is working through repairing their International Image in foreign policy and foreign relations?

I wonder the extent to which people are attached to the International Criminal Court. I understand that the idea is too put on a trial and form a judgment if convicted to the head of state but it really only handles a small part of the problem. Sure, people might not have to live under an oppressive regimes or under the exact same law as they lived under during the dictatorship of their country but there is a mental anguish and personality conflict that needs healing. Often cases involve prejudice or some sort of disability or varying factor that impacts how the people living in a country deal with a situation.

For example in South Africa, a Truth and Reconciliation Committee was formed to deal with the healing process in the aftermath of Apartheid being outlawed. There was of course attitudes to curb and reform throughout the Apartheid era and the end of the law did not come with grand trials or justice but with a goal in mind of true healing. Most often times, it is the attitude that is hardest to change and although I would support military trials and the International Criminal Court to punish those that perform the most indecent crimes against humanity, I also believe that a healing process to merge attitudes and transform those in the minority is equally important in making a country successful after the fall of a regime like in South Africa.

There also needs to be a tougher examination of the police video as the video outlines and the report that police continue to perform unlawful killings in Latin American countries. If the police are well trained and fair I believe it would be much easier to transfer power within regimes but the problems in most countries are that the regimes are in charge over the police. Even with Benazir Bhutto, a woman I quoted at the beginning of the article who was a female politician in Pakistan and the first woman to lead a Muslim state. Although as a figurehead she yielded much power and is seen as a progressive from a left centered political party there was much corruption in her government and in her own power. Even with the successes and failures, her assassination marked great sadness for what she was able to do in office in Pakistan.

I watched President Obama address the US people tonight on why the USA is protecting a no-fly zone in Libya. I believe it too be one of his strongest speeches that articulated clearly the goal of peacekeeping, human rights and lawful government. His actions along with other countries that have supported Libya have demonstrated the fight for freedom of expression and fair government but there is a necessity around vigilance that needs to be continued and exercised.

Overall the status of human rights will never be perfect in my opinion. I believe that we have the power to abolish poverty, to educate and feed the world and keep them healthy. Even if all this happens I think we, as citizens will continue to push for positive human rights that will make our world progressive and steadfast. For now we need to ensure that we stand for human rights which means we agree that everyone should have freedom of expression, the right to a fair trial with proper representations and that some of the most vulnerable prisoners are kept safe from torture.

Below is a photo in pop art form about the Day of Silence. Try it. You might be surprised to encounter what it is like to be silent for a day. I have done it a couple times and have learned that Silence although deafening can be very loud.

To Learn More:
http://thereport.amnesty.org/

We Will use it to make it Strong: The Stories of Blood Diamonds in Sierra Leone

“It has been said that war is the price of peace… Angola and Sierra Leone have already paid too much. Let them live a better life.”
-Ambassador Juan Larrain



As the reality of my summer journey in Kariobangi, Kenya is coming closer, I have looked at packing and what I need to bring. One of the things we’re told to pack is a couple of books and I have decided to bring a classic and contemporary novel as well as a non-fiction book entitled A Long Way Gone which depicts the journey of a boy soldier through Sierra Leone. A couple years back, Blood Diamond directed by Edward Zwick and starring Leonardo DiCaprio came to theatres and I watched not knowing what to expect and left with some knowledge on Sierra Leone and the atrocities that have happened there.

The thing that gets me most annoyed and angry in the world are crimes against children. Perhaps it is because they are seen to be more innocent then any adult or because they are so young to not understand what they are doing. In Sierra Leone, child soldiers were at no shortage and the people who were training these children were also brainwashing them and taking away their dignity. I am not a proponent of gun laws and do not believe that people carrying around guns is a good idea period. I understand that some countries believe this to be a right but there is nothing in my life that is going to convince me that carrying guns is ever going to be remotely all right. In Sierra Leone, children not only carried guns but also were trained on the fastest way to kill and execute and children did just that.

What was most poignant in the film was too watch the son turn away from his father played by Djimon Hounsou. You would think that nothing could break the bond between father and child but for child soldiers they are trained in a way where their perception of reality is skewed to a point that they don’t understand the crimes they are committing. Protecting children and largely protecting people need to continue to be at the forefront of foreign policy decisions. There is no reason that compassion cannot be a driving force in foreign policy decision-making. It is a difficult formula to live by but the possibilities really become endless.

Moments in the Blood Diamond confirmed something I’ve thought a lot about: the lack of education and understanding of the people. In the book, Beyond Borders read last term Cry the Beloved Country; Africans fled to Johannesburg because they believed it was the land of opportunity- not only was this not the case but it was the path to ultimate danger and poverty. In Blood Diamond, some of the informants truly believed that searching for the resources are what was going to make their country rich citing “We will use it to make it strong” but this was just another unsubstantiated argument made by profitable diamond agencies to people who were uneducated. There is a responsibility of consumers to make sure their diamonds are conflict free because there are no guarantees but again in the search for luxury, to often the ethical questions are never asked not because people don’t care but because they are themselves uneducated on the impact their consumer dollar has on the rest of the world.

We see diamonds in enclosed cases with fancy gold bands, what we don’t see is the work it takes to find those diamonds and the work that goes into producing them sometimes costing people their lives. If anyone in the western world had to work for a diamond like the people did in Sierra Leone, then diamonds would no longer be a commodity because what it really is: Savage.

I understand that there is no easy fix and that the idea of human rights being at the forefront of foreign policy is difficult to engage but the more I read and find atrocities in our world the more difficult it seems to help. In Canada, right now; our government is being brought up on a charge of contempt. Opposition parties can call a non-confidence vote as early as this Thursday throwing out the Harper government. What many thought would take a month for the budget to be voted down might now happen on Thursday. These are serious issues, contempt is a serious allegation but even these serious democratic charges are nothing compared to an overthrow and coup that limits human rights and send Neanderthals to power with no promise of righteousness.

The lesson that I have taken away from Edward Zwick’s film Blood Diamond is our ability to make a choice when we purchase a product. Lets pay attention to the details of what we are purchasing. Do we know where this product is from? How is this product made? Why are we buying this product? It starts with something as small as toilet paper and evolves into that diamond engagement ring.

This seventeen-year-old lost both hands to rebels’ machetes. Waterloo camp, Sierra Leone, 1998. UNICEF / HQ96-0566 / Giacomo Pirozzi

For More Information:

Blood Diamond. Dir. Edward Zwick. Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly, Djimon Hounsou. Warner Brothers [USA]. 2006. DVD.

http://www.un.org/peace/africa/Diamond.html

Case Study: Nairobi's Slums

“The Experience of slum-dwellers starkly illustrates that people living in poverty not only face deprivation but are also trapped in that poverty because they are excluded from society, denied a say and threatened with violence and insecurity”
-Page 3 of the Amnesty Report

I for the first time in my life will be living in a slum this summer. I’ve been fortunate in my life thus far to always have a home with my parents where we’ve always had our own backyard. A slum is going to be much different. Go figure right? Some people close to me have lovingly said to me, “So when does your torture start?” “Your choosing to go to hell for three months” or simply ask the question “Why?” I obviously don’t see this as torture, difficult yes, hell: no. The driving force behind me applying to Beyond Borders really had to do with exploring policy and International Development work as well as exploring the non-profit sector more closely. I am happy my placement did turn out to be in education but I am driven by the ability to explore the human rights aspect of my placement. Shelter is a basic human right and millions of people go through life without access to safe, affordable housing. I am going to live in a slum where there is a lack of water delivery to all of the residents and people have to pay 20 times the price of piped water (Amnesty 8).

The biggest problem with the slums in Nairobi is the impact government has had on them or lack of impact. Explicit government policy has led to the growth of these slums and decades of indifference have not helped. Many Kenyans believed that the slums in Nairobi would be cleaned up and sustainable housing would be built post independence but government only say the slums as an eyesore and as a government failure so instead of eradicating the problem, government introduced population reduction movements masked as ‘maintaining law and order’ and those that were evicted from their dwellings moved to new dwellings in other parts of the city increasing slum numbers from 50 to 130+ and slum residents from 100 000 to over 1 million.

The status quo has always been abided by with no real effort to change or improve. For example in 2002, the Water Act was passed in an effort to make sure slum dwellers in Nairobi would have equal access to water as the rest of the city’s population. Water became a privatized institution to bring down costs and improve service. Not only has this not happened but the numbers have basically remained the same: 24% of slum households have access to piped water compared with 92% of the rest of Nairobi (Amnesty 10). There needs to be better agents to measure the inadequacy of the slum lifestyle that people are forced to live in. By not having proper mechanisms to measure the impact of bills like the Water Act and hold governments accountable, the problems will never cease.

The problems only grow greater when it comes to education and health care. In the Sowento East Slum, there are no public schools forcing parents that cannot afford the hefty cost of private schools to send their children miles away to overcrowded public schools. Residents in the slums have highlighted that there is no proper infrastructure in and around the slums so it is a great distance to travel to get to public transportation if they can get to it. Now can you imagine sending your child two hours one way to go to school walking when their only 6, 7 or 8 years old. Unrealistic? I think so. The challenge now is although there is opportunity to attend government’s free primary education doesn’t mean that all slum dwellers have access to that education (Amnesty 13).

In my opinion, it is completely up to the Nairobi City Council that does exist and has passed many laws that have a direct implication to human rights to create laws that are going to protect the citizens housing. Jane Atieno, a Deep Sea settlement resident said “the bulldozer [unexpectedly] started flattening our houses with all the belongings inside.” The evictions that do take place are often illegal under international law because they do not force due process. Now although this is a back-up, it is not realistic. What body is going to step in front of the bulldozer and explain that what is happening is illegal. When the power is given to respective organizations and communities than real change can happen. If the Nairobi City Council would pass laws regarding housing there would be a greater chance at sustainable change because active participation would take place rather than pawning these duties off to International organizations or third parties.

At Pathways to Education (my volunteer organization), we’ve had the opportunity to tour city hall. It is astonishing to learn how many of our daily lives are attributed to the work of our local municipal bodies. The water you use to brush your teeth, the road you take the bus to go to school, the bus you take to go to school, the school you attend, the basketball court you play on during lunch break, the community centre you go to for after school programming. All of these are tied to your municipal government. My point is, in Canada our municipal governments help impact our daily lives yet consistently have the least amount of attention paid to them. I believe this is the same in the slums. What requires the greatest attention is given the least and what requires the most work is consistently cast aside because its not a worthy enough cause. More attention is paid to the republic of Kenya in Nairobi by the people, international community, non-profits and NGO’s then the attention on the Nairobi city council and that is where the greatest amount of change can take place. Active listening skills need to be focused on residents and listening to what they have to say because most of the time- they are the ones who are truly right.

I hope you enjoyed my insights into the slum lifestyle. It would be a dream to go to a Nairobi city council meeting when I am in Nairobi. Just to witness what it would be like. I wonder if its possible. I wonder what my life will also be like living in a slum. My travelers and I are lucky enough to have running water and a propane stove and fridge in our apartment but one of things we are all looking forward to is the possibility of home stays for a brief period to see what life is like for the most vulnerable citizens. I exit with a quotation from Will Durant a U.S. author and historian that scares me but is most relevant to my Beyond Borders journey and this blog, “Education is a progressive discovery of our ignorance.”

For More Information:
Kenya: The Unseen Majority: Nairobi’s Two Million Slum Dwellers. Human Rights=Less Poverty. Amnesty International. London: Amnesty International Publications, 2009. http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AFR32/005/2009/en/3b6e7351-8e08-4b61-9d7b-6e3b86eb0057/afr320052009eng.pdf