By Jenny Higgins
It’s 9.20am and I’m standing in a corrugated iron shed, trying to get the group of 25 third graders I am teaching to settle down. It hasn’t been the most peaceful of lessons – first a dog staged a classroom invasion, then two children had a minor disagreement from which they had to be physically separated, and then the baby from next door decided that she wanted to help teach the class and wouldn’t stop screaming until I put her on my hip.
I definitely didn’t have these problems when I was working in schools in London.
But, as bizarre as it gets, I wouldn’t change it. These children are the reason that in the last year I’ve run 10k (with no training whatsoever), walked 24 miles in torrential rain, begged anyone I could think of for raffle prizes, and endlessly badgered friends, family and strangers alike to donate money, attend fundraisers and donate clothes, toys or books.
These children are the reason that I gave up my job, my house – my life! – in London, and moved to Ethiopia.
I first met them when I went on holiday to Ethiopia in October 2006, and I had some Birr (the local currency) left over. I wanted to donate it to a small, Ethiopian-run organisation, so in the backstreets of Addis Ababa, we came across Hanna Orphans Home.
The orphanage at that time supported just over 90 children who had lost parents to Aids (it’s now well over 200) and as the founder, Hanna Teshome, showed me round, I realised how easily I could help.
So, when I returned home to England, I embarked on one of the most unplanned – and most rewarding – schemes of my life; setting up the Hanna’s Orphanage charity.
An email sent to various friends managed to elicit bags of clothes, shoes and books. People started volunteering to help, money started trickling in, and I began to drown in forms as we registered ourselves as an official charity.
I made frequent trips to Addis, laden with resources, until finally, last year, we decided we needed someone to be out at the orphanage to oversee everything.
So, on July 28, I boarded a plane and moved to Ethiopia. It’s definitely an experience I wouldn’t have missed. I get to see the difference our small contribution makes, and I get to spend time with these children who are bright, funny and turning into fantastic young people, despite the things they’ve been through.
Take Samuel for instance. His mother died from HIV and his father married a woman who had children of her own and didn’t want another mouth to feed. So she told the police that Samuel was stealing from her, and he was taken to a remand centre – aged eight.
After spending 10 months in a remand home, he was released into the care of the orphanage and is now doing really well at school as well as being a mean football player.
Or there’s a 15-year-old girl who was sexually abused by her father from the age of five. She was rescued by neighbours when her mother died and they realised what was going on. The court put her father in prison and assigned her and her brothers to the orphanage. Although still quiet and wary of strangers, she is becoming more confident with every day.
The orphanage itself is growing fast. There are branches in Gotera and Shiro Meda in Addis Ababa, one branch in Harar and one in Jimma, with one soon to open in Hosanna. Generally, the children live in “families” of seven or eight, with a “house mother”, and attend school or are tutored at home.
The children are brought up as part of the community, so they are not isolated or made to feel different. It also means that the orphanage can act as a resource centre for the local community – some of whom are worse off than the orphanage children.
Our charity, Hanna’s Orphanage, is not a huge organisation but we send what we can when we can, and we all work hard to raise as much money as possible. We’re all volunteers (including me) and take no expenses so as much money as possible goes directly to the orphanage.
We’re helping young people in the UK as well, creating links between schools in the UK and in Ethiopia, and providing exposure for up and coming bands through our fundraising gigs.
My own life has completely changed. I work with another NGO in the north of Ethiopia (I have to support myself somehow) so I split my time between the gorgeous mountains of Lalibela and the hot, busy city of Addis Ababa.
I still help the children with their English – between dog and baby visits – but I also help the orphanage to write project proposals, newsletters and action plans. And when I’m playing football in the hot sun with 20 or so screaming 10-year-olds, my life in England seems very, very far away.
• For more information visit: www.hannasorphanage.org.uk
Source: Telegraph.co.uk
NEW YORK (UN Population Division/DESA) World population is projected to reach 7 billion early in 2012, up from the current 6.8 billion, and surpass 9 billion people by 2050, reveals the 2008 Revision of the official United Nations population estimates and projections, released today.
Ethiopia population count
1950: 18,434,000
2009: 82,825,000
2015: 96,237,000
2025: 119,822,000
2050: 173,811,000
(Source: DESA)
Click here for detailed figures.
Most of the additional 2.3 billion people will enlarge the population of developing countries, which is projected to rise from 5.6 billion in 2009 to 7.9 billion in 2050, and will be distributed among the population aged 15-59 (1.2 billion) and 60 or over (1.1 billion) because the number of children under age 15 in developing countries will decrease.
In contrast, the population of the more developed regions is expected to change minimally, passing from 1.23 billion to 1.28 billion, and would have declined to 1.15 billion were it not for the projected net migration from developing to developed countries, which is projected to average 2.4 million persons annually from 2009 to 2050.
The results of the 2008 Revision incorporate the findings of the most recent national population censuses and of numerous specialized population surveys carried out around the world. The 2008 Revision provides the demographic data and indicators to assess trends at the global, regional and national levels and to calculate many other key indicators commonly used by the United Nations system.
Population in developing countries still young
Currently the population of the less developed regions is still young, with children under age 15 accounting with 29 per cent of the population and young persons aged 15 to 24 accounting for a further 19 per cent. In fact, the numbers of children and young people in the less developed regions are at an all time high (1.7 billion children and 1.1 billion young people), posing a major challenge for their countries, which are faced with the necessity of providing education or employment to large cohorts of children and youth even as the current economic and financial crisis unfolds. The situation in the least developed countries is even more pressing because children under 15 constitute 40 per cent of their population and young people account for a further 20 per cent.
In the more developed regions, children and youth account for just 17 per cent and 13 per cent of the population, respectively, and whereas the number of children is expected to change little in background image the future, remaining close to 200 million, the number of young people is projected to decrease from 160 million currently to 134 million in 2050.
In both the more and the less developed regions, the number of people in the main working ages, 25 to 59, is at an all time high: 605 million and 2.5 billion, respectively. Yet, whereas in the more developed regions that number is expected to peak over the next decade and stagnate thereafter, in the less developed regions it will continue rising, reaching 3.6 billion in 2050 and increasing by nearly half a billion over the next decade. These population trends justify the urgency of supporting employment creation in developing countries as part of any strategy to address the global economic crisis that the world is experiencing.
Globally, population aged 60 or over is the fastest growing
Furthermore, the implications of population ageing cannot be dismissed. In the more developed regions, the population aged 60 or over is increasing at the fastest pace ever (growing at 1.9 per cent annually) and is expected to increase by more than 50 per cent over the next four decades, rising from 264 million in 2009 to 416 million in 2050. Compared with the more developed world, the population of the less developed regions is ageing rapidly. Over the next two decades, the population aged 60 or over in the developing world is projected to increase at rates far surpassing 3 per cent per year and its numbers are expected to rise from 475 million in 2009 to 1.6 billion in 2050.
Projected trends are contingent on fertility declines in developing countries
Population ageing results mainly from declining fertility. According to the 2008 Revision, fertility in the less developed regions as a whole is expected to drop from 2.73 children per woman in 2005-2010 to 2.05 in 2045-2050. The reduction projected for the group of 49 least developed countries is even steeper: from 4.39 children per woman to 2.41 children per woman. To achieve such reductions, it is essential that access to family planning expands, particularly in the least developed countries. Around 2005, the use of modern contraceptive methods in the least developed countries was a low 24 per cent among women of reproductive age who were married or in union and a further 23 per cent of those women had an unmet need for family planning. The urgency of realizing the projected reductions of fertility is brought into focus by considering that, if fertility were to remain constant at the levels estimated for 2005-2010, the population of the less developed regions would increase to 9.8 billion in 2050 instead of the 7.9 billion projected by assuming that fertility declines. That is, without further reductions of fertility, the world population could increase by nearly twice as much as currently expected.
Projected growth linked to sustained progress in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment
The projected population trends also depend on achieving a major increase in the proportion of AIDS patients who get anti-retroviral therapy to treat the disease and on the success of efforts to control the further spread of HIV.
In the 2008 Revision, the impact of the epidemic was modeled in 58 countries where adult HIV prevalence reached 1 per cent or higher at some point during 1980-2007 or where the number of people living with HIV/AIDS was at least half a million in 2007. Among those 58 countries, 38 are in Africa and 15 had an adult HIV prevalence of at least 5 per cent in 2007.
The 2006 Revision modeled the impact of HIV/AIDS in 62 affected countries, five of which have been dropped from the list of affected countries in the 2008 Revision because their HIV prevalence was revised downward (Gambia, Madagascar, Moldova, Myanmar and Niger) and one background image has been added (Mauritius). In projecting the effect of the disease, it has been assumed that 26 of the affected countries will manage to provide by 2015 anti-retroviral treatment to 70 per cent or more of the persons suffering from AIDS and that another nine will reach treatment levels ranging from 50 per cent to 60 per cent by 2015. In the rest of the affected countries, treatment levels are expected to be lower, reaching between 40 per cent and 50 per cent by 2015. It is further assumed that persons receiving treatment survive, on average, 27.8 years instead of the 11.7 years expected in the absence of treatment.
These assumptions together with the generally lower prevalence levels estimated for recent years lead to an estimated 30 million fewer deaths during 2005-2020 than were projected in the 2006 Revision for the 58 countries concerned. However, the realization of these new projections depends on sustained funding for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programmes in the affected countries, funding that is highly dependent on the commitment of donor countries and needs to be maintained despite the global economic downturn.
The full results of the 2008 Revision will be issued in a series of three volumes and a wall chart that are currently under preparation. Data on particular countries can also be accessed online at the website of the Population Division (www.unpopulation.org).
For further information on the 2008 Revision, please contact Ms. Hania Zlotnik, Director, Population Division, New York, NY 10017, USA, (Tel: (212) 963-3179, Fax: (212) 963-2147).
2008 Revision of World Population Prospects
Key Findings
1. In July 2009, the world population will reach 6.8 billion, 313 million more than in 2005 or a gain of 78 million persons annually. Assuming that fertility levels continue to decline, the world population is expected to reach 9.1 billion in 2050 and to be increasing by about 33 million persons annually at that time, according to the medium variant.
2. Future population growth is highly dependent on the path that future fertility takes. In the medium variant, fertility declines from 2.56 children per woman in 2005-2010 to 2.02 children per woman in 2045-2050. If fertility were to remain about half a child above the levels projected in the medium variant, world population would reach 10.5 billion by 2050. A fertility path half a child below the medium would lead to a population of 8 billion by mid-century. Consequently, population growth until 2050 is inevitable even if
the decline of fertility accelerates.
3. In the more developed regions, fertility has increased slightly in recent years so that its estimated level in 2005-2010, 1.64 children per woman, according to the 2008 Revision is higher than the one reported in the 2006 Revision (1.60 children per woman). As a result of the slightly higher projected fertility and a sustained net in-migration averaging 2.4 million annually, the population of the more developed regions is expected to increase slightly from 1.23 billion in 2009 to 1.28 billion in 2050.
4. The population of the 49 least developed countries is still the fastest growing in the world, at 2.3 per cent per year. Although its rate of increase is expected to moderate significantly over the next decades, the population of the least developed countries is projected to double, passing from 0.84 billion in 2009 to 1.7 billion in 2050. Growth in the rest of the developing world is also projected to be robust, though less rapid, with its population rising from 4.8 billion to 6.2 billion between 2009 and 2050 according to the medium variant.
5. Slow population growth brought about by reductions in fertility leads to population ageing, that is, it produces populations where the proportion of older persons increases while that of younger persons decreases. In the more developed regions, 22 per cent of population is already aged 60 years or over and that proportion is projected to reach 33 per cent in 2050. In developed countries as a whole, the number of older persons has already surpassed the number of children (persons under age 15), and by 2050 the number of older persons in developed countries will be more than twice the number of children.
6. Population ageing is less advanced in developing countries. Nevertheless, the populations of a majority of them are poised to enter a period of rapid population ageing. In developing countries as a whole, just 9 per cent of the population is today aged 60 years or over but that proportion will more than double by 2050, reaching 20 per cent that year.
7. Globally, the number of persons aged 60 or over is expected almost to triple, increasing from 739 million in 2009 to 2 billion by 2050. Furthermore, already 65 per cent of the background image world’s older persons live in the less developed regions and by 2050, 79 per cent will do so.
8. In ageing populations, the numbers of persons with older ages grow faster the higher the age range considered. Thus, whereas the number of persons aged 60 or over is expected to triple, that of persons aged 80 or over (the oldest-old) is projected to increase four-fold, to reach 395 million in 2050. Today, just about half of the oldest-old live in developing countries but that share is expected to reach 69 per cent in 2050.
9. Although the population of all countries is expected to age over the foreseeable future, the population will remain relatively young in countries where fertility is still high, many of which are experiencing very rapid population growth. High population growth rates prevail in many developing countries, most of which are least developed. Between 2010 and 2050, the populations of 31 countries, the majority of which are least developed, will double or more. Among them, the populations of Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Niger, Somalia, Timor-Leste and Uganda are projected to increase by 150 per cent or more.
10. In sharp contrast, the populations of 45 countries or areas are expected to decrease between 2010 and 2050. These countries include Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cuba, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, the Republic of Korea, Romania, the Russian Federation and Ukraine, all of which are expected to see their populations decline by at least 10 per cent by 2050.
11. Population growth remains concentrated in the populous countries. During 2010-2050, nine countries are expected to account for half of the world’s projected population increase: India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, the United States of America, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Republic of Tanzania, China and Bangladesh, listed according to the size of their contribution to global population growth.
12. Fertility has continued to fall in the vast majority of countries in the less developed regions. The number of developing countries with high fertility (5 children or more per woman) declined from 59 in 1990-1995 to 27 in 2005-2010, and their share of the world population dropped from 13 per cent to 9 per cent. Over the same period, the number of developing countries with fertility levels that do not ensure the replacement of the population increased from 15 to 38.
13. Most developed countries have had below-replacement fertility (below 2.1 children per woman) for two or three decades. Among the 45 developed countries with at least 100,000 inhabitants in 2009, 42 had below-replacement fertility in 1990-1995 and 44 did in 2005-2010. However, between the 2000-2005 and 2005-2010, 34 developed countries experienced slight increases in fertility. For the more developed regions as a whole, total fertility increased from 1.58 to 1.64 children per woman between those two periods. Yet, in 2005-2010, 25 developed countries, including Japan and most of the countries in Southern and Eastern Europe, still had fertility levels below 1.5 children per woman.
14. In 2005-2010, the 76 countries with below-replacement fertility accounted for 47 per cent of the world population. The most populous developing countries with below-replacement fertility are China, Brazil, Viet Nam, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Thailand and the Republic of Korea, in order of population size.
15. Globally, total fertility is expected to fall from 2.56 children per woman in 2005-2010 to 2.02 in 2045-2050 according to the medium variant. However, in the more developed regions, total fertility is projected to increase from 1.64 children per woman currently to 1.80 in 2045-2050. A major reduction of fertility is projected for the group of least developed countries (from 4.39 to 2.41 children per woman) and the fertility of the rest of the developing world is expected to drop from 2.46 children per woman currently to 1.93 in 2045-2050, thus nearly converging to the fertility levels by then typical of the developed world.
16. The median age, that is, the age that divides the population in two halves of equal size, is an indicator of population ageing. Globally, the median age is projected to increase from 29 to 38 years between 2009 and 2050. Europe has today the oldest population, with a median age of nearly 40 years, which is expected to reach 47 years in 2050.
17. The median age is higher in countries that have been experiencing low fertility for a long time. In 2010, 19 developed countries or areas are expected to have a median age of 40 years or higher, up from 11 in 2005. In addition, two developing countries, Hong Kong SAR China and Singapore, have also reached median ages above 40 years. The pervasiveness of population ageing will increase by 2050 when all 45 developed countries are projected to have median ages higher than 40 years and 43 developing countries will also have similarly high median ages. Whereas today about 7 per cent of the world population lives in countries where median ages are 40 years or higher, the equivalent proportion in 2050 is projected to be 43 per cent.
18. Countries where fertility remains high and has declined only moderately will experience the slowest population ageing. By 2050, slightly fewer than one in five countries is projected to have a median age under 30 years (37 countries). The youngest populations will be found among the least developed countries, eight of which are projected to have median ages below 25 years in 2050, including Afghanistan, Chad, Guinea-Bissau, Niger, Somalia, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia.
19. Increasing longevity also contributes to population ageing. Globally, life expectancy at birth is projected to rise from 68 years in 2005-2010 to 76 years in 2045-2050. In the more developed regions, the projected increase is from 77 years in 2005-2010 to 83 years inn 2045-2050, while in the less developed regions the increase is expected to be from 66 years currently to 74 years by mid-century.
20. Life expectancy remains low in the least developed countries, at just 56 years in 2005-2010, and although it is projected to reach 69 years in 2045-2050, realizing such increase is contingent on reducing the spread of HIV and combating successfully other infectious diseases. Similar challenges must be confronted if the projected increase of life expectancy in the rest of the developing countries, from under 68 years today to 76 years by mid-century, is to be achieved.
21. A major concern is that most developing countries are unlikely to meet the goal of reducing under-five mortality by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015, as called for in the Millennium Development Goals. According to the 2008 Revision, 134 of the 151 developing countries with more than 100,000 inhabitants in 2009 will not reach that goal. Furthermore, 59 developing countries, located mainly in sub-Saharan Africa or belonging to the group of least developed countries, are projected to have in 2015 an under-five mortality higher than 45 deaths per 1000, the less demanding target set by the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development.
22. Among the more developed regions, Eastern Europe has the lowest life expectancy and it has experienced reductions in life expectancy at birth since the late 1980s. In 2005-2010 life expectancy in the region increased somewhat but at 69.2 years was lower than it had been in 1965-1970 (69.6 years). Despite having recorded some recovery since the late 1990s, Moldova, the Russian Federation and Ukraine have currently the lowest life expectancies among developed countries (below 70 years).
23. Although the HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to be a major issue of concern in the global health agenda, adult HIV prevalence reached a peak over the past decade or so in at least two thirds of the 58 countries considered to be most affected by the epidemic and a growing number of them are reaching and maintaining lower prevalence levels. Nevertheless, in countries where prevalence has been high, the impact of the epidemic in terms of morbidity, mortality and slower population growth continues to be evident. Thus, in Southern Africa, the region with the highest prevalence of the disease, life expectancy has fallen from 61 years in 1990-1995 to 52 years in 2005-2010 and is only recently beginning to increase. Nevertheless, life expectancy in the region is not expected to recover the level it had in the early 1990s before 2045. As a consequence, the growth rate of the population in the region has plummeted, passing from 2.4 per cent annually in 1990-1995 to 0.6 per cent annually in 2005-2010 and is expected to continue declining for the foreseeable future.
24. Given the low fertility prevailing in developed countries, deaths are expected to exceed births over the foreseeable future. Consequently, the population of the more developed regions would be decreasing if the excess of deaths over births were not counterbalanced by a net migration gain. During 2010-2050, the net number of international migrants to more developed regions is projected to be 96 million, whereas the excess of deaths over births is 58 million, implying an overall growth of 38 million.
25. In 2005-2010, net migration in nine countries or areas more than doubled the contribution of natural increase (births minus deaths) to population growth: Belgium, Macao SAR China, Luxembourg, Malta, Qatar, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain. In addition, in a further 11 countries or areas, net migration counterbalanced totally or in part the excess of deaths over births. These countries are: Austria, the Channel Islands, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Portugal and the Russian Federation.
26. In terms of annual averages, the major net receivers of international migrants during 2010-2050 are projected to be the United States (1.1 million annually), Canada (214,000), the United Kingdom (174,000), Spain (170,000), Italy (159,000), Germany (110,000), Australia (100,000) and France (100,000). The major countries of net emigration are projected to be Mexico (-334,000), China (-309,000 annually), India (-253,000), the Philippines (-175,000), Pakistan (-161,000), Indonesia (-156,000) and Bangladesh (-148,000). Although the current economic crisis may reduce migration flows in comparison to those registered over the recent past, the major economic and demographic asymmetries that will persist are likely to remain powerful generators of international migration over the medium-term future.
LONDON (Financial Times) – Two days after Dominique Strauss-Kahn, IMF managing director, told a conference on the global economic crisis in Dar es Salaam that he could be Africa’s “voice” at next month’s G20 summit, Mr Kikwete told the Financial Times: “Of course that’s okay with us.”
But whereas no African leaders attended the previous G20 meeting in Washington in November, he said Gordon Brown, the UK prime minister, had invited Meles Zenawi, his Ethiopian counterpart, to participate in the London meeting next month.
“We will be represented, but if we can have somebody else amplifying our message, then especially after this conference it’s the right thing for the IMF to do, because now they have our views, our opinions,” Mr Kikwete said in at interview at State House in Dar es Salaam.
Africa has not experienced a systemic banking crisis but the global downturn is threatening to undo a decade of economic progress by depressing exports, commodity prices, foreign investment and remittances. Growth in sub-Saharan Africa this year is likely to halve to just over 3 per cent, the fund predicts.
At the IMF-organised conference, African finance ministers and central bank governors released a joint declaration calling on G20 countries to help cushion the impact of the crisis by raising aid to Africa and giving the continent a place in global stimulus plans.
The fund’s relevance had been called into question during the recent run of global growth, during which China made in-roads into Africa with a series of multi-billion dollar investment deals.
But the IMF has been revived by the financial crisis and in Tanzania Mr Strauss-Kahn and African policy makers declared their intent to build a “stronger partnership” based on more financing, greater flexibility and reforms to IMF governance to enhance Africa’s say.
Mr Kikwete won a spontaneous round of applause when he told the conference this week: “If an African country was responsible for the current financial crisis the IMF would have jumped on us without invitation, with conditionality, roadmaps and benchmarks.”
Trevor Manuel, South Africa’s finance minister, said the world’s model of capitalism was broken and “some of those who proselytised this model are employed by the IMF”.
“It is certainly time for advanced economies to be less arrogant,” Mr Strauss-Kahn said. “The way leaders of advanced economies address leaders of the rest of the world has to change and it is in the process of changing.”
Endorsing Mr Kikwete’s stance, Donald Kaberuka, president of the African Development Bank, said: “Africa does not need a spokesman at G20 who is not African.”
He said the IMF was more relevant than ever today and that it had changed since the painful era of “structural adjustment” reform programmes. But he added: “There are serious legacy issues.”
Speaking after Mr Strauss-Kahn addressed the conference, Francois Kanimba, governor of Rwanda’s central bank, said “that’s a great speech, but so far I don’t know what he means” in terms of new financing and flexibility.
“Sometimes we get contradictions between the statements from the top leader and the behaviour of staff on the ground. You can get confused,” he added.
By STEVEN R. HURST
WASHINGTON (AP) – Advocates fear the Obama administration may be putting the human rights issue on the back burner to focus instead on coping with the global economic crisis and national security.
President Barack Obama sought the moral high ground on human rights with his early order to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and declaration that the United States would never again torture prisoners.
Those moves — which won nearly unanimous international praise — were made soon after Obama took office. He sought to repair the U.S. image abroad, correcting what he believed were mistaken Bush administration policies that had left the United States on the diplomatic outs with much of the world, even with some traditional allies.
But Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dulled the luster, rights advocates say, when she said during a trip to Asia that the administration — while still deeply concerned about human rights in China — could not let that interfere with cooperation with Beijing on the worldwide economic crisis and the fight to ease global climate change.
“We fear she may be setting this tone as a signal to the rest of the world that human rights are not going to be one of the main issues for the administration,” said T. Kumar, Amnesty International advocacy director for Asia. “Trade and security should not be promoted at the expense of human rights.” [Hillary Clinton will turn out to be worse than Jendayi Frazer for Africa. Let’s not forget that the Rwanda genocide occurred under her husband’s watch.]
Clinton pushed back Thursday after a Washington meeting with China’s foreign minister, noting she and Yang Jiechi had a significant engagement on human rights and the situation in Tibet.
“Human rights is part of our comprehensive dialogue” with China, she said. “It doesn’t take a front seat, a back seat or a middle seat. It is part of the broad range of issues that we are discussing.”
Beyond China, however, there is a considerable list of Obama positions that have raised doubts about how far the new president will shift from the policies of his predecessor.
_The administration has filed a legal brief that echoed Bush in maintaining that detainees in Afghanistan have no constitutional rights and arguing that enemy combatants held at Bagram Airfield cannot use U.S. courts to challenge their detention.
_Government lawyers continued to invoke the state secrets law in a federal court case that involves the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program, in which U.S. operatives seized foreign suspects and handed them over to other countries for questioning. The law blocks the release of evidence the government deems secret and potentially harmful to U.S. security.
_The administration is feeling out Uzbekistan, which has one of the worst human rights records among the former Soviet republics, about using an air base to provide supplies and troops to Afghanistan. The move became necessary after neighboring Kyrgyzstan declared it was canceling the U.S. lease for a base in that Central Asian country.
_Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently greatly scaled back expectations in Afghanistan, declaring the United States was not going to be able to leave behind anything close to a western-style democracy. The U.S. rationale for its seven-year engagement in the country rested partly on having driven the Taliban from power. The Islamic fundamentalists ran a brutal regime that was particularly harsh in its treatment of women. The administration has recently said it was ready to reach out to Taliban members who are willing to work with the U.S.-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.
Those and other human rights issues trouble advocates, but they emphasize Clinton’s very public remarks regarding China.
“Part of her challenge diplomatically is going to be able to work on many fronts,” said Amnesty International’s Curt Goering. “The United States cannot be credible on any issue unless it remains credible on human rights.”
He said Amnesty does not deny the need for pragmatism, but insists the United States must at the same time “signal it is serious about human rights.”
Kumar, likewise, acknowledged the pragmatism argument but said Clinton could have delivered her message in closed-door meetings with the Chinese. He said her public comments on human rights were bound to inspire serious questions about U.S. intentions under Obama.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs was asked this week about comments by the Dalai Lama, the revered leader of Tibetan Buddhists who fled to exile as Tibet’s 1959 uprising against Chinese rule collapsed. The Dalai Lama said Tibetans were living in “hell on earth” because of Chinese repression.
“The United States respects the territorial integrity of China and considers Tibet to be part of China,” Gibbs said. “At the same time, we’re concerned about the human rights situation in Tibet.”
Gibbs noted that Washington believes the Chinese government increased cultural and religious repression in Tibetan areas last year, and urged Beijing to engage in further negotiations with the exiled leader.
“We believe that substantive dialogue with the Dalai Lama’s representatives that makes progress and brings about solutions to long standing issues is the best way to achieve true and lasting stability in Tibet,” Gibbs said, in a muted response to the perennial and fundamental human rights sore point.
State Department spokesman Robert Wood also rebutted the criticism in response to a Washington Post editorial that said Clinton “continues to devalue and undermine the U.S. diplomatic tradition of human rights advocacy.”
Wood said: “She realizes you have to sit down with, for example, her Chinese counterpart and make these points on human rights. But she also knows that’s not necessarily going to get you what you want at the end of the day, so you’ve got to find new and creative ways to influence the human rights situation in China and that’s what she’s trying to do.”
Obama and Clinton will likely face even stiffer criticism as they move forward with a policy designed to repair U.S. standing globally. They are trying to show world leaders that Washington is once again determined to engage the world through diplomacy rather than what critics saw as the Bush administration’s tendency to rely on diktat.
The mission appears to be especially delicate when it comes to human rights, an issue that stands to block linkage with a number of countries unless the administration finds a way to finesse it by maintaining Washington’s historic standards while not using them as a blunt instrument.
UNION COLLEGE, NEW YORK – A group of mechanical engineering students, led by professor Ron Bucinell, will spend their spring break in Boru, Ethiopia, hoping to tap a clean water source for the village’s 5,000 residents.
This will be the first official trip for the College’s chapter of Engineers Without Borders, a non-profit international humanitarian organization that partners with developing communities to improve their quality of life, primarily through the work of engineers and engineering students.
Rebecca Damberg-Mauser ’08 was instrumental in starting Union’s chapter in 2007-08. The group, which spent most of the year getting up and running, now numbers about 19 students.
The idea for the water project sprung from Tehtena Tenaw ’09, who was born in Ethiopia. When Tenaw, the president of Union’s EWB chapter, returned home for a wedding last summer to the town of Dese, about an hour from Boru, she met with the Ethiopian Water Authority and the elders of Boru.
Until about two years ago, the village, which consists primarily of farmers and institution workers earning a maximum of $50 a month, had been getting its water from the Momay Spring. But a construction project accidentally caused the spring, which is located under a school, to close.
To assist with the project, Union enlisted the expertise of CDM, a national engineering firm with an office in Latham, N.Y. Two engineers there, Paul Cabral and Roy Richardson, met regularly with students to discuss technical issues and provide training.
In Boru, Union’s team will dig test wells, examine water distribution possibilities and perform a health survey of the area. The group leaves Saturday, March 14, and returns two weeks later. Another trip is planned for December.
“Restoring the well will mean that children will no longer have to carry five gallon containers filled with water back to their village on a daily basis,” Bucinell said.
Joining Bucinell and Tenaw in Boru will be Julie Fehlmann ’12, Philip Lambert ’ll and Max Becton ’ll. Cabral, from CDM, also will accompany the group.
Students held a series of fundraisers to help pay for the cost of the trip, which is approximately $8,000; the College also contributed funds.
“This trip exposes students to the human side of engineering,” Bucinell said. “It helps college students see that they can make a difference globally.”
– Union News
