For years now, the situation in Darfur has drawn international attention. The conflict resides between two sides: the Sudanese military and Janjaweed on one side and Sudan Liberation Movement and Justice Equality Movement. It is a ethnical and tribal conflict between the two.
Because of the conflict, millions of people have left Sudan for refugee camps set up in Chad. Darfur-awareness.org follows all the events of the conflict, including the most recent blog about France supporting the Arab government of Qatari’s interest in ending the devastation. I agree with the bloggers when they said it was nice to see the combination of an Arab nation and Western one in ending the situation. It is not something we normally see in today’s world. Maybe we are moving a step in the right direction.
A truly inspirational blog I found was from Australia. It consists of poetry written by refugees living there. They were so beautiful and to think those words came from those who have suffered so much.
The final blog was from the International Rescue Committee called Voices from the Field. It showed great pictures from the refugee camps and the IRC’s representative to Sudan spent some time in one of the biggest camps in Darfur. The representative’s testimony of children playing and women talking is in sharp contrast to what I would expect would happen in a camp.
While searching through issues in Mexico, I was overwhelmed by the blogs on corruption in the Mexican government and the amount of violence plaguing our neighbor to the south. The first blog from the Foreign Policy Association tells of protests in all of Mexico's states against the outbreaks of “organized violence” all over the country. It reminded me of the mob action in Chicago in the 1920s. But instead of fighting between groups of organized crime, these groups are taking their actions out on innocent citizens, especially children and women. The blog stated the British Broadcast Company found 2,700 people have been killed related to organized crime.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon greeted athletes competing the Beijing Paraolympic Games and said one way of working against the escalation of violence is offering sports as “entertainment, personal discipline and physical training.” This is something the U.S. is struggling with, giving young people opportunities to stay out of trouble through after school programs. On top of that, Calderon also introduced an initiative to help parents prevent drug addiction among children and teenagers. In his speech, he called drug addiction “a 21st century form of slavery.” I found it interesting he would think of it in that way. I agree with him wholeheartedly and am so glad someone put it in that perspective for everyone to think about.
Tuesday was the Mexican Independence Day and unfortunately it was not a peaceful one. A hand grenade was thrown into the crowd at a public gathering. There were several debates made at the Mex Files blog, stating it could have been mafia activity, narcotics traders or paramilitary personnel working for and with the drug trade. This is truly disturbing that on Independence Day, an event takes place that escalates the already growing violence.
Human trafficking at Brussels hotel
Human trafficking is one of the most prominent issues in human rights throughout the world. I found several blogs concerning human trafficking and choose these three because of their diversity.
The first blog deals with a hotel in Brussels, Belgium. An entire floor of the hotel was dedicated to the emir of the United Arab Emirates and his family. People coming from several Asian and Pacific countries were stripped of their passports upon their arrival in Belgium. I was drawn to this blog because it stated monarchs are not above the law. Although the emir himself died, his family was charged with the crime.
I particularly liked the blog from The Emancipation Network. The network fights against human trafficking by raising awareness among those most susceptible to it. They opened a business where survivors of human trafficking make items they sell. Becky, who writes the blog, chronicles the business. It shows how one organization is really taking a stand against this crime of humanity by giving those who have lived it a choice to make their lives worthwhile.
The final blog I found explained in detail the entire aspect of human trafficking. I have seen several television show episodes dealing with human trafficking and read magazine articles as well. I was shocked to read an article saying the underground human trafficking rings are just as profitable, and dangerous, as the illegal drug and arms rings.
There were a great variety of trafficking blogs, but what I found interesting was most were based out of the United States although trafficking occurs mainly overseas.
