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Haiti's government is failing and the country has been taking over by gangs. In 2021 their president was assassinated and now their prime minister has resigned because of his inability to enter the country and pressure from gangs. This has left Haiti in a state of chaos and with a lack of resources, enhanced by their status as a small island nation.

Haiti faces violence, poverty, and many human rights violations, their strife has been experienced for a very long time, either due to natural disasters or political instability.

This situation is similar to the state of Oaxaca and San Miguel in Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies, they're facing violence and corruption from gangs as well as a failing economy struggling from globalization.

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CAP-HAÏTIEN, Haiti - In Haiti, there aren't many certainties in life, but chaos may be one of them.

For a country that's experienced coups, transitional governments, assassinations and gang violence over the years, the chaos of the last two weeks has reached new levels.

During that period there has been no leadership, no law and order in the capital and a dwindling supply of humanitarian aid. The country has been effectively cut off from the outside world.

On Thursday, gangs continued their rampage across the capital Port-au-Prince. They shot at the airport just as workers had begun to fix damage from previous attacks.

Local news reported that gangs had also looted the house of the national police director and then set it on fire.

The violence follows a couple of days of relative quiet and it comes just days after Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry agreed to resign, as part of a deal brokered by regional and international governments to install a transitional council that will eventually elect a new transitional prime minister.

Some prominent gang leaders have rejected the plan, saying it doesn't represent the will of the Haitian people. The gangs have threatened more violence as a means to oppose the plan.

Guy Philippe was a former senator and ex-chief of police who was one of the leaders of the 1991 coup that deposed Jean-Bertrand Aristide. In the United States, he pleaded guilty to drug-related money laundering and when he was deported back to Haiti a few months ago, he started organizing big anti-government protests.

He tells NPR the problem with the current political transition deal is that it allows seven traditional politicians to choose the way forward in Haiti.

"They were the same guys who were working with Ariel Henry for three years. The same name, the same organizations, with no popular support. I don't know why the international community wants to take that path," Philippe says.

When the international community announced the deal, the president of Guyana said no gangs had been consulted. But he was corrected and briefly added - "that we know of." To Philippe, that spoke to what he calls an open secret: that traditional politicians in Haiti are the ones who he alleges created the gangs to begin with. They funded and they armed them, he claims.

"The biggest gang in Haiti is the state of Haiti itself. It's the president, the prime minister, the ministers. They are the worst gangs in Haiti," Philippe says.

Late Thursday afternoon, this NPR team crossed the border with the Dominican Republic and made its way to Haiti's second-largest city of Cap-Haïtien. In many ways, what we've seen is normal. Restaurants are open, people are out buying groceries. Here in Cap-Haïtien, which used to be a tourist hub, there was music and dancing and bars.

But it doesn't take long before you notice signs that something is wrong here. Fuel is running out, the towns up and down this northern coast are in complete darkness. They haven't had consistent electricity since this crisis started, when President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in 2021.

And as we were driving in, we run into a very large group of Haitians who are getting ready to try to run away from this place to try to cross the border into the Dominican Republic.

Most of the people who speak to NPR say they are happy that in these parts of Haiti, at least, the gunfire has stopped. They say that before Prime Minister Henry promised to resign, they heard nonstop gunfire in the evening. And now some schools and some universities have reopened.

But they also express a lot of desolation. Haitians feel abandoned. They feel that after their president was killed, no one has been listening. They don't just mean the international community - but also their country's politicians.

One man who used to work as a tourist guide, and now is just trying to find any work to keep food on his table, says what is happening in Haiti is not just criminal gangs revolting. He says this is an awakening: Haitians have lived in poverty and neglect for too long and they're just fed up.

On the border before crossing into Haiti, NPR talked to Frismer Fidele, a Haitian man who was leaning against a fence and watching busloads of fellow citizen being deported across the border back to Haiti. Despite the surge in violence in Haiti, the Dominican Republic's mass deportation program hasn't stopped.

For many years, Fidele said, the Haitian government has known little about how poor people are living. "All we want is new leadership, so we can have elections, so we can be heard," he said.

Another Haitian, Rafael Maqueson, is waiting for work in the Dominican Republic in the shade nearby, in between two big shipping containers. He's 23, but he looks much younger.

Ever since he graduated high school, he says, he's been trying to build a life. But it's hard because the only job he seems to be able to get is to shuttle luggage for travelers from one border to another. He used to earn enough money to pay for a place to live. These days, it's just enough to eat.

Asked if he sees any hope for change, he says, "Haiti has been the same since I was born. What makes you think anything will change?"

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A glimpse of the chaos in Haiti, a country reeling with effectively no leader

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NPR reports from inside Haiti, as gangs unleash another day of violence in the country's capital. It comes as political groups try to form a transitional council.

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Biden Administration plans to focus on equity in federal policymaking and service delivery across the US to eliminate inequality and give back to the communities that are discriminated against and are affected by persistent poverty and inequality. States that his two-year plan will be completed by 2025. This can be connected to the real-world issue of Inequality and the key concept of Social Relations. It can be connected back to Learning Capitalist Culture in the way that the government/town board slowly worked to give more equity to the Mexicano community in comparison to the Gringo community's political and economic advantages.

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Biden announces new steps to tackle racial inequality in government

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Biden signed an executive order on his first day in office in January 2021 that required agencies to conduct reviews and take steps to fix problems.

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https://www.voanews.com/a/dr-congo-facing-alarming-levels-of-violence-hunger-poverty-disease-/7539028.html

In DR Congo citizens face many issues that displace them. Living conditions are dire and there are many threats to the livelihood of many individuals.

This connects to different forms of violence, especially behavioral that disproportionally affect women. "30,000 cases of gender-based violence were reported in the DRC in 2023. These numbers are among the highest in the world." The factors that have displaced citizens are push factors as they are driving people to have to forcefully leave in order to survive.

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The World Health Organization warns that hunger, poverty, malnutrition, and disease have reached alarming levels in the Democratic Republic of Congo, especially in the east, where a resurgence of fighting between armed groups and government forces has uprooted millions of people from their homes.

"DRC is the second-largest displacement crisis globally after Sudan, with more people forced to flee the violence since the start of the year," said Dr. Boureima Hama Sambo, WHO representative to the DRC.

Speaking from the capital, Kinshasa, Sambo told journalists in Geneva Friday that a combination of violence, climate shocks, and epidemics has worsened the humanitarian and overall health situation for millions of people who are struggling to find enough food to eat, a safe place to stay, and help to ward off disease outbreaks.

"Hospitals are overwhelmed with injured people," he said. "Close to 10 million people are on the move. Poverty and hunger affect a quarter of the population or 25.4 million people. The spread of cholera and other infectious diseases pose significant threats to the populations health."

United Nations relief agencies say more than two of every five children in the DRC - around 6 million children - suffer from chronic malnutrition, a condition that causes stunting, impairs cognitive development, and in cases of severe acute malnutrition, a risk of death.

Sambo said that, "Combined to malnutrition, diseases are increasing the risk of mortality, especially in children, and putting even more pressure on the health system.

"Women and girls are paying the high price of armed conflict and displacement," he said, noting that "30,000 cases of gender-based violence were reported in the DRC in 2023. These numbers are among the highest in the world."
Flooding heightens risk
Besides conflict-related challenges, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, says severe flooding has wreaked havoc in 18 of the DRCs 26 provinces, leaving more than 2 million people, nearly 60% of them children, in need of assistance.

The WHO says floods are worsening the risk of diarrheal and water-borne diseases. That, as well as the outbreak of other diseases, including cholera, measles, polio, yellow fever, anthrax, and plague, has brought an already fragile health system to its knees.

"DRC is facing its worst cholera outbreak since 2017 with 50,000 suspected cases and 470 deaths recorded in 2023," said Sambo, adding that the risk is particularly high in sites for internally displaced people where "living conditions are dire."

He said the country is also battling its largest measles epidemic since 2019, with close to 28,000 cases with 750 deaths so far this year

"The combination of measles and malnutrition has a severe health impact on children under five years of age and the lack of access to vaccines and vaccination services further exacerbate the situation," he said.
Threat of mpox grows
In addition to those problems, the WHO warns mpox - previously known as monkeypox - has been on the rise across the country over the last year, with nearly 4,000 suspected cases and 271 deaths reported.

That represents a higher case fatality than was seen during a year-long, WHO-declared international public health emergency for the disease that began in May 2022. More than two thirds of the current cases, it says, are reported in children.

Mpox, a zoonotic disease first detected in a 9-month-old in 1970 in the DRC, when the country was known as Zaire. Dr. Rosamund Lewis, WHO technical lead for mpox, says children continue to be most at risk of getting infected with and dying from the disease.

"The number of cases has been gradually increasing over time. What we saw in 2023 was more than the doubling of the number of cases compared to 2022 ... There is a clear concern about the continuing spread of the disease, not only by zoonotic transmission but through person-to-person sexual contact," she said.

"What is also new about transmission in the DRC is that sexual transmission reported for Clade 1, a variant of mpox had not been reported prior to 2023. Now what we are seeing is newly reported sexual transmission in a different part of the country, which is not endemic for mpox."

Lewis said the disease is spreading in areas "where there is a lot of commercial back and forth, including cross-borders and a vibrant commercial sex trade."

The WHO reports mpox has expanded to previously unaffected provinces, such that almost all provinces. including Kinshasa, now are reporting cases. It warns that "represents a threat to neighboring countries and beyond."

WHO representative Sambo observed that humanitarian needs in the country are soaring, with close to 20 million people requiring health assistance this year. Despite all the compounding challenges, he said the WHO has been scaling up its health response since last year.

For example, he said the WHO vaccinated almost 5 million people against cholera in November, most in the eastern provinces, and vaccinated millions of people against a deadly measles outbreak last year. Next week, he said the WHO plans to start a polio vaccination campaign in all 26 provinces.

However, he said that continuing such lifesaving programs will be difficult to do if the health response remains severely underfunded, noting that less than 14 percent of the WHOs $624 million appeal for this year has been received.

He urges the world not "to turn a blind eye to a situation that could have severe knock-on effects for security and health in the region."

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DR Congo Facing Alarming Levels of Violence, Hunger, Poverty, Disease

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WHO says a combination of violence, climate shocks, and epidemics has worsened the health situation for millions

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https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/04/15/justa-libertad-movement-decriminalize-abortion-ecuador

A coalition of activist groups filed a lawsuit to change abortion laws.

Human rights, inequality, structural violence.

In pretty modern and in this article women are challengling cultural beliefs to create change.

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Justa Libertad, an Ecuadorian coalition of eight civil society organizations, recently filed a lawsuit before the Constitutional Court of Ecuador seeking to decriminalize abortion. This crucial initiative seeks to ensure that women, girls, and other pregnant people can access safe abortion care. It follows similar coalitions that achieved progress in other Latin American countries like Colombia, Mexico, and Argentina.

Abortion is currently penalized in Ecuador with up to three years in prison, with exceptions for cases in which the pregnancy represents a risk to the life or health of the pregnant woman or, after a 2021 Constitutional Court ruling, when the pregnancy is the result of sexual violence. Even for cases that fit these narrow exceptions, accessing abortion care remains challenging due to stigma among health personnel and other institutions that hold the belief that once pregnant, women and girls are obligated to become mothers.

Justa Libertad embodies the struggle for social justice and women's rights in Ecuador. The denial of abortion services can violate a number of human rights, including the rights to nondiscrimination and equality; life; health; information; freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment; privacy and bodily autonomy and integrity; and freedom of conscience and religion. Women, girls, and other pregnant people have the right to make decisions about their own body and their future.

Regulating abortion via criminal law perpetuates its stigma and disproportionately affects women and girls living in conditions of poverty, including Indigenous and Afro-descendant people.

Amid a movement across Latin America to achieve reproductive justice, decriminalizing abortion is an urgent matter. Ecuador should join other countries in taking this step.

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Justa Libertad: A Movement to Decriminalize Abortion in Ecuador

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An Ecuadorian coalition of eight civil society organizations recently filed a lawsuit before the Constitutional Court of Ecuador seeking to decriminalize abortion. This crucial initiative seeks to ensure that women, girls, and other pregnant people can access safe abortion care.

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Summary: Sudan is one year into a deadly war between two of its top generals who are fighting for power. However, due to the 8.5 million who have been displaced, many children are fighting deadly illnesses. It's predicted that by the end of this year, 700,000+ children could lose their lives to illness and starvation.

Connection to Anthro: These children, and the general population of Sudan and neighboring countries, are facing a human rights violation due to the symbolic violence being exhibited between the two generals. Sudan is currently in a "who can get away with what, against who" fight. In some ways, there is a connection from this to FFBB, where those in power have the most agency, and are using said agency to hurt others for their own benefit. They might not even be considering the impact their violence is having, similar to the way border patrol officials treat crossing migrants.

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Article: No Exit in Gaza

In the 1990s, extremists in Bosnia and Herzegovina terrorized civilians into leaving their homes and as the UN implemented the "right to remain" to prevent ethnic cleansing, European states used it as a rationale to block asylum seekers. Now, 2.3 million Palestinians are trapped in Gaza, with over 1 million fleeing to Rafah. Human Rights Watch calls for Israel to respect the right of Palestinians to return to their displaced areas and Palestinian refugees to return to Israel but authorities continue to violate international law, prohibiting Palestinians from returning.

This article demonstrates an abuse of power as Israelian authorities have repeatdely violated international law as they've denied Palestinians from returning while simultaneously preventing them from fleeing Gaza to neighboring Israel to seek refuge. Additionally, social relations can be seen between the countries as Egypt's borders also remain closed for the most part and neighboring countries aren't aiding the fleeing Palestinians. This article also connects to Fresh Fruit Broken bodies, although under severely different circumstances, both Palestinians and the Triqui people are suffering from forced displacement and violence as they attempt to leave their home countries.

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In the 1990s, extremists aiming to change Bosnia and Herzegovina's demographic map through "ethnic cleansing" terrorized civilians into leaving their homes. Horrified at witnessing violent forced displacement in real time and wanting to stop it, the then-UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata extolled a new principle she called " preventive protection" and used the term " right to remain."

But the UN refugee agency and other humanitarian actors could not stop the ethnic cleansing. To make matters worse, European states seized on the "right to remain" as a rationale to block asylum seekers from fleeing Bosnia. The UN Security Council declared the creation of " safe areas" to contain and protect the displaced people within Bosnia. We know how that story ended: The mass graves of men massacred at Srebrenica, one of those so-called safe areas, stand as testament to the international community's failure to protect civilians.

Now, 30 years later, 2.3 million Palestinians are trapped in Gaza, but unlike Bosnia, there is no place within that small, densely populated territory that even purports to be safe. Following the Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Israeli forces have laid waste to vast areas, reducing much of the housing to rubble, with more than 31,000 people estimated killed, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, the majority women and children.

Most of Gaza's population has been displaced, many ordered to evacuate one area only to be bombed, starved and forced to flee again-and again. More than 1 million people who have fled to Rafah on Gaza's far southern border with Egypt live in fear as an Israeli military ground operation on Rafah and another mass evacuation looms.

Like Ogata 30 years ago, my organization, Human Rights Watch, along with countless others, has been trying to mobilize international action to stop further mass atrocities. We have been calling for Israel to respect the right of Palestinians to return to the areas they have been displaced from in Gaza, but also for the right of Palestinian refugees to return to what is now Israel. More than 80 percent of Gaza's population are refugees, people who were expelled or fled in 1948 from what is now Israel and their descendants, in what Palestinians call the Nakba, the catastrophe.

Every person has the right to return to their country, a right enshrined in numerous human rights conventions, and affirmed for Palestinian refugees in UN General Assembly resolutions dating back to 1948. But Israeli authorities have consistently denied this right and blocked Palestinian refugees from returning. Since Oct. 7, Israeli authorities have continued to block Palestinians in Gaza from fleeing into neighboring Israel to seek even temporary refuge from the hostilities, in violation of international law.

Neighboring Egypt's borders are mostly closed, too. Only a relatively few Gaza residents have been allowed to enter Egypt through the Rafah crossing, including foreign passport holders, the wounded and their companions, and some who have paid exorbitant sums to flee via Egypt. Not wanting a wave of refugees flooding into his country, especially given the prospect that the Israeli authorities might bar them from returning, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi declared Egypt's "vehement rejection of the forced displacement of the Palestinians and their transfer to Egyptian lands in Sinai."

But what about Palestinians in Gaza who feel their only chance to survive is to leave Gaza? How much longer can Israel and Egypt block desperate people from fleeing?

Palestinians in Gaza should be allowed to remain in dignity in their homes and to exercise the right to return, but they also have other treaty rights that must be respected by all states: the right to leave a country, the right to seek asylum, and the right of nonrefoulement, that is, not to be pushed back or returned to face persecution or other serious threats.

Through intermittent telephone connections, Human Rights Watch researchers have been talking with Gaza residents as they flee from one grim place to another. A 34-year-old man from Gaza City, married with two children, has been telling us of his ordeal. "What the kids witnessed in the last area, they are in shock, they are terrified. They jump at small sounds now. It was so hard for me to get my family from the last place to here. Most of the areas were closed off by the Israeli army."

His family lacks clothing and medicine. Humanitarian aid, so far, has consisted of two bags of flour. They have been sleeping on the ground in a tent in Rafah with 10 others, using a shared outdoor toilet serving about 70-80 people. "We are living an animal life," he said.

The question for this man now is survival, and he said the only thing he wants is to take his family and leave Gaza. "Gaza is now a graveyard for all its citizens," he said: "If given a way or a chance I will take my family and my mother and sisters and I will leave without thinking twice. I don't want to stay here and turn into an animal and fight with others to get water and food."

Palestinians, like everyone everywhere, have the right to live in dignity in their homes. They also have the right to leave for their own security and to return in safety and dignity. Stopping forced displacement and other atrocity crimes from occurring is the top priority at this moment. But when all other human rights are denied, the right to flee is the last remaining option. That option cannot be closed.

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In the 1990s, extremists aiming to change Bosnia and Herzegovina's demographic map through "ethnic cleansing" terrorized civilians into leaving their homes. Horrified at witnessing violent forced displacement in real time and wanting to stop it, the then-UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata extolled a new principle she called "preventive protection" and used the term "right to remain."

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Iran launches drones and missiles towards Israel and Iran is calling the launch a "success."

This connects to types of structural violence specifically between the different nations and operation against the Israeli government and other forms of symbolic violence. IRGC had called Israel "zionists" and people have been debating whether or not the missiles successfully attacked the hit targets. This could be the cause of a regional conflict as Israel has been warning Iran about attacks on their own soil, while Iran has been warning the US about their implementation of additional assets in the war and that US bases would then be part of an attack as well. The attacks can be a form of symbolic violence as it can show the power differences between these countries. This connects to multiple of the books such as people living on the Tanaka farm and migrant workers versus the white workers based on the power dynamic in the hierarchy and agency to act towards different people.

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ISTANBUL - From President Ebrahim Raisi on down, Iranian officials are heaping praise on the attack the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched against Israel Sunday. The widespread response comes despite Israel saying 99% of Iran's missiles and drones were intercepted.

Raisi said the IRGC had "taught a lesson to the Zionist entity," using Tehran's preferred term for Israel.

Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency reported that a top Iranian lawmaker, Mojtaba Zonnouri, said the IRGC's "punitive operation" was a "victory" and "was a cause of pride for the people as it humiliated the Israeli regime."

At the United Nations in New York, Iran's Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani declared the operation was "completely in line with the Islamic Republic's inherent right to self-defense" after an airstrike in Damascus killed seven IRGC members, including two generals, on April 1. Iran blames Israel for the strike, but Israel has not claimed responsibility for it.

Iravani added that Iran's missiles exclusively targeted "military objectives" and said Iran had "no intention of engaging in conflict with the U.S."

Iran's English-language Press TV news site led with a story based on anonymous IRGC sources who claimed that "all hypersonic missiles in Iran's strikes against Israel hit targets." That claim could not immediately be confirmed.

Praise for the Iranian attack also spread beyond Iran itself. Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian spoke by phone with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, and some Russian news sites quoted officials who were quick to applaud the attack too.

Worries about escalation and questions about deterrence

One unprecedented aspect of the Iranian attack on Israel is that it was not farmed out to proxy militias such as the Houthis in Yemen, various militias in Iraq or Hezbollah in Lebanon, although those groups did carry out attacks they said were in support of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

In the days between the April 1 strike in Damascus and Iran's response, Israel made a point of warning Iran that any attack launched from Iran itself could provoke a retaliatory attack on Iranian soil. That in turn prompted Iranian officials to warn that any strike by Israel would be met with an "even greater" and more resolute Iranian response.

Tehran also had a warning for Washington, saying that if the U.S. used any of its assets in the region to assist with an Israeli attack, American personnel and bases would be legitimate targets for future attack. That warning was seen as possibly intended to fan fears abroad of a wider regional conflict.

Israeli media reported that the Nevatim Airbase in southern Israel's Negev Desert had been struck but no significant damage had been caused. Aside from this, any other possible damage in Israel from the attack so far is unclear.

Iran was fairly specific about what it was trying to accomplish with its attack. The head of Iran's air force, Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, said the intention was to hit the Nevatim Airbase and the Israel Defense Forces intelligence center at Mt. Hermon in the northwest. But preliminary reports said the base remains operational, and there are no reports of significant damage to the intelligence center.

The attack has also raised questions both in and outside Israel about what recent events mean in terms of Israel's ability to deter attacks against it.

What that may mean for the way Washington goes about supporting its closest Middle East ally, and for Israel's approach to maintaining its own security, is likely to be the subject of much discussion and planning over the coming weeks and months.

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Iran's leaders insist the attack against Israel was a 'victory'

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Iranian officials have heaped praise on the attack, with a top lawmaker saying that "it humiliated the Israeli regime." But Israel says 99% of Iran's missiles and drones were intercepted.

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This article talks about a Harvard Study which determined that childhood trauma and disproportionate exposure to adversity related to racism and poverty can have lasting impacts on developing brains. These physical changes in the brain could lead to mental health issues later in life such as PTSD, depression, and anxiety.

This issue connects to both Learning Capitalist Culture and Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies. It connects to Learning Capitalist Culture in relation to the way students of color were treated differently in the classroom, and the racism engrained in society contributed to teachers having lower expectations for students of color. This then impacted their self esteem and undoubtedly had impacts on their educational and personal development. This issue also relates to Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies in the sense that exposure to trauma and adversity in relation to poverty and racism presented itself in forms of physical violence, injury, and struggles with mental health for migrant workers, that then allowed others to perpetuate stereotypes about them. Without resources available to deal with these struggles, migrant workers become stuck at the bottom of a social, class, and racial hierarchy.

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For this study, researchers at Harvard analyzed thousands of MRI brain scans of children ages 9 and 10. They were able to identify small physical changes in children facing higher levels of adversity. These changes could play a role in mental health issues later in life. They concluded that Black children are more likely to be affected. Nathaniel Harnett is a neuroscientist at McLean Hospital and an assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He's the study's senior author.

Nathaniel, thanks so much for joining us. How did you identify the children facing adversity in this study?

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New study reveals the effect of racism and poverty on children's brains

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Childhood trauma can have lasting psychological effects. A new study has found that early childhood stress from racism, poverty and other traumas can change the structure of children's developing brains. Nathaniel Harnett, a neuroscientist at McLean Hospital and assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, joins Laura Barrón-López to discuss the study's findings.

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Key Concept: Inequality

Connection to ethnography: Pretty Modern

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This article discusses the differences between the new male and female Olympic track outfits from Nike. There is controversy as the women's attire is much more revealing than the men's and many are upset that the women's outfits are sexualized whereas the men's are just functional.

This connects to the concept of power as those in power have control over the expectations and pressure each person (and gender) faces - while those under power must face/succumb to these expectations. In this situation, similar to Pretty Modern, there isn't one specific person but more a systematic situation where certain categories (in this case gender, and specifically females) lack the agency/power over their beings and have specific expectations they must deal with that determine their "value" as a person. In Pretty Modern, the women are upheld to unrealistic expectations of beauty which directly influence their status and consequently power in society. Similar to this, women in the U.S. are judged (some argue not as much as in Brazil) based on their appearance and sexual appeal. This outfit choice from Nike is an example of how these ideals are projected and incorporated into society.

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Nike revealed a range of new styles and silhouettes for elite athletes last week ahead of the 2024 Olympics, but one article of clothing has raised controversy.

A bodysuit that appears to be cut high on the hips is one of the options for Team USA's track and field. Athletes and fans have criticized the design, saying that the outfit looks uncomfortable and revealing.

Complaints further mounted after Citius Mag, an online magazine that covers track and field, released a side-by-side comparison of the men's and women's uniform - with critics finding the vast differences deeply problematic.

In response to the criticism, Nike said female runners are not limited to the leotard and that the new line offers nearly 50 styles to choose from, including shorts.

"We showcased some of the new Olympic uniforms at the Nike On Air experience in Paris - but, as we are a few months from the Games and working with limited samples in a limited format presentation, not all looks and styles were featured," a Nike spokesperson said in an email.

The company added that it took female athletes' comfort especially seriously, which is why it raised the neckline for tops.

USA Track and Field said its athletes were consulted throughout the design process. "Athlete options and choices were the driving force for USATF in the planning process with Nike," the USATF said in a statement.

Sarah Hirshland, CEO of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, said she supports athletes having options. "I think that's important. We want to make sure athletes have choices that they're comfortable in," she told reporters.

The backlash comes less than two months after Nike was scrutinized over its new uniforms for Major League Baseball players, which some said looked see-through and of poor quality.

This time, Nike's designs were caught in the long-running discourse over sexism in women's sports attire.

U.S. national champion distance runner Lauren Fleshman said the track and field kit specifically displayed on the mannequin lacked the professionalism that top women athletes deserve.

"Women's kits should be in service to performance, mentally and physically. If this outfit was truly beneficial to physical performance, men would wear it," she wrote on Instagram.

On social media, some fans asked if the mannequin outfit was for swimming events. Others expressed concern that the fit will sexualize sportswomen, given the uniforms' lack of coverage.

Pole vaulting Olympic gold medalist Katie Moon said while the uniform was troubling, she is in favor of female athletes having more options rather than less when it comes to attire.

"Even if its with best of intentions, you're ultimately attacking our decision as women to wear it," Moon wrote on Instagram. "The point is we DO have the choice of what to wear, and whether we feel the best in a potato sack or a bathing suit during competitions, we should support the autonomy.

Before the backlash, Nike said the uniforms were the "most athlete-informed, data-driven and visually unified the company has ever produced." The clothes were tailored to support a range of body types and sports disciplines while maximizing breathability, Nike Chief Innovation Officer John Hoke said in a press release Thursday.

Nike also plans to provide custom tailoring at the games.

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Why Nike's new Olympic track uniform for women is stirring controversy

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One of the options for women runners is a bodysuit that is noticeably cut high on the hips. Critics say the outfit looks uncomfortable, revealing - and problematic.

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This article was about how in some schools there is an unsafe environment causing 1600 students to be abducted or kidnapped in schools in Northern Nigeria. The real world issue here relates to human rights. Terrorist groups as well as ransom kidnappings are the main causes. This has caused some schools to shut down completely leaving kids without a place to get an education. The Nigerian government have tried but failed to put in laws/reforms to strengthen school safety.

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https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/04/12/germanys-antisemitism-battle-needs-focus-education

Structural & Symbolic Violence

In Germany, a Jewish student at a university was attacked with likely antisemitic motives. While the university banned the perpetrator from campus for a while, they have not taken much other action.

The amount of antisemitic crime in Germany first of all constitutes physical violence. This violence is perpetuated by the social structure of education, such as in these universities, where there aren't enough initiatives creating understanding of Jewish people. This also creates much symbolic violence for Jewish people as even in higher education they may live life fearing possible retribution because of their identity and place in the social hierarchy.

This is similar to the issue in Working the Night Shift where women faced symbolic, structural, and physical violence because of notions about their place (which were historically motivated, just like with antisemitism in Germany). It is also similar to the discrimination that the Triqui people face in fresh fruit, broken bodies, in that Jewish people must live in fear (symbolic violence) and internalize the idea that they are less worthy/internalize their place on the hierarchy. The structures in place (which include a lack of education for those in positions of power) contribute to the violence in all cases.

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In early February, a 30-year-old Jewish student was hospitalized following an attack by a fellow student at Berlin's largest public university, Freie Universität Berlin.

Berlin's authorities treated the attack as politically motivated antisemitic violence and attributed it to the impact in Europe of the escalation in the Israel-Palestine conflict. In response to the attack, Germany's antisemitism commissioner demanded a clear stance against antisemitism from the university leadership.

Berlin has a dedicated general commissioner on antisemitism at the state level as well as within its state police and prosecution office, with the latter two focused on the criminal justice response to antisemitism. They are in regular contact with Jewish communities and groups.

In March, Human Rights Watch met with Winfrid Wenzel, antisemitism commissioner for the Berlin Police Department. His role is to liaise with police officers to ensure effective recognition and recording of antisemitic crimes. He also works to build trust among Jewish communities in the police force.

Wenzel shared information showing that in 2023, police recorded 72 acts of antisemitic violence in Berlin. The frequency of antisemitic violence suggests policing can't be the sole answer to hate crimes.

International guidelines have demonstrated the critical role education plays in countering the bias and prejudice that underlies antisemitism. The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance highlights the need for educational institutions to be equipped to respond effectively to antisemitic attacks and promote an understanding of antisemitism among students. The German government's Strategy against Antisemitism and for Jewish Life also highlighted education as a "lifelong goal" to prevent antisemitism.

Last month, Berlin's state government reacted to the violence, threats, and intimidation faced by Jewish students on campuses with assurances that it was in "intense communication" with universities to guarantee the safety of Jewish students. As of April 1, when the new semester began, universities in Berlin have been asked to strengthen their security protocols relating to antisemitic incidents to ensure students are better supported.

Freie Universität Berlin decided to ban the alleged perpetrator of the attack from campus for a preliminary three-month period; but there is broader work that must be done by German universities to build trust among Jewish students and assure them of their safety. In addition to appointing a contact person on antisemitism, universities should actively raise awareness about antisemitism and other forms of discrimination on campus and create inclusive and open platforms for dialogue and mutual learning.

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Germany's Antisemitism Battle Needs Focus on Education

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In early February, a 30-year-old Jewish student was hospitalized following an attack by a fellow student at Berlin's largest public university, Freie Universität Berlin. Berlin's authorities treated the attack as politically motivated antisemitic violence and attributed it to the impact in Europe of the escalation in the Israel-Palestine conflict.

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This article discusses how Tesla has to lay off 10% of its workers due to the budget. The article continues on to discuss how cuts will be happening to the factory departments in Shanghai. This article plays a role in power, as the administration isn't affected but the workers at the bottom of the hiearchy are. Much like the book Fresh Fruit Broken Bodies, the foreign workers hold the least power. In the book, we saw how the stability of Triqui jobs was unpredictable. Likewise, TESLA has created a situation where workers in Shanghai have to suffer economic drawbacks due to the command of the higher ups.

-Victor E

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Tesla lays off more than 10% of its workforce

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Owner Elon Musk said it was a difficult decision to reduce Tesla's global headcount.

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The supreme court released decisions that can impact abortion rights.

"Justices triggered a 6-week abortion ban to take effect May 1 by upholding the state's 15-week restrictions. The same day, justices ruled that Amendment 4, which would protect abortion up to 24 weeks, can appear before voters on the ballot in November."

This is connected to Human Rights and Inequality. It is the argument between a human life is no matter how old and whether people should be allowed choice.

These two global issues can also be connected to Working the Night Shift where there is the conflict of inequality between men and women and how women are not necessarily afforded basic human rights as they are "asking for it" if they are outside whereas no one asks why men are doing bad things.

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ORLANDO, Fla. - Earlier this month, the Florida Supreme Court released two decisions that could significantly change abortion rights in the state.

Justices triggered a 6-week abortion ban to take effect May 1 by upholding the state's 15-week restrictions. The same day, justices ruled that Amendment 4, which would protect abortion up to 24 weeks, can appear before voters on the ballot in November.

If approved, the amendment would add the following language to the state's constitution: "No law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient's health, as determined by the patient's healthcare provider."

Voters on both sides of the issue showed up at a rally in downtown Orlando over the weekend.

"Yes on 4" supporters

Organizers of the "Yes on 4" campaign said about 1,500 people came out to support the amendment, including Gail Quinn.

Quinn carried a sign that said, "We Aren't Ovary Acting!!!" and brought a group of women from her condo association who support the amendment.

"They should have the right to determine whether they bring a child into the world or whether they need an abortion for other healthcare reasons," Quinn said about pregnant people.

Anne Pierre drove several hours from Palm Beach County to attend the rally in Central Florida. Her sign read, "Stop Political Interference."

Pierre said she's encouraging everyone in Florida to vote "Yes" on Amendment 4.

"This is a democratic country where everybody has the right," Pierre said. "No one has the right to make a decision for a woman to know when they should carry a baby or not. At the end of the day, they will be the one taking care of it."

"No on 4" supporters

Wearing white, dozens of counter-protesters were also at the rally. Many held rosaries and crosses and called on voters to reject the amendment.

Alma McCormick held a sign that read "Vote No on 4," and "Amendment 4 = Abortion on Demand."

McCormick said she strongly disagrees with allowing abortion up to 24 weeks and will vote "No" on the amendment.

"It makes me not only sad, but it also makes me feel really bad for humanity. Because human life is for everyone, and the fact that some people don't really respect human life at any stage is really unbelievable at this point," McCormick said.

Christine Crafton also opposes the amendment. She held a sign that said, "Say No, Absolutely Not, to Abortion Amendment 4."

She's worried the amendment would make abortion too readily accessible in the state, well into the second trimester.

"This particular amendment is particularly offensive because it just totally opens up the door to a rather cavalier decision to abort one's child," Crafton said.

Crafton said she wishes the state would do more to educate women on other options, outside of abortion.

Amendments in Florida only pass if 60% or more of voters approve them. That's a higher bar than most other states, including Michigan and Ohio where voters passed amendments enshrining abortion rights in their state constitutions.

If it passes in November, Amendment 4 will overturn both the 15-week and 6-week abortion bans.

Florida is one of about a dozen states with an effort to get abortion rights on the ballot this fall.
Danielle Prieur is a reporter at Central Florida Public Media in Orlando.

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Florida voters will decide on abortion rights this fall. Here's what some are saying

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The campaign to amend Florida's constitution to protect abortion rights kicked off in Orlando, attracting voters on both sides of the issue. The ballot question needs 60% approval to pass.

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Extreme drought plunges millions in southern Africa into hunger crisis

The El Niño drought has scorched crops, leaving millions hungry, forcing Zimbabwe's President to declare a National Disaster. Zimbabwe was once the epicenter of grain exportation, providing fruitful economic opportunities. More recently, it has been relying on nearby countries aid to survive.

South Africa crops heavily rely on early spring rain to prosper. Because of climate change, the rain has gotten later and later, this year, no rain has fallen, leaving crops dried up.

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Summary: 7 World Central Kitchen aid workers were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza. Leaders of the countries including Australia, Britain, and the US were apalled by these attacks and protests have been on the rise. The founder of World Central Kitchen suspected that Israel has been targeting charities systematically.

Connection: This connects to Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies and the key concept of power with Israel having a disproportionate amount of power against Gaza. Furthermore, while there is the necessary international outcry against this killing, there is less of an international outcry against the 30,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

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World Central Kitchen has named the seven aid workers killed by an Israeli airstrike Monday as they were trying to deliver food to Palestinians in Gaza.

The victims were Australian, British, Palestinian, Polish and a dual citizen of the United States and Canada.

President Biden said he was "outraged" by the deaths. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he was "appalled." Three of the victims were citizens of the United Kingdom.

In a video statement Wednesday, the Israeli military's chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said "the strike was not carried out with the intention of harming WCK aid workers. It was a mistake that followed a misidentification - at night during a war in very complex conditions. It shouldn't have happened."

The Israeli military has also praised World Central Kitchen for bringing humanitarian aid to people in Gaza, as well as to Israel after the Oct. 7 attack in the country.

But humanitarian chef José Andrés, founder of World Central Kitchen, told Reuters Wednesday he suspected Israeli forces had targeted the charity's convoy in Gaza "systematically, car by car."

The food aid charity called on governments to demand an independent investigation to find whether the attack was "carried out intentionally or otherwise violated international law."

The organization suspended its Gaza operations after the attack, and some other humanitarian groups followed suit, raising further concern for the people in Gaza in desperate need of aid. Israel's blockade and six-month assault on Gaza has fueled a growing hunger crisis in the territory, with northern Gaza facing imminent famine, international aid groups and U.N. experts warn. Israeli officials have denied restricting aid and called reports of a looming famine " a complete lie."

The bodies of the six dead foreign aid workers were transported out of Gaza into Egypt Wednesday on their way to their home countries, The Associated Press reported. The Palestinian's remains were handed over to his family to be buried in Gaza.

They were the latest of at least 196 humanitarian workers killed in Palestinian territories since October, according to the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in the region.

These are the identities of the seven World Central Kitchen workers who died.

Australian aid worker Lalzawmi "Zomi" Frankcom, 43, a relief lead for World Central Kitchen, died "doing the work she loves," her family said in a statement to media.

She had helped people during brush fires in her native Australia, supported the Navajo Nation during the COVID-19 pandemic and fed Ukrainian refugees fleeing Russia's invasion.

NPR spoke with Frankcom in 2022 in Bucharest, Romania, where she coordinated meals for Ukrainian refugees. She said she first got involved with the organization while living in Guatemala in 2018, after nearly a decade working in banking and finance. World Central Kitchen arrived to provide emergency aid to communities following a deadly volcanic eruption in the country. "It was like, 'Okay great, can you make a sandwich?' " she recalled them saying. "'Yeah, I can make a sandwich.' 'Right, come on, we're going to make 3,000 of them.' "

On Wednesday, chef Andrés posted an emotional message on social media about Frankcom.

This was Zomi in Pakistan....like so many other missions....always a brave soul....an Angel....
Dear Zomi I have no words....but I promise you, your spirit will always be with us...we will always feed people, with love and kindness....you made all of us better.....You made invisible... https://t.co/RFb1dCj29b
- Chef José Andrés 🕊️🥘🍳 (@chefjoseandres) April 3, 2024

"Dear Zomi I have no words ... but I promise you, your spirit will always be with us," he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. He went so far as to say he wished he hadn't started the charity because she would still be alive today.

Several victims had served in armed forces

All three British citizens who died had previously served in the country's military and were using their experience in conflict zones to help safeguard the work of the charity's staff members as they moved around Gaza.

The family of James Kirby, who was 47, said in a statement issued by the U.K. government that they were "incredibly proud" of his work, which included military tours in Bosnia and Afghanistan, and that he would be remembered as a hero.

But some family members have told British media Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's response - "There was a tragic case of our forces unintentionally hitting innocent people in the Gaza Strip. This happens in war." - angered them.

"They are not soldiers, they are there to help and feed people. Making them a target is unacceptable. Their response for us as a family wasn't nice to listen to," Adam McGuire, Kirby's cousin, told the BBC.

The family of John Chapman, who was 57, said he "died trying to help people" in what they called an "inhumane act" and would be missed.

James Henderson, 33, had served in Britain's Royal Marines before moving into civilian security work.

The Palestinian worker who was killed, Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, 25, was from the city of Rafah, in the southern part of Gaza. He had worked for World Central Kitchen as a driver and translator since the beginning of the year, the AP reported.

Polish citizen Damian Sobol, 35, was identified by a local government leader in his hometown of Przemysl on social media, saying, "There are no words to describe the feelings of people who knew this amazing young man right now... May he rest in peace."

The U.S. and Canadian dual citizen who died was Jacob Flickinger, 33. He had served as an infantryman in the Canadian armed forces before working in Mexico with World Central Kitchen.

In a statement announcing the victims' identities, World Central Kitchen CEO Erin Gore said: "These are the heroes of World Central Kitchen. These 7 beautiful souls were killed by the IDF in a strike as they were returning from a full day's mission. Their smiles, laughter, and voices are forever embedded in our memories. And we have countless memories of them giving their best selves to the world. We are reeling from our loss. The world's loss."

Governments call for accountability

Governments of the countries where the six foreign victims were from have been expressing sorrow and anger over Monday's fatal attack.

President Biden said in a statement he was "outraged and heartbroken by the deaths" and said the investigation into the case "must bring accountability."

In a rebuke to the Israeli government, Biden also said "this is not a stand-alone incident," noting the high aid worker casualties in the conflict. "Israel has not done enough to protect aid workers trying to deliver desperately needed help to civilians."

On Thursday, Biden told Prime Minister Netanyahu in a phone call that U.S. policy on the war in Gaza will be determined by whether Israel takes "a series of specific, concrete and measurable steps" to address deaths of civilians and aid workers in the territory.

Biden had a call with chef Andrés earlier in the week and expressed his condolences and support for the group's work.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a call with his Israeli counterpart he was " appalled."

"The Prime Minister said far too many aid workers and ordinary civilians have lost their lives in Gaza and the situation is increasingly intolerable," according to the U.K. government's readout from the call. "The UK expects to see immediate action by Israel to end restrictions on humanitarian aid, deconflict with the UN and aid agencies, protect civilians and repair vital infrastructure like hospitals and water networks."

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese paid tribute to Frankcom and the other aid workers, saying, "This is just completely unacceptable. Australia expects full accountability for the deaths of aid workers."

Canada's foreign minister, Mélanie Joly, said she was " horrified" by the news and said those responsible must be held accountable.

Polish President Andrzej Duda also praised the killed workers, writing on X, "These brave people changed the world for the better with their service and dedication to others. This tragedy should never have happened and must be explained."

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These are the World Central Kitchen aid workers killed by Israeli airstrike in Gaza

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Three of those killed by an Israeli airstrike were British and the others were Australian, Palestinian, Polish and a dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada.

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https://en.gaonconnection.com/changing-patriarchal-gender-norms-across-200-villages-in-kutch-a-day-in-the-life-of-a-paralegal/

This article discusses an organization in Kutch district of Gujarat that helps women who are suffering with abuse from their families by training other women to be paralegals and defusing their situations or helping them escape consensually. They help women so that they dont have to go to the police, as "When situations like these are taken to the police, they can become an added stressor for the woman. Often, the issue is easier to resolve through counselling.". IN Working the night shift, Patel highlights how law enforcement which is supposed to help women in India often ends up working against them and is incompetent in many regards to violence faced by women.

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Gaonconnection | Your Connection with Rural India

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For the past 22 years, I have been working with the nonprofit Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan (KMVS), in some of the remotest villages in the Kutch region of Gujarat. Kutch is the largest district in India and it is very diverse-there are multiple communities, languages, clothes, food, and religions-this is the strength of Kutch. We work across the district, from villages along the long-winding coast to villages near the Indo-Pak border in the interiors of the Rann of Kutch.

I started my journey with KMVS as a self-help group leader, and later trained as a paralegal. For the last six years, I've been working as a full-time paralegal with the organisation. At KMVS, we help women access justice when they face violence at home, by helping them through the legal process or by supporting them and their families to resolve conflicts, as trusted mediators.

Our work does not end there. We also work closely with the Kutch police, through the Hello Sakhi helpline which we began in 2010. Operating out of the mahila police station (all-women police station) in Bhuj, the helpline allows us to reach more women. Earlier, we would travel to different villages, and this limited how many women we could serve. We still travel extensively to villages to conduct seminars on rights and entitlements, and to help women (particularly widows) access government schemes and services, but the helpline allows us to provide immediate support too.

When I started working at KMVS, at age 20, I had not studied beyond the seventh grade. My village school didn't offer those classes, so despite wanting to continue, I couldn't. Today, I have trained more than 400 women to become paralegals at KMVS. It was only this year that I considered completing my tenth grade, when my supervisor suggested that I give the exam and get my certificate. The organisation thought that it would help me, but also inspire the younger paralegals who I manage, to do the same. I was hesitant; being 42 years old, the last time I had studied formally was many years ago. But my colleagues supported me, and after studying hard for a few months, I passed.

Now, most of my time is either spent at the office in Bhuj or out in the field.

7.30 AM: My work hours usually start at 10 AM, when I jet off on my scooter to visit neighbouring villages, or go straight to the office. But on days like today, when nobody is available to respond to calls on the Hello Sakhi helpline, I go to the police station instead.

I remember when I first started out, I had never travelled on a bus. Back in Kalyanpar, the village where I grew up, women are not to step beyond the threshold of their homes. I am a Muslim and in my community, women aren't supposed to step out alone and without a veil. Having led a sheltered life, I was hesitant to join KMVS.

But when the women from KMVS told us about the work they do, I mustered up the courage to join them. In the beginning, my husband's family members would follow me to meetings, to see where I was going and what I was doing. My mother-in-law insisted on accompanying me as well. But after a few meetings, she admitted that the collective's work was constructive, and that there was a lot to learn from our sisters. Over time, I was able to gain my family's trust and support. Today, even with the recent lockdown in place, I travel to neighbouring villages on my scooter, to carry out my work every other day.

There are still a lot of elderly women who object to their daughters and daughters-in-law stepping out of the house, being part of a women's collective, and raising their voice for a cause. | Picture courtesy: KMVS

8 AM: Once I reach the mahila police station, I respond to calls on the helpline, which is available between 8 AM and 9 PM, seven days a week, and even on holidays such as Diwali and Eid. I start by taking down the details of the person who is calling-her name, village, age, number of children, and so on-along with details of the issue she is facing. We have offices in all ten talukas (blocks) of Kutch, so depending on where the call is coming from, I contact paralegals and counsellors in that taluka and inform them of the situation. Usually, we ask callers to come to our offices, but if they cannot, we visit them.

Since I live in Bhuj, if there is a case nearby, I attend to it myself. We usually try to resolve all matters between women and their families themselves, consensually. But if the woman still feels threatened or is in danger, we take the case to the police.

10 AM: I get a call on my mobile phone while I am at the police station. There are about 200 villages on average that I work with, and since people know me well, they sometimes call my phone directly, rather than using the helpline.

I answer the phone-it's Ramlal*, a man from a village nearby, calling on behalf of his daughter, Laxmi*. He tells me that Laxmi's father-in-law threw her out of the house last night. She accidentally added extra milk in the tea she was preparing for the family. Her father-in-law was enraged, and took the opportunity to beat her and kick her out. Laxmi is at her parent's house now, and so Ramlal requests me to help them and intervene.

11.30 AM: I reach their house, and sit down to talk with Laxmi. We discuss the incident, and I tell her that her father-in-law has no right to treat her like this. When asked about her husband's involvement in all this, she tells me that he tried to stop his father but was unsuccessful. We decide that it might be best if the couple separates themselves from the rest of the family for some time, so that Laxmi can get some space from her father-in-law. In their absence, her husband's brother agrees to take care of their parents.

When situations like these are taken to the police, they can become an added stressor for the woman. Often, the issue is easier to resolve through counselling. However, in emergency situations, we use the police's 181 women's helpline vans, to reach women quickly and get them out of immediate danger.

2 PM: I go back to the office in Bhuj to get some administrative work done, and catch up with some of the paralegals I manage. A few of them, who work as paralegals part-time while employed at other companies or hotels, are worried about their income and savings, given the economic crisis that the pandemic has created. One woman has had to ask her 17-year-old son to join her at work, because her husband, a migrant worker, has not been able to reach them during the lockdown.

We recruit a new cadre of paralegals every year, in January. To do this, we go from village to village, speak with women, tell them about our work, and ask them to join us. We typically interact with the village sarpanch or ASHA worker first, to establish a connection with the village and use their help to identify which women might be interested in joining us.

Once the new batch of paralegals start, I train them on things such as domestic violence, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act, child custody laws, gender, and women's rights, and so on. We also discuss prevailing social norms and mindsets. There are still a lot of elderly women who object to their daughters and daughters-in-law stepping out of the house, being part of a women's collective, and raising their voice for a cause. We have to work hard to convince them and assure them that we aren't doing anything wrong. Patriarchal norms prevent women from leaving their homes, but we counsel them, help them shed their fears, embrace change, and step out of their comfort zones.

4 PM: My phone rings again-this time, it's a woman who is worried about her husband's alcoholism and how he may treat her as a result. Working with families over the years, we have been able to establish our role as a mediator; we do not blindly side with women, but we let them know that they can rely on us for genuine, unbiased assistance. Doing this has enabled us to earn trust with other household members as well, which is why we can do what we do, and help resolve conflicts.

I counsel the woman, assuring her that if she feels threatened, we will send over a counsellor and paralegal, should the situation escalate.

5 PM: Before wrapping up for the day, I spend some time planning the next set of training sessions that we need to design for our paralegals. Thinking about this takes me back to my early days with KMVS. When I started working, I had to go from village to village to hold awareness sessions with women-about domestic violence, women's rights, and our organisation. What helped me connect with women across villages was the fact that I was just like them, a village girl, who had not really stepped out of her house before.

Only if we are aware of our rights, our potential, can we break away from patriarchal norms that keep us confined in our homes. If I hadn't stepped out or tried new things, I wouldn't be where I am today. I wouldn't have been able to go to Bhuj by myself, work as a manager, hold meetings myself, or help my sisters find their voice. At one point, we were even called the ' Bhuj wali behenein' (the sisters from Bhuj) and through my work, I have connected with more than 5,000 behenein across Kutch.
*Names changed to maintain privacy. Khataben Sameja is part of the Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan (KMVS), and works as a paralegal. This story has been sourced from India Development Review. You can read the original story here.

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Combating gender discrimination across 200 villages in Kutch: A day in the life of a paralegal - Gaonconnection | Your Connection with Rural India

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Meet Khataben Sameja who helps rural women in Kutch, Gujarat, access justice when they face violence at home. She has helped more than 1,000 women break away from domestic violence.

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Article: Skimpy Women’s Olympics Uniforms Cause Uproar

Female track athletes, specifically runners of the Olympic level are upset that Nike issued them "skimpy" uniforms. They don't want to compete in them, even at the Paris Olympics. They think they are too short and it was disrespectful they were given to them to wear.

This is a real world issue, current, The Wall Street Journal posted the article this morning. Focuses on the issue of inequality, making female athletes show off more of their body when competing. Connects to the key concept of Identity. These female athletes are already self conscious going out and now are expected to wear less clothing than they are comfortable with. This decision was based off their gender, which falls into their identity.

Connects to the ethnography Pretty Modern. Both talk about females appearances, and how their beauty is viewed in society. Connects again to the key concept of Identity through their gender as a female. But also the key concept of a society, and society's expectations of a female beauty standard.

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https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/04/11/thailand-halt-forced-returns-myanmar

Myanmar's government has carried out various violations of international war laws, from indiscriminate killings to torture. Over 2 million have been internally displaced and over 100,000 have fled. Thailand has decided not to send 19 undocumented children back, and are being urged to expand this policy to include all refugees as long as the situation in Myanmar remains dire. Failing to do so is in direct opposition of international law.

Although not the same as Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies where the scenario isn't as clearly deadly, both are cases where the country people are fleeing from does not have a good future for people. In both cases, mobility is limited as people cannot remain in their home, but are stuck in limbo on where they can go. Human rights are a major consideration in both cases, as the treatment of refugees has not been in accordance with the UN.

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(Bangkok) - The Thai government's decision not to forcibly return 19 children to Myanmar should be expanded to include all refugees from Myanmar, Human Rights Watch said today.

On March 12, 2024, officials from Thai immigration and the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security took 19 Myanmar children, ages 5 to 17, from Wat Sawang Arom School in Lopburi province in central Thailand and brought them without their parents to the border in Chiang Rai province prior to repatriating them to Myanmar. Thai members of parliament, human rights groups, and the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand strongly criticized the planned return. On March 26, Social Development and Human Security Minister Varawut Silpa-archa said in a media interview that his agency would not return the 19 children to Myanmar, and that they could remain in Thailand.

"Thai authorities showed sympathy and support by allowing 19 children from Myanmar to remain in Thailand," said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The government's next step should be to assure all those fleeing Myanmar that they can seek protection in Thailand."

Prior to Varawut's announcement, Thai officials had said that the 19 children were "undocumented" and were irregularly living in Thailand. The previous government in July 2023 had used a similar argument to justify sending back 126 "undocumented" Myanmar children from a school in Ang Thong province, despite concerns raised by the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand and human rights groups.

Varawut's assurances that these 19 children could remain in Thailand should become Thai government policy for all Myanmar refugees, as long as the human rights situation in Myanmar remains dire, Human Rights Watch said. Fighting since early April around the Myanmar border town of Myawaddy, opposite Mae Sot in Thailand's Tak province, has raised concerns about future influxes of refugees.

Thai Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara said on April 9 that the government has prepared to receive up to 100,000 refugees temporarily.

Not everyone fleeing conflict and rights abuses in Myanmar has been able to seek protection in Thailand. In late October, the Thai military forcibly returned thousands of refugees who had been sheltering in border areas next to Myanmar's Karenni State.

Any forced returns to Myanmar may violate Thailand's obligations as a party to the Convention Against Torture and the customary international law principle prohibiting refoulement, the forcible return of anyone to a place where they would face a genuine risk of persecution, torture or other ill-treatment, or a threat to their life.

Since the February 2021 coup, Myanmar's military junta has carried out a nationwide campaign of mass killings, torture, arbitrary arrests, and indiscriminate attacks that amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes. More than two million people have been internally displaced and more than 109,000 refugees have fled to neighboring countries.

The Thai government should promptly fulfill its pledge at the Global Refugee Forum in December 2023 to withdraw its reservation to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Article 22 guarantees the rights of refugee children, but Thailand's reservation calls for refugee children to be treated "subject to the national laws, regulations and prevailing practices in Thailand." The convention also contains protections for children from being forcibly separated from their parents.

Thailand should also provide protection and support to all refugees, including by permitting the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, to undertake refugee status determinations.

"The deteriorating human rights situation in Myanmar could mean that Thailand receives many more refugees in the near future," Pearson said. "While the Thai government should be assuring refugees that they will not be returned into harm's way, concerned governments should be prepared to support Thailand to provide protection."

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Thailand: Halt Forced Returns to Myanmar

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The Thai government's decision not to forcibly return 19 children to Myanmar should be expanded to include all refugees from Myanmar, Human Rights Watch said today.

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Julia Seiple

Who: Black Americans and White Americans

What: People with White-sounding names get chosen for job interviews more than people with Black or foreign-sounding names

When: 2003-2023

Where: Chicago and Boston

Why: White employers in the US are typically biased towards White people and feel as though Black employees "may not have the right qualifications"

This connects to the racism portrayed in Learning Capitalist Culture as White people tend to make assumptions about a person's education level, work ethic, and general qualifications based on race. In the article, this puts Black applicants at a disadvantage, despite having the same qualifications as a White job applicant. In LCC, Mexican students were undermined and received fewer opportunities because of their race and White peoples' racial biases. This connects to the key concept of power as Black people are experiencing a lack of power within an oppressive job system.

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White-sounding names get called back for jobs more than Black ones, a new study finds

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Economists sent 83,000 fake job applications to a slew of major U.S. companies, and found that the typical firm favored white applicants over Black ones by around 9%.

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Summarize the Issue (Who, What, Where, When, How)

The article covers the rapid increase in migration in the United States since the pandemic. The article mainly views this as a positive aspect, as it contributes to the economy and population growth. Without immigration, the US is expected to fall in population and have lower economic growth. The migrant workers cover the economic gap created by Native-born workers seeking other jobs or retiring, especially in states with higher average working ages. It also briefly mentions the political aspect of migration and how the government is currently looking at shutting down borders.

How can you connect this to one of the REAL WORLD ISSUES, any KEY CONCEPTS and to ONE or MORE of our Ethnographies:

This topic connects to mobility and migration, as well as economic power. The article focuses on the economic effects of immigration on the US, and how it changes the expected economic power of the US. Some of the cited reasons for immigration to the US are "Many are spurred by geopolitical instability, including economic crisis and crime in Venezuela, violence in Congo, and humanitarian crises across other parts of Africa and the Middle East."

This topic also connects to similar themes as FFBB, as it looks at migrant workers and their effects on the US economy and work force. Both this article and FFBB also cover illegal immigration and a lack of work permits, and the effects that those factors have on the migration of workers and economy of the US.

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Immigrants in Maine Are Filling a Labor Gap. It May Be a Prelude for the U.S.

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A wave of rapid immigration is taxing local resources around the country and drawing political ire. But it might leave America’s economy better off.

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The United Kingdom has seen a massive surge in migration since Brexit and as of 2022, the UK hit an all time record of 745,000 immigrants. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak aimed to stop this surge with his Rwanda boat plan, which would send people who immigrated in small boats or who seek asylum to Rwanda, but the plan was deemed unlawful by the British Parliment. This issue relates to mobility and human rights as it relates to the treatment of immigrants and the proper way to adress the issues that arise with mass immigration. This also relates to power and how the people who have power can assert their positions in ways that can be inhumane towards immigrants who are left at the mercy of foreign governments. Their rights become limited as they move physical locations, often out of necessity. We see this in Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies as well because the migrant farm workers are stuck in an unfair power dynamic that allows their human rights to be taken advantage of only because they are no longer in a country where they are citizens and can to some degree advocate for themselves.

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Say one thing, do another? The government’s record rise in net migration

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The Conservatives pledged to cut immigration, but there’s been a rise - BBC Panorama explores why.

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Article:

Racial profiling (suspecting or targeting someone based on their race) is very common amongst the French police as of 2024. However, this violates international human rights laws, so five French and international groups filed a complaint today with the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. This can be connected to both human rights and inequality. Obviously, the French police are violating international human rights that protect citizens from being profiled for their race alone. But this profiling also creates an inequitable society for non-white people in France, a society where people of color have to be extra careful not to draw attention to themselves when they leave their homes out of fear of being accused of a crime. A key concept to connect this example to would be structural violence - people of color are being harmed by being falsely accused of things because of the racist society in France. This example can also be connected to Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies, where some of the migrant workers mentioned to Holmes, while at McDonalds, that they avoid talking to authorities and store workers when they are outside of their homes to avoid being falsely accused of stealing, lying, or etc.

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(Paris, April 11, 2024) - Racial profiling by French police violates international human rights law, five French and international groups said in a complaint filed today with the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD).

Although in France the Council of State recognized in October 2023 that racial profiling by the police is not limited to "isolated cases," the government has taken no action to address the problem. This inaction led the five groups to lodge a complaint before the UN Committee, which monitors compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. France is a party to the treaty.

The groups are Community House for Solidarity Development (Maison Communautaire pour un Dévelopement Solidaire, MCDS); Pazapas; Equality, Anti-discrimination, Interdisciplinary Justice Network (Réseau Egalité, Antidiscrimination, Justice Interdisciplinaire, Reaji); Amnesty International France; and Human Rights Watch.

The groups have been working to eliminate racial profiling by French law enforcement since a landmark Court of Cassation ruling in 2016 condemning the French state for "gross misconduct that engages the responsibility of the state" in five cases of identity checks.

As evidenced by an extensive body of research, reports from independent institutions, including the French Defender of Rights, and testimony from numerous victims as well as police officers, racial profiling particularly targets Black and Arab young men and boys or those perceived as such, including children as young as 10. These abusive and illegal identity checks, which are widespread throughout the country and deeply rooted in police practices, constitute systemic racial discrimination.

The groups are asking the United Nations' expert body on racial discrimination to recognize the systemic nature of the problem of racial profiling in France, and set out specific steps the French government should take to eliminate racial profiling.

The persistence and scale of the scourge of racial profiling has been recognized by numerous rights bodies, including national ones like the Defender of Rights (Défenseur des Droits, DDD) and the French National Consultative Commission on Human Rights (Commission nationale consultative des droits de l'homme, CNCDH) as well as European bodies like the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI).

In the context of the class action before the Council of State, the DDD and the former United Nations special rapporteur on racism drafted voluntary interventions in support of the associations' arguments.

By failing to take the necessary measures to put an end to this practice, the French government is failing to meet its obligations under several international treaties, including the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the organizations said.

The groups outlined the measures that the government should take to put an end to systematic racial profiling by police in France. These measures include:

Redefining and clarifying the legal framework for police identity checks to eliminate discrimination by requiring objective and individualized grounds for all checks, clarifying the prohibition of discrimination, and establishing specific regulations and instructions for stops targeting children;

Creating traceability for all such stops and identity checks by the police by creating a system for recording and evaluating the justification for each identity check, while requiring the police to issue those stopped with a record of the action;

Strengthening victims' rights by providing a system for effective recourse to an independent complaints mechanism;

Changing the institutional objectives, guidelines, and training for the police, including with respect to interactions with the public.

The associations therefore wish to bring these failings to the attention of UN Committee's independent experts, who have already expressed concerns about France's failure to address police violence in the context of systemic racism.

MCDS, Pazapas, and Reaji are represented before CERD by the organization (Re)Claim.

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France: Groups Seek UN Intervention to Address Racial Profiling

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Racial profiling by French police violates international human rights law, five French and international groups said in a complaint filed today with the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

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After responding to help-wanted ads on the streets in Boston and Chicago, they saw that inquiring with white names got 50% more callbacks than black names. This is similar to FFBB, where Triqui/indigenous migrant workers have less economic mobility up the work hierarchy of their farms because of language barriers and being perceived as more "simple" and incapable. Both cases exemplify structural violence manifesting as business institutions denying non-whites economic mobility because of race/ethnicity.

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White-sounding names get called back for jobs more than Black ones, a new study finds

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Economists sent 83,000 fake job applications to a slew of major U.S. companies, and found that the typical firm favored white applicants over Black ones by around 9%.

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Article Link: https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/04/11/nigeria-10-years-after-chibok-schoolchildren-still-risk

Summary:

This article discusses how authorities have failed to put in place measures to provide security to schoolchildren following the abduction of over 200 schoolgirls in Chobook, Nigeria 10 years ago. With the kidnappings occuring in Nigeria, the students are risk of getting abducted when trying to get their education.

Connection to Ethnography:

This also connects to the ethnography Working the Night Shift by Reena Patel because in her book she talks about the way that women oftentimes are criticized for leaving their homes in the night or during the day and walking by themselves to their work without a male figure. This goes to show the limitations to the agency women have in furthering their success and career because of the social constructed norms of what is and isn't okay and safe for them to do. Similarly, in this article, the schoolgirls, while they have a valid reason to be cautious given the events when attending school, they also lack agency to be able to further their success and future career options through education.

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(Abuja) -Ten years after the abduction of over 200 schoolgirls in Chibok, Nigerian authorities have failed to put in place and sustain crucial measures to provide a secure learning environment for every child, Human Rights Watch said today.

Since 2014, according to Save the Children, more than 1,600 children have been abducted or kidnapped across northern Nigeria. In the northeast, the armed conflict between Boko Haram and Nigerian armed forces continues to take its toll and, in the northwest, criminal groups commonly called bandits are terrorizing communities. During February and March 2024 alone, bandits kidnapped over 200 children from their schools in Kaduna and Sokoto states.

"For many children across northern Nigeria, the pursuit of an education means facing the constant threat of abduction or kidnapping," said Anietie Ewang, Nigeria researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Children should never face the harrowing dilemma of sacrificing their safety for education, but this untenable choice, which echoes the profound insecurity plaguing the country, is thrust upon them daily."

On April 14, 2014, Boko Haram, an Islamist armed group, abducted 276 girls from their school in Chibok, a town in northeastern Borno state, sparking global outrage. Although some of the girls escaped, or were released or rescued, 96 remain in captivity according to UNICEF, and civil society groups continue to pressure the government to ensure they are rescued. Boko Haram, known for its opposition to education, has carried out other such abductions, including one of 110 girls from a school in Dapchi, a town in Yobe state, in 2018.

In addition to kidnappings by Boko Haram in the northeast, the ongoing banditry crisis in the northwest has in recent years made that area a hub for criminal kidnapping for ransom. The crisis emerged after years of conflict between herders and farmers, giving rise to the criminal groups, which have carried out widespread killings, looting, extortion, and kidnapping for ransom in mostly rural communities.

Between December 2020 and February 2021, a series of high-profile incidents, including the abduction of over 600 schoolchildren across Zamfara, Katsina, and Niger states, thrust the kidnapping issue into the spotlight.

In the aftermath of Chibok, the Nigerian government endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration, an international political commitment to protect education from attack and schools from military use which turns them into targets. The government also adopted a Safe School Initiative for Nigeria with the support of the global community and Nigerian business leaders. The initiative aimed to raise funds with an initial US$10 million pledge to help make schools safer, including by moving them to safer areas and creating a safe school model for schools across Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe, the three states worst hit by the Boko Haram insurgency.

However, the multi-stakeholder initiative faced problems, and there has been a decline in momentum over the years with little or no progress made in fortifying schools, Human Rights Watch said. In 2021, Nigeria's then-Senate president Ahmad Lawan, following an investigation into the utilization of the funds for the initiative, declared that it was designed to fail without a National Policy and Strategy for the Safe School Initiative and the leadership of the Federal Education Ministry. In the meantime, communities continue to suffer the brunt of bandit attacks and schoolchildren remain vulnerable prey.

A Chibok girl who was in Boko Haram captivity for over two years, and was released with 20 others, told Human Rights Watch that news of school kidnappings brings back memories of her ordeal. "Whenever I hear that more children have been kidnapped, I feel terrible, helpless," she said. "We are still not safe ... It brings back memories of what happened to me. I can never forget being snatched from my parents, my family for so long. I pray this is not the case for those that are kidnapped." She is now a 28-year-old university student studying natural and environmental sciences.

Kemi Okenyodo, an expert in security and governance and the executive director of the Rule of Law and Empowerment Initiative in Abuja, told Human Rights Watch that the ongoing school kidnappings, resembling those in Chibok a decade ago, highlight a failure to learn from past experiences, as they are taking place without adequate security infrastructure or intervention from authorities to prevent dozens or hundreds of children being snatched away at once.

Amid the heightened threat of attacks on schools, many have been forced to shut down completely, with more than 20 million children out of school in Nigeria, according to UNESCO, among the highest number in any country in the world. According to UNICEF, 66 percent of out-of-school children in Nigeria are from the northeast and northwest, which are among the poorest regions in the country.

For girls especially, the challenges are double edged. They risk rape and other forms of sexual violence if kidnapped, and if kept out of school, they risk child marriage, which is a common practice in these regions.

In 2021, the government adopted the National Policy on Safety, Security and Violence Free Schools aimed at improving school security, strengthening the capabilities of security agents to respond to threats, and ensuring that education continues for children displaced by conflict and crisis, among other reasons.

The authorities committed to investing 144.8 billion naira (about $314.5 million at the time) over a certain period to finance this initiative. In 2023, they announced that 15 billion naira (about $24 million at the time) had been earmarked to pilot the initiative in 18 high-risk states and 48 schools. However, details of the implementation are sparse, and it remains unclear the extent to which this has been done.

Okenyodo told Human Rights Watch that the government needs to involve communities in designing and implementing initiatives to make schools safer to create a sense of ownership and reduce inefficiency and corruption.

"Now more than ever, the Nigerian authorities should step up efforts to make learning safe for children," Ewang said. "They should work with communities to adopt rights-respecting measures and put in place adequate financing, systems, and structures to ensure quick, effective, and transparent implementation to ensure that children can learn without being exposed to grave harm."

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Nigeria: 10 Years After Chibok, Schoolchildren Still at Risk

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Ten years after the abduction of over 200 schoolgirls in Chibok, Nigerian authorities have failed to put in place and sustain crucial measures to provide a secure learning environment for every child.

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Summary: The authorities of Colombia and Panama are failing to protect migrants against violence (sexual, physical abuse) when crossing the Colombia-Panama border (Darien Gap) to seek refuge. Migrants are exploited by arms groups and the governments lack presence in the area.

Connection to Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies: This issue connects to Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies as it discusses the lack of agency of migrants who are forced to move.

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Colombia and Panama are failing to effectively protect and assist hundreds of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers in the Darién Gap and to investigate abuses there.

Over half a million people, including 113,000 children, crossed the Darién Gap in 2023. Panamanian authorities estimate that the number of people crossing is likely to be even higher in 2024.

Colombian and Panamanian authorities should prevent exploitation by criminal groups and bandits, conduct criminal investigations, and ensure access to food, water, and basic healthcare services.

(Bogota) - Colombia and Panama are failing to effectively protect and assist hundreds of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers transiting through the Darién Gap, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

The 110-page report, "Neglected in the Jungle: Inadequate Protection and Assistance for Migrants and Asylum Seekers Crossing the Darién Gap," is the second in a series of Human Rights Watch reports on migration via the Darién Gap. Human Rights Watch identified specific shortcomings in Colombia's and Panama's efforts to protect and assist people - including those at higher risk, such as unaccompanied children - as well as to investigate abuses against them.

"Whatever the reason for their journey, migrants and asylum seekers crossing the Darién Gap are entitled to basic safety and respect for their human rights along the way," said Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. "Colombian and Panamanian authorities can and should do more to ensure the rights of migrants and asylum seekers crossing their countries, as well as of local communities that have experienced years of neglect."

Human Rights Watch visited the Darién Gap four times between April 2022 and June 2023 and interviewed almost 300 people, including migrants and asylum seekers, victims of serious abuses, aid workers, and Colombian and Panamanian authorities. Between January 2022 and March 2024, researchers also conducted phone and virtual interviews. Human Rights Watch also reviewed data and reports by the Colombian, Panamanian, and United States governments; United Nations agencies; international, regional, and local human rights and humanitarian organizations; and local legal clinics, and repeatedly sent information requests to Colombian and Panamanian authorities, who in most cases responded.

Human Rights Watch found that on both sides of the border, the authorities are failing to effectively protect the right to life and physical integrity of transiting migrants and asylum seekers, and to investigate violations effectively, promptly, and thoroughly. Efforts to guarantee access to food, water, and essential healthcare services have proven inadequate, affecting the basic rights of both migrants and local communities that have experienced longstanding marginalization, high poverty rates, and a lack of opportunities.

Crimes against migrants and asylum seekers in the Darién Gap, including pervasive cases of sexual violence, go largely uninvestigated and unpunished on both sides of the border. Accountability for these abuses is rare due to a combination of limited resources and personnel, a lack of a criminal investigation strategy for these cases, and poor coordination between Colombian and Panamanian authorities.

On March 4, 2024, the Panamanian government suspended the work of Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders or MSF) in the country, saying that its agreement with the humanitarian group had ended in December. MSF says that they have been seeking a renewal since October. The organization played a leading role in assisting migrants and asylum seekers, including hundreds of survivors of sexual violence.

"Restricting MSF's work is exactly the opposite of what is needed to address the situation in the Darién Gap," Goebertus said. "Panamanian authorities should urgently review this decision to ensure the rights of migrants and asylum seekers, including victims of sexual violence."

Over half a million people crossed the Darién Gap in 2023, including 113,000 children. Based on the large number of people who crossed in January and February, Panamanian authorities estimate that the number of people crossing is likely to be even higher in 2024.

During their journey through this difficult terrain, Venezuelans, Haitians, and Ecuadorians, as well as people from Asia and Africa, have experienced serious abuses, including sexual violence. Since 2021, over 1,300 people have reported sexual violence to MSF, but the numbers are likely to be higher. However, between January 2021 and December 2023 the Attorney General's Office in Panama reported only 285 victims of sexual abuse.

Dozens, if not hundreds, have lost their lives trying to cross or are missing. While the International Organization for Migration reported that 245 have disappeared between 2021 and March 2023, the real figure is likely to be much higher.

In one case documented by Human Rights Watch, in October 2022, a Venezuelan couple embarked on the journey with their 6-year-old son and two other children through the Darién jungle. Amid the arduous trek, a stranger offered to carry their son to expedite the journey, but that group soon outpaced them, the parents said. As they caught up with the group the next morning, the man told them that their child had drowned while crossing the river. It took the authorities eight days to begin a search, and Interpol issued a notice to help locate the child over a month later. He remains missing.

Researchers found that in Colombia, the government lacks a clear strategy to safeguard the rights of migrants and asylum seekers crossing the Darién Gap. The limited government presence in the region effectively leaves them unprotected from the Gulf Clan, an armed group involved in drug trafficking that controls the flow of migrants and asylum seekers and profits from their desperation and vulnerability.

The Panamanian government implements a strategy of "controlled flow" or "humanitarian flow." The policy appears focused on restricting the free movement of migrants and asylum seekers within Panama and seeking their swift exit to Costa Rica, rather than on addressing their needs or ensuring that they can exercise their right to seek asylum, Human Rights Watch found.

Both Colombia and Panama should appoint a special adviser or senior official to coordinate their response to the increased migration flow across the Darién Gap and bolster cooperation among the two governments and with the UN and other humanitarian agencies.

Both governments should work with humanitarian organizations and local communities to establish a joint system to rescue people reported missing in the Darién Gap and to identify and recover bodies. They should also strengthen efforts to prevent, investigate, and punish sexual violence against migrants and asylum seekers. They should increase forensic capacity in the region, prioritize investigations into these cases, and address obstacles that make it harder for victims to report crimes. Working with humanitarian organizations, governments should bolster medical, including psychological, assistance for victims.

Addressing the situation in the Darién Gap will require broader efforts across the region. Latin American governments and the US should reverse measures that are preventing access to asylum and forcing people into dangerous crossings like the Darién Gap. They should honor the 40th anniversary of the 1984 Cartagena Declaration, a landmark international instrument on refugees' rights in Latin America, by adopting rights-respecting policies.

"Colombia and Panama should not be left alone to respond to the challenges in the Darién Gap," Goebertus said. "Foreign governments should support meaningful efforts to assist and protect migrants and asylum seekers - and all governments should provide options to ensure that people are not forced to risk their lives in the jungle."

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Colombia, Panama Fail to Protect Migrants in Darién Gap

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Colombia and Panama are failing to effectively protect and assist hundreds of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers transiting through the Darién Gap.

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It will house many more military personal that make it much more difficult for immigrants to cross the border. Costing over 400 million dollars, under the guise of trying to stop drug smuggling.

This relates to structural violence, behavioral, and migrant mobility. This will encourage more violence on immigrant especially if they get caught by immigration and will significantly stop their mobility out of Mexico.

This relates to power, further giving the government more power over migrants mobility and safety. This also reveals the culture towards migrants in Texas and the Texas government.

This is very obviously Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies, as it has to do with immigration, especially out of Mexico. And follows similar superstructures of undocumented Mexicans.

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Texas Constructing Massive Anti-Migrant Military Base

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The Texas Military Department is constructing a massive new “Forward Operating Base” outside of the border community of Eagle Pass to house up to 1,800 national guard members. The base is part of the state’s multibillion-dollar anti-migrant program, Operation Lone Star.

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Chicago is evicting migrants from shelters causing many to live in the cold chicago climate. Migrants are complaining that they are being treated with disrespect. This shows the behavioral and symbolic violence that is occurring because migrants are treated less than causing many people to treat them with little to no respect. This article connects to Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies because it shows how migrants are at the bottom of the hierarchy causing many people to establish power over migrants.

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Chicago begins evicting migrants from shelters as residents decry a ‘lack of respect’

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Franklin Romero, a 29-year-old Venezuelan migrant, said someone told him just one day before that he had to leave by 2 p.m. Monday.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-68778773

Due to the exploding drug trade in Latin America, gang violence and military oppression rose exponentially against Ecuadorian civilians as Ecuador now has one of the highest rates of murder in the entire world.

This is connected to FFBB, because many undocumented workers such as the Triqui migrants came to work in the U.S due to instances of structural violence such as government oppression and domestic violence. Ecuador is entering a state where exodus is becoming necessary to escape the violence.

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How Ecuador went from tourist haven to a nation in the grip of gangs

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Ecuador used to be one of Latin America's safest countries but has struggled to cope with escalating violence.

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https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2023/country-chapters/brazil

This article talks about human rights issues and power in Brazil. This goes into women's rights, abuse of power, harassment, misinformation within elections, and environmental aspects. Abuse of power connects to FFBB because we see the people at the top of the social hierarchies taking advantage of those beneath them. We can also connect women's rights to WTNS because of how the public views and treats women in different societies.

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Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won the presidential elections in October at a critical time for Brazil's democracy.

Throughout his term, former President Jair Bolsonaro harassed and insulted Supreme Court justices and journalists. He tried to undermine trust in the electoral system, making unproven claims of electoral fraud. Political violence rose during the campaign season.

Eighty-four percent of the 6,145 people police killed in 2021 were Black, the latest available data show.

Deforestation and human-caused fires ravaged the Amazon rainforest. Indigenous people, community leaders, and others who defended it suffered threats and attacks.

Democratic Rule

Lula won the October election by a narrow margin. Bolsonaro did not explicitly recognize defeat but allowed the transition, as of November.

Ahead of the October elections, then-President Bolsonaro insulted and tried to intimidate Supreme Court justices and repeated unproven claims of electoral fraud. He said it "appears" that election winners would be those "who have friends" in the Superior Electoral Court. He told dozens of ambassadors in July that Brazil's electoral system was unreliable. In September, he said that if he did not get 60 percent of the vote, "something wrong would have happened" at the electoral court.

In August, more than one million Brazilians, including prominent businesspeople, former Supreme Court justices, politicians, and artists, co-signed a manifesto defending democracy and the rule of law.

Political violence marred the electoral contest. Four people were killed during the electoral campaign season in circumstances suggesting they were targeted for their political views.

The Observatory of Political and Electoral Violence at Rio de Janeiro's Federal University compiled 426 cases of threats and violence against individuals engaged in politics-or their relatives-from January through September 2022. Women candidates, especially Black and trans women, were particularly targeted for threats and online harassment, civil society organizations reported.

The Superior Electoral Court prohibited carrying guns in a 100-meter area around polling places on and immediately before and after election day. The Supreme Court also temporarily suspended portions of presidential decrees that had made it easier to buy and carry guns.

Corruption

Despite running on an anti-corruption platform, the Bolsonaro government faced corruption investigations, including into misuse of public resources in the Education Ministry and in the response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In 2019, then-President Bolsonaro broke with the tradition of selecting an attorney general from a list of three candidates elected by prosecutors across the country and appointed one not on the list. Transparency International said that former President Bolsonaro weakened the fight against corruption by also supporting the creation of the so-called secret budget, a special budgetary provision that redirected billions of dollars to congressional spending projects with virtually no transparency, among other factors.

Freedom of Expression, Access to Information

The nongovernmental organization Reporters without Borders and the Federal University of Espírito Santo identified more than 2.8 million social media posts with insults, threats, and other offensive content against journalists and the media during the first month of the election season, which officially started August 16. The study found that supporters of former President Bolsonaro targeted reporters, particularly women, after he publicly insulted them.

A court in São Paulo, in June, ordered Bolsonaro to pay 100,000 Brazilian reais (US$18,760), in collective damages to Brazilian media for harassing it.

The former president routinely blocked critics on social media accounts he used to discuss matters of public interest, violating their free speech rights. As of August, he had blocked 95 journalists and 10 media outlets, the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism reported.

During 2021 and 2022, a working group of government officials-created without participation of Congress, the justice system, or civil society-reviewed national human rights policy. Authorities refused to share information about the discussions.

Detention Conditions

More than 679,500 people were incarcerated in Brazil as of December 2021, exceeding prison capacity by 45 percent, the Justice Ministry reported. Another 156,000 were under house arrest.

The number of children and young adults in juvenile detention-13,684 in 2021-has significantly decreased in recent years, the organization Brazilian Public Security Forum (FBSP) reported. Yet Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande do Sul states retained occupation rates above capacity, according to official data.

In July, a court found personnel at a detention center in São Paulo had tortured and mistreated children between 2013 and 2015 and ordered the state government to pay 3 million reais (about US$570,000) in damages to a municipal fund supporting projects advancing children's rights in São Paulo.

Public Security and Police Conduct

Homicides fell 5 percent from January through June 2022, compared to the same period a year earlier. Fewer than 40 percent of homicides result in criminal charges, the group Sou da Paz reported.

Police killed 6,145 people nationwide in 2021-a 4 percent drop from 2020, driven by declining killings in São Paulo state, FBSP reported.

While some police killings are in self-defense, many result from illegal use of force. Police abuses contribute to a cycle of violence that undermines public security and endangers the lives of civilians and police alike. In 2021, 190 police were killed-77 percent while off duty, the FBSP reported.

Rio state police killed 1,011 people from January through October 2022.

Police conducted three of the five deadliest operations in Rio state's history in 2021 and 2022, despite a Supreme Court ruling prohibiting raids in low-income Rio neighborhoods during the Covid-19 pandemic, except in "absolutely exceptional cases." The deadliest raid ever left an officer and 27 residents dead in the Jacarezinho neighborhood of Rio city in May 2021. Prosecutors charged two alleged drug dealers with the killing of the officer and filed evidence tampering and, in some cases, homicide charges against four police officers in connection with three other killings. They closed all other cases. Removal of bodies by police to destroy evidence, inadequate forensic analysis, and failure to interview witnesses contributed to botched investigations. Prosecutors never opened an investigation into command responsibility for the deadly raid.

To comply with a Supreme Court order-but without consulting any civil society organization-Rio state drafted a plan to curb killings by police in March 2022. The plan lacked timelines, a budget, or proper accountability measures. The court ordered the state to draft a new plan.

The Rio attorney general, in 2021, eliminated a unit specialized in preventing and investigating police abuse. In contrast, the São Paulo attorney general created a new unit in August 2022 with a strong mandate to oversee police conduct.

In Sergipe, a Black man with a psychosocial disability choked to death, on May 25, after Federal Highway Police officers detained him in the back of a patrol vehicle and threw in what seemed to be a teargas grenade. Three officers were charged with abuse of power, torture, and homicide.

In August, the Supreme Court reversed an appeals court decision and upheld the conviction of 73 police officers in the 1991 killing of 111 inmates at Carandiru prison.

Military-Era Abuses

Former President Bolsonaro and members of his cabinet repeatedly praised the military dictatorship of 1964-1985, which was marked by widespread torture and killings.

A 1979 amnesty law has shielded perpetrators from justice. The Supreme Court upheld the law in 2010, but the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) ruled that it violated Brazil's international legal obligations.

Since 2012, federal prosecutors have filed charges in more than 50 cases against former agents of the dictatorship. Courts have dismissed most, citing the amnesty law or the statute of limitations. In only one case, in June 2021, did a judge issue a criminal conviction; the ruling was overturned in February 2022.

Women's and Girls' Rights

Implementation of the 2006 "Maria da Penha" law against gender-based violence lags. Authorities told Human Rights Watch in September that, in a country of more than 215 million people, only 77 shelters for survivors were operating. The Bolsonaro administration reduced the federal budget to fight violence against women by 90 percent in 2022, compared to 2020.

Between January 2020 and May 2022, judges received almost 600,000 requests for protective orders, which typically require suspected abusers to stay away from targeted women, the National Council of Justice (CNJ) reported. Courts granted nine out of ten requests; 30 percent took longer than the 48-hour deadline established by law.

Police stations registered more than 230,000 reports of physical violence against women, in 2021, the FBSP reported, and a police hotline received 619,353 complaints of domestic violence.

More than one million cases of domestic violence and nearly 6,300 cases of femicide-defined under Brazilian law as the killing of women "on account of being persons of the female sex"-were pending before the courts in 2021.

Abortion is legal in Brazil only in cases of rape, to save a woman's life, or when the fetus has anencephaly.

The Bolsonaro administration tried to restrict access to abortions. In 2020, it required health professionals to report to police rape survivors seeking to terminate pregnancies.

The Health Ministry approved telemedicine in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, in 2020, but later clarified exclusion of abortion, because that "can cause irreversible damage to the woman." The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends telemedicine as an option for accessing abortion.

Just 73 hospitals in the whole country carried out legal abortions, the organization Article 19 reported in September.

Women and girls who have illegal abortions not only risk injury and death but face up to three years in prison. People who perform illegal abortions face up to four years in prison.

From 2018 through 2022, trial and appeals courts heard an average of 400 criminal abortion cases a year, São Paulo University and Columbia Law School's Human Rights Institute reported. Black women are more likely to face prosecution, which often happens after health professionals inform on them, in violation of their right to privacy, the report showed.

Brazilian law mandates house arrest instead of pretrial detention for pregnant women, mothers of people with disabilities, and mothers of children under 12, except for those accused of violent crimes or crimes against their dependents. Yet in 2021, judges ordered pretrial detention of more than a third of pregnant women at their first hearing after arrest, CNJ and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) showed.

Disability Rights

Thousands of adults and children with disabilities are confined in institutions, where they may face neglect and abuse, sometimes for life. Brazil lacks a comprehensive plan for progressive deinstitutionalization of adults and children with disabilities.

In April 2021, the National Council of Prosecutors' Offices, a government body, passed a resolution requiring prosecutors to oversee and inspect institutions for adults with disabilities yearly and take legal action in cases of abuse.

Education

The federal government failed to address the huge impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on education, particularly for Black and Indigenous children and those from lower income households, resulting in significant learning losses. For instance, fifth-grade public-school math test results indicated loss of the equivalent of a whole year of learning, a government assessment showed.

The percentage of students dropping out of public high school more than doubled, from 2.3 in 2020 to 5.6 in 2021, government data show.

Minas Gerais and São Paulo states authorized unsafe online learning products during the pandemic, Human Rights Watch found. Nine products surveilled children online, outside school hours, and transmitted their data to advertising technology companies, enabling them to track and target children across the internet. As of October, neither state had acted to protect children's privacy.

Lawmakers have introduced over 200 bills at local and federal levels, since 2014, to ban "indoctrination" or "gender ideology" in schools. The Supreme Court struck down eight of these in 2020. Several teachers told Human Rights Watch that teaching gender or sexuality issues resulted in harassment, police requests for statements, or administrative proceedings.

Environment and Indigenous Rights

The Bolsonaro administration severely weakened environmental law enforcement, effectively encouraging the criminal networks driving deforestation, which have used threats and violence against forest defenders.

The government adopted policies that facilitated encroachment and removed experienced personnel from leadership positions at the agency tasked with protecting Indigenous rights. Illegal logging, mining, poaching, and land grabbing in Indigenous territories were 180 percent higher in 2021 than in 2018, the year before former President Bolsonaro took office, the non-profit Indigenist Missionary Council reported.

The number of environmental fines was 33 percent lower in the first half of 2022 when compared to the same period in 2018, the non-profit Climate Observatory reported. In March, the Bolsonaro-appointed director of the main federal environmental enforcement agency published a decision that could result in the cancelation of about 60 percent of fines for environmental infractions issued between 2008 and 2019, amounting to approximately R$16.2 billion (US$3 billion), news outlet UOL reported.

Official data show 11,568 square kilometers of Amazon rainforest were cleared from August 2021 through July 2022.

After extracting valuable timber, criminal groups frequently burn remaining vegetation to prepare the land for pasture or speculation. The number of fire hotspots in the Amazon for the first nine months of 2022 surpassed those for all of 2021.

As of November, Brazil's Congress was examining bills that would ease environmental licensing, open Indigenous territories to mining and other high-environmental-impact activities, and provide an amnesty for land grabbing,

Amazon forest defenders continued to suffer threats and attacks. A family of three environmentalists were killed in Pará in January; an Indigenous rights advocate and a British journalist were killed in Amazonas in June; and an Indigenous forest defender was killed in Maranhão in September.

More than 60 people were killed in conflicts over land and resources in the Amazon between January 2020 and early July 2022, the organization Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) reported.

Climate Change Policy and Impacts

As one of the world's top ten emitters of greenhouse gases, Brazil contributes to the climate-crisis toll on human rights.

In the 2016 Paris Agreement, Brazil committed to scaling up greenhouse gas reductions in relation to its initial plan. The update it submitted in April 2022 failed to meet that commitment. An annex re-stated Brazil's commitment to eliminating illegal deforestation by 2028.

The Climate Action Tracker, which provides independent scientific analysis, rated Brazil's 2022 climate action plan as "insufficient" for meeting the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

Increased deforestation in the Amazon under President Bolsonaro drove up overall emissions. If continued, it may turn vast portions of the rainforest into dry savannah in coming years, releasing billions of tons of stored carbon. Large areas of the Amazon have already been logged and degraded, reducing the forest's capacity to regenerate, a study led by the Amazon Network of Georeferenced Socio-Environmental Information showed.

Climate change may have contributed to intense rainfall that led to floods and landslides in the northeastern states in the first half of 2022, scientists from the World Weather Attribution initiative found. The events displaced an estimated 25,000 people and resulted in 133 deaths.

Migrants, Refugees, and Asylum Seekers

Thousands of Venezuelans, including unaccompanied children, have crossed the border into Brazil in recent years, fleeing hunger, lack of basic health care, or persecution.

About 388,000 Venezuelans lived in Brazil as of October 2022.

Brazil has facilitated asylum for Venezuelans by recognizing a "serious and widespread violation of human rights" in their country. It granted refugee status to 51,618 Venezuelans, including 2,829 between January and August 2022. Venezuelans can also apply for residency. Brazil granted asylum to about 940 people of other nationalities from January through August.

The government has granted humanitarian visas to Afghans and Ukrainians.

Key International Actors

Eight UN rapporteurs, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) expressed concern about political violence during the electoral season, calling on authorities to ensure peaceful elections.

The IACHR and OHCHR expressed concern, in 2022, about attacks on environmental defenders and Indigenous people. The European Parliament approved a resolution, in July, urging Brazil to "prevent human rights violations and protect environmental and indigenous defenders."

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) granted provisional measures, in July, requiring Brazil to protect the rights of the Yanomami, Ye'kwana, and Munduruku Indigenous peoples.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) adopted a roadmap for the accession process of Brazil that required government action in halting illegal deforestation, enforcing environmental laws, investigating violence against forest defenders, and protecting Indigenous rights.

UN special rapporteurs urged Brazil's Senate to reject a bill that would ease approval and use of dangerous pesticides. The bill was pending as of August.

In April, more than 140 international and Brazilian organizations co-signed a letter urging the government to invite a fact-finding mission from the UN's new mechanism to advance racial justice and equality in law enforcement. The government said it would consider the visit only in 2023.

UN rapporteurs and the IACHR denounced Brazil's "systemic" police violence. In September, the UN high commissioner for human rights praised Brazil's Supreme Court intervention to curb police abuse in Rio de Janeiro.

Foreign Policy

The Bolsonaro administration led efforts by a group of governments, including several authoritarian regimes, seeking to restrict access to abortion worldwide.

The administration's position regarding the war in Ukraine was inconsistent. A few days before Russia's full-scale invasion, then President Bolsonaro said, in Moscow, that Brazil stood "in solidarity with Russia." Over the following months, Brazil voted for a UN resolution establishing a commission to investigate war crimes in Ukraine but abstained on one suspending Russia's membership on the UN Human Rights Council and opposed a World Trade Organization declaration on the war's devastating impact on Ukraine's ability to export and import.

In October, Brazil abstained on a resolution that would have allowed the Human Rights Council to discuss crimes against humanity in China. It voted in favor of extending the mandate of a fact-finding mission on Venezuela.

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World Report 2023: Rights Trends in Brazil

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Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won the presidential elections in October at a critical time for Brazil's democracy. Throughout his term, former President Jair Bolsonaro harassed and insulted Supreme Court justices and journalists. He tried to undermine trust in the electoral system, making unproven claims of electoral fraud.