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Link:
https://smartwealth.sg/income-inequality-singapore/
Brief Write-up:
While singapore is a small country,it managed to achieve great economic progress.However,it has gone to a point where there is a clear difference between the rich and poor.In the article, it can be seen that there are 269,925 millionaires in Singapore, but 792,000 adults have less than $13,500 in wealth.The high level income inequality can create social unrest so it has been the governments top priority to close the gap between the rich and the poor by using financial aids for low-income groups.It is good that the government is trying to help the low-income groups but it strips them of a sense of "survival".We should always make efforts to better our financial status but the financial aids can make people feel like they can fully rely on it.
-isis

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Last Updated:

Despite being a small country, Singapore is fortunate to have achieved great economic progress throughout the years. In general, most Singaporeans have higher incomes and greater wealth now than ever before.

But, does that mean that everyone has benefitted from the country's success?

In most developed countries, including Singapore, the gap between the rich and the poor is prevalent.

Are the rich getting richer? The poor getting poorer?

In today's article, we'll look at some statistics that show the degree of income (and wealth) inequality in Singapore.

What Is Income Inequality?

According to Investopedia, income inequality is how income is unevenly distributed across a population.

When the distribution of income is less equal, there's a higher level of income inequality, and vice versa.

By further splitting the population, we're able to identify the levels of inequality by various segments such as gender and race.

Common methods to measure income inequality include the Gini coefficient and observing household incomes.

SIDE NOTE  When was the last time you've done proper financial planning or went through a review of your finances? In this day and age in Singapore, doing so will absolutely improve the quality of life for you and your loved ones. Here are5 reasons why financial planning is so important.

What's the Difference Between Income Inequality and Wealth Inequality?

While income and wealth may seem similar, they're different.

Income usually refers to the money earned through employment or having a business, while the wealth of an individual (or net worth) is total assets minus total liabilities.

A high-income earning individual may not have a high net worth. In fact, one in two high-income earners are worried that they don't have enough savings. And many find their incomes insufficient to cover their monthly expenses and thus have to rely on their savings to pay the bills, resulting in less assets (and wealth) being created.

On the other hand, if a lower-income individual is able to practice good spending habits and save/invest, they could build wealth at a faster rate than some of these higher-income earners.

But of course, if high-income earners are able to practice good financial hygiene, they're able to build wealth at an accelerated rate.

Unfortunately, for those who are in the lowest income group, they might not have anything left to be saved after spending on necessities.

What Causes Income Inequality in Singapore?

There's limited information on the concluding causes of income inequality in Singapore, as it's a complicated subject and there are many factors involved.

Of course, there are theories.

One such theory is that of technological advances. High-skilled and educated workers become in demand and are paid a premium, whereas low-skilled workers may find their incomes stagnating, thus widening the income gap.

That being said, more has been done by the government to reduce income inequality, which has been made a national priority. More on that later.

5 Income (& Wealth) Inequality Statistics in Singapore

Let's look at some statistics.

1) There are 269,925 millionaires in Singapore, but 792,000 adults have less than $13,500 in wealth

As mentioned earlier, income and wealth are different.

How wealthy are the people living in Singapore?

Credit Suisse releases an annual report on the household wealth of 5.2 billion people across the globe. We analysed these reports and discovered some interesting findings.

While the average wealth per adult in Singapore is $449,543, it's not a true representation of wealth of the majority of the population. The median wealth per adult, a better measure, is $117,068.

The report also stated that there are 269,925 millionaires, of which 60 have more than a billion in wealth.

However, at the other end of the spectrum, 16.2% of the adult resident population, or 792,000 people, have a net worth of less than $13,500, shining some light on the wealth inequality here.

2) Median gross monthly income increased by 44.0% from 2011 to 2021

The median gross monthly income (inclusive of employers' CPF contributions) was $4,680 in 2021. This means that half of the population was earning below that amount, and the other half was earning above that.

Median income has increased by 44.0% from 2011's figure of $3,249. During this period, after factoring in inflation, the annualised growth rate was 2.7%.

While it's good to know that the median income has increased, it only reflects those in the "middle" of the population.

We'll need to take a look at the bottom and the top income earners.

3) The difference in average monthly household income per member between the top 10% and bottom 10% is $12,840

The Singapore Department of Statistics produces annual data on household income.

Here are data on the average monthly household income per member (inclusive of employer CPF contributions) of the bottom 10% and top 10%:

The difference in average income was $9,288 in 2010, but was $12,840 in 2020, which could reflect a widening income gap.

However, it must be noted that these figures don't include government transfers, which are primarily meant to help lower-income families. We'll touch more on that later.

Next, we should also look at the rate of increase of household income per member.

From the previous table, the average household income per member of the bottom 10% increased by 47.0% from $381 in 2010 to $560 in 2020. During the same period, household income per member of the top 10% grew by 38.6% from $9,669 to $13,400. This could signify that low-income households are increasing their income at a faster rate than those at the top.

When we factor in inflation, here are some data on the real change in average monthly household income per household member:

Looking at the numbers, 2020 was a tough year for everyone as all income groups suffered a drop in household income.

The bottom 10% suffered the most with the steepest drop of 6.1% in income. And because of that, more help has been given by the government.

4) Lower-income families received the highest government transfers of $13,670 in 2020

To address the widening wage gap, Singapore utilises government transfers, which redistribute wealth towards the lower-income groups.

Examples of government transfers include CPF and MediSave top-ups, GST vouchers, and the many schemes available to provide financial aid.

These government transfers are funded by government revenue, of which the bulk comes from corporate and personal income tax and goods and services tax (GST).

A greater percentage of such taxes (including others) tends to come from richer people as they earn a higher income, own cars, have multiple properties, etc.

Here are the average annual government transfers (per household member) given over the years:

An average of $13,670 in government transfers, the highest in any given year, was given to each member living in HDB one- and two-room flats in 2020. You can also see that the numbers of government transfers are much lower in other types of dwelling.

With all this aid, income inequality has been reduced, as seen from the Gini coefficient.

5) The Gini coefficient was 0.375 in 2020, the lowest in a decade

Another way to measure income equality is the Gini coefficient. While there are many ways to compute this figure, Singapore mainly uses household income.

A coefficient of 0 means that there's total income equality, whereas a coefficient of 1 reflects total income inequality.

Here are the Gini coefficient data on household income (per household member) in Singapore over the past decade:

Note: the data includes employers' CPF contributions

As you can see, even when we don't account for government transfers, the Gini coefficient has been decreasing over the years.

But government transfers do matter.

With all the aid received in 2020, the Gini coefficient has reached 0.375, the lowest point in a decade.

Wrapping Up

High levels of income inequality can create social unrest. Thus, the government has made reducing income inequality its priority.

One way to do this is to provide government transfers to redirect wealth to lower-income families.

And the data have shown that income inequality has been reduced over the past years.

In my opinion, while it's good that government aid is provided, one should always try to be in control of and improve their own finances, whenever possible.

Making efforts to build a career and having good financial literacy can push up your personal finances in the long run. As such, consider going through a comprehensive financial planning session.

Disclaimer: The statements or opinions expressed on this site are of my own. The information is meant purely for informational purposes and should not be relied upon as financial advice.

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Income (& Wealth) Inequality in Singapore: Trends & Statistics

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Last Updated: Despite being a small country, Singapore is fortunate to have achieved great economic progress throughout the years. In general, most Singaporeans have higher incomes and greater wealth now than ever before. But, does that mean that everyone has benefitted from the country's success?

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[Mdm Diya] My Social Cause : Animal Abuse

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[Mdm Diya] My Social Cause : Animal Abuse

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Link : https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/politics/1200-alleged-animal-cruelty-and-abuse-cases-investigated-each-year-since-2017
Brief Write-up :
The number of animal cruelty and abuse cases in Singapore has been increasing each year. Some of these cases involve the pet owners themselves who have failed in their duty of care. I strongly feel that animals should be treated with love and care. As a community, we should keep a look out for such abuse cases and step in when necessary.

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1,200 alleged animal cruelty and abuse cases investigated each year since 2017

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26 offenders have been jailed, another 40 charged in court and fined, 113 fined and 87 received warning letters. Read more at straitstimes.com.

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[TEMPLATE] My Social Cause : *insert your social cause here*

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[TEMPLATE] My Social Cause : *insert your social cause here*

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Link : *insert your link here*
Brief Write-up : *insert your write-up here - Explain why your social cause is important and worth discussing about. (min. 50 words)*

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Link: https://www.health.harvard.edu/topics/mental-health
Brief Write-up:
mental health is a rather hot topic nowadays, much awareness has been raised regarding this issue. Mental health is just as important as the physical health and if our mental health is not taken care of properly, it might lead to serious mental illnesses. There are remedies to treat minor mood swings but if it is too serious, a counsellor or therapist should be of help. To keep a healthy mental health, we should have an open mind and start thinking more positively instead of always criticising everything we or others do. Thinking on the brighter side really helps us have a better mood instead of being grumpy all the time. Each of us individuals should start taking care of ourselves and find ways to have a more meaningful life.

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Thanks for visiting. Don't miss your FREE gift.

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Sign up to get tips for living a healthy lifestyle, with ways to fight inflammation and improve cognitive health, plus the latest advances in preventative medicine, diet and exercise, pain relief, blood pressure and cholesterol management, and more.

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[meiru] My Social Cause : Women's Issues

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[meiru] My Social Cause : Women's Issues

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https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/employers-need-mindset-shift-to-realise-benefit-of-equal-opportunities-for-women-say-women
Brief Write-up:
In modern times, women still encounters preconceived notions, roles and gender stereotypes where if they are too gentle, they will get bulldozed by their male colleagues and if they are too firm, they will be hated for being too bossy. Women are also given lesser opportunities and are discriminated in workplaces. I feel that women shall be treated fairly by society, instead of giving them titles and looking down on them, we shall appreciate their value and the things that they can do for us in the workplace. Instead of letting them get overshadowed by men and thinking that only men can have the opportunities, we shall have a mindset where everyone is treated equally as women also have the chance to help out and contribute to the society just like how men is able to.

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SINGAPORE - Women should have real choices between work and family commitments, and be given more equal opportunities at workplaces, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Saturday (Sept 18).

"(Women) should have equal opportunities to prove themselves and reach their fullest potential. We must not let our prejudices become obstacles to women's progress," he said at the virtual closing session of the Conversations on Singapore Women's Development.

"We will protect women better against discrimination or unfair treatment at the workplace, and other groups too, who may experience discrimination at work."

PM Lee noted that while women's standing in Singapore has improved greatly, societal attitudes towards women have not fully modernised and expectations are often not quite equal.

At workplaces, women still encounter preconceived notions, roles and gender stereotypes.

"If they are too gentle, they get bulldozed over by male colleagues. Too firm, and they are resented for being too bossy, sometimes even by female subordinates," he said.

At home, women tend to shoulder a heavier share of domestic responsibilities, even if men are starting to do more, he added.

A major move that will level the playing field for female employees is the formalisation of the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices into law.

Improving childcare arrangements to make them more accessible and affordable, as well as employers offering more flexible work arrangements, will make a difference, said PM Lee.

Minister of State for Education and Social and Family Development Sun Xueling also said at the session that the issue of equal opportunities in the workplace represents about 37 per cent of the feedback gleaned from the 160 government-organised conversations held in the past year.

Tackling workplace discrimination in terms of hiring and promotions, flexible work arrangements to encourage women to remain in or re-enter the workforce, as well as greater female representation in leaderships were some key points raised by participants, said Ms Sun.

The issue was also discussed at the People's Action Party's annual Women's Wing conference on Saturday.

Speaking to The Straits Times after the hybrid event, Dr Filza Aslam, a medical science liaison, said that women often fear that career breaks taken to raise children or be caregivers work against them during the hiring process.

"Oftentimes, the hiring manager may think that this person has been out of touch, or may not be as updated," said Dr Filza, who co-founded a networking and career advice group for women in life sciences and healthcare.

"It's about changing such mindsets - not thinking of that time away from the workforce as a gap, and not letting that negatively impact the interview process."

Companies could support such women by providing opportunities to pick up new skills that may be required, she added.

Ms Elaine Tan, deputy director of communications and partnerships at St Luke's Eldercare, agreed that the onus was on organisations to engineer a cultural shift from within, instead of relying on legislation.

Employers compelled to comply, thinking "okay, this is what the Government wants us to do", may then do it very reluctantly. This may exacerbate discrimination against women, she told ST after the event.

"It's much better if the organisations themselves can appreciate the value of women making economic contributions. It's to their benefit anyway, to be able to retain their talents rather than keep going through the churn of hiring and retraining."

At a panel discussion during the conference, former MP Ho Geok Choo outlined three suggestions for workplace equality.

The chief executive of Human Capital Singapore, a competency training centre, said companies should emphasise using data to track and analyse the number of women being hired, promoted and who are leaving.

Society must also get rid of "likeability biases" - where competent men are more liked and successful women are not - by engaging men to amplify to other men the merits of women and how to appreciate the other gender better, said Madam Ho.

She also called on schools to encourage more women to take up science, technology, engineering and mathematics programmes.

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Employers need mindset shift to realise benefit of equal opportunities for women, say women leaders

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SINGAPORE - Women should have real choices between work and family commitments, and be given more equal opportunities at workplaces, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Saturday (Sept 18). "(Women) should have equal opportunities to prove themselves and reach their fullest potential.

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(clarissa) my social cause: mental health 

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(clarissa) my social cause: mental health 

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link:
https://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/learn/index.htm
brief write-up:
This article shows the different varieties of mental health issue. Mental health is very important to everyone of different age stage and some of us might not be even aware that they have poor mental health as it isn’t diagnosed. In this article some of the mostly asked questions are being answered and the article also shows the amount of people that have poor mental health and the causes that leads to poor mental health. Our mental health controls our emotions and social well-being. By having a good mental health, it allows us to better handle the stress and relate to others. At the same time, having a good mental health is also a healthier choice.

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[Jayden] My Social Cause: Mental Health problems the pandemic has posed on Singaporeans

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[Jayden] My Social Cause: Mental Health problems the pandemic has posed on Singaporeans

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https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/sporeans-socialising-and-dining-out-less-mental-well-being-has-declined-covid-19

Brief write-up:

As the COVID-19 cases in Singapore starts to climb, studies shows that Singaporeans are socialising and dining out less because of the pandemic. A poll that the Straits Times raised has 20% of the people willing to live with a maximum of 5 people rule when dining outside. This has shocked me, usually people post-pandemic would want to hang out with friends and family in a group of more than 5 people, but i think a vast majority of the people who are ok with living with the 5 person rule are experiencing metal problems due to the pandemic.Before the pandemic they would want to gather and hang out often with their friends but because of the pandemic they are reluctant to do so.

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S'poreans socialising and dining out less, mental well-being has declined: Covid-19 survey

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Nearly half of the 1,000 people polled have cut back on physical activities; 73% dine out less often. Read more at straitstimes.com.

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(Alvin) My Social Cause: Gender inequality

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(Alvin) My Social Cause: Gender inequality

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Link: https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/doctor-acquitted-molestation-charges-tells-humiliating-painful-experience
In a world where issues relating to OM (outrage or modesty) and SA charges are coming to light, there is a darker side on the other spectrum. Just as women face inequality, men too, face them. To men that faced false accusations, damage is severe whether they did it or not and comes with risks of their livelihood gone. To men that are convicted of SA, they can be jailed for years however, for the accuser that is found lying, several weeks or months is given. This disparity in punishment given based on genders is quite prevalent and obvious in the Singaporean society today. Just look up on some topics regarding this online. However, there are always two sides to a coin. One such example are students from renowned universities getting away with SA simply due to their academic excellence. Thus, unfair for the women that had to face this traumatic experience and had to live knowing the offender can live scot-free. I am not saying which genders/sex are more discriminated upon as I try to keep objectivity felt through my texts. I do not invalidate women's fears,insecurity and violence that they face. However, men face violence too because of their toxic expectations, assumptions and impositions they face because of their masculinity aka toxic masculinity which can come in the form of how we view men as ''natural sexual predators''. This does not mean that women nor men are the oppressors we have to fight against. Instead, how we can destabilise our norms/notions about gender and work as one to end all forms of gender violence

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‘It was humiliating’: Doctor acquitted of molestation charges tells of painful experience

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Throughout a brutal four-year legal process, there were some points when Dr Yeo Sow Nam felt that it was almost impossible to clear his name.

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Link: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/risk-of-depression-grows-with-more-time-spent-on-facebook-ntu-study
Brief write-up:
Mental illness is not only in itself considered a major social problem, it also often results from the diverse social problems individuals have to face unaddressed mental health problems can have a negative influence on homelessness, poverty, employment, safety and the local economy. They may impact the productivity of local businesses and health care costs, impede the ability of children and youth to succeed in school, and lead to family and community disruption.

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Risk of depression grows with more time spent on Facebook: NTU study

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The study also found that those with signs of Facebook-linked depression go on to spend even more time on the social networking site. Read more at straitstimes.com.

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[Tan Xuan Lin (14)] My Social Cause: Racism in Singapore 

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[Tan Xuan Lin (14)] My Social Cause: Racism in Singapore 

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Rallies like the Black Lives Matter movement and Stop Asian Hate are rallies to speak up about racism. But did you know Singapore also faces problems with racial discrimination? Although Singaporeans pledges to be "one united people, regardless of race, language or religion..." the minority race groups in Singapore are facing casual racism in classrooms and workplaces etc. For example a issue about landlords refusing rentals because of skin colour and mistreatment towards inter- racial couples are things we need to speak up about, especially in Singapore where it is a multiracial country. Instead of trying to avoid these sensitive topics it will definitely be great to discuss these issues with friends or family. And when minority race groups are sharing about their experiences, listen and do not make them feel invalid.

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Chong Ja Ian, Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science of NUS, considers the media response to recent incidents of racial discrimination, particularly discussions of Critical Race Theory, and how to build greater understanding and empathy. All opinions are the author's own. This piece is a translation of a Mandarin version published by AcademiaSG on 15 June 2021.

Singapore has seen a series of discriminatory incidents targeting ethnic minorities in the past few weeks. Among the responses from the public, media, and even politicians, came an editorial published by Singapore's main Mandarin broadsheet, Lianhe Zaobao, on 9 June 2021, titled " Broadening Public Space, Promoting Racial Harmony ". The piece places responsibility for this recent spate of incidents on "contradictions, even hatred" resulting from "xenophobia", "frustration", and the common use of "baiting" on social media. It also blamed the public for "parroting locally 'Critical Race Theory", which is in practice a new racism promoting the hatred of white people". The editorial seemed to only briefly touch on the daily lived experiences of minorities in Singapore and the discrimination they face.

A group of young scholars in Singapore has penned an open letter in response. (Full disclosure: I am a signatory, but neither initiated nor drafted it.) This letter highlighted that not only did the editorial misunderstand Critical Race Theory, it used language that seemed to parallel that of the U.S. extreme right, while overlooking structural injustice and the multiple challenges faced by minorities in Singapore because of who they are. The point of the open letter was not to seek any apology or to apportion "collective blame". Rather, it hoped for more reflection in society and more active engagement to deepen mutual understanding and advance inter-ethnic relations. Such an important and influential issue particularly deserves thought to enable the development of more a comprehensive perspective.

Critical Race Theory?

Simply put, Critical Race Theory is an intellectual movement that developed from the US, based largely on the experiences of African Americans. It explores how the discrimination and unfair treatment caused by racism embedded in legal, social, and political structures, extends, consolidates, maintains, and even deepens the disadvantages minorities face. The legacies of slavery and " Jim Crow Laws " continue to burden African Americans. The existence of these structures allows white Americans to enjoy greater privilege compared to other ethnic groups.

A common translation of the word "privilege" in Sinophone languages is "special rights" rather than "advantage". The analyses broadly put forward by Critical Race Theory have many influences, including legal realism, post-modernism, and Marxism. The focus is on structure, not individuals, much less the promotion of hatred towards white persons. Among the intellectuals behind Critical Race Theory is Okinawan American Mari Matsuda.

Critical Race Theory is not without limitations. Its starting point is, after all, American society, politics, and law. These specific conditions are not entirely replicable in other contexts. Critical Race Theory nevertheless provides analyses of the power and privilege behind social structures, as well as incisive observations of injustice, that can be applied to different settings. The racist incidents that led to the "Stop AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander) Hate" movement in the US are likewise rooted in some believing that slandering and attacking minorities does not incur substantial costs under current power structures. This led to direct threats against the physical safety of (East and Southeast) Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Recent incidents of racial discrimination in Singapore, including one that resulted in violence, have likewise caused unease among ethnic minorities. Singaporean Chinese American scholar Geraldine Heng has received much attention in academic circles by applying Critical Race Theory to understanding ethnicity in Mediaeval Europe.

Given its history of analysing and critiquing power structures, Critical Race Theory has become a target for the American right wing, including white supremacist groups. Possibly due to fears about loss of privilege and a desire to maintain a perceived status quo, these groups and individuals often depict Critical Race Theory as "hatred towards white people", dividing society, promoting atheism, and even causing confusion over gender. The intention seems to be to use fear to mobilise conservative white Americans and use inter-ethnic tensions and suspicion to garner votes. Former US President Donald Trump is perhaps the best example of a politician trying to use a caricature of Critical Race Theory in an election.
Privilege, disadvantage, and understanding
Singapore does not have a history of slavery or "Jim Crow Laws", nor does it have the same racial hatred seen in some contexts. Yet racial discrimination, injustice, and prejudice targeting minorities remains around us. We see potential landlords refusing rentals because of skin colour; prospective employers turning people away due to race or religion; people telling children that minorities will kidnap them; people mocked in school and at workplaces for how they look; harassment of inter-racial couples. These are examples of the casual racism and discrimination that ethnic minorities face daily in Singapore. These experiences parallel the unfair treatment that ethnic Chinese in Singapore remember receiving under colonial rule.

Perhaps some will advise others "not to be so sensitive", "just bear with it", "this is an isolated case", "the actions of a minority are unrepresentative", or "these issues are too sensitive, best not raise them". Ignoring such incidents and allowing them to accumulate, or even pretending that they do not exist, will only increase distance and misunderstanding, becoming fault lines in the face of shocks or pressure. The instances of discrimination evident today are not incidental. Antecedent conditions exist.

Many Singaporeans use the claim that "discrimination exists in every society" to avoid sensitive subjects or gloss over ugly realities, or believe that there was some pristine race policy in the past that requires no reflection or improvement. This lets down our society, damages long-term development, and displays a certain privilege. People able to make such claims have a choice to avoid the consequences of these "sensitivities", and tend not to have questions of their ethnicity affect their work, living conditions, or cause them to be otherwise marginalised.

Apart from race, experience of discrimination also has to do with wealth, social status, gender, and a range or other factors. Privilege is not a binary, where one person has more when someone else has less. It is intersectional and dependent on the various positions different people inhabit. A person may have more racial privilege than another, but less gender, ethnic, social, or economic privilege. Someone else may see social, economic, gender, and other advantages make up for less racial privilege.

On Chinese privilege in Singapore, this does not mean that ethnic Chinese in Singapore face no difficulties, have not been hurt or do not carry scars. Rather, because of numerical dominance, it becomes easy to overlook the experiences of ethnic minorities, especially the challenges they face. Better appreciating the experiences of ethnic Malay, South Asian, and other groups in Singapore can bring people closer, allow some misunderstandings to dissipate, and reduce tensions.

Ethnic Malay Malay-English bilingual local writer, Alfian Sa'at, observed that the collective sense of loss ethnic Chinese Singaporeans feel at the closure of Chinese schools and Nanyang University, as well as forced relocations, parallels the shared pain Malays feel at the shuttering of Malay vernacular schools and compelled moves from their homes. Alfian's observations come not only from his own background, but also extended, long-term conversations with people in the ethnic Malay and Chinese communities. Such exchanges enable different ethnic groups to better recognise each other's memories and sense of hurt, while building mutual trust and greater sensitivity toward each other's concerns. By working to overcome misunderstandings, prejudice, and suspicions borne out of ignorance, people can seek a path forward together.

Dialogue and accommodation

Lianhe Zaobao published a piece by Yap Pheng Hui on 13 June 2021, in which Yap pointed to the value of dialogue, providing what is perhaps a useful starting point. After all, strict laws and harsh penalties may discourage more extreme behaviour, but they do not encourage greater reflection about race relations. Seeing examples of punishment may even prompt people to blame discrimination on others, to view such acts as an individual failing or the fault of a small minority. Consequently, discrimination may persist, and incidents of racism may continue despite tougher laws and harsher punishment.

Conversations may not always succeed, they may begin clumsily, but they nonetheless provide the foundations for learning and reflection. Exchange and building mutual trust, as well as developing the shared vocabulary for dialogue and explaining differences in ethnic experiences, may be far more important than rushing for set objectives. Such crucial conversations require an insistence on persistence, consistency, and openness.

The challenges of accommodation in a multi-ethnic society should, of course, not be taken for granted or taken lightly. To find a way to common ground, we need open dialogue based on empathy, tolerance, and sincerity. Over-emphasising harmony and the absence of problems, or insisting on operating behind closed doors, tends to allow people to forget the hard work that goes into building inter-ethnic ties. Having a numerical advantage often leads the majority to neglect the disadvantages and experiences faced by minority groups. Since the challenges majority groups face are often fewer and less acute by comparison, there is an onus on majority groups to make the first move.

At this stage of our nation's development, active conversations and efforts toward better mutual accommodation are critical. Wearing ethnic costumes and eating ethnic foods are not good enough anymore. If nothing else, we owe this to each other. The exhortation to be Singaporeans "regardless of race, language, or religion" in the national pledge is not an end in itself, but a means "to build a democratic society, based on justice and equality" from which other achievements follow.

Lianhe Zaobao published a to the scholars' open letter on 15 June 2021. There is no reference to where the various pieces sourced their interpretation of Critical Race Theory in any of Lianhe Zaobao 's articles so far.
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Recognising the roots of racism in Singapore - Academia | SG

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Chong Ja Ian, Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science of NUS, considers the media response to recent incidents of racial discrimination, particularly discussions of Critical Race Theory, and how to build greater understanding and empathy. All opinions are the author's own. This piece is a translation of a Mandarin version published by AcademiaSG [...]

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[Amelia] My Social Cause: Gender equality

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[Amelia] My Social Cause: Gender equality

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Link:
https://www.unicef.org/gender-equality
Brief write up:
In modern day society, gender inequality among the children has been growing almost everywhere in the world. Whether it is in social media, school, textbooks or even the ones that care for them the most, their parents, children will face discrimination. For example, there are nearly 1 in 4 girls between the ages of 15 and 19 are neither employed nor in education or training compared to 1 in 10 boys worldwide! Some girls were even forced to be married! In Singapore, 57% of Singaporeans believing men are the head of the household and should have the upper hand in decision making. However, 52% of Singaporeans expect women to take on household roles such as chores and caregiving. This really shows the big gap in the opportunities girls and boys receive due to our differences. In order to solve this gender inequality issue in Singapore, the government carry out programs such as AWARE to improve lives of people and stop gender inequality through its research, advocacy, education, training and support services. I strongly feel that girls and boys should be given the same authorities and opportunities even with our big differences and should not judge each other based on one's skill or ability. Becoming a boy or girl does not mean we are not allowed to do the things the other gender should do, finding our interests in boy or girl-like activites allows us to find our own individuality.
-Amelia

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Girls and boys see gender inequality in their homes and communities every day - in textbooks, in the media and among the adults who care for them.

Parents may assume unequal responsibility for household work, with mothers bearing the brunt of caregiving and chores. The majority of low-skilled and underpaid community health workers who attend to children are also women, with limited opportunity for professional growth.

And in schools, many girls receive less support than boys to pursue the studies they choose. This happens for a variety of reasons: The safety, hygiene and sanitation needs of girls may be neglected, barring them from regularly attending class. Discriminatory teaching practices and education materials also produce gender gaps in learning and skills development. As a result, nearly 1 in 4 girls between the ages of 15 and 19 are neither employed nor in education or training - compared to 1 in 10 boys.

Worldwide, nearly 1 in 4 girls between the ages of 15 and 19 are neither employed nor in education or training - compared to 1 in 10 boys.

Yet, in early childhood, gender disparities start out small. Girls have higher survival rates at birth, are more likely to be developmentally on track, and are just as likely to participate in preschool. Among those who reach secondary school, girls tend to outperform boys in reading across every country where data are available.

But the onset of adolescence can bring significant barriers to girls' well-being. Gender norms and discrimination heighten their risk of unwanted pregnancy, HIV and AIDS, and malnutrition. Especially in emergency settings and in places where menstruation remains taboo, girls are cut off from the information and supplies they need to stay healthy and safe.

In its most insidious form, gender inequality turns violent. Some 1 in 20 girls between the ages of 15 and 19 - around 13 million - have experienced forced sex. In times of both peace and conflict, adolescent girls face the highest risk of gender-based violence. Hundreds of millions of girls worldwide are still subjected to child marriage and female genital mutilation - even though both have been internationally recognized as human rights violations. And violence can occur at birth, like in places where female infanticide is known to persist.

Some 1 in 20 girls between the ages of 15 and 19 - around 13 million globally - have experienced forced sex in their lifetimes.

Harmful gender norms are perpetuated at the highest levels. In some countries, they become entrenched in laws and policies that fail to uphold - or that even violate - girls' rights, like laws that restrict women from inheriting property. Boys also suffer from gender norms: Social conceptions of masculinity can fuel child labour, gang violence, disengagement from school, and recruitment into armed groups.

Despite major hurdles that still deny them equal rights, girls refuse to limit their ambitions. Since the signing of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 1995 - the most comprehensive policy agenda for gender equality - the world has seen uneven progress.

More and more girls are attending and completing school, and fewer are getting married or becoming mothers while still children themselves. But discrimination and limiting stereotypes remain rife. Technological change and humanitarian emergencies are also confronting girls with new challenges, while old ones - violence, institutionalized biases, poor learning and life opportunities - persist.

That's why girls from all walks of life are boldly raising their voices against inequality. Girl-led movements are stopping child marriage and female genital mutilation, demanding action on climate change, and trail-blazing in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) - asserting their power as global change-makers.

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Equal rights and opportunities for girls and boys help all children fulfil their potential.

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link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugees_of_the_Syrian_civil_war
brief write up
Due to the Syrian civil war, much violence had occur causing many Syrians to take refuge in other countries, the Syrian refugee crisis remains the largest displacement crisis globally. Nearly 5.7 million registered refugees, including almost 2.7 million children, living in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. This causes much distress and anxiety to many refugees and on top of affecting Syria as a country on the world map, but also other neighbouring ones too who accept these refugees in. This is not just happening in Syria, but other countries too, UNHCR most recently estimated that, by the end of 2020, for the first time in recorded history, the number of people forcibly displaced is now 82.4 million, and over 26.4 million refugees around the world- marcus

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Refugees of the Syrian Civil War are citizens and permanent residents of Syria who have fled the country throughout the Syrian Civil War. The pre-war population of the Syrian Arab Republic was estimated at 22 million (2017), including permanent residents. Of that number, the United Nations (UN) identified 13.5 million (2016) as displaced persons, requiring humanitarian assistance. Of these, since the start of the Syrian Civil War in 2011 more than six million (2016) were internally displaced, and around five million (2016) had crossed into other countries, seeking asylum or placed in Syrian refugee camps worldwide. It is often described as one of the largest refugee crises in history.

Armed revolts emerged across Syria in 2011 when security forces launched a violent campaign of clampdown on nation-wide protests, prompting opposition to form resistance militias, escalating the situation towards a civil war. Ensuing assaults on civilian areas by the Syrian Armed Forces resulted in the forced displacement of millions of Syrians, leading to a full-blown refugee crisis. The Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan (3RP) was established in 2015 as a coordination platform including neighboring countries except Israel. By 2016, various nations had made pledges to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to permanently resettle 170,000 registered refugees. Syrian refugees have contributed to the European migrant crisis, with the UNHCR receiving almost one million asylum applicants in Europe by August 2017. Turkey is the largest host country of registered refugees, with over 3.7 million Syrian refugees.

As of December 2022, a minimum of 580,000 people are estimated to be dead; with 13 million Syrians being displaced and 6.7 million refugees forced to flee Syria. The Ba'athist government and its security apparatus have arrested and tortured numerous repatriated refugees, subjecting them to forced disappearances and extrajudicial executions. Around 12 million Syrians live under conditions of severe food insecurity. More than two-thirds of the displaced are women and children.

The Law No. 10 issued by Bashar al-Assad in 2018 has enabled the state to confiscate properties from displaced Syrians and refugees, and has made the return of refugees harder for fear of being targeted by the regime. Humanitarian aid to internally displaced persons within Syria and Syrian refugees in neighboring countries is planned largely through the UNHCR office. UNHCR Filippo Grandi has described the Syrian refugee crisis as "the biggest humanitarian and refugee crisis of our time and a continuing cause for suffering."

Over 13.2 million Syrians had been forcibly displaced by the end of 2019. At least 6.7 million of them have left the country (more than half of them to Turkey), with the rest moving within Syria.

The Eurostat/ UN Expert Group on Refugee and Internally Displaced Persons Statistics (EGRIS) considers three distinct main categories of people of concern:

1. persons in need of international protection (e.g. asylum seekers, refugees, etc);

2. persons with a refugee background (e.g. naturalized former refugees, children born of refugee parents, reunited family members, etc);

3. persons returned from abroad after seeking international protections.

Persons in need of international protection, over time, per receiving country

The graph below shows how many Syrian refugees and asylum seekers have been present outside Syria over time, as registered by the UNHCR. Note that this does not include people from the moment they are resettled, unregistered refugees, and illegal immigrants.

Includes prospective asylum seekers and people in refugee-like situations. Last updated mid-2020. Countries below 100,000 Syrians have been grouped in 'Other countries'.

An approach to include not just current refugees but also the former refugees that have resettled, is to consider the immigration per country. Depending on local census frequency and inclusion criteria, these numbers may be more or less approximate. The net immigration is the difference in citizens from Syria between 2011 and the time of data collection. As such it does not include people who returned to Syria. Neither UNHCR nor immigration data include illegal immigrants.

Country

UNHCR Refugee Data[17]

Immigration Data[b]

notes / other sources

Refugees and
Others of Concern[c]

Asylum Seekers

Net Immigration From
Syria Since 2011

Source

6,435

0

50,000 estimated migrants until 2019[20]

851

78

318 resettlers until Nov 2017[21]

14,734

10

[22]

53,015

1,601

45,474

17,832

164

15,003

70,000

257

70,000
[26][obsolete source ]

11,859

4,158

7,820 positive asylum decisions 2011-2020[27]

0

416

9,000[30][obsolete source ]

855,172[28] refugees
+ 1,824 others of concern

0

UNHCR registration suspended by the government since 2015[35]
1.5 million Syrians estimated by UNHCR in December 2020[36]

1,976

124

2,659

163

2,460

673,669 Syrian visitors on 31 Dec 2018[41]
262,573 Syrian visitors on 8 June 2019[42][43]

Serbia and
Kosovo[h]

913

41

11,831 applicants to February 2016

93,498

0

no government migration data available[44]

6,734,787

-

-

11,422

1,459

approx. 23,000
[47]

Other Countries[j]

7,478

1,551

1,478
[24]

Human rights in Syria under the rule of the Ba'ath Party (continuous since 1963) are considered to be in exceptionally poor conditions by international observers and have been deteriorating further since 2008. The 2010-11 Arab Spring uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain and Yemen inspired major protests in Syria. The Syrian Army intervened in March 2011, and the Syrian government crackdown gradually increased in violence, escalating to major military operations to suppress resistance. In April, hundreds died in clashes between the Syrian Army and opposition forces, which included armed protestors and defected soldiers. As Syria descended into civil war, it quickly became divided into a complex patchwork of shifting alliances and territories between the Assad government, rebel groups, the SDF, and Salafi jihadist groups (including ISIL). Over half a million people died in the war, including around two hundred thousand civilians.

By May 2011, thousands of people had fled from the war to neighbouring countries, with even larger numbers displaced within Syria itself. As armies assaulted various locations and battled, entire villages were trying to escape, with thousands of refugees a day crossing borders. Other reasons for displacement in the region, often adding to the Syrian Civil War, target the refugees of the Iraqi Civil War, Kurdish refugees, and Palestinian refugees.

"The Syria crisis has become the biggest humanitarian emergency of our era, yet the world is failing to meet the needs of refugees and the countries hosting them", the UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres said in 2014. The UNHCR reported that the total number of refugees worldwide exceeds 50 million for the first time since World War II, largely due to the Syrian civil war.

The number of refugees that crossed the Turkish border reached 10,000-15,000 by mid 2011. More than 5,000 returned to Syria between July and August, while most were moved to newly built camps that hosted 7,600 refugees by November. By the end of 2011, the number of refugees were estimated to be 5,500-8,500 in Lebanon, with around 2,500 registered, around 1,500 registered in Jordan (with possibly thousands more unregistered), and thousands had found shelter in Libya.

By April 2012, in the early insurgency phase of the Syrian Civil War preceding 10 April ceasefire under the Kofi Annan peace plan, UN reported 200,000 or more Syrians internally displaced, 55,000 registered refugees and an estimated 20,000 not yet registered. 25,000 were registered in Turkey, 10,000 in Lebanon (mostly fleeing fighting in Homs, around 10,000 more were unregistered), 7,000 in Jordan (with 2,000 more unregistered estimated by the UNHCR, 20,000 according to JOHUD and 80,000 arrivals according to Jordanian officials), 800 in Iraq (400 more unregistered). Within Syria, there were 100,000 refugees from Iraq, 70,000 more already returned to Iraq.

In mid 2012, when the peace plan failed and the UN for the first time officially proclaimed Syria to be in a state of civil war, the number of registered refugees increased to more than 110,000. Over 2 days in July, 19,000 Syrians fled from Damascus into Lebanon, as violence inside the city escalated. The first Syrian refugees migrated by sea to the European Union, small numbers found asylum in various countries such as Colombia. Some refugees were turned away from Jordan. By the end of 2012, the UNHCR reported that the number of refugees jumped to well over 750,000 with 135,519 in Turkey; 54,000 in Iraqi Kurdistan and about 9,000 in the rest of Iraq; 150,000 in Lebanon 142,000 in Jordan and over 150,000 in Egypt

An estimated 1.5 million Syrians are refugees by the end of 2013. In 2014, the deteriorating humanitarian situation in neighboring Iraq prompted an influx of Iraqi refugees into north-eastern Syria. By the end of August, the UN estimated 6.5 million people had been displaced within Syria, while more than 3 million had fled to countries such as Lebanon (1.1 million), Jordan (600,000) and Turkey (800,000).

With the beginning of 2015, the European Union struggled to cope with the migrant crisis, its countries entering negotiations and heated political debate over closing or reinforcing borders and quota systems for resettlement of refugees and migrants from different parts of the world. The image of a drowned Syrian toddler's body washed up on a Turkish beach becomes a seminal moment in the refugee crises and global response. National debates and media coverage about the Syrian refugee crises increase markedly, bringing considerable attention to the human costs of the Syrian Civil War, the responsibilities of host countries, pressures forcing refugees to migrate from their host countries, people smuggling, and the responsibilities of third countries to resettle refugees.

In the same year in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt, the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan (3RP) was launched to better coordinate humanitarian help between UNHCR, governments and NGOs. In 2016, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey negotiated multi-year agreements with international donors that provided material support, namely the Jordan Compact, the Lebanon Compact, and the EU-Turkey Statement, respectively. The countries hosting the largest numbers of refugees also introduced a number of restrictions on new arrivals. Lebanon stopped new registrations and allows refugees to enter the country only in extreme circumstances. Jordan sealed its border with Syria during most of 2016, because of security concerns over ISIL control, according to government officials. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International criticized Jordanian authorities for not allowing refugees in and suspending aid to the informal encampents reported on the border. Reports from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International emerged in 2016 that Turkish border guards routinely shoot at Syrian refugees trying to reach Turkey, also, Turkey has forcibly returned thousands of Syrian refugees to war zone since mid-January 2016. The Turkish Foreign Ministry and President Erdoğan denied it.

In 2017, while the conflict in Syria and the reasons for displacement continue, few Syrians are able to leave it, due to more restrictive border management by neighboring countries. In the first half of 2017, an estimated 11 million displacements were recorded and around 250,000 more refugees have been registered in neighboring countries, however it is hard to estimate how many of them crossed the border recently. In the same period, an estimated 50,000 first time asylum applications have been made by Syrians in Europe, and around 100,000 new third country resettlements are planned for 2017.

As of mid-2017, an estimated 260,000 refugees returned to Syria since 2015 and more than 440,000 internally displaced persons returned to their homes, to search for family, check on property and, in some cases, due to improved security in parts of the country. The Syrian foreign minister called on the country's refugees to return home. Nevertheless, the UNHCR stated that conditions in Syria are still unsafe and destitute, improvements in many areas are uncertain and many basic services are absent; access of aid convoys is also a challenge. As of 2019, only 5% of Syrians in Lebanon reported intending to return to Syria within the next 12 months, although a majority (roughly two-thirds), expected to return to Syria someday. Less than a half of the returnees have access to water or health services, due to extremely damaged infrastructure. An estimated 10 per cent ended up as internally displaced persons once again.

Human Rights Watch report published in October 2021 has stated that refugees who went back to Syria by their own choice suffered "grave human rights abuses and persecution at the hands of Syrian government and affiliated militias, including torture, extra-judicial killings, and kidnappings."

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it.

The vast majority of refugees live below the poverty line (e.g. in 2016 in Lebanon most households were below $85 monthly per capita; in southeast Turkey, 90% were below $100 and 70% below $50 monthly per capita). Average monthly per capita expenditures were estimated in 2015-2016 at $104 in Lebanon and $55 in south-east Turkey. Underemployment and low wages are widespread. Many rely on less sustainable sources, food vouchers, taking credits or borrowing money mostly from friends and relatives, less frequently from shops and rarely from landlords (e.g., in Lebanon 90% households were in debt, $850 in average; in south-east Turkey more than half are in debt, a few hundred dollars on average). Because of this, refugees face difficulties accessing services and providing food, housing, healthcare and other basic needs for their families. Most refugees receive refugee-related information through SMS (e.g. 91% of registered households in Lebanon) and many use smartphones (in Lebanon, two thirds of households reported using WhatsApp).

In January 2019, the UN said that 15 displaced Syrian children, 13 of them under one year old, had died due to cold weather and inadequate medical care. In addition, several days of strong winds, heavy rain and snow and subsequent flooding caused the death of at least one child, as well as damage at more than 360 sites hosting 11,300 refugees in Lebanon. In Syria, families fleeing the conflict in Hajin had been left waiting in the cold for days without shelter or basic supplies. They are resettled to the refugee camps. In January 2021, 22,000 people lost their temporary homes as heavy rains, flooding, and snow destroyed over 4,000 tents at displacement camps in northern Idlib and western Aleppo.

Refugees live primarily within hosting communities, in rented houses or informal settlements of tents and sub-standard dwellings. Only about 10% live in formal camps. In Lebanon, 85% pay rent, 71% live in residential building (regular apartments or in the micro-apartments designed for the building doorman/superintendent), 12% in non-residential structures (worksites, garages, shops), and 17% in informal tented settlements; a quarter of homes are overcrowded (less than 4.5 square meters per person). In southern Turkey, 96% of the refugees living outside of camps pay rent, 62% live in rented apartments, 28% in unfinished buildings or garages, 1% in tents. Refugees are commonly charged a higher rate compared to local people, especially for sub-standard conditions (in 2016, in Lebanon, a monthly average ranging from $53 for keeping tents on land to $250 for a non-shared apartment or house; in south east Turkey, roughly $250 for dwellings meeting SPHERE standards, excluding water and electricity costs). In Lebanon, many households face water shortages and a quarter of dwellings were in notably poor condition.

Few refugees have residency permits in Lebanon, mainly due to their cost, creating difficulties at checkpoints when moving in search for jobs.

Earning opportunities for refugees are predominantly informal, principally due to governments issuing few working permits. Barriers include quotas, fees, long and cumbersome paperwork, and discrimination by employers. In Turkey, even after reforms opening the labor market in January 2016, the number of refugees in a single workplace cannot exceed 10%; employers pay work permit fees of 600 TL ($180) every year; while there is an exemption for seasonal work, it requires a separate application and still requires being registered for at least 6 months. By late 2015 at most several thousand permits have been issued, refugees are thus overwhelmingly employed informally. Jobs are often seasonal and employment rates differ widely between winter and summer. In May 2016 in Lebanon, 36% working-age individuals (70% men, 7% women) reported working (for at least one day in the 30 days prior to a survey). Among them underemployment was widespread (working 14 days a month on average) and wages were low (on average $215 for working men and $115 for working women). The structure of employment was 33% construction, 22% agriculture, 26% services, 6% retail/shops, 6% cleaning.

Some Syrian refugees have resorted to prostitution as a means of survival, particularly among women and girls. There is increasing concern about the exploitation of female refugees.

The UNHCR has a policy of helping refugees work and be productive, using their existing skills to meet their own needs and needs of the host country:

Ensure the right of refugees to access work and other livelihood opportunities as they are available for nationals... Match programme interventions with corresponding levels of livelihood capacity (existing livelihood assets such as skills and past work experience) and needs identified in the refugee population, and the demands of the market... Assist refugees in becoming self-reliant. Cash/ food/rental assistance delivered through humanitarian agencies should be short-term and conditional and gradually lead to self-reliance activities as part of a longer-term development... Convene internal and external stakeholders around the results of livelihood assessments to jointly identify livelihood support opportunities.

In 2018, Syrian government issued the controversial Law no. 10, in which they could expropriate areas and properties of Syrians displaced by the war. In December 2020, news emerged that the regime was auctioning off lands of the displaced people to Assad loyalists and that this was being managed by the regime's security apparatus. These policies are intended as a "punishment" for citizens who are not being loyal enough to the regime.

Refugees need to adjust to new and changing environments, especially before or during transition and upon arrival. Mobile phones play a key role by supporting refugees in their informal learning and problem-solving processes. The Syrian crisis sparked the development of numerous refugee apps, ranging from general catch-all apps to specific apps that focus on distinct domains such as accommodation, health or authorities.

Refugees tend to use their mobile devices and mobile social media to address informational and educational needs after their flight in relatively informal and unstructured ways. Studies from different contexts have documented how refugees use digital tools for manifold practical and instrumental tasks among themselves as well as with third parties in day-to-day situations or in emergencies. For example, a study on Syrian refugees in rural Lebanese camps describes women maintaining WhatsApp groups to coordinate issues such as transport with their neighbours.

Studies show that refugees use their cell phones to connect with local volunteers, for example via Facebook groups, for all sorts of practical guidance. Also in integration contexts, as in flight settings, mobile technology plays an essential role in obtaining assistance in emergencies, including access to medical or police services.

As of December 18, 2019, a diplomatic dispute is occurring at the UN over re-authorization of cross-border aid for refugees. China and Russia are opposing the current draft resolution that seeks to re-authorize crossing points in Turkey, Iraq, and Jordan; China and Russia, as allies of Assad, seek to close the two crossing points in Iraq and Jordan, and to leave only the two crossing points in Turkey active.

All of the ten individuals representing the non-permanent members of the Security Council stood in the corridor outside of the chamber speaking to the press to state that all four crossing points are crucial and must be renewed.

United Nations official Mark Lowcock is asking the UN to re-authorize cross-border aid to enable aid to continue to reach refugees in Syria. He says there is no other way to deliver the aid that is needed. He noted that four million refugees out of the over eleven million refugees who need assistance are being reached through four specific international crossing points. Lowcock serves as the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator and the Head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Edit: the map above is mildly outdated as registered Syrian refugee population in Turkey exceeds 3.5 million as of 2020 The Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan (3RP) is a coordination effort between Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq (countries neighboring Syria), Egypt, and United Nations agencies with NGOs including UNHCR and 240 partners. It describes itself as "a strategy document, coordination platform, advocacy tool, and funding appeal". The 3RP has been initiated at the break of 2015/2016, replacing the former inter-agency Regional Response Plan and coordinating response plans of each country, with national leadership and ownership as a foundational principle, to use in-country systems effectively and avoid creating parallel ones. It publishes strategic overviews and broad reports on the situation in constituent countries, describing in particular humanitarian efforts outside of Syria. These are directed at food and assistance, safe water access, formal education for children, primary health care consultations, shelter assistance, and access to wage employment. According to the 3RP, funding is not keeping up with needs of the region: only 6 percent of the 2017 Plan has been funded in the first three months, while the 2016 Plan has been funded at 63 percent. The 3RP also called for support including commitments to resettlement.

In the region, refugees predominantly live in urban, peri-urban and rural areas, while only about 10 percent live in camps. The majority live below the poverty line. Hosting countries face overburdened infrastructure, both public (e.g., water, health, roads) and private (e.g., housing), as well as severe disruption of exports through Syria.

- Egypt, which does not border Syria, became a major destination for Syrian refugees after 2012, following the election of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi. During Morsi's presidential term, there were an estimated between 70,000 and 100,000 Syrian refugees living in the country. Morsi's government tried to support Syrian refugees by offering residency permits, assistance with finding employment, allowing Syrian refugee children to register in state schools, and access to other public services.

Following the events relating to the 2013 Egyptian coup d'état, Syrian refugees were met with hostility by Egyptians, who accused them of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, since the group has close relations with the Syrian opposition and the Free Syrian Army.

The interim government also tightened visa restrictions for Syrian citizens, requiring them to obtain a visa and a security clearance issuance before entering Egypt. Following these measures, at least 476 Syrians were denied entry or deported from Egypt. A number of flights carrying Syrians have been turned back from airports in Egypt to where their flight originated, including Damascus and Latakia, Syria. Following the post-coup unrest in Egypt, many Syrians have also made decisions to leave Egypt and settle in Europe instead.

However, a study by the Egyptian foreign affairs ministry has estimated that the country has hosted around 500,000 Syrian refugees since the start of the conflict. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has also said that his country received around 500,000 Syrian refugees without "media shows". President al-Sisi has said that his government does not abuse refugees, adding that many international organizations stopped receiving refugees, causing an increase in the numbers and that his government still receives refugees despite Egypt facing an economic crisis.

In May 2017, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) reported that Syrian refugees have contributed US$800 million to the Egyptian economy since the start of the civil war.

As of August 2019, Egypt hosts 130,371 Syrian refugees, compared to 114,911 in August 2016 and 122,213 in August 2017.

- As of June 2015, there were 628,427 registered Syrian refugees in Jordan. However, a Jordanian census carried out in November 2015 showed that there are 1.4 million Syrian refugees residing in the country, meaning that more than 50% of Syrian refugees in Jordan are unregistered. A 2016 report by the World Bank revealed that the Syrian refugee influx to Jordan has cost the kingdom more than $2.5 billion a year, which amounts to about 6% of Jordan's GDP, and about a quarter of the government's annual revenues. Promised international aid has fallen several hundreds of millions of dollars short of the total cost. This has caused the kingdom's public debt to swell to 95% of its GDP in 2016, and has severely crippled the growth of its economy. The majority of the refugees in Jordan live in the local communities rather than refugee camps, which had added a large strain on the country's infrastructure, particularly towns in northern Jordan adjacent to the Syrian border.

- As of October 2016, Lebanon hosted 1.5 million Syrian refugees according to Lebanese government estimates, while as of July 2019, the number of officially registered Syrian refugees in Lebanon dropped to less than 1 million, according to official accounts of the UNHCR's Syria Regional Refugee Response, half of them children (below 18 years old), along with 31,502 Palestine Refugees from Syria, 35,000 Lebanese returnees, and a pre-existing population of more than 277,985 Palestine Refugees. They constitute in total 30% of the Lebanese population (estimated at 5.9 million), or 25% for the Syrian refugees alone, making Lebanon the country with the highest number of refugees per inhabitant. The Lebanese government chose not to establish camps for people fleeing the civil war in Lebanon, and thus they have settled throughout country. While most of them rent their accommodations in around 1,700 locations countrywide, nearly a fifth (18%) live in non-formal settlements-mostly concentrated in border governorates. Because the government of Lebanon has increasingly made it difficult for refugees from Syria to renew their residency permits, the number of households in which all members are legally in the country has dropped from 58% in 2014 to 29% in 2015. Refugee households living below the poverty line increased from 49% in 2014 to 70% in 2015. Families survive by borrowing money whenever they can. The percentage of refugee households with debt jumped from 70% in 2013 to 89% in 2015. Despite their struggling status, the Lebanese Forces Party, the Kataeb Party and the Free Patriotic Movement fear the country's sectarian-based political system is being undermined.

- As of December 2019, Iraq hosts 245,810 Syrian refugees, primarily in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and 1.4 million internally displaced Iraqis. This is compared to February 2016, when it hosted 245,543 Syrians and 3.2 million internally displaced Iraqis. Several refugee camps exist in northern Iraq. The government in Iraqi Kurdistan is currently hosting Syrian refugees that are ethnic Kurds. While many Kurdish Syrian refugees live in camps, a significant number of them have moved to urban areas and cities of Kurdistan Region.

- As of September 2019, Turkey hosts 3.66 million registered Syrian refugees, compared to 2.73 million in September 2016. About 30% live in 22 government-run camps near the Syrian border. Turkey is home to the highest number of Syrian refugees and has provided over $8,000,000,000 in aid. Financial aid from other countries has been limited, though €3,200,000,000 was promised by the EU in November 2015. The promise is still not fulfilled. Turkey's response to the refugee crisis is different from most other countries. As a World Bank report noted: It is a non-camp and government financed approach, as opposed to directing refugees into camps that rely on humanitarian aid agencies for support.

Under Turkish law, Syrian refugees cannot apply for resettlement but only temporary protection status. Registering for temporary protection status gives access to state services such as health and education, as well as the right to apply for a work permit in certain geographic areas and professions. Over a third of urban refugees are not registered. Currently, 30% of Syrian refugee children have access to education, 4,000 businesses have been opened, and several Syrian refugee camps have grown into small towns with amenities from healthcare to barber shops. Over 13 million Syrians received aid from the Turkish Aid Agency (AFAD). Turkey has spent more than any other country on Syrian refugee aid, and has also been subject to criticism for opening refugee camps on the Syrian side of the border. Syriac Christians have been allowed to return to their historic homeland in Tur Abdin, Turkey. Up to 300,000 Syrian refugees living in Turkey could be given citizenship under a plan to keep wealthy and educated Syrians in the country. A study which was supported by the Istanbul University Scientific Research Projects unit and conducted by academics from a number of universities, revealed that the vast majority of Syrians in Turkey are employed in unregistered work for significantly lower wages compared to their Turkish counterparts.

Human rights groups have repeatedly denounced Turkish troops for shooting at civilians attempting to cross the border since early 2016. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a total of 163 refugees, including 15 women and 31 children, were allegedly killed as of August 2017. Physical abuse and public humiliating by soldiers has also been reported. Similar accusations were made by Human Rights Watch, the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, and Amnesty International, which also claims Turkey has forcibly returned thousands of Syrian refugees to war zone since January 2016. Turkish authorities deny the claims, but arrested several soldiers in August 2017 after a video surfaced of them abusing of a few young Syrian men trying to illegally cross the border into the country.

On 18 May 2016, lawmakers from the European Parliament's Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI) have said that Turkey should not use Syrian refugees as a bribe for the process of visa liberalization for Turkish citizens inside the European Union.

A factory producing fake lifejackets, made for migrants wanting to cross the Aegean Sea to Greece, was discovered in Turkey. Police seized more than 1,200 fake lifejackets from the factory at Izmir, and arrested four workers including two young Syrian girls. The raid came in the same week that the bodies of more than 30 people washed up on Turkish beaches, having drowned in their attempt to reach Greece. After the agreement of a multibillion-euro deal between the EU and Turkey, Turkish police increased their operations against people involved in the wider smuggling business.

On 3 June 2016, a Turkish cleaner, Mahmutcan Ateş, working at the Nizip Camp in Gaziantep, Turkey, was sentenced to 108 years imprisonment for sexually abusing Syrian boys. He did not deny the charges, but said many employees and managers in the camps were involved. He also admitted that he paid the children around 2-5 Turkish lira ($0.70-$1.70) before assaulting them in the toilets, the victims were between ages 8 to 12.

With continuous refugees fleeing into their country, by 2018 Turkey has been reported in hosting 63.4% of all the refugees in the world. This left Turkey with 3,564,919 registered refugees in total. However compared to the increase in refugees, benefits towards them weren't increased as much as only 712,218 were given residency permits only 56,024 work permits were given to the Syrians by 2017. Although Turkey tries to keep its promise in taking good care of the refugees, the dramatic wave in Syrian refugees as a whole affected and continues to affect the Turkish economy and society. Turkey continues to support the refugees by building around 28 shelters for the victims of human trafficking, however outside the camps, only 24% of Syrian children have access to education, work permits are still highly restricted, lack of systematic social benefits are becoming worse, and even border control has become more strict. Although 90% of the Syrian refugees in Turkey live outside the camps and inside the citites, and although Turkey holds the highest population rate in refugees as a whole, Turkey continues to struggle with the amount of responsibility they hold of the 3.5 million refugees.

- The government is offering several protection options including simplified naturalization by Armenian descent (19,500 persons acquired Armenian citizenship), accelerated asylum-procedures and facilitated short, mid and long-term residence permits. Ethnic Armenians in Syria have been fleeing to their historic Armenia homelands. The Cilician school was established to provide education specifically for Syrian-Armenian refugee children with support from the governments of Kuwait and Austria.

As of January 2017, there were 22,000 refugees, primarily ethnic Armenians in the country. In addition another 38 Armenian families (about 200 people) resettled in the de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic as of 2014. 50 Yazidi families (about 400 people) have also found refuge in Armenia. Armenia is home to a Yazidi community, currently numbering 35,000.

- As of 2019, 43 Syrian refugees have applied for asylum in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has voiced its protest against Armenia's measures to resettle Syrian Armenian refugees in the Armenian-occupied Azerbaijani regions of Lachin and Gubadli (claimed by the Armenian-backed unrecognised Nagorno-Karabakh Republic), accusing it of artificially changing the demographic situation and the ethnic composition of these once Azeri-populated districts.

- Israel has a disputed border with Syria's Golan Heights. In 2012, Israel announced preparations to accommodate Alawite Syrian refugees in the Golan Heights, should the Syrian government collapse. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "We will not allow Israel to be submerged by a wave of illegal migrants and terrorist activists." Israelis from humanitarian groups have operated in Jordan to assist Syrian refugees who have fled there. By March 2015, nearly 2000 Syrians injured in the Syrian Civil War had been treated in Israeli hospitals. In January 2017, the Israeli interior ministry announced that they will resettle around 100 unaccompanied Syrian refugee children. They will be given temporary residency status and will have full rights, though they would not receive an Israeli passport. The report also said that the Israeli government was even willing to promise the UN that after four years, the resettled refugees will be given permanent residency - allowing them to stay in Israel for a lifetime period.

- As of early 2014 Iran has sent 150 tons of humanitarian goods including 3,000 tents and 10,000 blankets to the Red Crescents of Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon via land routes to be distributed among the Syrian refugees residing in the three countries.

- Saudi Arabia has offered resettlement only for Syrian migrants that had a family in the kingdom, and has an estimated number of Syrian migrants and foreign workers that reaches 100,000 living with their families and has sent aid worth $280 million to help Syrian refugees. Saudi Arabia, like all of the Gulf states, is not a signatory to the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention. According to the Saudi official, Saudi Arabia had issued residency permits to 100,000 Syrians. The BBC reported that "most successful cases are Syrians already in Gulf states extending their stays, or those entering because they have family there." Amnesty International reported that Saudi Arabia has not actually offered any resettlement specifically to refugees. They are not classified as refugees. The Saudi Ministry of Interior announced in 2016 that it had accepted more than 2,500,000+ refugees into the kingdom.

National governments' position on 22 September 2015 European Union Justice and Home Affairs Council majority vote to relocate 120,000 refugees (including Syrian refugees) from Greece and Italy to other EU countries:

Under the Dublin Regulation, an asylum applicant in one EU country, must be returned to that country, should they attempt onward migration to another EU country. Hungary is overburdened in 2015 by asylum applications during the European Migrant Crises, to the point that on 23 June its refuses to allow further applicants to be returned by other EU countries. Germany and the Czech Republic suspend the Dublin Regulation for Syrians and start to process their asylum applications directly. On 21 September, EU home affairs and interior ministers approve a plan to accept and redistribute 120,000 asylum seekers (not only Syrians) across the EU. The Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia opposed the plan and Finland abstains. Poorer countries express concerns about the economic and social cost of absorbing large numbers of refugees. Wealthier countries are able to offer more humanitarian assistance.

Large numbers of refugees cross into the EU and by mid-2015 there are 313,000 asylum applications across Europe. The largest numbers are recorded in Germany with over 89,000, and Sweden with over 62,000. More than 100,000 refugees cross into the EU in July 2015, and by September over 8,000 refugees crossed to Europe daily, with Syrians forming the largest group.

By 21 December 2015, an estimated 500,000 Syrian refugees have entered Europe, 80 percent arrived by sea, and most land in Greece.

On 19 February 2016, Austria imposes restrictions on the number of refugee entries. Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia announced that just 580 refugees a day will be allowed through their borders. As a result, large numbers of Syrian refugees are stuck in Greece. There are fears that Greece won't be able to cope with the thousands stranded in the reception centres scattered across the mainland and the islands of Lesbos, Kos and Chios.

In August 2013, there is a sharp increase in refugees entering Bulgaria. Bulgarian refugee centers are at capacity and the government seeks emergency accommodations and asks the EU and Red Cross for aid.

- Croatia welcomes refugees when in transit to Germany to apply for refugee status. In addition, Croatia, an EU member state, shares land border with Serbia, therefore there is a risk of strong inflow of migrants from Serbia considering that Hungary erected a fence on its border with Serbia. Nearly 80% of the border consist of Danube river, but the problem is 70 kilometers long so-called "Green Border" near Tovarnik. According to the Croatian Minister of Interior Ranko Ostojić "police in the area has enough people and equipment to protect Croatian border against illegal immigrants". Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and First Deputy Prime Minister Vesna Pusić rejected option of building a fence on Croatian border with Serbia. On 15 September 2015, Croatia started to experience the first major waves of refugees of the Syrian Civil War. "First Syrian refugees cross Croatia-Serbia border, carving out potential new route through Europe after Hungary seals borders". Croatia closed its border with Serbia on 19 October 2015 due to "overwhelming numbers".

- In September 2015 public concerns remained about the arrival of refugees, and was shifting to concern over the immediate issues revolving around those already in Denmark.

- In November 2015, President François Hollande reaffirmed France's commitment to accept 30,000 refugees over two years, despite concerns arising from the November 2015 Paris attacks a few days earlier. His announcement drew a standing ovation from a gathering of French mayors.

A pro-immigration rally in Cologne, Germany on 6 January 2016 following the aftermath of the New Year's Eve sexual assaults in Germany.

- In 2013, Germany received 11,851 asylum requests by Syrians, in 2014 the number more than tripled to 39,332. The German Federal Minister of the Interior estimated in March 2015, that some 105,000 Syrian refugees have been accepted by Germany. By June 2015, 161,435 Syrians resided in Germany, of which 136,835 had entered after January 2011. After suspending the Dublin rules for Syrian refugees, the numbers increased to the point of stressing Germany's infrastructure and logistics capabilities. From January to July 2015, the Federal office for migration and refugees received 42,100 requests for asylum. By the end of 2015, the figure had reached 158,657. 96% of the asylum requests were approved. It is estimated that 300,000 Syrian refugees are in the country. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that "The fundamental right to asylum for the politically persecuted knows no upper limit; that also goes for refugees who come to us from the hell of a civil war." German Chancellor Angela Merkel decided to let all Syrians enter the country but had to stop train travel to/from Austria to control the numbers arriving. At Munich's main railway station, thousands of Germans applauded Syrians as they arrived in September. The German police force announced on 22 October 2015 that they had prevented a planned attack on a refugee home in Bamberg by a right-wing extremist group. They also said there had been nearly 600 attacks on refugee homes in 2015, a sharp rise from 2014. As well, 19-39,000 (depending on estimates) of members of the German right-wing Pegida movement rallied on 19 October 2015 in Dresden against accepting refugees. Some 14-20,000 other individuals held a counterrally in the city. Angela Merkel's openness towards refugees was criticized and 61% of respondents in an INSA poll reported they were less happy about accepting refugees after the assaults. In September, German customs seized packages of fake Syrian passports which police suspect are being sold to non-Syrians seeking asylum in Germany.

In April 2020, two former high-ranking members of the Syrian Army went on trial in Koblenz, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, for alleged war crimes committed during the Syrian Civil War. This was the first time that Syrian military officials are being prosecuted for their roles in the conflict.

- Greece welcomes refugees when in transit to Germany to apply for refugee status. In 2015, there were 385,525 arrivals by sea. It is estimated that only 8% of arrivals (31,000 Syrian refugees) applied for asylum in Greece, as most are in transit further into Europe. The Greek government sought to use the refugee crisis to extract additional economic aid from the EU with poor results. 15,000-17,000 refugees had landed on Lesbos island by September 2015, overwhelming the resources and generosity of local residents. Many refugees also make landfall at Agathonisi, Farmakonisi, Kos, Lemnos, Leros, Rhodes, Chios, Samos, Symi, Kastellorizo and other islands near Turkey. Some arrive via the Evros border crossing from Turkey. On 19 February 2016 Austria imposed restrictions on the number of refugees entering the country followed by Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and North Macedonia, of just 580 arrivals a day. As a result, large numbers of Syrian refugees and migrants from other countries are stuck in Greece. On 22 February 2016 at an emergency summit on the migrant crisis in Brussels it was agreed that another 100,000 spaces in refugee reception centres will be created. There was also 50,000 spaces in Greece and another 50,000 spaces in Balkan countries created. Given that 2 - 3,000 migrants arrive in Greece every day, these 100,000 spaces look inadequate.

On 18 June 2016, UN chief Ban Ki-moon has praised Greece for showing "remarkable solidarity and compassion" towards refugees and he also called for international support.

After the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt in July 2016, Greek authorities on a number of Aegean Islands have called for emergency measures to curtail a growing flow of refugees from Turkey, the number of migrants and refugees willing to make the journey across the Aegean has increased noticeably. At Athens officials voiced worries that Turkish monitors overseeing the deal in Greece had been abruptly pulled out after the failed coup with little sign of them being replaced. The Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE) warned about the prospect of another flare-up in the refugee/migrant crisis due to the Turkish political instability.

- Hungary welcomes refugees when in transit to Germany to apply for refugee status. In the summer of 2015, Hungary was deeply affected by the migration crisis. In December, Hungary challenged EU plans to share asylum seekers across EU states at the European Court of Justice. The border has been closed since 15 September 2015, with razor wire fence along its southern borders, particularly Croatia, and by blocking train travel. The government believes that "illegal migrants" are job-seekers, threats to security and likely to "threaten our culture". There have been cases of immigrants and ethnic minorities being attacked. The country has conducted wholesale deportations of refugees, who are generally considered to be allied with ISIL. Refugees are outlawed and almost all are ejected.

-Poland has accepted 150 mostly Christian refugees. Various centre right, far right, and conservative parties won Parliamentary elections on platforms demanding a halt to refugee quotas.

- The European Commission asked Romania to accept 6,351 refugees under an EU quota scheme. Bloomberg News reported that "Romania's government will call on the EU to grant its citizens equal access to the visa-free Schengen area if the bloc's leaders impose mandatory quotas on its members to shelter refugees."

- The Russian government gave $24 million for refugees and granted asylum to over 1,000. About 5,000 refugees have settled in Russia since 2012. Five hundred Christian refugees settled in Sochi. Circassians in Syria have been returning to their historic homelands in Circassia. The Chechen and Ossetian diasporas in Syria have also sought to return to their Caucasus homelands.

- Serbia welcomes refugees when in transit to western Europe to apply for refugee status. In August 2015, Vučić said that Serbia will do anything to help these people on their way to better life. He promised more toilets for them, blankets, food and announced opening of the temporary reception centre in Belgrade during winter months. He also drew comparisons between the Syrian refugees and Croatian Serb refugees "who also had to leave their homes 20 years ago", positing that because Serbs suffered then, they understand the problems that the refugees face.

- In September 2013, Sweden becomes the first EU country to grant permanent residency to all asylum seekers, and the right to family reunification, in light of worsening conditions in Syria. Roughly 8,000 Syrian refugees in Sweden are affected by the ruling. The decision is welcomed, but some warn that it may be a boon for people-smuggling operations.

In September 2013, Swedish migration authorities ruled that all asylum seekers will be granted permanent residency and the right to bring their families as well. Sweden is the first EU-country to make this offer. The number of Syrian nationals settling in Sweden under refugee status was 2,943 in 2012, 9,755 in 2013, and 18,827 in 2014, summing up to a total increase of 31,525 refugees during this period. Additionally, another 9,028 Syrians settled in Sweden on grounds of family reunification. Moreover, during this period, Sweden has received over 10,000 stateless persons, many of whom are refugees that previously resided in Syria.

In 2015, 51,338 Syrians applied for asylum in Sweden. After 2015 the number of Syrian asylum seekers decreased drastically, totaling 5,459 in 2016, 4,718 in 2017, and 1,040 as of May 2018.

- In March 2012, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights made a request to Switzerland to accept some Syrian refugees, and the Swiss government announced that it was considering the request. In March 2015, the Swiss Federal Council set a goal of accepting 3,000 Syrian refugees over three years. By September 2015, 5,000 Syrian refugees had received provisional permission to live in Switzerland, and an additional 2,000 had submitted asylum applications and were pending.

- The UK has so far granted asylum to 5,102 refugees of whom 216 have been actively resettled. The stance of its government has been severely criticised by human rights groups. In September, the government announced plans to accept 20,000 refugees over a period of 5 years, taken from refugee camps in Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan. In May 2015, a YouGov poll commissioned by British charity Islamic Relief showed that 42% of respondents said Britain should not take in foreign nationals fleeing conflict or persecution in their own countries, up sharply on 2014. The poll also showed that terrorism was associated with Muslims, with the words "terror", "terrorist" or "terrorism" chosen by 12% of respondents, ahead of other options like faith (11%), mosque (9%), Koran (8%) and religious (8%). Prime Minister David Cameron described Syrian refugees coming to the UK as a "swarm", and later said he would not "allow people to break into our country". The Foreign Secretary also said refugees were "marauding" around Calais. Amnesty International and opposition party leadership have criticized these statements by the government. On 4 September 2015, Cameron pledged that the UK would accept "thousands" more Syrian refugees. Wimbledon UKIP candidate Peter Bucklitsch, sparked online outrage amongst Twitter users on 3 September 2015 when he stated deceased Syrian refugee child Alan Kurdi was "well clothed & well fed", and blamed his parents for the death. He stated Aylan died because his parents were "greedy for the good life in Europe". High-profile figures such as Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron denounced the remarks. He apologised online the next day. A statement a day later contained an apology from Buckslitsch. He described his tweet as "inelegant" and stated that blaming parents was probably "not ... the best response." In November 2018, A sixteen year old youth was shown on video assaulting a Syrian refugee in a playground attack in Almondbury Community School, West Yorkshire.

In July 2013, Canada promised to resettle 1,300 refugees by 2015 and pledged $100 million in humanitarian aid. "1,063 Syrian refugees are already here in Canada. The rest will travel in the coming weeks" (Kevin Menard, spokesman for Immigration Minister Chris Alexander). and the government agreed to resettle 11,300 refugees by the end of 2017, and then 10,000 by September 2016. Before the 2015 federal election, the Liberal Party of Canada promised to bring 25,000 refugees by the end of 2015. After the election, the newly formed Liberal government failed to meet its self-imposed deadline and it was moved to February 2016 and began further screening in the aftermath of the 2015 Paris attacks. Canadians have expressed considerable interest in receiving refugees and Canadian politicians and business leaders, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met the first two flights on 10 and 13 December 2015. At the end of 2015, Canada had arranged 96 flights to airlift refugees from their host countries, welcomed 35,000 refugees into 275 communities across the country, and agreed to resettle 35-50,000 refugees by the end of 2016. Resettlement arrangements for additional refugees and social integration of arriving refugees is ongoing. The cost over the subsequent six years was estimated between Can$564 to Can$678 million. Justin Trudeau stated that the most vulnerable would be accepted first, including families, children and members of the LGBT communities. Among the Syrian refugees accepted for resettlement are thousands of ethnic Armenians. On 27 February 2016 Canada met its goal of resettling 25,000 Syrian refugees. Canada continues to process applications and had accepted 40,081 refugees from November 2015 to January 2017. The government maintains at least two programmes for resettlement: refugees can be sponsored either under the Government-Assisted Refugee (GAR) programme, or under the Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program (PSR).

In late September 2016, the U.S surpassed its initial goal of resettling 10,000 Syrian refugees by resettling over 12,500 refugees throughout the U.S. Most of this initial grouping were admitted to the U.S in the previous four months leading up to this announcement. The Obama Administration also came out saying that it anticipated the resettling of an additional 110,000 refugees, according to an article from the Washington Post. Syrians made up only a small fraction (2%) of total U.S. refugee intake in the fiscal year 2015. According to the United States Department of State Refugee Admissions Report dated December 2016, the US admitted 1,682 Syrian refugees in Fiscal Year 2015 (year ending Sept 2015), 12,587 in FY 2016 (15% of total worldwide refugee admissions into the US in FY 2016) and 3,566 Syrian refugees for the period October through December 2016.

At the United Nations Leader's Summit on Refugees on 20 September 2016, President Obama urged countries to "fulfill a moral obligation" to help the current refugee crisis, and called the circumstances of the 4.8 million refugees from Syria "particularly unacceptable".

Following the November 2015 Paris attacks, thirty-one U.S. state governments (all but one led by a Republican governor) protested the admission of Syrian refugees to their states, with some seeking to block their admission. These governors' efforts to block Syrian refugees have been unsuccessful in court, and most but not all of the governors "seem to have quietly dropped the matter."

Under his administration, the U.S. government has provided $5.9 billion to aid Syrian refugees, making the United States as the second-largest donor of Syrian refugees after Turkey.

On 27 January 2017, new US President Donald Trump announced that he had signed an executive order suspending any further resettlement of Syrian refugees to the United States indefinitely until further notice due to security concerns (excluding "refugee claims made by individuals on the basis of religious-based persecution, provided that the religion of the individual is a minority religion in the individual's country of nationality" which could include Christians, Shia Muslims and Yazidis in Syria). It will resume once an enhanced security screening procedure is implemented. Two days before signing the executive order, President Trump said that he was interested in establishing safe zones in Syrian territory, allowing refugees to live there while fleeing violence and stated that the European countries have "made a tremendous mistake by admitting millions of refugees from Syria and other Middle Eastern trouble spots" during the 2015 European migrant crisis. In July 2017, President Trump along with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri agreed on US support to Lebanon to "supporting the humanitarian needs of displaced Syrian citizens as close to their home country as possible." It was also announced in April of that same year that the US would send $167 million for Lebanese support.

While some supports advocate that Donald Trump's new suspension of resettlement was done to help protect the safety of the United States, a large portion are skeptical of the long-term results of the suspension. According to opponents of the plan, the suspension can be described as "ill-conceived, poorly implemented and ill-explained." This group of critics even includes two prominent Republicans, Michael Hayden and John McLaughlin. The critics argue that, since 11 September 2001, there have been no terrorist attacks in the U.S. that have been caused by any of the people banned by the order. In addition, they say that the suspension could compromise U.S. troops fighting overseas and that it provides propaganda for terrorist organizations like ISIS, as it allows them to proclaim that the U.S. has anti-Islam tendencies. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has said in Washington v. Trump, that the travel ban is not constitutional, but Trump has stated he will continue to try and make it a reality. On 4 December, the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of supporting the Trump Administrations third installment of the travel ban. This decision will allow full enforcement of the ban to continue after US courts blocked the first two measures of the controversial regulation of travelers. The ban will allow the Trump administration to heavily regulate migration from countries such as Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Venezuela, Yemen and Syria. This comes after President Trump's loss in October from his second ban being blocked by federal judges in Maryland and Hawaii. Active cases against the ban are currently in the lower courts and could dictate if President Trump's third attempt at his travel ban could still be enforced or deemed unconstitutional like his original two efforts. Advocates against the ban include the American Civil Liberties Union which represent several groups challenging the ban and will continue to do so with American Civil Liberties Union's director Omar Jadwat saying "President Trump's anti-Muslim prejudice is no secret."

In the 2016 Fiscal Year, the US dramatically increased the number of refugees admitted from Syria, totaling 12,587 refugees from the war-torn country. Ninety-nine percent of these refugees were Muslims (with few Shia Muslims admitted) and approximately one percent were Christian according to the Pew Research Center analysis of State Department Refugee Processing Center data. The religious breakdown of Syria's 17.2 million people is approximately 74% Sunni Islam, 13% Alawi, Ismaili and Shia Islam, 10% Christian and 3% Druze.

The state of religious persecution in the country is described by the State Department: "In Syria, the Assad regime increased its targeting and surveillance of members of a variety of faith groups it deemed a "threat," especially members of the country's Sunni majority. This occurred concurrently with the escalation of violent extremist activity targeted against religious minorities, including Christians, Druze, Alawites, and others as the current civil war continues. Large scale internal and external displacement of all sectors of the population is ongoing"

In 2017, the US accepted 3,024 Syrian refugees, but only accepted 11 in the first quarter of 2018

The topic of US involvement in alleviating the Syrian refugee crisis continues to be a highly contentious issue among legislators, stakeholders, and activists. As instability in the region continues to rise, and the number of people seeking refuge continues to increase, the topic of whether or not to admit Syrian refugees into the United States continues to have a pervasive hold on American affairs, both foreign and domestic. However,the presence of refugees in a country can present opportunities for the state to develop capacity in more marginalized areas.

The issue of whether or not to admit Syrian refugees into the US has long been classified as a partisan issue, and the poll results affirm this position. In 2016, 56% of Democrats supported admitting Syrian refugees into the US, compared with 18% of Republicans and 32% of independents. Since the Syrian Refugee Crisis, the United States citizens have been formulating opinions on how to deal with the refugee crisis.

In a CNN/ORC poll conducted in November 2015 when responding to the question "Do you favor or oppose allowing refugees from Syria to seek asylum in the United States? ... Do you favor/oppose that strongly or just somewhat?" 16% of people were strongly in favor, 22% somewhat in favor, 18% somewhat opposed, 43% strongly opposed, and 1% were unsure. Another poll was conducted again in Jan-Feb 2017, asking the same question. This time, 25% of people were strongly in favor, 29% somewhat in favor, 18% somewhat opposed, 27% strongly opposed, and 2% were unsure (margin of error of about 3). These polls show a shift towards more favourable opinions towards letting in Syrian refugees over this period.

In Duke University Law School's Academic Journal, Suman Momin wrote an article entitled A Human Rights Based Approach to Refugees: A Look at the Syrian Refugee Crisis and Responses from Germany and the United States. Momin lays out the most common moral and intrinsic arguments that affect citizens' opinions on refugee issues such as the Syrian Refugee Crisis. Momin introduces the "Good Samaritan" argument, the protection argument, and the political responsibility argument. The Good Samaritan argument states that people are in favor of helping non-citizens who are refugees as long as they believe that by helping, their own country will not be sacrificing anything. The protection argument stems from the idea that humans care about the rights and lives of others. This argument means that people pay attention to emotional debates that use photos of refugees or play at emotional connections, making people want to protect or save refugees. Finally, the political responsibility argument states that people are more willing to help when they think providing aid or letting in refugees with advance their own country politically. Where Americans stand on these moral rationales is what influences their opinion of foreign policy issues towards Syrian refugees.

In a Quinnipiac University Poll from February 16 through February 21, 2016, responding to the question "Do you support or oppose accepting Syrian refugees into the U.S.?", 74% of Democrats and 43% of Independents were in support of Syrian refugees coming to the US while only 13% of Republicans were in support. 82% of Republicans were opposed to Syrian refugees coming to the US, 51% of Independents and 22% of Democrats. 4% to 5% of people in each party had no answer. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9. This poll indicates that Democrats are largely in favor of Syrian refugees entering the US while Republicans are largely opposed and considering the margin of error, Independents are completely split on the issue.

In another poll taken by Gallup on January 30 and 31, 2017 Gallup asked people "Thinking now about some of the specific actions Donald Trump has taken since he has been in office, would you say you approve or disapprove of indefinitely suspending the United States' Syrian refugee program" 32% of people approved Trump's actions suspending the Syrian refugee program 62% of people disapproved and 6% of people were unsure (margin of error of plus or minus 4).

- Brazil is the first country in the Americas to offer humanitarian visas to refugees. Brazil's embassies in countries neighboring Syria issue travel visas and allow for claims on arrival in Brazil. These special humanitarian visas will also be provided to family members living in countries neighbouring Syria. As of November 2015, there are 3,000 Syrian refugees in Brazil.

- Colombia accepts refugees that have asked for asylum within Colombia. The refugees are registered with the UNHCR in Bogotá, and receive aid from Pastoral Social, a Colombian NGO that works closely with the UNHCR.

- In September 2015, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced that Venezuela is prepared to give asylum to 20,000 refugees in the wake of the European migrant crisis and Venezuela-Colombia migrant crisis. President Maduro defended his decision by asking "how many more Arabs must die before a great human conscience of peace is awakened?". The Venezuelan government supported President Bashar al-Assad when the Syrian Civil War started in 2011 and described the conflict as a Western "imperialist" plot to topple him.

- In September 2015, the South China Morning Post reported that a Syrian refugee traveled 7,000 km to Hong Kong to seek asylum. The Hong Kong Immigration Department confirmed that the Syrian has filed a non-refoulement claim, which includes both torture and refugee applications with the government, and was later granted refugee status in February 2017. The city has a history of accepting the fewest asylum seekers and refugees with an acceptance rate of 0.6% as compared with 60% in Europe. As of December 2016, only 72 asylum seekers have their claims recognized by the Hong Kong authorities while many of them wait several years to have their claims screened.

- In February 2017, The government announced that Japan will accept a total of 300 refugees over 5 years. Japan has only been processing the applications by strictly abiding by the refugee convention, while many countries in Europe, which have seen a sharp increase in Syrian asylum seekers in recent years, have been broadening their refugee definitions and support for asylum seekers. Four Syrian asylum seekers initiated a lawsuit against the Japanese government to seek official refugee status after they were denied refugee status but have been granted tentative residence permits.

- In October 2015, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that at least 3,000 Syrian refugees would be resettled in the country. Malaysia is the first Muslim-majority country to make this offer. Najib stated that Muslim countries were partly responsible for ensuring the well-being of the marginalised Syrians fleeing their country in massive numbers, causing social and economic stresses in Europe, during the migrant crisis. The first batch of refugees arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on 11 December 2015 on a flight arriving from Istanbul, Turkey. The second batch of 68 Syrian refugees arrived at the Subang Air Force Base (outside of Kuala Lumpur) from Beirut, Lebanon in May 2016. In late December 2016, many of the refugees are found begging on the streets of Kuala Lumpur. As of May 2017, around 1,980 Syrian refugees have been registered in Malaysia with the UNHCR.

- South Korea has refused to offer any resettlement places to refugees. The number of Syrian refugees who have applied for asylum in South Korea number 918 in total since 1994, expected to grow to over 1,000 by the end of 2015. There were only 3 applicants before 2011, but the number greatly increased due to the Syrian Civil War in 2011. At the end of September 2015, the Ministry of Justice in South Korea said there are 848 Syrian asylum seekers in South Korea. Of those, 3 asylum seekers were accepted as refugees, which is an acceptance rate of less than 0.3%. 631 people were permitted their residence on humanitarian grounds, 9 people decided not to accept refugee status and 75 withdrew their application; in total, 718 people had their status determined. The remaining 130 Syrians are still having their status determined. South Korea has been giving aid to Syrian refugees for a few years. The Korean government and NGOs provided support to set up about 2,000 refugee tents in Zaatari, Jordan. There are small parts called 'Korean villages' in the camp, where refugees can learn ' Taekwondo', Korean martial arts and can enrol in some education programs. The Korean government said that "it has spent $27 million in aiding refugees from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and South Sudan etc. in 2015".

- Since July 1985, some Syrian refugees were going to Turkmenistan, because of the political Turkmenistani-Syrian relations. There is also a community of 55 Turkmenistanis in Syria.

United Nations agencies

Intergovernmental Organizations

International Non-Governmental Organizations

International Religious Organizations

National Organizations

Figures above are donations to international organizations as compiled by the Financial Tracking Service, of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Not included are: government spending on domestic hosting and resettlement. Private donations are from individuals and organizations. United Nation's donations are from unearmarked funds not attributable to specific member states. Figures for Turkey include expenditures not tracked by the FTS.

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Refugees of the Syrian civil war - Wikipedia

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Refugees of the Syrian Civil War are citizens and permanent residents of Syria who have fled the country throughout the Syrian Civil War. The pre-war population of the Syrian Arab Republic was estimated at 22 million (2017), including permanent residents. Of that number, the United Nations (UN) identified 13.5 million (2016) as displaced persons, requiring humanitarian assistance.

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[alexis] My Social Case : Cyber Bullying

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[alexis] My Social Case : Cyber Bullying

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Link:
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/one-in-three-singaporean-teens-have-encountered-cyber-bullying-study
Brief Write-up:
Cyber bullying is getting more frequent and relevant to many of us, and many people has raised awareness about this concern. From the article, around one out of three teenagers has experienced cyber bullying. The amount of people that is experienced cyber bullying is not at less, and the impact of cyber bullying is not less than real life bullying. Cyber bullying can continues 24/7 365, and the amount of comments can reach to thousands. Just like real life bullying, cyber bullying can cause mental health issues like depression and anxiety, which might lead to death. We can help the victims by reporting the comments and posts, let the system of social media to deal with the users, and give them support and care. I hope that the internet can be a peaceful and inclusive for everyone to enjoy the benefits the internet has brought to us.
-alexis

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One in three Singaporean teens have encountered cyber bullying: Study

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SINGAPORE - One in three Singaporean teens have been the victims of cyber bullying, a study released by network security company McAfee on Tuesday has found. . Read more at straitstimes.com.

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[chera] my social cause: health and disease in singapore

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[chera] my social cause: health and disease in singapore

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https://www.sgh.com.sg/news/tomorrows-medicine/proportion-of-older-adults-with-multiple-chronic-diseases-surges

brief write up:
More Singaporeans aged 60 and above are also having difficulty carrying out daily living activities, based on an ongoing survey of more than 4,500 Singaporeans and permanent residents, details of which were revealed yesterday.
The top five chronic health conditions were high blood pressure; high blood cholesterol; cataract; joint pain, arthritis, rheumatism or nerve pain; and diabetes.

"The fact that nearly a third of the respondents have three or more chronic health conditions is worrying," said Dr Rahul Malhotra, the centre's head of research.
-chera

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Brief Write-Up:
This article shows us that mental health is complex and understudied. It also shows us the increase of mental health problems. In eastern Europe and central Asia, suicide is the leading cause of death for young people. This shows that mental health is important and if it is not dealt with soon, these problems will continue to grow and increase in number. Some individuals dealing with mental health problems think that they can handle it all by themselves and choose to keep it to themselves but if they do not seek help from friends/family or get professional help, their mental heath is just going to keep declining and become even worse. Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood. In my opinion, mental health and physical health are both equally important components of our overall health. For example, depression increases the risk for many types of physical health problems, particularly long-lasting conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. In conclusion, mental health should not be neglected.

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The COVID-19 pandemic, a UNICEF report and a review of the latest research all highlight the urgent need for better prevention and treatment of youth anxiety and depression.

Worldwide, at least 13% of people between the ages of 10 and 19 live with a diagnosed mental-health disorder, according to the latest State of the World's Children report, published this week by the United Nations children's charity UNICEF. It's the first time in the organization's history that this flagship report has tackled the challenges in and opportunities for preventing and treating mental-health problems among young people. It reveals that adolescent mental health is highly complex, understudied - and underfunded. These findings are echoed in a parallel collection of review articles published this week in a number of Springer Nature journals.

Anxiety and depression constitute more than 40% of mental-health disorders among young people (those aged 10-19). UNICEF also reports that, worldwide, suicide is the fourth most-common cause of death (after road injuries, tuberculosis and interpersonal violence) among adolescents (aged 15-19). In eastern Europe and central Asia, suicide is the leading cause of death for young people in that age group - and it's the second-highest cause in western Europe and North America.

Sadly, psychological distress among young people seems to be rising. One study found that rates of depression among a nationally representative sample of US adolescents (aged 12 to 17) increased from 8.5% of young adults to 13.2% between 2005 and 2017. There's also initial evidence that the coronavirus pandemic is exacerbating this trend in some countries. For example, in a nationwide study from Iceland, adolescents (aged 13-18) reported significantly more symptoms of mental ill health during the pandemic than did their peers before it. And girls were more likely to experience these symptoms than were boys.

Although most mental-health disorders arise during adolescence, UNICEF says that only one-third of investment in mental-health research is targeted towards young people. Moreover, the research itself suffers from fragmentation - scientists involved tend to work inside some key disciplines, such as psychiatry, paediatrics, psychology and epidemiology, and the links between research and health-care services are often poor. This means that effective forms of prevention and treatment are limited, and lack a solid understanding of what works, in which context and why.

This week's collection of review articles dives deep into the state of knowledge of interventions - those that work and those that don't - for preventing and treating anxiety and depression in young people aged 14-24. In some of the projects, young people with lived experience of anxiety and depression were co-investigators, involved in both the design and implementation of the reviews, as well as in interpretation of the findings.

Quest for new therapies

Worldwide, the most common treatment for anxiety and depression is a class of drug called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which increase serotonin levels in the brain and are intended to enhance emotion and mood. But their modest efficacy and substantial side effects have spurred the study of alternative physiological mechanisms that could be involved in youth depression and anxiety, so that new therapeutics can be developed.

For example, researchers have been investigating potential links between depression and inflammatory disorders - such as asthma, cardiovascular disease and inflammatory bowel disease. This is because, in many cases, adults with depression also experience such disorders. Moreover, there's evidence that, in mice, changes to the gut microbiota during development reduce behaviours similar to those linked to anxiety and depression in people. That suggests that targeting the gut microbiome during adolescence could be a promising avenue for reducing anxiety in young people. Kathrin Cohen Kadosh at the University of Surrey in Guildford, UK, and colleagues reviewed existing reports of interventions in which diets were changed to target the gut microbiome. These were found to have had minimal effect on youth anxiety. However, the authors urge caution before such a conclusion can be confirmed, citing methodological limitations (including small sample sizes) among the studies they reviewed. They say the next crop of studies will need to involve larger-scale clinical trials.

By contrast, researchers have found that improving young people's cognitive and interpersonal skills can be more effective in preventing and treating anxiety and depression under certain circumstances - although the reason for this is not known. For instance, a concept known as 'decentring' or 'psychological distancing' (that is, encouraging a person to adopt an objective perspective on negative thoughts and feelings) can help both to prevent and to alleviate depression and anxiety, report Marc Bennett at the University of Cambridge, UK, and colleagues, although the underlying neurobiological mechanisms are unclear.

In addition, Alexander Daros at the Campbell Family Mental Health Institute in Toronto, Canada, and colleagues report a meta-analysis of 90 randomized controlled trials. They found that helping young people to improve their emotion-regulation skills, which are needed to control emotional responses to difficult situations, enables them to cope better with anxiety and depression. However, it is still unclear whether better regulation of emotions is the cause or the effect of these improvements.

Co-production is essential

It's uncommon - but increasingly seen as essential - that researchers working on treatments and interventions are directly involving young people who've experienced mental ill health. These young people need to be involved in all aspects of the research process, from conceptualizing to and designing a study, to conducting it and interpreting the results. Such an approach will lead to more-useful science, and will lessen the risk of developing irrelevant or inappropriate interventions.

Science careers and mental health

Two such young people are co-authors in a review from Karolin Krause at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, Canada, and colleagues. The review explored whether training in problem solving helps to alleviate depressive symptoms. The two youth partners, in turn, convened a panel of 12 other youth advisers, and together they provided input on shaping how the review of the evidence was carried out and on interpreting and contextualizing the findings. The study concluded that, although problem-solving training could help with personal challenges when combined with other treatments, it doesn't on its own measurably reduce depressive symptoms.

The overarching message that emerges from these reviews is that there is no 'silver bullet' for preventing and treating anxiety and depression in young people - rather, prevention and treatment will need to rely on a combination of interventions that take into account individual needs and circumstances. Higher-quality evidence is also needed, such as large-scale trials using established protocols.

Along with the UNICEF report, the studies underscore the transformational part that funders must urgently play, and why researchers, clinicians and communities must work together on more studies that genuinely involve young people as co-investigators. Together, we can all do better to create a brighter, healthier future for a generation of young people facing more challenges than ever before.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02690-5

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Young people's mental health is finally getting the attention it needs

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The COVID-19 pandemic, a UNICEF report and a review of the latest research all highlight the urgent need for better prevention and treatment of youth anxiety and depression. The COVID-19 pandemic, a UNICEF report and a review of the latest research all highlight the urgent need for better prevention and treatment of youth anxiety and depression.

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https://www.straitstimes.com/world/chiles-melting-glaciers-a-fast-disappearing-gauge-of-climate-change
brief write up: global warming is a dangerous ongoing issue and poses a threat to all living-beings on this planet. the ten- storey iceberg crash in chile is a reminder of the impacts of global warming. seasonal glacier melt has been greatly accelerated due to global warming, which is greatly contributed by various human activities such as agriculture. if we do not do anything, more of such incidents will happen and we will face rising sea levels that will not be a good sign for our future survival.

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Chile's melting glaciers a fast-disappearing gauge of climate change

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Patagonia region's glaciers are retreating faster than anywhere else in the world. . Read more at straitstimes.com.

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Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_Seas
Brief Write-up :
Pollution in the ocean is something we need to be more aware of and need to prevent. This such event is removing waste or trash from the oceans for a very cheap price, going at $1 for 1 pound of trash taken out of the sea. We should not overlook these kinds of "small" tasks because the organization has raised over $30 million which means over 30 million pound of trash are being taken out of the ocean. We should make an effort not to throw trash into the ocean and not litter as it might end up in the ocean through various means. This is helpful for the ocean environment and the animals living in it. The rubbish thrown in the water such as plastic bags or canned goods would affect the marine animals and could cause them to suffocate or die by other means. Thus, I think that this social cause is very helpful especially because it is one of the biggest causes ever done.

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Team Seas, stylized as #TeamSeas, is an international collaborative fundraiser project run by YouTubers MrBeast and Mark Rober as a follow up to TeamTrees. They aim to raise 30 million dollars, which would allow them to remove 30,000,000 pounds (14,000,000 kg) of marine debris from the ocean by the…

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[Ju Tai] My Social Cause: Gender Inequality in the workplace

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[Ju Tai] My Social Cause: Gender Inequality in the workplace

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link: https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/about-1-3-employees-spore-mostly-women-face-gender-discrimination-work-sccci-survey
brief write up: 1 in 3 Singaporeans who responded to a survey, who were mostly women, have faced gender discrimination but only a small number had actually reported it. For those who have reported, 53% said that no satisfactory actions were done against the issue. In the survey, 41% of female respondents encountered gender discrimination as compared to 10% of male respondents, and only 12% of all people who faced discrimination reported it, with none of them being men.
The culture of having gender stereotypes or favouring one over the other have been barriers for most female respondents too.
SCCCI, the creators of the survey have noted that gender stereotyping still occurs in daily life in society, and requires more action to raise awareness of gender discrimination at work, and that laws in Singapore can better address gender discriminatory conduct in workplaces, especially the remuneration gap and promotion opportunities based on gender.

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More than half of the people who took a survey said no satisfactory action was taken after reports were made about gender discrimination at work

The survey collated feedback from 384 respondents - two-thirds of them women

It found that 41 per cent of female respondents faced workplace gender discrimination compared to 10 per cent of male respondents

SINGAPORE - Nearly one in three Singaporeans responding to a survey, mostly women, have faced gender discrimination in the workplace but only a small number reported the incidents. Of those who did, a majority - or 53.3 per cent - said no satisfactory action was taken.

The Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCCI) released these findings on Tuesday (March 30) after surveying 384 respondents - two-thirds of them women.

The survey follows the Government's announcement last September that it would embark on a review of issues affecting women. This review will form the basis of a White Paper to be tabled in Parliament later this year.

In the SCCCI survey, a majority of the respondents were:

Between the ages of 41 and 60 (58.3 per cent)

Married (67.7 per cent)

University graduates (82.6 per cent)

Employed full-time (80.2 per cent)

Professionals (32 per cent) and in managerial roles (27.3 per cent)

Working in small- and medium-sized enterprises (39.6 per cent) and multinational corporations (34.1 per cent)

The findings were presented at a media conference at the Trade Association Hub on Jurong Town Hall Road.
GENDER DISCRIMINATION AT WORK
The survey found that 41 per cent of female respondents had encountered gender discrimination in the workplace, as compared to the 10 per cent of male respondents, or about 31 per cent overall.

Of those who experienced gender discrimination, only 12 per cent reported the incidents - none of them men.

The female respondents also either agreed or strongly agreed with:

Having experienced gender biases in interactions with customers, suppliers and in networks (36.6 per cent versus 20.5 per cent of male respondents)

Gender being a consideration for promotion (40.5 per cent versus 11.8 per cent of male respondents)

A wage gap between the different genders for the same rank or job (59.5 per cent versus 19.7 per cent of male respondents)

While close to two-thirds of respondents said that their workplaces provide sufficient support for them to achieve their career aspirations, the survey found that corporate culture and gender stereotypes affect more female respondents than their male counterparts in terms of career advancements.

The culture of favouring a particular gender, and stereotypes that one gender is less competent, are barriers in career advancement for more female respondents (45 per cent) than male respondents (about 30 per cent).
FAMILY AND CAREGIVING COMMITMENTS
The findings showed that male respondents work more hours a week - 28.3 per cent work 60 hours and above as compared to 18.7 per cent of female respondents - but female respondents bear greater responsibility for family and caregiving duties.

About 24.1 per cent of female respondents indicated that they bear more than 75 per cent of this responsibility, compared to 12.6 per cent of male respondents.

One in two female respondents factor in the ability to accommodate family and caregiving demands in their employment choice, while only one in three male respondents did so.

More female respondents also aspire for work-life balance, whereas more male respondents aspire to assume leadership positions in their career.
ISSUES THAT NEED TO BE TACKLED
SCCCI noted that gender discrimination continues to happen in society and workplaces and there needs to be an improved reporting system and processes in place to tackle this.

The chamber recommended raising awareness of gender discrimination at the workplace and addressing the remuneration packages and promotion opportunities, among others.

"Singapore employment laws or guidelines can better address gender discriminatory conduct in the workplace, in particular remuneration gap and promotion opportunities based on gender," it said.

Delivering closing remarks on Tuesday after the release of the findings, Ms Sun Xueling, Minister of State for Social and Family Development, said that the survey findings are in line with feedback raised during various discussions as part of the Government's review on women's issues.

She stressed that gender discrimination and harassment in the workplace are taken very seriously, adding that the Government has imposed stiffer penalties for all forms of discriminatory hiring practices, among others.

Women's progress is ultimately a "whole-of-society effort" that requires fundamental mindset change, she said.

"In the workplace, we must recognise that women are equally as capable as men, have valuable contributions to share and can be inspirational leaders.

"At home, we must foster a more equal distribution of household and caregiving responsibilities and empower fathers to do their part for the family," Ms Sun added.

SCCCI president Roland Ng said that while Singapore has advanced to level the playing field for women, promoting gender equality remains an unfinished piece of work.

"I encourage women to continue to challenge themselves, to realise their fullest potential, and the whole of society to continue to render all the necessary support in this journey."

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Nearly 1 in 3 respondents face gender discrimination at work: Survey

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SINGAPORE - Nearly one in three Singaporeans responding to a survey, mostly women, have faced gender discrimination in the workplace but only a small number reported the incidents. Of those who did, a majority - or 53.3 per cent - said no satisfactory action was taken.

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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_suicides_that_have_been_attributed_to_bullying
https://thoughtcatalog.com/jim-goad/2015/04/15-teen-bullying-cases/
https://www.moe.gov.sg/news/parliamentary-replies/20210104-bullying-cases-in-school
https://thoughtcatalog.com/jim-goad/2015/04/15-teen-bullying-cases/

Write up

One out of every five (20.2%) students report being bullied. (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2019 )

41% of students who reported being bullied at school indicated that they think the bullying would happen again. (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2019 )

Of those students who reported being bullied, 13% were made fun of, called names, or insulted; 13% were the subject of rumors; 5% were pushed, shoved, tripped, or spit on; and 5% were excluded from activities on purpose. (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2019)

The reasons for being bullied reported most often by students include physical appearance, race/ethnicity, gender, disability, religion, sexual orientation. (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2019)

The federal government began collecting data on school bullying in 2005, when the prevalence of bullying was around 28 percent. (U.S. Department of Education, 2015 )

Rates of bullying vary across studies (from 9% to 98%). A meta-analysis of 80 studies analyzing bullying involvement rates (for both bullying others and being bullied) for 12-18 year old students reported a mean prevalence rate of 35% for traditional bullying involvement and 15% for cyberbullying involvement. (Modecki, Minchin, Harbaugh, Guerra, & Runions, 2014 )

One in five (20.9%) tweens (9 to 12 years old) has been cyberbullied, cyberbullied others, or seen cyberbullying. (Patchin & Hinduja, 2020)

49.8% of tweens (9 to 12 years old) said they experienced bullying at school and 14.5% of tweens shared they experienced bullying online. (Patchin & Hinduja, 2020)

13% of tweens (9 to 12 years old) reported experiencing bullying at school and online, while only 1% reported being bullied solely online. (Patchin & Hinduja, 2020)

Effects of Bullying

Students who experience bullying are at increased risk for depression, anxiety, sleep difficulties, lower academic achievement, and dropping out of school. (Centers for Disease Control, 2019)

Students who are both targets of bullying and engage in bullying behavior are at greater risk for both mental health and behavior problems than students who only bully or are only bullied. (Centers for Disease Control, 2019)

Youth who self-blame and conclude they deserved to be bullied are more likely to face negative outcomes, such as depression, prolonged victimization, and maladjustment. (Perren, Ettakal, & Ladd, 2013 )

After researching, I am shocked by the data of people getting bullied everyday and a lot of people even decided to suicide. I think we can create an account or a website saying no to bullying as nowadays everyone is using social media so by using social media can spread the news faster and more people will be aware of the importance and impact of bullying

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Link:
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/spains-animal-rights-bill-targets-zoos-and-pet-shops-not-bullfighting-2507721
Brief Write-up:
Around the world, there is this social cause called animal right/protection. The article talks about Spain banning the sale of pets in shops, convert zoos into wildlife recovery centres and impose prison sentences for abusers as part of its first animal-rights bill, which notably does not target bullfighting, for now. The thing is, people who abuse animals that will later required treatment will be jailed for 18 months. If dead, the person will be jailed 24 months. Shops will not be able to display pets which will help children in learning about local wildlife when growing up with the values of animal protection. I feel that animal rights is important as many animals are being abused which can lead to death. People should know more about animal rights and protect animals from being abused around the world.

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MADRID: Spain plans to ban the sale of pets in shops, convert zoos into wildlife recovery centres and impose prison sentences for abusers as part of its first animal-rights bill, which notably does not target bullfighting, for now.

The government said on Friday (Feb 18) the draft law, which will face a public hearing, another reading in the cabinet and a parliamentary vote, would also prohibit wild animals in circuses and the killing of pets except in cases of euthanasia by veterinary surgeons.

"We are beginning to close the gap between the common sense that seeks to protect the creatures that live with us and the law," Social Rights Minister Ione Belarra said, adding that Spaniards were becoming more sensitive towards the rights of animals every day.

Under the proposed legislation, a pet owner whose animal requires treatment for abuse would face 18 months in jail and 24 months if it dies.

Shops will no longer be able to market or display pets, which will only be sold through approved breeders, while zoos and dolphinariums will be converted into centres for the recovery of native species.

"(That way) children can learn about our local wildlife while growing up with the values of animal protection," Belarra said.

As a first step, zoos will be barred from buying or breeding non-native species.

When their existing exotic animals die they should be replaced with native species unless the establishment has a captive-breeding agreement in place to reintroduce animals to the wild.

The Association of Iberian Zoos, which covers 48 of the biggest zoos and aquariums in Spain and Portugal, said he regretted that government officials did not consult the zoos while drafting the bill.

"Zoos play an important role in the conservation of biodiversity, many animals like the condor of California would have disappeared without the zoos," said Javier Almunia, the association president, said.

The reform does not include bullfighting, and the government said that traditional cornerstone of Spanish culture should be addressed separately.

"We believed that, unfortunately, this country needs a wider debate (on bullfighting) and this law was urgent and necessary for all these pets and wild animals in captivity," government animal rights head Sergio Torres told Reuters.

"This does not mean that we will not do it in the future," he said.

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Spain's animal rights bill targets zoos and pet shops but not bullfighting

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MADRID: Spain plans to ban the sale of pets in shops, convert zoos into wildlife recovery centres and impose prison sentences for abusers as part of its first animal-rights bill, which notably does not target bullfighting, for now.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberbullying
What is the definition of cyber bullying?
A frequently used definition of cyberbullying is "an aggressive, intentional act or behavior that is carried out by a group or an individual, using electronic forms of contact, repeatedly and over time against a victim who cannot easily defend him or herself." There are many variations of the definition, such as the National Crime Prevention Council's more specific definition: "the process of using the Internet, cell phones or other devices to send or post text or images intended to hurt or embarrass another person."

The terms "cyberharassment" and "cyberbullying" are sometimes used synonymously, though some people use the latter to refer specifically to harassment among minors or in a school setting.

Method of cyber bullying:

Cyberbullying involves repeated behavior with intent to harm.

Cyberbullying is perpetrated through harassment, cyberstalking, denigration (sending or posting cruel rumors and falsehoods to damage reputation and friendships), impersonation, and exclusion (intentionally and cruelly excluding someone from an online group)

Cyber bullying occur on social media, in games
Research:

Australia

The nationwide Australian Covert Bullying Prevalence Survey (Cross et al., 2009)[88] assessed cyberbullying experiences among 7,418 students. The results indicated that rates of cyberbullying increased with age, with 4.9% of students in Year 4 reporting cyberbullying compared to 7.9% in year nine. Cross et al., (2009) reported that rates of bullying and harassing others were lower, but also increased with age. Only 1.2% of Year 4 students reported cyberbullying others compared to 5.6% of Year 9 students.

China

In mainland China, cyberbullying has yet to receive adequate scholarly attention. A study investigating the risk factors of cyberbullying sampled 1,438 high school students from central China. Data showed that 34.84% had participated in bullying and 56.88% had been bullied online.[89]

A study on cyberbullying in Hong Kong[90] chose 48 out of 7,654 students from elementary school to high school who were classified as potential aggressors related to cyberbullying. 31 out of 48 students declared they barely participated in cyber-attacks. It is common among high school students (28 out of 36 students) to participate in social media platforms; 58% admitted to changing a nickname for others, 56.3% to humiliation, 54.2% to making fun of someone, and 54.2% to spreading rumors. The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups interviewed 1,820 teenagers, 17.5% of whom indicated having experienced cyberbullying. This included insults, abuse, and the publishing of personal private pictures on social media without permission.

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Cyberbullying ( cyberharassment or online bullying) is a form of bullying or harassment using electronic means. It has become increasingly common, especially among teenagers and adolescents, due to young people's increased use of social media. Related issues include online harassment and trolling. In 2015, according to cyberbullying statistics from the i-Safe Foundation, over half of adolescents and teens had been bullied online, and about the same number had engaged in cyberbullying. Both the bully and the victim are negatively affected, and the intensity, duration, and frequency of bullying are three aspects that increase the negative effects on both of them.

Harmful bullying behavior can include posting rumors, threats, sexual remarks, a victims' personal information, or hate speech. Bullying or harassment can be identified by repeated behavior and an intent to harm. Tactics can also include creating or posting on fake profiles to create anonymity to spread harmful messages.

Internet trolling is a common form of bullying that takes place in an online community (such as online gaming or social media) in order to elicit a reaction or disruption, or simply just for someone's own personal amusement. Cyberstalking is another form of bullying or harassment that uses electronic communications to stalk a victim; this may pose a credible threat to the victim.

Not all negative interaction online or on social media can be attributed to cyberbullying. Research suggests that there are also interactions online that result in peer pressure, which can have a negative, positive, or neutral impact on those involved.

Definitions

There are many variations of the definition, such as the National Crime Prevention Council's more specific definition: "the process of using the Internet, cell phones or other devices to send or post text or images intended to hurt or embarrass another person." Cyberbullying is often similar to traditional bullying, with some notable distinctions. Victims of cyberbullying may not know the identity of their bully, or why the bully is targeting them, based on the online nature of the interaction. The harassment can have wide-reaching effects on the victim, as the content used to harass the victim can be spread and shared easily among many people and often remains accessible long after the initial incident.

Cyberstalking

On Twitch and other livestreaming services, hate raids are situations where a stream is "raided" by many viewers who flood the chat with harassment and other hateful messages. This prevents the streamer from executing their stream. These viewers are typically automated bots, making it difficult to moderate and block.

Spamming is the act of creating multiple accounts and sending messages to a target en masse. A common situation where spam can occur is after a breakup. If one partner is obsessive, they may send their ex messages on multiple platforms. This often happens despite being blocked by the recipient. The article What Can Police Do About Harassing Texts? states, "Keep in mind that harassment of any kind is illegal and includes in person, over the phone, via text messages, through social media, or any other method. Some laws are in place about cyberbullying that are designed to protect the public from this happening."

Impersonation

Sexual harassment

Some people will blackmail their classmates for nudes, threatening to release embarrassing information. They also use revenge porn and release nudes to get payback. This was the case when a 16-year-old student of W.F. West High School in Chehalis exploited more than 100 victims, many of which were his classmates. He owned over 900 photos and videos of victims.

Methods used

Research has identified basic guidelines to help recognize and deal with what is regarded as abuse of electronic communications.

Cyberbullying involves repeated behavior with intent to harm.

Cyberbullying is perpetrated through harassment, cyberstalking, denigration (sending or posting cruel rumors and falsehoods to damage reputation and friendships), impersonation, and exclusion (intentionally and cruelly excluding someone from an online group)

Cyberbullying can be as simple as continuing to send emails or text messages harassing someone who has said they want no further contact with the sender. It may also include public actions such as repeated threats, sexual remarks, pejorative labels (i.e. hate speech) or defamatory false accusations, ganging up on a victim by making the person the subject of ridicule in online forums, hacking into or vandalizing sites about a person, and posting false statements as fact aimed a discrediting or humiliating a targeted person. Cyberbullying could be limited to posting rumors about a person on the internet with the intention of bringing about hatred in others' minds or convincing others to dislike or participate in online denigration of a target. It may go to the extent of personally identifying victims of crime and publishing materials defaming or humiliating them.

Cyberbullies may disclose victims' personal data (e.g. real name, home address, or workplace/schools) on websites or forums-called doxing, or may use impersonation, creating fake accounts, comments or sites posing as their target for the purpose of publishing material in their name that defames, discredits or ridicules them. This can leave the cyberbully anonymous, which can make it difficult for them to be caught or punished for their behavior, although not all cyberbullies maintain their anonymity. Users of semi-anonymous chat websites are at high risk for cyberbullying, as it is also easy in this outlet for a cyberbully to remain anonymous. Text or instant messages and emails between friends can also constitute cyberbullying if what is said is hurtful.

Cyberbullying by email from a fictional friend@hotmail.com

The recent rise of smartphones and mobile apps have yielded a more accessible form of cyberbullying. It is expected that cyberbullying via these platforms will occur more often than through more stationary internet platforms because of constant access to the internet. In addition, the combination of cameras and Internet access and the instant availability of these modern smartphone technologies yield specific types of cyberbullying not found in other platforms. It is likely that those cyberbullied via mobile devices will experience a wider range of cyberbullying methods than those who are exclusively bullied elsewhere.

Some teens argue that some events categorized as cyberbullying are simply drama. Danah Boyd writes, "teens regularly used that word [drama] to describe various forms of interpersonal conflict that ranged from insignificant joking around to serious jealousy-driven relational aggression. Whereas adults might have labeled many of these practices as bullying, teens saw them as drama."

In social media

Cyberbullying can take place on social media sites such as Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter. "By 2008, 93% of young people between the ages of 12 and 17 were online. In fact, youth spend more time with media than any single other activity besides sleeping." The last decade has witnessed a surge of cyberbullying, which is categorized as bullying that occurs through the use of electronic communication technologies, such as e-mail, instant messaging, social media, online gaming, or through digital messages or images sent to a cellular phone.

There are many risks attached to social media sites, and cyberbullying is one of the larger risks. One million children were harassed, threatened or subjected to other forms of cyberbullying on Facebook during the past year, while 90 percent of social-media-using teens who have witnessed online cruelty say they have ignored mean behavior on social media, and 35 percent have done so frequently. Ninety-five percent of social-media-using teens who have witnessed cruel behavior on social networking sites say they have seen others ignoring the mean behavior, and 55 percent have witnessed this frequently. Terms like "Facebook depression" have been coined specifically in regard to the result of extended social media use, with cyberbullying playing a large part in this.

Submit the Documentary: The Virtual Reality of Cyberbullying. An award-winning documentary about the effects of cyberbullying that is shown in schools across the globe.

Cyberbullying has become more common nowadays because of all the technology that children have access to. The most common apps that teenagers use to cyberbully are Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat. Cyberbullying has become harder to stop because parents and teachers are unaware of when and where it is happening. A 2006 study found that 45% of teens and 30% of adolescents were cyberbullied while at school. This was linked to the reason students had access to their online devices such as cell phones or computers. Teens will say awful things to one another online and what they do not realize is that once it is said and published online it will not go away. Home used to be a safe place for teens, but now a child is still within reach of becoming a victim of cyberbullying - whether it is through YouTube, Ask.fm, or a text message. Wherever you face, it is easy to come across Cyberbullying making it almost impossible to escape.

Harassment in gaming culture can occur in online gaming.

Another study that discusses the direct correlation between exposure to violent video games and cyber bullying also took into account personal factors such as "duration of playing online games, alcohol consumption in the last 3 months, parents drunk in the last 3 months, anger, hostility, ADHD, and a sense of belonging" as potential contributing factors of cyberbullying.

Gaming was a more common venue for men in which to experience harassment, whereas women's harassment tended to occur more via social media. Most respondents considered gaming culture to be equally welcoming to both genders, though 44% thought it favored men. Sexual harassment in gaming generally involves slurs directed towards women, sex role stereotyping, and overaggressive language. Keza MacDonald writes in The Guardian that sexism exists in gaming culture, but is not mainstream within it. U.S. President Barack Obama made reference to the harassment of women gamers during his remarks in honor of Women's History Month.

Some game developers have been subjected to harassment and death threats by players upset by changes to a game or by a developer's online policies. Harassment also occurs in reaction to critics such as Jack Thompson or Anita Sarkeesian, whom some fans see as threats to the medium. Various people have been harassed in connection with the Gamergate controversy. Harassment related to gaming is not of a notably different severity or tenor compared to online harassment motivated by other subcultures or advocacy issues. Other developers have been harassed simply due to misogyny or anti-LGBTQ+ stances. A notable case was the death of "Near", the developer of Higan, a console emulator, who took their own life after becoming the subject to ridicule from members of the online Kiwi Farms board following their announcement of being nonbinary.

Some instances of swatting in games such as Call of Duty and League of Legends have resulted in law enforcement SWAT units called on individuals' homes as a prank. On December 28, 2017, Wichita, Kansas, police officers killed Andrew Finch at his Kansas home in a reported swatting prank.

In search engines

Bullies use Google bombs (a term applicable to any search engine) to increase the prominence of favored posts sorted by the most popular searches, done by linking to those posts from as many other web pages as possible. Examples include the campaign for the neologism "santorum" organized by the LGBT lobby. Google bombs can manipulate the Internet's search engines regardless of how authentic the pages are, but there is a way to counteract this type of manipulation as well.

In dating apps

Dating app users who are victims of cyberbullying encounter a range of harmful behaviors, including catfishing, the uninvited sharing of personal images, and offensive remarks. These activities not only violate personal boundaries but also have a detrimental impact on the victims' mental health.

Online shaming

Famous cyberbullying cases

Although most people may not realize it, some of these internet "memes" actually show cyberbullying in action.

Greatest Freakout Ever videos

Although it is not clear on whether the videos were faked or not, this YouTube series made a big impact on YouTube and the internet as a whole. The first and most famous video of the series aired on May 9, 2009. It shows 15-year-old Jack Quire (username "wafflepwn") secretly filming his older brother, Stephen, have a temper tantrum after their parents cancelled Stephen's World of Warcraft account. Stephen does many embarrassing things, including taking his shorts off and attempting to stick a TV remote up his butt. Stephen is now known exclusively for his temper tantrums.

Star Wars Kid

Uploaded in 2003, the star of the video, Ghyslain Raza (a 9th grader at the time) is shown messing around and waving around a golf ball retriever as if it is a real Jedi lightsaber. He was helping his friend parody the movie Star Wars. The video was uploaded to YouTube several months later by Raza's classmates without his knowledge or permission. The video blew up and because one of the first viral internet memes. The video accumulated 900 million views.

Despite trying to protect his privacy, Raza was mocked both online and in real life. He was body shamed, doxxed, and told to commit suicide, among other things. Students at school leaped onto tables to mock him, and his video was parodied on multiple shows including Raza had to move schools multiple times, and became homeschooled. He was harassed for years over a video he did not upload. Today, he is working on a documentary talking about his internet fame and the harassment that came along with it. He wants to focus on internet privacy and consent.

Ethical cyberbullying

Controversially, some internet users use cyberbullying for "ethical" means. Some reasons include justice for victims, activism, and persuading/scaring politicians. Committing moral actions for immoral causes is commonly seen in the realm of activism.

Anonymous hacker group

The hacktivist group "Anonymous" uses cyberbullying tactics for activism. Its users are anonymous, even to each other. They have doxed numerous politicians and vandalized numerous governmental websites. Recently, they have doxed Supreme court justice Clarence Thomas, who was instrumental in overturning Roe v Wade (protecting rights to abortion). His Pornhub account has been posted on the database Doxbin.

The announcement posted on Anonymous' TikTok account (which is now banned) on April 11, 2023, stated as follows, "This is a message to the GOP from Anonymous. We gave you warnings. We gave you time to adjust your actions to meet the wants and needs of the people. In that time you have used the majorities you hold in states to expel members of Congress. You passed laws to inspect transgender children's genitalia. You have overstepped, and now we can share what we did with that time. Anonymous has a dark web database where information is posted to the world and the collective.... We are going to call this dark web database 'the bin'...Remember, human rights and civil rights are not negotiable."

Vigilantism

YouTube account "Scammer Payback" creates videos hacking into scammers' web cameras and doxing scammers. He posts the videos to YouTube, exposing them, revealing their identities, and humiliating them. He uses some cyberbullying methods to get justice, such as doxing and trolling. His bio reads, "Scammers are ruthless, and that is why I am here. My channel is all about bringing awareness to this critical problem with humor and fun. We will learn a lot of things along the way and if I help one person through this, it will be worth it."

Predator catchers

Law enforcement

The safety of online privacy issues in schools is increasingly becoming a focus of state legislative action. There was an increase in cyberbullying enacted legislation between 2006 and 2010. Initiatives and curriculum requirements also exist in the UK (the Ofsted eSafety guidance) and Australia ( Overarching Learning Outcome 13).

Protection

Demographics

Two studies from 2014 found that 80% of body-shaming tweets are sent by women, who also account for 50% of misogynistic tweets.

Children report negative online behaviors occurring from the second grade. According to research, boys initiate negative online activity earlier than girls. However, by middle school, girls are more likely to engage in cyberbullying than boys. Whether the bully is male or female, the purpose of childhood bullying is to intentionally embarrass, harass, intimidate, or make threats online.

Studies on the psycho-social effects of cyberspace have begun to monitor the effects cyberbullying may have on the victims. Consequences of cyberbullying are multi-faceted, and affect both online and offline behavior. Research on adolescents reported that changes in the victims' behavior as a result of cyberbullying could potentially be positive. Victims "created a cognitive pattern of bullies, which consequently helped them to recognize aggressive people."

However, the Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace abstract reports critical impacts in almost all of the respondents, taking the form of lower self-esteem, loneliness, disillusionment, and distrust of people. The more extreme effects included self-harm. Children have killed each other and committed suicide after cyberbullying incidents. Some cases of digital self-harm have been reported in which an individual engages in cyberbullying against themselves, or purposefully and knowingly exposes themselves to cyberbullying.

The US federal cyberstalking law is designed to prosecute people for using electronic means to repeatedly harass or threaten someone online. There are resources dedicated to helping adult victims deal with cyberbullies legally and effectively. One of the steps recommended is to record everything and contact police. In Mexico, Olimpia Coral Melo, promoted the creation of a law against digital harassment that took her name, the Olimpia Law.

Cyberbullies mostly have at least one common trait. Cyberbullies generally get angry and discouraged easily and usually have strong personalities. They connect with others belligerently and do not care for the feelings of their victims. Both males and females engage in cyberbullying. Females are involved in cyberbullying just as much as males, and females are sometimes even found more involved in cyberbullying than males are. The reason behind this is because of the way they respond; men will usually respond with physical retaliation, while women will use "indirect forms such as gossiping." As cyberbullying is a more indirect form, women are more likely to be involved.

The nationwide Australian Covert Bullying Prevalence Survey (Cross et al., 2009) assessed cyberbullying experiences among 7,418 students. The results indicated that rates of cyberbullying increased with age, with 4.9% of students in Year 4 reporting cyberbullying compared to 7.9% in year nine. Cross et al., (2009) reported that rates of bullying and harassing others were lower, but also increased with age. Only 1.2% of Year 4 students reported cyberbullying others compared to 5.6% of Year 9 students.

A study on cyberbullying in Hong Kong chose 48 out of 7,654 students from elementary school to high school who were classified as potential aggressors related to cyberbullying. 31 out of 48 students declared they barely participated in cyber-attacks. It is common among high school students (28 out of 36 students) to participate in social media platforms; 58% admitted to changing a nickname for others, 56.3% to humiliation, 54.2% to making fun of someone, and 54.2% to spreading rumors. The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups interviewed 1,820 teenagers, 17.5% of whom indicated having experienced cyberbullying. This included insults, abuse, and the publishing of personal private pictures on social media without permission.

European Union

Sourander et al. (2010) conducted a population-based cross-sectional study that took place in Finland. The authors of this study took the self-reports of 2,215 Finish adolescents between the ages of 13 and 16 about cyberbullying and cybervictimization during the previous six months. It was found that, amongst the total sample, 4.8% were victims only, 7.4% were cyberbullies only, and 5.4% were cyberbully-victims.

The authors of this study were able to conclude that cyberbullying, as well as cybervictimization, is associated not only with psychiatric issues, but with psychosomatic issues as well. Many adolescents in the study reported headaches or difficulty sleeping. The authors believe that their results indicate a greater need for new ideas on how to prevent cyberbullying and what to do when it occurs. It is clearly a worldwide problem that needs to be taken seriously.

The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) pilot survey was carried out in eight post-primary schools across Ireland, including 318 students aged 15-18. 59% were boys and 41% were girls. Participation in this survey was voluntary for students, and consent had to be obtained from parents, students and the school itself. This survey was anonymous and confidential, and it took 40 minutes to complete. It asked questions on traditional forms of bullying, as well as cyberbullying, risk behaviors and self-reported health and life satisfaction.

66% of the students said that they had never been bullied, 14% had been victims of traditional forms of bullying, 10% had been victims of cyberbullying, and the remaining 10% had been victims of both traditional forms of bullying and cyberbullying. Boys mostly said they were victims of traditional forms of bullying, and girls mostly were victims of both traditional forms of bullying and cyberbullying. 20% of the students in this survey said that they had been cyberbullied, showing that cyberbullying is on the rise.

A 2018 study by Dublin City University (DCU)'s National Anti-Bullying Research and Resource Centre (ABC) found that almost 10% of post-primary teachers were victims of cyberbullying, and 15% knew of a colleague who had experienced it in the previous 12 months. 59% of the bullying was by pupils, mainly on social media, with the rest perpetrated by parents and other school staff. Various effects on bullied teachers included increased stress and anxiety, "negative impacts on their working environment, and a reluctance to report the issue and seek help from management".

According to recent research, in Japan, 17 percent (compared with a 25-country average of 37 percent) of youth between the ages of 8 and 17 have been victims of online bullying. The number shows that online bullying is a serious concern in Japan. Teenagers who spend more than 10 hours a week on the Internet are more likely to become the targets of online bullying, though only 28 percent of the survey participants understood what cyberbullying is. However, they do know the severity of the issue; 63 percent of the surveyed students worried about being targeted as victims of cyberbullying.

Since teenagers find themselves congregating socially on the internet via social media, they become easy targets for cyberbullying. Cyberbullying may occur via email, text, chat rooms, and social media websites. Some cyberbullies set up websites or blogs to post the target's images, publicize their personal information, gossip about the target, express why they hate the target, request people to agree with the bully's view, and send links to the target to make sure they are watching the activity.

Cyberbullying can cause serious psychological impact to the victims. They often feel anxious, nervous, tired, and depressed. Other examples of negative psychological trauma include losing confidence as a result of being socially isolated from their schoolmates or friends. Psychological problems can also show up in the form of headaches, skin problems, abdominal pain, sleep problems, bed-wetting, and crying. It may also lead victims to commit suicide to end the bullying.

United States

Percentage of victims of cyberbullying by year across the United States[127]

The 2004 I-Safe.org survey of 1,500 students between grades 4 and 8 found:

42% of children had been bullied online. One in four had experienced it more than once.

35% had been threatened online. Nearly one in five had experienced it more than once.

21% had received mean or threatening e-mails or other messages.

58% admitted that someone had said hurtful things to them online. More than four out of ten said this had happened more than once.

58% had not told their parents or an adult about something hurtful that had happened to them online.

The Youth Internet Safety Survey-2, conducted by the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire in 2005, found that 9% of the young people in the survey had experienced some form of harassment. The survey was a nationally representative telephone survey of 1,500 youth 10-17 years old. One-third reported feeling distressed by the incident, with distress being more likely for younger respondents and those who were the victims of aggressive harassment (including being telephoned, sent gifts, or visited at home by the harasser). Compared to youth not harassed online, victims are more likely to have social problems. On the other hand, youth who harass others are more likely to have problems with rule breaking and aggression.

According to a 2005 survey by the National Children's Home charity and Tesco Mobile, of 770 youth between the ages of 11 and 19, 20% of respondents revealed that they had been bullied via electronic means. Almost three-quarters (73%) stated that they knew the bully, while 26% stated that the offender was a stranger. 10% of responders indicated that another person had taken a picture and/or video of them via a cellular phone camera, consequently making them feel uncomfortable, embarrassed, or threatened. Many youths are not comfortable telling an authority figure about their cyberbullying victimization for fear their access to technology will be taken from them; while 24% and 14% told a parent or teacher respectively, 28% did not tell anyone, and 41% told a friend.

According to the 2006 Harris Interactive Cyberbullying Research Report, commissioned by the National Crime Prevention Council, cyberbullying is a problem that "affects almost half of all American teens".

Distribution of cyberbullying venues[137] used by young people in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control[138]

Studies published in 2007 in the Journal of Adolescent Health indicated young people reporting being victims of electronic aggression in a range of 9% to 35%.

In 2007, Debbie Heimowitz, a Stanford University master's student, created Adina's Deck, a film based on Stanford-accredited research. She worked in focus groups for ten weeks in three schools to learn about the problem of cyberbullying in northern California. The findings determined that over 60% of students had been cyberbullied and were victims of cyberbullying. The film is now being used in classrooms nationwide as it was designed around learning goals pertaining to problems that students had understanding the topic. The middle school of Megan Meier is reportedly using the film as a solution to the crisis in their town.

In 2008, researchers Sameer Hinduja ( Florida Atlantic University) and Justin Patchin ( University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire) published a book on cyberbullying that summarized the current state of cyberbullying research ( Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying). Their research documented that cyberbullying instances had been increasing over the preceding several years. They also reported findings from a then-recent study of cyberbullying. In a random sample of approximately 2000 middle-school students from a large school district in the southern United States, about 10% of respondents reported being cyberbullied in the previous 30 days while over 17% reported having been cyberbullied at least once in their lifetime. While these rates are slightly lower than some of the findings from their previous research, Hinduja and Patchin pointed out that the earlier studies were predominantly conducted among older adolescents and Internet samples; that is, older youth use the Internet more frequently and are more likely to experience cyberbullying than younger children.

Students aged 12-18 who reported being cyberbullied anywhere during the school year 2011[143]

In 2014, Mehari, Farrell, and Le published a study that focused on the literature on cyberbullying among adolescents. They found that researchers have generally assumed that cyberbullying is distinct from aggression perpetrated in person. Mehari et al. suggest that the media through which aggression is perpetrated may be best conceptualized as a new classification of aggression, rather than considering cyberbullying as a distinct counterpart to existing forms of aggression. They suggest that future research on cyberbullying be considered within the context of theoretical and empirical knowledge of aggression in adolescence.

Mary Howlett-Brandon's doctoral dissertation analyzed the National Crime Victimization Survey: Student Crime Supplement, 2009, to focus on the cyberbullying victimization of Black and White students in specific conditions.

WalletHub's 2015's Best & Worst States at Controlling Bullying report measured the relative levels of bullying in 42 states. According to the report, North Dakota, Illinois, Louisiana, Rhode Island, and Washington, D.C., have the most attempted suicides by high school students. The five states with highest percentage of students being bullied on campus are Missouri, Michigan, Idaho, North Dakota, and Montana.

Cyberbullying on social media has usually been student-to-student, but recently, students have been cyberbullying their teachers. High school students in Colorado created a Twitter site that bullies teachers. This ranges from obscenities to false accusations of inappropriate actions with students.

Legislation

Jurisdictions

United States

Lawmakers are seeking to address cyberbullying with new legislation because there is currently no specific law on the books that deals with it. A fairly new federal cyberstalking law might address such acts, according to Parry Aftab, but no one has been prosecuted under it yet. The proposed federal law would make it illegal to use electronic means to "coerce, intimidate, harass or cause other substantial emotional distress."

A law in New York's Albany County that criminalized cyberbullying was struck down as unconstitutional by the New York Court of Appeals in People v. Marquan M.

A recent ruling first seen in the UK determined that it is possible for an Internet service provider (ISP) to be liable for the content of the sites it hosts, setting a precedent that any ISP should treat a notice of complaint seriously and investigate it immediately.

criminalizes the making of threats via the Internet.

While some states have laws that require schools to mediate cyberbullying conflicts, several states have been sued on First Amendment grounds for doing so. By examining the decisions of three such lawsuits heard in lower courts, Alvin J. Primack and Kevin A. Johnson argued that current First Amendment doctrine, particularly the case of Morse v. Frederick (2007), may offer interpretive resources for justifying administrative reach to some online digital speech. They concluded, "[w]ithout clearer standards, school administrators are likely to feel constrained and err on the side of inaction."

United Kingdom

Philippines

European Union

In 1993, Sweden was the first European Union country to have a law against cyberbullying. The Ordinance on Victimization at Work protected victims from "recurrent reprehensible or distinctly negative actions which are directed which are directed against individual employees in an offensive manner and can result in those employees being placed outside the workplace community".

The United Kingdom does not have anti-bullying legislation. However, it does have the Protection From Harassment Act, an anti-stalking law. U.K. courts have used this legislation in bullying cases.

This image portrays the support and awareness that many anti-cyberbullying campaigns have in some countries around the world.

The United States and some other countries have more extensive legislation on cyberbullying than the European Union. Cyberbullying incidents on social media are widespread and have increased drastically in number. However, the process of getting a claim against a bully is not an easy one because of the victim's need to provide sufficient evidence to prove the existence of bullying.

Research on preventive legislation

There have been many legislative attempts to facilitate the control of bullying and cyberbullying. Some existing legislation is incorrectly thought to be tied to bullying and cyberbullying (including terms such as " libel" and " slander"). The problem is that the existing legislation does not directly apply to bullying, nor define it as its own criminal behavior. Anti-cyberbullying advocates have even expressed concern about the broad scope of some of the bills attempted to be passed.

Preventing a child from being cyberbullied is hard, but now they are working to form programs and laws to help stop the issue from getting worse than it already is. They have created movies such as Cyberbully by Charles Biname and by Ari Sandel for teenagers to watch and see how cyberbullying can affect an individual. Children that are victims of this problem feel they can not go to an adult for help because they may feel embarrassed by the situation. Bullying online will not only hurt the teenager emotionally, but there is also a risk of the child hurting themselves physically as well; in 2017, suicide was the tenth leading cause of death among persons in the United States.

Harmful effects

Research has demonstrated a number of serious consequences of cyberbullying victimization. Victims may have lower self-esteem, increased suicidal ideation, and a variety of emotional responses, including being scared, frustrated, angry, and depressed. Cyberbullying may be more harmful than traditional bullying, because there is no escaping it. One of the most damaging effects is that a victim begins to avoid friends and activities, which is often the very intention of the bully.

Cyberbullying campaigns are sometimes so damaging that victims have committed suicide. There are at least four examples in the United States in which cyberbullying has been linked to the suicide of a teenager. The suicide of Megan Meier is an example that led to the conviction of the adult perpetrator of the attacks. Holly Grogan committed suicide by jumping off a 30-foot bridge near Gloucester in the UK. It was reported that a number of her schoolmates had posted a number of hateful messages on her Facebook page.

According to Lucie Russell, director of campaigns, policy and participation at youth mental health charity Young Minds, young people who suffer from mental disorders are vulnerable to cyberbullying as they are sometimes unable to shrug it off:

When someone says nasty things healthy people can filter that out, they're able to put a block between that and their self-esteem. But mentally unwell people don't have the strength and the self-esteem to do that, to separate it, and so it gets compiled with everything else. To them, it becomes the absolute truth - there's no filter, there's no block. That person will take that on, take it as fact.

Social media has allowed bullies to disconnect from the impact they may be having on others.

Intimidation, emotional damage, and suicide

According to the Cyberbullying Research Center, "there have been several high‐profile cases involving teenagers taking their own lives in part because of being harassed and mistreated over the Internet, a phenomenon we have termed cyberbullicide - suicide indirectly or directly influenced by experiences with online aggression."

Cyberbullying is an intense form of psychological abuse, whose victims are more than twice as likely to suffer from mental disorders compared to traditional bullying.

The reluctance youth have in telling an authority figure about instances of cyberbullying has led to fatal outcomes. At least three children between the ages of 12 and 13 have committed suicide due to depression brought on by cyberbullying, according to reports by USA Today and the Baltimore Examiner. These include the suicide of Ryan Halligan and the suicide of Megan Meier, the latter of which resulted in United States v. Lori Drew. Teen suicides tied to cyberbullying have recently become more prevalent. Rebecca Ann Sedwick committed suicide after being terrorized through mobile applications such as Ask.fm, Kik Messenger and Voxer.

On youth and teenagers

This image shows different aspects of cyberbullying that can take place on the internet which puts more emotional strain on the younger children and teenage who experience cyberbullying.

Most of the time cyberbullying goes unnoticed; the younger generation hides their bullying from anyone that can help to prevent the bullying from occurring and from getting worse. Between 20% and 40% of adolescents are victims of cyberbullying worldwide. The youth slowly change their behaviors and actions so they become more withdrawn and quiet, but this may go unnoticed since the change is subtle. Metin Deniz believes cyberbullying will "become a serious problem in the future with an increase in the Internet and mobile phone usage among young people".

If preventive actions are not taken against cyberbullying, younger children in addition to teenagers will feel more lonely and depressed along with having significant changes in their eating and sleeping patterns as well as loss of interest in their normal activities. These changes will affect their growth and development into adulthood. Younger children and teenagers are 76.2% less likely to display suicidal behaviors and thoughts, but are still at risk depending on other factors such as mental health status, home care, and relationships with others. The risk of suicide increases by 35% to 45% when victims do not have any support from anyone in their life, and cyberbullying amplifies the situation.

Young people seem particularly vulnerable to the effects of cyberbullying through anonymous social media, perhaps because adolescents are attracted to these platforms as a means of seeking validation from their peers. Abuse on these platforms, such as ASKfm, Yik Yak and Sarahah, can be particularly keenly felt by young people, leading to issues of loss of confidence. There have been a number of suicides related to bullying on these platforms in the US and Britain.

Suppression of speech

International

The Cybersmile Foundation is a cyberbullying charity committed to tackling all forms of online bullying, abuse, and hate campaigns. It was founded in 2010 in response to the increasing number of cyberbullying related incidents of depression, eating disorders, social isolation, self-harm and suicides devastating lives around the world. Cybersmile provides support to victims and their friends and families through social media interaction, email and helpline support. They also run an annual event, Stop Cyberbullying Day, to draw attention to the issue.

Multiple non-profit organizations fight cyberbullying and cyberstalking. They advise victims, provide awareness campaigns, and report offenses to the police. These NGOs include the Protégeles, PantallasAmigas, Foundation Alia2, the non-profit initiative Actúa Contra el Ciberacoso, the National Communications Technology Institute (INTECO), the Agency of Internet quality, the Agencia Española de Protección de Datos, the Oficina de Seguridad del Internauta, the Spanish Internet users' Association, the Internauts' Association, and the Spanish Association of Mothers and Parents Internauts. The government of Castile and León has also created a Plan de Prevención del Ciberacoso y Promoción de la Navegación Segura en Centro Escolares, and the government of the Canary Islands has created a portal on the phenomenon called Viveinternet.

United States

In March 2007, the Advertising Council in the United States, in partnership with the National Crime Prevention Council, U.S. Department of Justice, and Crime Prevention Coalition of America, joined to announce the launch of a new public service advertising campaign designed to educate preteens and teens about how they can play a role in ending cyberbullying.

As of 2008, the Boy Scouts of America's 2008 edition of The Boy Scout Handbook addresses how to deal with online bullying. A new First Class rank requirements adds: "Describe the three things you should avoid doing related to use of the Internet. Describe a cyberbully and how you should respond to one."

In 2008, KTTV Fox 11 News in Los Angeles put out a report about organized cyberbullying on sites like Stickam by people who call themselves "/b/rothas". The site had put out a report on July 26, 2007, about a subject that partly featured cyberbullying, titled "Hackers on Steroids".

On June 2, 2008, parents, teens, teachers, and Internet executives came together at Wired Safety's International Stop Cyberbullying Conference, a two-day gathering in White Plains, New York and New York City. Executives from Facebook, Verizon, MySpace, Microsoft, and many others talked with hundreds about how to better protect themselves and their personal reputations, children and businesses from online harassment. Sponsors of the conference included McAfee, AOL, Disney, Procter & Gamble, Girl Scouts of the USA, WiredTrust, Children's Safety Research and Innovation Centre, and KidZui.com. Cyberharassment versus cyberbullying was a forefront topic, where age makes a difference; abusive internet behavior by adults with the repeated clear intent to harm, ridicule or damage a person or business was classified as stalking harassment, versus bullying by teens and young adults.

In 2006, PACER.org created a week-long event that was held once a year in October. Today, the campaign is a month-long event and is now known as the National Bullying Prevention Awareness Month.

Originating in Canada, Anti-Bullying Day is a day of celebration for those who choose to participate wearing a symbol of colors (pink, blue or purple) as a stance against bullying. A British Columbia teacher founded the Stop A Bully movement, which uses pink wristbands to represent the wearer's stance to stop bullying.

Pink Shirt Day was inspired by David Shepherd and Travis Price. Their high school friends organized a protest in sympathy for a Grade 9 boy who was bullied for wearing a pink shirt. Their stance from wearing pink has been a huge inspiration in the Great Vancouver Mainland. "We know that victims of bullying, witnesses of bullying and bullies themselves all experience the very real and long term negative impacts of bullying regardless of its forms - physical, verbal, written, or on-line (cyberbullying)".

ERASE (Expect Respect and A Safe Education) is an initiative started by the province of British Columbia to foster safe schools and prevent bullying. It builds on already-effective programs set up by the provincial government to ensure consistent policies and practices regarding the prevention of bullying.

Community support

A number of organizations are in coalition to provide awareness, protection and recourse for this escalating problem. Some aim to inform and provide measures to avoid as well as effectively terminate cyberbullying and cyberharassment. Anti-bullying charity Act Against Bullying launched the CyberKind campaign in August 2009 to promote positive internet usage.

In 2007, YouTube introduced the first Anti-Bullying Channel for youth (BeatBullying), using the assistance of celebrities to tackle the problem.

In response and partnership to the 2011 film , a grassroots effort to stop cyberbullying called the Bully Project was created. Their goal is to start "a national movement to stop bullying that is transforming children's lives and changing a culture of bullying into one of empathy and action."

International cooperation

References

1. Cyberbullying - Law and Legal Definitions US Legal

2. An Educator's Guide to Cyberbullying Brown Senate.gov, archived from the original on April 10, 2011

3. Burger, C.; Bachmann, L. (2021). "Perpetration and victimization in offline and cyber contexts: A variable- and person-oriented examination of associations and differences regarding domain-specific self-esteem and school adjustment". Int J Environ Res Public Health. 18 (19): 10429. doi:10.3390/ijerph181910429. PMC . PMID 34639731.

4. Gregorie, Trudy. "Cyberstalking: dangers on the information superhighway" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 28, 2014.

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Further reading

Berson, I. R.; Berson, M. J.; Ferron, J. M. (2002). "Emerging risks of violence in the digital age: Lessons for educators from an online study of adolescent girls in the United States". Journal of School Violence. 1 (2): 51-71. doi:10.1300/j202v01n02_04. S2CID 144349494.

Burgess-Proctor, A., Patchin, J. W., & Hinduja, S. (2009). Cyberbullying and online harassment: Reconceptualizing the victimization of adolescent girls. In V. Garcia and J. Clifford [Eds.]. Female crime victims: Reality reconsidered. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. In Print.

Keith, S. & Martin, M. E. (2005). Cyber-bullying: Creating a Culture of Respect in a Cyber World. Reclaiming Children & Youth, 13(4), 224-228.

Hinduja, S.; Patchin, J. W. (2007). "Offline Consequences of Online Victimization: School Violence and Delinquency". Journal of School Violence. 6 (3): 89-112. doi:10.1300/j202v06n03_06. S2CID 143016237.

Hinduja, S.; Patchin, J. W. (2008). "Cyberbullying: An Exploratory Analysis of Factors Related to Offending and Victimization". Deviant Behavior. 29 (2): 129-156. doi:10.1080/01639620701457816. S2CID 144024729.

Hinduja, S. & Patchin, J. W. (2009). Bullying beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Patchin, J. & Hinduja, S. (2006). Bullies Move beyond the Schoolyard: A Preliminary Look at Cyberbullying. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 4(2), 148-169.

Tettegah, S. Y., Betout, D., & Taylor, K. R. (2006). Cyber-bullying and schools in an electronic era. In S. Tettegah & R. Hunter (Eds.) Technology and Education: Issues in administration, policy and applications in k12 school. pp. 17-28. London: Elsevier.

Wolak, J. Mitchell, K.J., & Finkelhor, D. (2006). Online victimization of youth: 5 years later. Alexandria, VA: National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Available at unh.edu

Ybarra, M. L.; Mitchell, J. K. (2004). "Online aggressor/targets, aggressors and targets: A comparison of associated youth characteristics". Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 45 (7): 1308-1316. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2004.00328.x. PMID 15335350.

Ybarra ML (2004). Linkages between depressive symptomatology and Internet harassment among young regular Internet users. Cyberpsychol and Behavior. Apr; 7(2):247-57.

Ybarra ML, Mitchell KJ (2004). Youth engaging in online harassment: associations with caregiver-child relationships, Internet use, and personal characteristics. Journal of Adolescence. Jun; 27(3):319-36.

External links

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Cyberbullying ( cyberharassment or online bullying) is a form of bullying or harassment using electronic means. It has become increasingly common, especially among teenagers and adolescents, due to young people's increased use of social media. Related issues include online harassment and trolling.

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Athena Ng (2)  My Social Cause: People with disabilities facing difficulties with employment

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Athena Ng (2)  My Social Cause: People with disabilities facing difficulties with employment

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Link:
https://singaporelegaladvice.com/law-articles/employment-disabled-singapore-laws-schemes/
Brief Write-up:
People with disabilities facing difficulties with employment

A person with physical disability can have either  a total or partial loss of bodily functions, such as walking and writing, total partial loss of a body part. A person with a intellectual disability has a developmental disorder where individual faces more than difficulty than others in grasping concepts and solving problems. Disabilities can be congenital or acquired later in life, as a result accidents  or medical conditions such as stroke and infections. Some people have invisible disabilities, as in disabilities that are not immediately obvious. Example of invisible disabilities include autism spectrum disorder, depression, diabetes, and learning and thinking differences such as ADHD and dyslexia.
People with disabilities  tend to have difficulty finding work as they are stereotyped to be less productive than abled peers in the workforce. Furthermore,  they may face difficulty in the workplace due to their disability and discrimination they may experience in the workplace. They have difficulty finding work and are often offered work with lower salaries. Disability organizations have noted that people with disability are usually presented with rank-and-file positions. This is in comparison to their well-abled peers who are offered leadership positions. Few people with disabilities occupy leadership or upper management positions because companies do not think they are capable of the work. However, this is a misconception because disabled does not mean unable. Even after getting hired, PWDs face employment issues that range from low pay and promotion prospects, a limited choice of jobs and prejudiced supervisors, colleagues or customers.
In conclusion, like the phrase say "Deafness is not a learning difficulty. With the right support, a deaf child can do exactly like the same as a hearing child". People with disabilities are not people that are unable to do something, they can. Take Nick Vujicic, a man born without arms and legs decided to go into Public Speaking to inspire others. Nick founded his non-profit organization 'Life Without Limbs'. It gave him a platform to share his testimony and campaign against bullying. Since then, Nick has traveled to over sixty countries and inspired millions of people around the world. Hence, he is seen as someone who has a disability but he is still successful in life not caring that his life without limbs and arms would drag him down to doing something.
People should find commonalities before thinking about differences. Common ground is the base of all human connections; once you’ve found something in common, then you can deal with the differences.
Secondly, do not victimize people with disabilities. Referring to someone as a “spinal cord injury victim,” or “cerebral palsy victim,” takes away that person’s power. It abdicates them of their strength and ability to overcome because the emphasis is on what happened to them, as opposed to what they did about it. It would be more appropriate to refer to someone with a disability as a “survivor."
Third, don’t assume they see their disability as a tragedy. Many people with disabilities have worked through the tough emotions to be happy and content with their lives. A seemingly harmless statement like, “I’m so sorry that happened to you,” or something of that nature can make a person with a disability feel sad and sorry.
With these applied to not just employment in work places but everywhere, it promotes goodwill and respect among all people. It helps make society more inclusive for everyone.

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Link:
https://www.helpguide.org/articles/mental-health/social-media-and-mental-health.htm
Brief Write-up:
In this generation, the use of social media is increasing. This results in the increase of mental health problems, which should be brought to light as this topic on mental health is very important. If such problems are not dealt with properly, it may result in harmful effects. Firstly, social media is one reason that contributes to such problem. Social media gives inadequacy about our lives or appearance, making us feel insecure about how we look or what's going on in our lives. Additionally, there is a possibility of gaining depression and anxiety from the use of social media. These mental health issues are detrimental to us, and it should not be taken with a grain of salt. We should pay attention to such problems and deal with it in the right way. Some common misconception between us humans is that we think our mental healths are not as important as our physical ones, and this will result in us not taking care of ourselves properly. Both our mental and physical healths should be prioritised, and not be swept under the rug. Many people think that they can deal with such problems themselves, but in fact they can get help from others to improve their mental healths. The more we bottle up how we feel, the more detrimental the effect will be. I strongly believe that with a healthy mental body, comes a healthy physical one. Therefore, we should bring more awareness to such a harmful and damaging issue.

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Social Media and Mental Health: Social Media Addiction

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Excessive use of social media can fuel anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues. Here’s how to change your habits and improve your mood.

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Tay Hong Yi abuse foreign domestic workers

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Tay Hong Yi abuse foreign domestic workers

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Link: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/maid-abuse-challenges-uncovering-cases-domestic-workers-in-focus-1883801

Brief write up

Abuse of foreign domestic workers is a very big problem in Singapore

The Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (HOME) told CNA that it receives about 15 cases of alleged maid abuse a week. These cases comprise verbal, physical and sexual abuse, said casework manager Jaya Anil Kumar.

About 75 to 80 per cent of the cases that HOME sees allege some sort of verbal abuse, while 12 to 15 per cent of cases involve allegations of some form of physical abuse. Showing the seriousness in this issue.

A maid may not have her own phone, or may not know what helplines to call. She may not be able to use the phone without her employers overhearing the call.

Some workers may not be allowed to leave the house or may have agreed to an arrangement with no days off. Currently, workers are given a weekly rest day by law, but they can agree to work on their rest day if the employer compensates them.  Therefore it is hard to detect if domestic helpers get abused.

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SINGAPORE: When Ms Piang Ngaih Don died in July 2016, aged 24, she had been beaten, starved and tied to a window grill at night.

Days before her death, the foreign domestic worker from Myanmar only weighed about 24kg.

She was about a year into her employment the night her employer, Gaiyathiri Murugayan, killed her.

The prosecution described the crimes as an "indisputable horror and monstrosity", calling for the law to "come down with full force to appropriately vindicate the fundamental values of society and human dignity that have been violated in this case".

Details of the abuse shocked the nation, raising questions on how the abuse had gone undetected and what could be done to stop this from happening again.

Her employment agency had spoken to her twice in her first six months of employment and according to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), "did not pick up on any issues".

Gaiyathiri started physically abusing Piang Ngaih Don in October 2015, five months after hiring her.

Although Gaiyathiri's husband, Kevin Chelvam, had provided feedback to the agent about communication problems and the helper's work performance during her first six months of employment, he did not take up the agent's offer to replace her.

Then, a doctor saw the woman in January 2016 for a routine medical examination and passed her. She saw her once more in May 2016 for a runny nose, cough and swelling on her legs. Although the doctor observed bruises around Piang Ngaih Don's eye sockets and cheeks, Gaiyathiri explained that her employee fell down frequently as she was clumsy.

In the aftermath of Gaiyathiri's trial, MOM said that it is reviewing the reporting system for doctors conducting the mandatory six-month check for foreign domestic workers. In addition, MOM officers are now interviewing maids about their living and working conditions.

Why can it be hard for abused maids to get help? To find out, CNA spoke to NGOs about how to improve the situation, as well as a former maid who was subjected to abuse and struggled to find help.

A LIVING NIGHTMARE
It was morning when Yulia dialled in for a Zoom interview with CNA, speaking in Bahasa Indonesia from her village eight hours away from the capital of Bandar Lampung province. She was dressed simply, sitting cross-legged on the floor against the wooden wall of her home. In the background, there were the occasional sounds of crowing roosters.

According to Yulia, who goes by one name, she first arrived in Singapore in July 2016. She had spent two weeks with her employer, Ong Si Mien, when Ong started physically abusing her.

Over the course of two months and a week, Ong slapped, punched and hit Yulia with kitchen utensils, a metal bowl and a cordless phone. On one occasion, she splashed near-boiling water over Yulia's arm.

After Ong denied her employee's request to return to the maid agency, Yulia ran away in September 2016.

In March this year, Ong was sentenced to six months' jail after pleading guilty to three charges of voluntarily causing hurt.

The Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (HOME) told CNA that it receives about 15 cases of alleged maid abuse a week. These cases comprise verbal, physical and sexual abuse, said casework manager Jaya Anil Kumar.

About 75 to 80 per cent of the cases that HOME sees allege some sort of verbal abuse, while 12 to 15 per cent of cases involve allegations of some form of physical abuse.

Verbal abuse includes cases where domestic workers are repeatedly scolded while working, with some crossing over into criminal intimidation.

"When anyone else goes to work, they don't expect to hear swear words, they don't expect to be called names, they don't expect to be called derogatory terms. But a lot of domestic workers face this and it's definitely the most type of abuse that we see," said Ms Jaya.

She added that most people imagine physical abuse to "whack (the domestic worker)". But even a pinch would be considered physical abuse, she said.

"You don't go to work and expect to be pinched by your employer," she said. "None of us go to work expecting to be treated like this."

Although it declined to share the exact number of calls it receives per day about possible cases of maid abuse, Centre for Domestic Employees (CDE) executive director Shamsul Kamar said that it has handled "numerous" alleged physical abuse complaints.

ISOLATION MAKES ABUSE HARD TO REPORT
Isolation is one reason cited by those CNA spoke to as to why cases of abuse can be difficult to uncover. A maid may not have her own phone, or may not know what helplines to call. She may not be able to use the phone without her employers overhearing the call.

Some workers may not be allowed to leave the house or may have agreed to an arrangement with no days off. Currently, workers are given a weekly rest day by law, but they can agree to work on their rest day if the employer compensates them.

All these were issues for Yulia. According to her, while working at Ong's home, she was not allowed to leave the house except to sweep the area in front of it and take out the trash.

"During that incident, I couldn't share about it with anyone because I didn't have any day off and I wasn't using any mobile phone," she said, adding that she also did not have friends in the neighbourhood because she was not allowed to leave the house.

She also did not know who she could call to report what was happening to her, she told CNA. Her employer was at home most of the time, which also gave her limited opportunities to use the phone.

A lack of accessible communication is the "biggest challenge " for a maid trapped in an abusive employment relationship, said Mr Shamsul.

The perpetrator could be watching the foreign domestic worker closely, limiting their means of communication.

"However, CDE has intervened in cases where FDWs (foreign domestic workers) managed to seek help by throwing out notes from the windows or passed notes to other FDWs in their neighbourhood," he said.

The workers who can contact NGOs for advice are those who have access to a phone, said Mr John Gee, a volunteer with Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2).

"But most of the people who suffer from physical abuse - they don't have days off, and their phones are either taken away from them, or they can only use a phone under supervision of an employer," he added.

In most cases featuring extreme violence that made it to court, most of the workers were denied access to the outside world, said Mr Gee.

"An employer basically has absolute power over a worker in those circumstances. And so, what is the worker to do?"

A domestic worker who might have come from a village and is new to Singapore could be afraid of stepping out to navigate the city, Ms Jaya noted. This would contribute to her sense of isolation.

But Singapore can "structurally" reduce the isolation that domestic workers face, she suggested.
MANDATORY REST DAYS REDUCE ISOLATION
All the NGOs that CNA spoke to stressed the importance of a day off for foreign domestic workers.

Mandatory rest days would be an "immediate first step" to reduce the isolation of domestic workers, Ms Jaya told CNA, as rest days give domestic workers a chance to leave the house and seek help.

It also adds to a domestic worker's physical and mental well-being, as it gives them a respite from physically demanding household chores and lets them step away from where they live and work.

The current system allows foreign domestic workers to give up their rest days for extra pay. While this is meant to give foreign domestic workers an option, many of them do not really have a true choice, she said.

For instance, a foreign domestic worker may arrive with six months of debt, accrued through the process of coming to Singapore to work. Because she earns no income in those six months, she might decide against having a rest day to earn an extra S$80 to S$100 to send home, said Ms Jaya.

In another scenario, a domestic worker could lose her job if she does not agree to give up her rest days.

If a worker can go out or leave the house, she can run away from the abusive employer if she is "desperate enough", said Mr Gee.

"If all she needs is advice, then she's got a chance to speak to other people, including other domestic workers and get their advice, without having an employer or any members of the employer's family, listening in or looking, waiting, at her shoulder, he added.

"That's what will make the decisive difference. And anything short of that is really going to leave workers still vulnerable to abuse."

A compulsory and non-negotiable day off is also a "preventive measure" because if employers feel frustrated or short-tempered and want to take it out on the domestic worker, they would "think twice" if the domestic worker could go out a few days later and make a complaint, said Mr Gee.

"Or even if she didn't say a word, people could see marks of physical violence upon them. So that deters, we'll see the cases really, really fade away, not absolutely disappear, because you can never guarantee 100 per cent, but they should become vanishingly small," he said.

THIRD PARTIES SHOULD INTERVENE

Although there were other people in the house, Yulia was still isolated. Her employer lived with her husband, their two children and her husband's mother, but the abuse continued until Yulia's escape.

According to court documents, sometime in late July or early August 2016, Ong used a metal bowl to hit Yulia's head, leaving the bowl dented afterwards.

When Yulia approached Ong's husband to ask for a transfer back to the agency, Ong told Yulia that she was not allowed to be transferred and scolded her for talking to her husband.

And on the day of Yulia's escape, Ong slapped Yulia for putting her son's pants on wrongly. Court documents noted that it was a "hard slap" that caused Yulia's nose to bleed.

Like Yulia, many domestic workers are not very aware of their rights, said Ms Jaya, especially first-time domestic workers. Many of them do not know where to seek help, which is why external help is "very important".

This could include agents checking in on them and members of the public reaching out to NGOs if they feel something is amiss.

For domestic workers living with families, they are "in a minority" compared to their employers, said Mr Gee.

"In a normal workplace, you have an employer and a few people who assist the employer, and many employees. In the family home, often the family will sympathise with an abuser or maybe even be taking part in abuse themselves, and the worker is on her own," he added.

"So she will sometimes feel, well, who's going to believe me? It's my word against the word of four or five people. What chance have I got of being taken seriously?"

If they are not allowed to step out of the house or speak to other people, these domestic workers may come to believe that this is what domestic work is like, said Ms Jaya.

They may think that they just have to "grin and bear it", not knowing that what they are going through is wrong, she added.

This is why third party intervention "has to happen", or abuse may not be uncovered, said Ms Jaya.

HOME noticed a 10 to 15 per cent increase in the number of concerned phone calls from the public in the aftermath of Piang Ngaih Don's case, especially after news reports and social media posts made their rounds online.

Members of the public often called saying that something was "not quite right" about a domestic worker's situation, whether it was the domestic worker never coming out of the house or hearing a lot of shouting from the household.

In such cases, HOME usually advises members of the public who call in anonymously to give the organisation's helpline number to the domestic workers.

The immediate source of help for foreign domestic workers, if they do not have access to a phone, are neighbours and friends living near them, said MP Yeo Wan Ling (PAP-Pasir Ris-Punggol), urging the public to call the police if they suspect that a foreign domestic worker might be physically abused.

Ms Yeo raised questions in Parliament in March about what could be done to nip foreign domestic abuse in the bud in the aftermath of Piang Ngaih Don's case.

The last straw for Yulia came when her employer slapped her face and caused her nose to bleed. The court heard that on that occasion, Ong had scolded Yulia for putting her four-year-old son's pants on in the wrong way.

"She snatched the shorts, she slapped my face with it, and then she told me to stand up. Then she hit my nose to the point my nose bled," Yulia told CNA.

After noticing that her nose was bleeding within view of her four-year-old son, Ong told Yulia to quickly go to the toilet to wash off the blood.

"So I washed my face. After that, she returned to scold me and told me to go to her room. After going to her room, she slapped me again," she continued.

While washing her face, Yulia decided she had to escape the flat.

"I thought that after so many incidents, the incident before I was hit twice a day, I started thinking that if I don't escape or run away from here, I might be dead in my employer's house ... And I didn't want to continue being abused," she said.

"Because my employer did say to me that this is training. She said that this is training and you have to go through this training for two more months.

"I didn't want to go through any more abuse ... I don't want a training that physically hurts me or towards any other domestic workers or anybody else."

Ong left the flat after the incident and Yulia used this opportunity to run away - she had not received any of her salary at this point and only had some coins from Indonesia.

At about 9.30am, she took her belongings and walked to the Jalan Kayu-Seletar area, ending up at a bus stop.

She had no idea where to go and what to do next.
LONG PROSECUTION PROCESS MAY DETER REPORTING
At the bus stop, Yulia met a woman who spoke Malay who offered to help her.

"I told her that my employer abused me and I could see on her face that she was very shocked ... she was ready to help me to call my agency," she added. But there was no answer on the phone because the agency had yet to open.

The woman then suggested calling the police, but Yulia rejected this idea because she did not want the police involved.

"I rejected her offer to contact the police because I was afraid that the case would be stretched," said Yulia. It was only after the woman reassured her that the police would help that Yulia agreed.

Cases can take a few years to be processed, said Ms Jaya, and this can be an obstacle for some maids to report their case.

Yulia's case took about four years to conclude, and she went through "stressful periods" as she did not know when she could expect to return home to Indonesia.

Some domestic workers "naturally" want to see perpetrators of abuse be brought to justice, said Ms Jaya, but the knowledge of having to go through the criminal justice process and answering detailed questions about the abuse sometimes hampers reporting.

An issue linked to the police investigations is the maids' ability to continue working.

While they are usually allowed to work when assisting police in abuse cases, many prospective employers would be slow to hire domestic workers who have ongoing cases, said Ms Jaya: "The fear is generally that, okay she's made this allegation against the previous employer, what if she makes the same allegation against me?"

About 15 minutes after the police report was made, officers arrived and started asking Yulia for identification and her employer's identity.

"My mind was very blank at that moment because I was very afraid and traumatised from that incident," she said in tears.

"So in the end, I fainted on the streets."
UNABLE TO WORK, WAITING FOR JUSTICE
Most foreign domestic workers come to Singapore to earn a higher income to provide for their families back home, said Mr Shamsul.

Being "economically dependent" on their employers and with the "perceived power imbalance", they become reluctant to report abuse incidents for fear of losing their jobs or being sent home.

"In fact, through our interactions with many of our physically abused cases, they shared that they had hoped for things to get better as time went on and thus kept quiet," he said.

This is "more acute" during the loan period, where they might be repatriated by the employers and incur huge debts that they are unable to pay off, added Mr Shamsul.

After running away from Ong, Yulia lived at the CDE shelter for more than a year and did not earn any money as she was not working. As a result, she could not send any money back home and had to tell white lies to her parents and son to explain why.

The family paid her the salary they owed her after she ran away. She was supposed to earn S$540 per month with them, including her day-off compensation. Some of it went into repaying the loan she took when coming to Singapore.

After settling the loan, she walked away with a total of S$410.

After about a year at the CDE shelter, they found an employer who knew about her plight and was willing to take her in. But Yulia spent just six months with that family before returning to the CDE shelter, as she still felt traumatised from the abuse.

"I started to think that maybe something similar to my first employer might happen here again, so from there, I think that I need to quickly escape by quitting work at this house."

Yulia moved to the HOME shelter shortly after, where she received an allowance of S$250 per month. She scrimped and saved on daily expenses and managed to send some money home, she told CNA.

When speaking to the police and staff at HOME, Yulia initially asked what would be the fastest way to "solve" this problem without going through court sessions and many interviews, she recalled.

"I was very tired of going through this situation and I had no freedom to think or do other things, other activities," she added.

"From there, I continued thinking of a solution but after HOME and the police explained to me, they said that I can't do this because this incident is a breach of the employment agreement.

"So they suggested that I be patient and wait for the process to be completed."

After finally returning to her village in July 2020, Yulia decided to tell her family everything that happened after her first week back home.

"They didn't expect that such an incident would happen and they were really shocked. They asked me why I did not tell them about what happened all this while," she recalled, adding that her parents cried after hearing about the abuse.

"I felt relieved in my heart. The uneasiness went away. And they were very grateful that the worst did not happen to me.

"Initially they couldn't accept it. They couldn't accept that I was mistreated like that with my ex-employer but I told them let's just sincerely accept it, and hopefully God will bring justice and we pray for the person to become a better person in the future."

She also shared parts of her ordeal with friends and other family members to warn them to be careful if they want to work overseas, Yulia said.

"My advice for people who want to work overseas is to please be careful and hopefully in the future, there will not be any more of such incidents," she added.
WHAT AGENCIES CAN DO
Agencies and embassies could help protect foreign domestic workers, said Yulia, by providing instructions for each worker coming into the country. MOM or the embassy could also visit the employer's home regularly to find out how the workers are doing, she added.

On Apr 26, MOM said that its officers will visit maids to check on their conditions. Such visits started on Apr 5. The officers will check on the maids' working and living environments and remind them and their employers about safe working conditions and channels to seek assistance from.

The ministry also plans to expand in-person interviews to all first-time maids by the end of the year.

Employment agencies are the most important point of contact for foreign domestic workers, said Ms K Jayaprema, who is president of the Association of Employment Agencies (AEAS).

"They are the ones who bring the domestic worker in. They are her first point of contact before she comes to Singapore, at the point when she lands in Singapore and at the point of being deployed.

"To a domestic worker, the employment agency is the familiar face. So I think (the most important role) has to be held by the employment agency," she said.

But currently, there is not much agencies can do to screen prospective employers, said Ms Jayaprema, as there is "no mechanism" for them to identify errant or abusive employers.

Since the introduction of the Personal Data Protection Act in 2012, agencies no longer have access to employer records, which means they have no insight into an employer's hiring patterns - for instance, if they changed foreign domestic workers frequently.

"From there we used to form an opinion, and we used to be able to ask the employer why were they changing so frequently. Now ... we depend on the employer to be the one to tell us that (they) have changed maids so many times," she said.

As such, employment agencies have to size up employers by looking at their requirements and make a "judgment call" when engaging the customer.

Agencies look out for continuous rest for the domestic worker during the night, said Ms Jayaprema. If this is not possible, then agencies will negotiate with employers for extra rest time during the day.

"We try to manage the expectation of the employer," she said, adding that this extends to food allocation as well.

For agencies under the AEAS, the association requires agencies to ask employers to fill out a job scope for the domestic worker, resting hours and food habits in the home to "narrow down to the pain points" and advise employers on areas for improvement.

There have been cases where agencies have even turned employers away, whether due to feedback from previous domestic workers, or the fact that the employers change domestic workers too frequently, she said.
WHAT AGENCIES WANT
There are four changes the association would like to see, Ms Jayaprema told CNA.

The first is the ability to trace the hiring history of employers with their permission. "As much as the employer is entitled to look at the employment history of a domestic worker, why not an FDW can also get to know what's the hiring pattern of the employer," she said.

This could take the form of a portal, with details of the employer online, she suggested.

Agencies also want mandatory check-ins with the domestic worker, either at the agency's office or the employer's home.

Third, agencies want more regulations on domestic workers who are directly hired by their employers, as there is a question of "safeguarding their interests".

Many of them might be "silently suffering", as they were brought into Singapore by their employers and have no access to any other help, she said.

"Maybe it's about time that we don't have it, and employment agencies should be involved in every foreign worker, domestic worker's hiring in Singapore."

While every domestic worker has to go through the settling in programme, it is done within the first five days of their arrival. Said Ms Jayaprema: "What we're looking at is after the domestic worker is deployed into the house, what happens. And that's when it can go untracked, unnoticed."

In addition, it should be compulsory for employers to inform agencies when they send their domestic workers home, and the agency should have the chance to speak to the domestic worker and make sure all her affairs are settled.

Cases of abuse could also go unnoticed when employers send the domestic worker back, she added. "Because very often, at the point of cancellation of permits, nowhere does it state that the employer must inform the agency."

Although some agencies might put it in the contractual agreement with employers, it is not mandatory, said Ms Jayaprema.

STEPS TAKEN BY MOM AND WHAT'S NEXT

After Piang Ngaih Don's case made waves in Singapore, multiple Members of Parliament raised concerns about foreign domestic worker abuse in March.

The Government is reviewing measures, including enhancing the one-on-one interviews after newly arrived workers start work with their employers and compulsory days off so that workers have a better chance at seeking help, said MOM.

All newly arrived foreign domestic workers are educated on their rights and channels to seek help if they encounter any wellbeing issues, said Minister of State for Manpower Gan Siow Huang in response to a parliamentary question raised by Member of Parliament Gerald Giam (WP-Aljunied) in March.

"For example, foreign domestic workers can call the police if they are abused, or the hotlines set up by MOM or CDE if they have employment difficulties or other well-being issues," she added.

MOM also works with CDE to conduct interviews with first-time foreign domestic workers in their native language within the first few months of their employment, said Ms Gan.

"It is a form of check-in with the workers to ensure that they have settled well in their jobs. It also helps us detect problems and cases of abuse early," she said.

"We also rely on public members, neighbours, the community at large to help spot cases of mistreatment of foreign domestic workers. Going forward we'll want to look at other ways to strengthen the touchpoints that will allow us to detect cases of abuse early," said Ms Gan.

To lower these barriers to reporting abuse, MOM should provide communication channels for domestic workers who have no phone or days off to report abuse, and employment agencies should be required to regularly check on the welfare of the workers, said WP's Mr Giam.

"At the same time, safeguards must be put in place to protect employers who may be falsely accused of wrongdoing," he told CNA.

Mr Giam, who raised the issue in Parliament, said there should be enhancement of the education that is currently provided to those who employ foreign domestic workers on their duty to care for the workers and what kind of behaviour might constitute abuse.

Employers should also be examined for past incidents of violent behaviour, police reports made against them and other red flags before being allowed to hire domestic workers, he said.

A "harmonious employment relationship" between employers and foreign domestic workers is key to preventing further cases of abuse, said Ms Yeo, who is also the director of NTUC's U SME and Women and Family Unit.

She welcomed the move for medical professionals to play a greater role in detecting possible cases of abuse during the six-monthly examination of foreign domestic workers.

"Medical professionals have a duty of care to report suspicious-looking injuries even when FDWs chose to remain mum," she said, adding that medical professionals could use pictorial diagrams or translated printouts to better understand the medical needs or messages of foreign domestic workers.

After returning to Indonesia, Yulia cooked and cleaned at her neighbour's house for about S$150 per month for a while, but she now stays at home because her parents and son need her around, she told CNA.

She currently earns S$2.50 per day packing fish keropok. Her mother works on a farm and her father rears fish to be sold.

"With that amount of income, it's very difficult to pay for daily necessities, for my son and for other needs," Yulia said.

"At the moment, I'm just going with the flow, but what's important is that I work hard and pray that in the future, I hope I would be able to earn more than I am now," she added.

"I don't have savings so I'm just enduring."

Despite her bad experience with working as a domestic worker overseas, Yulia still hopes to work overseas again in the future, in Singapore or other countries.

If she returns to work for a new employer, Yulia said she would also note down important contact numbers, like the Indonesian embassy, MOM or the police.

"Of course, the trauma still remains in me and for me to start working with a new employer in a new country, I'm still doubtful, or still traumatised," she said.

"Sometimes I feel sad especially when I recall the bad experiences I faced in the past ... like why did it happen this way, why wasn't I as fortunate as my other peers?

"But I'm also grateful ... Even though what I experienced was terrible, (there are people who have) faced something far worse than me."

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IN FOCUS: The challenges in uncovering abuse of foreign domestic workers

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SINGAPORE: When Ms Piang Ngaih Don died in July 2016, aged 24, she had been beaten, starved and tied to a window grill at night.Days before her death, the foreign domestic worker from Myanmar only weighed about 24kg.She was about a year into her employment the night her employer, Gaiyathiri Mu

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Link:https://careers-in-sport.co.uk/news-articles/understand-mental-health-better-with-new-coaching-course/
Write up: Mental health is a big topic in the recent years. A lot of awareness has been raised in these years. I believe that it almost as important if not as important as physical health. If it is not taken seriously, it may lead to bigger repercussions. If you have some symptoms you can visit a counselor or a physiatrist. I think that young people need to take this topic seriously and not joke about it.

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If you're a coach or looking to get into a career in coaching, then mental health is something you'll need to be aware of.

With one in four people in the UK experiencing a mental health problem each year, 1st4sport, Mind, Sport England and UK Coaching have collaborated to create a new online mental health coaching course to help sports coaches and physical activity providers increase their knowledge of mental health, and confidence when applying the learning into their coaching practice.

With funding from Sport England and the National Lottery and subject matter expertise from Mind, Mental Health Awareness for Sport and Physical Activity will not only equip everyone who delivers coaching in clubs, community sport and physical activity with the skills to support and engage people experiencing mental health problems, but also support more people with mental health problems to become and remain physically active.
Specifically, the new course will help learners to:

Welcome and support people living with mental health problems in their sport and physical activity sessions

Increase their knowledge of mental health problems

Apply the learning in their coaching practice

Make their club or organisation more inclusive

The launch of the mental health coaching course coincided with Coaching Week, the national campaign for coaching, which brings together clubs, coaches, community groups, education, businesses and the public to showcase and explore how coaches can play a greater role in building healthier, happier communities.

"We are proud to have worked collectively with Mind on this project to develop a learning programme that helps coaches support people if they're experiencing mental health problems and need help," Mark Gannon, CEO, UK Coaching

"With over 3 million coaches providing sport and physical activity to over 14 million adults and children every year, it is paramount that coaches have access to guidance and learning that equips them to guide, support and inspire their participants so that they might thrive."

"We know that people with mental health problems face additional barriers to getting physically active, whether that's self-consciousness, cost or symptoms like feeling tired or putting on weight," says Hayley Jarvis, Mind's Head of Physical Activity. "That's why we're pleased to have worked closely with Sport England, UK Coaching and 1st4sport to create this new eLearning course.

"We hope that convenient, accessible training for coaches will ultimately mean more people with mental health problems feel able to get active, as well as giving coaches more resources in their locker to look after their own mental health, as well as their peers."

UK Coaching's own research has demonstrated the positive association between coaching and mental health; mutually benefiting both the coach and the participant. And just recently, Minister for Sport Mims Davies set out her priorities for 'increasing access to sport and improving health and well-being' in her speech at the launch of UK Sport's future funding strategy. She talked of the positive impact that sport and physical activity has on the nation's health and well-being, as well as taking the pressure off our health and social care systems.

Everyone who delivers coaching in clubs, community sport and physical activity - such as coaches, activators, sports administrators, front of house staff and volunteers - will benefit from the course.

The online course costs £15 (excluding VAT) and is available for everyone to access through ukcoaching.org.

1st4sport recognised centres can access the online course for groups of learners via www.1st4sport.co.uk and can enjoy volume discounts.

Related News Article: Reasons to work in Health Interventions

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Understand mental health better with new coaching course

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If you're a coach or looking to get into a career in coaching, then mental health is something you'll need to be aware of.

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Today, education remains an inaccessible right for millions of children around the world. More than 72 million children of primary education age are not in school and 759 million adults are illiterate and do not have the awareness necessary to improve both their living conditions and those of their children. In developing and developed countries alike, children do not have access to basic education because of inequalities that originate in sex, health and cultural identity (ethnic origin, language, religion). These children find themselves on the margins of the education system and do not benefit from learning that is vital to their intellectual and social development. Many children from disadvantaged backgrounds are forced to abandon their education due to health problems related to malnutrition or in order to work and provide support for the family. I think it's important that everyone should get a fair chance to have education, but people all around the world does not get this chance because they are disadvantaged. We tend to forget sometimes that we are truly privileged to be able to go to school, and that many people around the world does not get this opportunity, even if they want it. We should start fighting for education for others, because they deserve a equal chance too.

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Right to Education : Situation around the world - Humanium

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Situation of children’s right to education worldwide Today, education remains an inaccessible right for millions of children around the world. More than 72 million children of primary education age are not in school and 759 million adults are illiterate and do not have the awareness necessary to improve both their living conditions and those of […]

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link:https://www.mse.gov.sg/
singapore is taking firm actions on singapore's future.We must all work together for a better future of singapore so we can enjoy this place where we call home.singapore is also working for more supply of clean and safe food and water the the increase population of singapore without damaging the environment.Singapore Green Plan 2030 is a whole-of-nation movement to advance Singapore’s national agenda on sustainable development.

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Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment - providing Singapore with a clean and sustainable environment with resilient supplies of safe...

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https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/gender-equality-attitudes-singapore-survey-women-issues-white-paper-2212661

Brief write up : Due  to the unfair treatment in the past, most laws are created now to protect the rights of woman. It cannot be denied that woman are usually the “weaker” side in general but some laws and rules seems to be somehow unfair to the males nowadays. For example, during a divorce, the custody would most likely be given to the mother even if the father treats the children equally well or have financial stability thus I think that gender equality is very important, there can be strong woman too. Both males and woman should deserve equal opportunity for things like jobs and based on their own abilities to get it. By doing so, I think that it  would make Singapore a better environment for people to live in.

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Commentary: What’s behind varying attitudes about gender equality in Singapore

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Demography, upbringing and cultural differences can explain variations in receptiveness towards women’s issues. The trickier question is how concerns can be tackled so progress continues, say Mathew Mathews and Syafiq Suhaini.

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[jiajun] My social cause: Mental health awareness

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[jiajun] My social cause: Mental health awareness

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link: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/singapore-mental-health-awareness-stigma-conditions-depression-1973166
Brief Write-up:
The importance of talking about mental health cannot be overstressed. Lots of patients are too afraid to talk about their mental health disorders outside of treatment, therefore letting people understandthe benefits of talking about mental health, encourage people to talk openly about mental health.

By talking about mental illness on a more regular basis, we as a society will hopefully unveil the false notions that plague this topic. When these myths are debunked, it should help remove the stigma surrounding mental health.

many reasons why we need to talk about mental health, this is arguably the most important. Because mental health is so taboo, too many people are not getting the treatment they need. In turn, their poor mental health could lead to suicide. One research study found that over 90% of people who commit suicide had symptoms of a mental health disorder.

Open dialogue about mental health can help everyone heal. What people don’t realize is that there are numerous ways to effectively treat mental illness and you can live a normal lifestyle by learning how to properly manage your mental health disorder symptoms. The state of your mental health affects how you think, feel, and ultimately how you act. It’s crucial that we express these emotions with others on a daily basis. By talking about mental health openly, more people may be encouraged to seek professional help.

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He added that there is also the possibility of physical self-harm among those with BPD, which is also known as emotionally unstable personality disorder (EUPD).

"Another symptom we pick up is they will cut themselves. In the emergency department, when you see someone with a lot of scars on their forearm, the patient might have BPD," he said.

"But society doesn't know much about BPD; they think it's just depression. The self-laceration is a very unique sign. When you ask someone with BPD why they cut themselves, they usually don't say they want to end their life. They want to experience the emotional pain they've had in the past."

Dr Ho, however, reinforced that while some people might possess the traits of BPD, having a personality disorder is more than just checking off these traits.

"Having a personality disorder means that the traits become so strong that the person has interpersonal problems. These problems affect their life, whether it's family, work or study," he said.

Similarly, the stigma attached to schizophrenia - a psychotic disorder - prevails in Singapore.

According to a 2016 Singapore Mental Health Study released by the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) on May 21, about one-third of the population who have been diagnosed with psychotic disorders had a diagnosis of schizophrenia at some point in their lives. This makes schizophrenia the most common psychotic disorder here.

The results were part of the first nationwide study to examine the prevalence of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders among those living in Singapore aged 18 and above, their associated factors, and the treatment gap of the disorders.

Despite the prevalence of schizophrenia, public understanding is lacking, with people with the condition being perceived as "dangerous or as individuals incapable of managing themselves", said Ms Lim Lay Keow, a senior case manager at the Early Psychosis Intervention Programme at the Department of Psychosis in IMH.

"Schizophrenia is still sensationalised by the media. The accessibility to smart phones allow for photo or video taking of a person in distress, subjecting them to be judged online."

This behaviour, Ms Lim noted, doesn't just make it difficult for those with schizophrenia to disclose their condition for fear of discrimination. It also results in self-stigmatisation, where the person with schizophrenia finds it difficult to "differentiate themselves from the condition".

The deeply entrenched stereotypes about schizophrenia also make it harder for the public to understand that schizophrenia is "not a personality flaw but a disease of the brain", she added.
YOUTH MORE CANDID, BUT STIGMA REMAINS
Even before the pandemic last year, younger people were increasingly open about their mental health on social media, with some talking about therapy sessions or situations where their mental health conditions might flare up.

But Ron Yap, who was diagnosed with OCD three years ago, said this conversation doesn't translate into less stigma for all conditions.

"While there has been more conversation for disorders like generalised anxiety disorder and depression, there's still stigma surrounding more uncommon disorders, like OCD," the 23-year-old said.

"Even though non-sufferers (of anxiety disorders and depression) will never experience the depths of pain and discomfort those conditions cause, they can at least get a rough, if imperfect, idea of what it's like to suffer, by taking the times in which they experienced anxiety or sadness and amplifying the intensity and duration."

But with OCD, the 23-year-old said, "It's harder to fathom how and why someone would wash their hands 50 times to the point of breaking their skin, go to the bathroom 20 times before bed or dwell on a distressing thought for a whole day to the point of paralysis."

To a non-sufferer, he added, such behaviour is "simply irrational, and even insane, and this impression hinders one's ability to empathise with the sufferer".

Ron, who runs the Instagram account @mentalhealthceo, believes misconceptions about OCD don't help, such as that there's only one type of OCD "exemplified by someone who obsessively washes their hands or clothes over and over again".

"OCD and its rituals can manifest in countless different forms. I know someone who has to eat their food in a certain order, otherwise they wouldn't be able to consume the meal at all," he said.

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The rise of mental health awareness - and the stigma that remains attached to certain conditions

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SINGAPORE: It's been five years since Sabrina Ooi, 30, attempted suicide - and two since she penned a blog post discussing her attempt.

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Lydia [sustainability of local businesses]

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Lydia [sustainability of local businesses]

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https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/covid-19-phase-2-save-fnb-no-dine-in-recovery-support-package-2037671

my brief write-up: Remember those famous food and business names that chose the last resort to shut their doors of business in the end, all thanks to the pandemic and restrictions that were implemented during the 2021 heighten alert measures, affecting those businesses in the food and beverage industry. many of the businesses still shut their doors due to some of them unable to pay their taxes and landlord payouts, even though the government had provided a relief package of 1.1 billion for the affected members in the industry.

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SINGAPORE: Representatives from the food and beverage (F&B) industry on Friday (Jul 23) called on the Government to provide more help, saying businesses have been hard hit by closures due to COVID-19 restrictions.

In a letter of appeal addressed to Finance Minister Lawrence Wong and Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong, members of the local F&B scene noted that the Government had announced S$1.1 billion support package earlier in the day.

The package includes more wage subsidies under the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS) for affected sectors, including F&B.

"We received the news announcement on the S$1.1 billion relief package, and it is heartening to know that the Government has heard the pain points of the various impacted sectors into consideration," said the group.

"However, the F&B industry remains heavily affected by the rounds of closures, ever-evolving restrictions and rules, and the lack of proactive support to protect our businesses, your local enterprises."

The letter was signed by many F&B representatives and employees, including those from Unlisted Collection, Paradise Group, il Lido Group, Paris Baguette Singapore, Violet Oon, Burnt Ends Restaurant, The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore, Spa Esprit Group, Hvala and Culina.

The group, known as #savefnbsg, refers to itself as a ground-up initiative representing more than 500 restaurants and local companies.

It laid out several suggestions on how the industry could be better supported, including having rental rebates given directly to tenants.

The Ministry of Finance had earlier said that it is looking into sharing rental obligations between the Government, landlords and tenants.

"However, please consider a mandate of six weeks worth of total rental rebate to be given directly to the tenants of all government and privately-owned properties as the closure of dine-in businesses impacts everyone in the sector," said the F&B group.

It added that the Government's "encouragement" to landlords to pass down rental rebates have not been effective in the past, and that a "more decisive ruling" is required.
F&B INDUSTRY COMPRISES "PREDOMINANTLY FOREIGNERS"
The F&B collective also called for a 60 per cent JSS for all employees - regardless of nationality - extended until Sep 30 instead of Aug 18 as announced.

The group said that the F&B industry comprises "predominantly foreigners" who are working for Singapore enterprises.

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'Too many established names have fallen': F&B industry group calls for more support from authorities

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SINGAPORE: Representatives from the food and beverage (F&B) industry on Friday (Jul 23) called on the Government to provide more help, saying businesses have been hard hit by closures due to COVID-19 restrictions. In a letter of appeal addressed to Finance Minister Lawrence Wong and Trade a

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Brief write up:

The number of job discrimination complaints cases in Singapore has been a rise in recent years , on an average  of 379 complaints a year, 277 or 60% of them were complaints of discrimination, whether it is due to age, nationality or in some instances, marital status and family responsibilities. I feel that everyone should be given equal opportunities for jobs as long as they qualify for it and are willing to put in the work and the criteria for job selection being based on that rather than their appearance or personal affairs. We should be more open minded when hiring new employees and give everyone an equal and fair chance.

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60% of job discrimination complaints in S'pore each year are nationality-based

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There were also complaints about discrimination based on age, gender, and race and language. Read more at straitstimes.com.

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Link: https://www.health.harvard.edu/topics/mental-health
Brief write-up:
mental health is not like physical health, the symptoms is not very obvious. People tend to hide the symptoms and pretend they are fine. It can affect their day to day things. Mental health does not only affect a specific age, it can happen anytime at any age.

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[Ryan] My Social Cause:Cost Of Living in Singapore

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[Ryan] My Social Cause:Cost Of Living in Singapore

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Link:https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/politics/family-of-four-needs-6426-a-month-for-basic-standard-of-living-in-spore-says

Brief Write-up:
The number of people in Singapore who are unable to support their basic needs are increasing.As a substantial and concerning proportion of working households in Singapore - about 30 per cent - do not earn enough to meet these needs.Of course, the government may not be able to help all of us with our problems, but they should help those who have a higher need.
I strongly feel that the government should help those who have a lower income like the elderly and those parents who are unable to manage with their finance, so that they are able to manage with their current situation and to be able to afford basic living conditions.

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Family of four needs $6,426 a month for basic standard of living in S'pore, says study

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The Finance Ministry disputed the findings, saying "the conclusions may not be an accurate reflection of basic needs largely due to assumptions used". Read more at straitstimes.com.

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[Chee Sen] My Social Cause || Local Businesses

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[Chee Sen] My Social Cause || Local Businesses

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Link: https://cityofgood.sg/articles/large-companies-supporting-local-businesses/

Brief Write-up:
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about large changes to the economy, and especially has brought damage to smaller businesses (take a more recent example right next to our school - D'Folio doesn't exist anymore. i.e. My life is ruined.). In a world where people believe the global economy to be a world where larger companies triumph over competing with private, smaller businesses, it's no surprise that many have flocked to the common people in search for support for these tinier pockets of entrepreneurship. However, does it always have to be the customers that provide support?

Small, local businesses, other than being able to provide you with a nice plate of chicken rice without feeling like you've just sacrificed your wallet, are also great contributors to the economy in their innovation, which also brings with it healthy competition in the market. Larger companies are more likely to follow popular local businesses who cater to local audiences.
The cheap services they provide also benefit the employees of these large companies, boosting morale and productivity.
Large businesses can also collaborate with local businesses to cater to a wider, more diverse demographic. Through this, they increase their reputation by advertising themselves as a more relatable and trustworthy brand.

So, given this win-win relationship between large and local businesses, what has been done so far?
One example would be TripAdvisor, which launched a campaign called LoveYourLocalSG, a microsite which promotes and provides delivery services for local cuisine. By appealing to Singaporeans who want to eat local foods, they attract more customers which results in higher profits. In addition, the local businesses involved in the campaign will also receive more attention, helping to keep the business afloat.
Another one would be Fullerton Hotel's collaboration with next-generation hawkers in a pop-up called "Past Meets Future", which has allowed them to serve local foods in their menu and show its investment in Singaporean society, making it stand out from its competitors.

In conclusion, large businesses also play a role in supporting local businesses, and both sides stand to gain a profit from such collaboration. They both play a crucial role in not only preserving local culture, but also in growing the economy as a whole.
So, instead of the bigger competitors preying on the smaller ones in the market, why don't we all work together to build a more vibrant economy and community?

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[Kellie] My Social Cause: Environment (Climate Change)

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[Kellie] My Social Cause: Environment (Climate Change)

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Link:
https://www.straitstimes.com/multimedia/graphics/2022/01/singapore-protect-sea-levels-rise/index.html?shell
Brief Write-up: (Temperature & Sea levels)
Climate Change is recurring, and also a long-term issue that countries around the world face. Like many other countries, Singapore is no exception. Climate Change has been and is still currently responsible for all our high temperatures and crazy weather we experience in our daily lives. Per decade, it is recorded that temperatures in Singapore have risen by 0.25oC from 1948 to 2015. 2016 and 2019 hitting a record of being the hottest years recorded. Climate change has occurred due to us individuals and the actions we take everyday. If we do not become responsible individuals who make a change into small things like changing our lifestyles and habits, Climate Change could take over us. Temperatures and sea levels could be constantly on the rise and it would heavily affect the way we live in the future. Taking small steps now would prevent a much bigger negative impact of Climate Change in the future.
Along with Climate Change, sea levels are also on the rise. As we progress on with our lives, the rainfall rate would slowly become more and more intense and frequent. This causes flash floods in Singapore and rising sea levels which could rise up to one metre which affects our lives.

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Climate change: How Singapore is saving its shores from rising sea levels | The Straits Times

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Think the recent flash floods were bad? See with your own eyes how rising sea levels threaten Singapore​ via @straits_times https://str.sg/sgsea

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[Kah Chuan] My Social Cause: Civil Rights and Racial Discrimination

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[Kah Chuan] My Social Cause: Civil Rights and Racial Discrimination

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Link :
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-movement
Brief Write-up : The civil rights movement was a struggle for social justice that took place mainly during the 1950s and 1960s for Black Americans to gain equal rights under the law in the United States. The Civil War had officially abolished slavery, but it didn’t end discrimination against Black people—they continued to endure the devastating effects of racism, especially in the South. By the mid-20th century, Black Americans had had more than enough of prejudice and violence against them. They, along with many white Americans, mobilized and began an unprecedented fight for equality that spanned two decades.

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Jim Crow Laws

During Reconstruction, Black people took on leadership roles like never before. They held public office and sought legislative changes for equality and the right to vote.

In 1868, the 14th Amendment to the Constitution gave Black people equal protection under the law. In 1870, the 15th Amendment granted Black American men the right to vote. Still, many white Americans, especially those in the South, were unhappy that people they'd once enslaved were now on a more-or-less equal playing field.

To marginalize Black people, keep them separate from white people and erase the progress they'd made during Reconstruction, " Jim Crow " laws were established in the South beginning in the late 19th century. Black people couldn't use the same public facilities as white people, live in many of the same towns or go to the same schools. Interracial marriage was illegal, and most Black people couldn't vote because they were unable to pass voter literacy tests.

Jim Crow laws weren't adopted in northern states; however, Black people still experienced discrimination at their jobs or when they tried to buy a house or get an education. To make matters worse, laws were passed in some states to limit voting rights for Black Americans.

Moreover, southern segregation gained ground in 1896 when the U.S. Supreme Court declared in Plessy v. Ferguson that facilities for Black and white people could be "separate but equal."

World War II and Civil Rights

Prior to World War II, most Black people worked as low-wage farmers, factory workers, domestics or servants. By the early 1940s, war-related work was booming, but most Black Americans weren't given better-paying jobs. They were also discouraged from joining the military.

After thousands of Black people threatened to march on Washington to demand equal employment rights, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802 on June 25, 1941. It opened national defense jobs and other government jobs to all Americans regardless of race, creed, color or national origin.

Black men and women served heroically in World War II, despite suffering segregation and discrimination during their deployment. The Tuskegee Airmen broke the racial barrier to become the first Black military aviators in the U.S. Army Air Corps and earned more than 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses. Yet many Black veterans were met with prejudice and scorn upon returning home. This was a stark contrast to why America had entered the war to begin with-to defend freedom and democracy in the world.

As the Cold War began, President Harry Truman initiated a civil rights agenda, and in 1948 issued Executive Order 9981 to end discrimination in the military. These events helped set the stage for grass-roots initiatives to enact racial equality legislation and incite the civil rights movement.

Rosa Parks

On December 1, 1955, a 42-year-old woman named Rosa Parks found a seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus after work. Segregation laws at the time stated Black passengers must sit in designated seats at the back of the bus, and Parks complied.

When a white man got on the bus and couldn't find a seat in the white section at the front of the bus, the bus driver instructed Parks and three other Black passengers to give up their seats. Parks refused and was arrested.

As word of her arrest ignited outrage and support, Parks unwittingly became the "mother of the modern-day civil rights movement." Black community leaders formed the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) led by Baptist minister Martin Luther King Jr., a role which would place him front and center in the fight for civil rights.

Parks' courage incited the MIA to stage a boycott of the Montgomery bus system. The Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted 381 days. On November 14, 1956, the Supreme Court ruled segregated seating was unconstitutional.

Little Rock Nine

In 1954, the civil rights movement gained momentum when the United States Supreme Court made segregation illegal in public schools in the case of Brown v. Board of Education. In 1957, Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas asked for volunteers from all-Black high schools to attend the formerly segregated school.

On September 4, 1957, nine Black students, known as the Little Rock Nine, arrived at Central High School to begin classes but were instead met by the Arkansas National Guard (on order of Governor Orval Faubus) and a screaming, threatening mob. The Little Rock Nine tried again a couple of weeks later and made it inside, but had to be removed for their safety when violence ensued.

Finally, President Dwight D. Eisenhower intervened and ordered federal troops to escort the Little Rock Nine to and from classes at Central High. Still, the students faced continual harassment and prejudice.

Their efforts, however, brought much-needed attention to the issue of desegregation and fueled protests on both sides of the issue.

Civil Rights Act of 1957

Even though all Americans had gained the right to vote, many southern states made it difficult for Black citizens. They often required prospective voters of color to take literacy tests that were confusing, misleading and nearly impossible to pass.

Wanting to show a commitment to the civil rights movement and minimize racial tensions in the South, the Eisenhower administration pressured Congress to consider new civil rights legislation.

On September 9, 1957, President Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957 into law, the first major civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. It allowed federal prosecution of anyone who tried to prevent someone from voting. It also created a commission to investigate voter fraud.

Sit-In at Woolworth's Lunch Counter

Despite making some gains, Black Americans still experienced blatant prejudice in their daily lives. On February 1, 1960, four college students took a stand against segregation in Greensboro, North Carolina when they refused to leave a Woolworth's lunch counter without being served.

Over the next several days, hundreds of people joined their cause in what became known as the Greensboro sit-ins. After some were arrested and charged with trespassing, protesters launched a boycott of all segregated lunch counters until the owners caved and the original four students were finally served at the Woolworth's lunch counter where they'd first stood their ground.

Their efforts spearheaded peaceful sit-ins and demonstrations in dozens of cities and helped launch the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee to encourage all students to get involved in the civil rights movement. It also caught the eye of young college graduate Stokely Carmichael, who joined the SNCC during the Freedom Summer of 1964 to register Black voters in Mississippi. In 1966, Carmichael became the chair of the SNCC, giving his famous speech in which he originated the phrase "Black power."

Freedom Riders

On May 4, 1961, 13 " Freedom Riders"-seven Black and six white activists-mounted a Greyhound bus in Washington, D.C., embarking on a bus tour of the American south to protest segregated bus terminals. They were testing the 1960 decision by the Supreme Court in Boynton v. Virginia that declared the segregation of interstate transportation facilities unconstitutional.

Facing violence from both police officers and white protesters, the Freedom Rides drew international attention. On Mother's Day 1961, the bus reached Anniston, Alabama, where a mob mounted the bus and threw a bomb into it. The Freedom Riders escaped the burning bus but were badly beaten. Photos of the bus engulfed in flames were widely circulated, and the group could not find a bus driver to take them further. U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy (brother to President John F. Kennedy) negotiated with Alabama Governor John Patterson to find a suitable driver, and the Freedom Riders resumed their journey under police escort on May 20. But the officers left the group once they reached Montgomery, where a white mob brutally attacked the bus. Attorney General Kennedy responded to the riders-and a call from Martin Luther King Jr.-by sending federal marshals to Montgomery.

On May 24, 1961, a group of Freedom Riders reached Jackson, Mississippi. Though met with hundreds of supporters, the group was arrested for trespassing in a "whites-only" facility and sentenced to 30 days in jail. Attorneys for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP) brought the matter to the U.S. Supreme Court, which reversed the convictions. Hundreds of new Freedom Riders were drawn to the cause, and the rides continued.

In the fall of 1961, under pressure from the Kennedy administration, the Interstate Commerce Commission issued regulations prohibiting segregation in interstate transit terminals

March on Washington

Arguably one of the most famous events of the civil rights movement took place on August 28, 1963: the March on Washington. It was organized and attended by civil rights leaders such as A. Philip Randolph, Bayard Rustin and Martin Luther King Jr.

More than 200,000 people of all races congregated in Washington, D. C. for the peaceful march with the main purpose of forcing civil rights legislation and establishing job equality for everyone. The highlight of the march was King's speech in which he continually stated, "I have a dream..."

King's " I Have a Dream" speech galvanized the national civil rights movement and became a slogan for equality and freedom.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964-legislation initiated by President John F. Kennedy before his assassination -into law on July 2 of that year.

King and other civil rights activists witnessed the signing. The law guaranteed equal employment for all, limited the use of voter literacy tests and allowed federal authorities to ensure public facilities were integrated.

Bloody Sunday

On March 7, 1965, the civil rights movement in Alabama took an especially violent turn as 600 peaceful demonstrators participated in the Selma to Montgomery march to protest the killing of Black civil rights activist Jimmie Lee Jackson by a white police officer and to encourage legislation to enforce the 15th amendment.

As the protesters neared the Edmund Pettus Bridge, they were blocked by Alabama state and local police sent by Alabama Governor George C. Wallace, a vocal opponent of desegregation. Refusing to stand down, protesters moved forward and were viciously beaten and teargassed by police and dozens of protesters were hospitalized.

The entire incident was televised and became known as " Bloody Sunday." Some activists wanted to retaliate with violence, but King pushed for nonviolent protests and eventually gained federal protection for another march.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

When President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law on August 6, 1965, he took the Civil Rights Act of 1964 several steps further. The new law banned all voter literacy tests and provided federal examiners in certain voting jurisdictions.

It also allowed the attorney general to contest state and local poll taxes. As a result, poll taxes were later declared unconstitutional in Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections in 1966.

Part of the Act was walked back decades later, in 2013, when a Supreme Court decision ruled that Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act was unconstitutional, holding that the constraints placed on certain states and federal review of states' voting procedures were outdated.

Civil Rights Leaders Assassinated

The civil rights movement had tragic consequences for two of its leaders in the late 1960s. On February 21, 1965, former Nation of Islam leader and Organization of Afro-American Unity founder Malcolm X was assassinated at a rally.

On April 4, 1968, civil rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on his hotel room's balcony. Emotionally-charged looting and riots followed, putting even more pressure on the Johnson administration to push through additional civil rights laws.

Fair Housing Act of 1968

The Fair Housing Act became law on April 11, 1968, just days after King's assassination. It prevented housing discrimination based on race, sex, national origin and religion. It was also the last legislation enacted during the civil rights era.

The civil rights movement was an empowering yet precarious time for Black Americans. The efforts of civil rights activists and countless protesters of all races brought about legislation to end segregation, Black voter suppression and discriminatory employment and housing practices.

Sources

A Brief History of Jim Crow. Constitutional Rights Foundation.
Civil Rights Act of 1957. Civil Rights Digital Library.
Document for June 25th: Executive Order 8802: Prohibition of Discrimination in the Defense Industry. National Archives.
Greensboro Lunch Counter Sit-In. African American Odyssey.
Little Rock School Desegregation (1957). The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute Stanford.
Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Global Freedom Struggle. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute Stanford.
Rosa Marie Parks Biography. Rosa and Raymond Parks.
Selma, Alabama, (Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965). BlackPast.org.
The Civil Rights Movement (1919-1960s). National Humanities Center.
The Little Rock Nine. National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior: Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site.
Turning Point: World War II. Virginia Historical Society.

Photo Galleries

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Civil Rights Movement: Timeline, Key Events & Leaders | HISTORY

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The civil rights movement was a struggle for justice and equality for African Americans that took place mainly in the 1950s and 1960s. Among its leaders were Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, the Little Rock Nine, Rosa Parks and many others.

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[ Soo Ghee ] My social cause: Police Brutality 

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[ Soo Ghee ] My social cause: Police Brutality 

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https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01846-z
Brief Write-Up
The number of cases of police brutality all over the world is increasing. From 1980 to 2018, 30,000 people were killed because of police brutality in the US. I think this is an issue that must be brought up because if the government does not limit the power that the police have then more people might be hurt or killed by them.

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1. Edwards, F., Hedwig, L. & Esposito, M. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 116, 16793-16798 (2019).

2. Knox, D., Lowe, W. & Mummolo, J. Am. Polit. Sci. Rev. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055420000039 (2020).

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3. Hoekstra, M. & Sloan, C. W. National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper 26774 (2020).

4. Dharmapala, D., McAdams, R. H. & Rappaport, J. University of Chicago Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper No. 831 (2018).

5. Baude, W. 106 California Law Review 45; University of Chicago, Public Law Working Paper No. 610 (2018).

6. Stephens, D. W. Officer Involved Shootings: Incident Executive Summary (National Police Foundation, 2019).

Google Scholar

7. Braga, A., Coldren, J. R., Sousa, W., Rodriguez, D. & Alper, O. The Benefits of Body-Worn Cameras: New Findings from a Randomized Controlled Trial at the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (National Criminal Justice Reference Service, 2017).

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8. Wood, G., Tyler T. R., Papachristos, A. V. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 117, 9815-9821 (2020).

Download references

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What the data say about police brutality and racial bias - and which reforms might work

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Some interventions could help to reduce racism and rein in the use of unnecessary force in police work, but the evidence base is still evolving. Some interventions could help to reduce racism and rein in the use of unnecessary force in police work, but the evidence base is still evolving.

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(Putera)My Socia Cause:health and diseases

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(Putera)My Socia Cause:health and diseases

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Link:https://www.moh.gov.sg/diseases-updates

Brief write up:

Few things impact your life more than a serious health problem. Chronic diseases, including heart disease, stroke and diabetes; cancer; and communicable diseases affect the health of people in singapore.Lifestyle choices – such as not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight and being physically active – can help prevent some of the most common chronic diseases and some types of cancer. Regular health screenings can often discover chronic conditions and cancers early when treatment is more likely to be successful. Communicable diseases can often be prevented through a number of measures including vaccines and proper hand washing. During the period from 2014-2018 74536 cancer cases were reported in singapore and 48.5% and 51.5% of those cases were reported in males and females respectively*. Females: breast (11,232 cases/29.3%), colorectal (5,109 cases/13.3%) and lung (2,862 cases/7.5%).chronic diseases include asthma, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and arthritis. These diseases often can be prevented or controlled keeping risk factors, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol and elevated blood sugar levels, under control.

communicable diseases are caused by germs transmitted through people, animals, surfaces, foods and air.influenza, or flu, is a highly contagious viral respiratory illness. Flu can cause a worsening of chronic medical conditions such as heart disease, asthma and diabetes. To help prevent the spread of the flu, a flu shot is recommended every year, especially for people who are at high risk for flu complications.Other vaccine preventable diseases include measles, mumps, polio, dyptheria, tetanus, whooping cough, chicken pox, hepatitis A and hepatitis B.

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Ministry of Health (MOH) is an innovative, people-centred organisation, committed to medical excellence, the promotion of good health, the reduction of illness and access to good and affordable healthcare for all Singaporeans, appropriate to their needs.

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https://health-policy-systems.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12961-021-00678-1#:~:text=In%20Singapore%2C%20over%20400%2C000%20Singaporeans,million%20by%202050%20%5B1%5D.

Brief Write Up:
Diabetes is a condition that affects more than 400 million adults globally, and this number is expected to increase to above 640 million, which equates to one in ten adults, by 2040 . The global prevalence of diabetes among adults over 18 years of age rose from 4.7% in 1980 to 8.5% in 2014 . It was estimated to be the seventh leading cause of death in 2016, where 1.6 million deaths were attributed to the condition . In Singapore, over 400,000 Singaporeans live with the disease. The lifetime risk of developing diabetes is one in three among Singaporeans, and the number of those with diabetes is projected to surpass one million by 2050 . An estimated 430,000 (or 14% of) Singaporeans aged 18 to 19 years are also diagnosed with pre-diabetes, where their normal blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes
Diabetes pose many health issues
and can lead to heart attacks stroke and more. There are multiple type of diabetes the three main types of diabetes are: type 1, type 2, and gestational diabetes(in pregnant women).
Type 2 diabetes is often milder than type 1 diabetes but it can still cause many health related issues.
Gestational diabetes does not affect the mother much and if not treated the child might die after birth otherwise will be more likely to develop type 2 diabetes and become obese in the later stages of life.

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Health Research Policy and Systems 19, Article number: 15 (2021) Cite this article

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Abstract

Background

In April 2016, the Singapore Ministry of Health (MOH) declared War on Diabetes (WoD) to rally a whole-of-nation effort to reduce diabetes burden in the population. This study aimed to explore how this policy has been positioned to bring about changes to address the growing prevalence of diabetes, and to analyse the policy response and the associated challenges involved.

Methods

This qualitative study, using Walt and Gilson's policy triangle framework, comprised analysis of 171 organizational documents on the WoD, including government press releases, organizational archives, YouTube videos, newspaper reports and opinion editorials. It also involved interviews with 31 policy actors, who were policy elites and societal policy actors.

Results

Findings showed that the WoD policy generated a sense of unity and purpose across most policy actors. Policy actors were cognisant of the thrusts of the policy and have begun to make shifts to align their interests with the government policy. Addressing those with diabetes directly is essential to understanding their needs. Being clear on who the intended targets are and articulating how the policy seeks to support the identified groups will be imperative. Issues of fake news, unclear messaging and lack of regulation of uncertified health providers were other identified problem areas. High innovation, production and marketing costs were major concerns among food and beverage enterprises.

Conclusion

While there was greater public awareness of the need to combat diabetes, continuing dialogues with the various clusters of policy actors on the above issues will be necessary. Addressing the various segments of the policy actors and their challenges in response to the WoD would be critical.

Peer Review reports

Background

In response to this, on 13 April 2016, the Singapore Health Minister declared War on Diabetes (WoD), citing the psychosocial burden on individuals and families and economic reasons for the thrusts of this policy [ 4]. This fight against diabetes is not new, as Singapore has previously explored measures to combat the rising prevalence of diabetes. For example, the annual National Healthy Lifestyle Campaign, introduced in 1992, aims to raise awareness of how Singaporeans can eat healthier foods and incorporate physical activity into their lives; the campaign concomitantly addresses other concerns such as smoking and mental well-being [ 5]. Unlike this campaign, the WoD policy specifically addresses the concerns of diabetes and is positioned to encourage a whole-of-society effort to reduce the burden of diabetes in the population and to keep people healthy as they age [ 1, 3].

This means adopting a life-course perspective and multisectoral and population-based approaches to reduce the prevalence of modifiable diabetes risk factors-such as overweight, obesity, physical inactivity and unhealthy diet-in the general population. It also means addressing the commercial determinants of health, involving multinational or transnational corporations, who are major drivers of noncommunicable disease epidemics, including diabetes, as their strategies and approaches used to promote products and choices could be detrimental to health [ 9, 10, 11, 12].

Since the introduction of the WoD policy, there have been no studies exploring how the policy has been positioned to bring about changes and what the policy actors' perceived challenges are. Not very much is known about the political, economic, infrastructural and ideational constructivist context in facilitating or hindering the policy at the national and subnational levels [ 13]. This study thus aims to contribute to addressing this knowledge gap by using the policy triangle framework, articulated by Walt and Gilson [ 14], to analyse the WoD policy response. The policy triangle framework has been widely applied to a variety of health policy concerns, including health sector reforms and public health, and in many countries [ 15, 16]. It focuses on the content of the policy, the actors involved in the policy change, the processes in developing and implementing change, and the context within which the policy is developed [ 14]. The framework is built on the understanding that policy is a product of and constructed through political and social processes [ 15]. This study will identify the contextual factors that shaped the WoD policy, the actors involved, the content of the policy and organizational provisions, and analyse the strategies and policy processes. Results drawn from this study will be used to inform change agents, such as the relevant government authorities, and will contribute to the body of knowledge on diabetes policy, thereby enhancing the links between science and policy, based on the model of strategic science [ 17].

Methods

This study adopted a qualitative approach as the primary method to address the research questions. Qualitative approaches, as opposed to the natural scientific models used in quantitative research, are interpretive and offer an inductive view of the relationship between theory and research [ 18, 19]. This study comprised interviews with 31 relevant policy actors and members of the general public and the analysis of 171 organizational documents on WoD, including government press releases, organizational archives, YouTube videos, newspaper reports and opinion editorials.

Participants

We conducted purposive sampling of prospective respondents from five distinct clusters of policy actors, including government officials, healthcare providers, food and beverage (F&B) manufacturers/producers/retailers (small and medium enterprises, or SMEs, to multinational corporations, or MNCs), professional associations, academic institutions/think tanks, and the general public (see Table 1). Non-general public respondents were senior officials within their agencies (for example, president, chief executive officer, general manager, director, deputy director, associate professor) and were actors in or close observers of the WoD policy.

Table 1 Respondents by clusters

This approach is consistent with the policy triangle analysis framework, where it considers the political institutions and public bureaucracies in policy-making to be important aspects of the analysis. The framework also acknowledges and considers the influence of non-state actors, such as the private sector, the civil society organizations and the public [ 14, 15]. This is consistent and aligned with WHO's assertion that non-state actors, such as food producers and manufacturers, healthcare providers and people with diabetes, should be considered collectively in the multicomponent intervention in addressing diabetes [ 8]. The inclusion of the general public is also relevant because they are driven mostly by their cultural beliefs or personal experiences, which are often the most difficult to identify in terms of their policy goals; their views will therefore be relevant in this policy analysis [ 20].

Procedure

All respondents who fulfilled the criteria were invited via letter or email to participate in a semi-structured interview. The interviews were conducted face-to-face in English. Three sets of topic guides comprising semi-structured questions were used for the interviews. They were designed specifically for (a) government officials; (b) healthcare providers, service providers (businesses, food manufacturers, and so on), and professional associations and academic institutions/think tanks; and (c) the general public (with and without diabetes, and caregivers of people with diabetes). The topic guides and interview questions were developed based on the policy triangle framework, articulated by Walt and Gilson [ 14]. The themes of the topic guides explored participants' understanding of the following:

The WoD in terms of its policy goals, impetus, aims and problem definition. Includes who the policy addresses and what the concerns are (context)

Who the primary players in the policy are (actors)

The instruments that have been used and parameters that have been put in place, following the introduction of the policy in support of this endeavour (content)

The key challenges and areas needing to be addressed to better manage the issue of diabetes in Singapore (processes).

As policy and organizational documents constitute the socio-materiality of the policy itself, they were sampled for relevance [ 21]. All relevant documents within the period 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2019 were reviewed. The documents were obtained directly from the respondents if they were not accessible in the public domain. Documentary analysis was conducted in tandem with face-to-face interviews with the policy actors.

Data analyses

Data analysis consisted of thematic analysis and analysis of documents, including organizational annual reports, meeting minutes, government press releases (such as government statements; Committee of Supply Speech; speeches for conferences, opening ceremonies, and visits and events by ministers), YouTube videos, newspaper reports and opinion editorials. Thematic analysis was used to analyse data derived from the interviews and documents. The data were read for familiarization and then again in an iterative manner to identify emerging themes. Key categories of codes were analysed and grouped based on the predetermined codes and themes articulated by Walt and Gilson, including context, actors, content and processes [ 14]. Thereafter, the data derived from both the interviews and documentary analyses were triangulated to enhance the trustworthiness, reliability and validity of the findings [ 22, 23, 24].

Results

Based on Walt and Gilson's policy analysis triangle framework, we present the findings below.

Context

All respondents in this study stated that the reasons for the development and introduction of the WoD policy were numerous. They include the rising prevalence of diabetes, an ageing population, an extended life expectancy, increasing comorbidities of diabetes and rising healthcare costs. In addition, the respondents attributed the introduction of the policy to an increasing economic burden of diabetes on the working population and the associated potential adverse impact on society. These factors together created the moral impetus for the government to introduce the policy to nudge its people into living a healthy lifestyle, respondents stated.

The causes of diabetes were many. Respondents pointed to a complex interaction of economic, social, cultural, individual, national and environmental factors, leading to the formulation of the policy [ 25, 26]. For example, they highlighted that access to unhealthy food (exacerbated by food delivery service, technology and ready-to-eat meals), affluence of society, expansion of eating-out places, and roles of the F&B industry (manufacturers and retailers) led to the growing diabetes situation in Singapore. This was seen to be made worse by Singaporeans' obesogenic lifestyle, characterized by work stress, poor sleep patterns and poor overall eating and living habits. The low health screening uptake and lack of prevention measures at the individual level were other reasons. Genetics, invincibility syndrome, culture, family and personal choice, health literacy, and prevailing treatment models of diabetes were seen to have exacerbated the diabetes situation.

Actors

The actors in the WoD comprised policy elites within the government and societal actors, including the F&B business community (SMEs and MNCs), professional associations, healthcare providers, academic think tanks, civil society and the general public. This policy-led implementation, which is inherently cross-sectoral, saw the Diabetes Prevention and Care Taskforce, set up by the Ministry of Health (MOH), facilitating and coordinating the involvement of the various policy actors. Policy actors such as the F&B business community were quick to acknowledge their corporate and social roles to fellow citizens, and promptly moved to align their business and corporate goals with the policy. Respondent 11, who was from a large MNC fast-food chain, stated:

[A]s cliché as it sounds, it is really a social responsibility on the business part to really care for the customers' well-being.

The role of the civil society was seen in the involvement of professional associations and voluntary welfare organizations to promote healthier eating and living in the community. Funds were directed to academic and healthcare institutions to encourage and foster diabetes-related research to inform policy and practice. Healthcare institutions were seen to expand their ability to offer better diabetes treatment with increased drug subsidies. Schools, workplaces and organizations implemented policies promoting healthier eating on their premises. The general public were engaged through programmes and schemes, although their level of receptivity and engagement towards the policy varied.

Content

In operationalizing the policy, a total of 171 WoD-related organizational documents were analysed. The government, in working with the various policy actors and through public forums and engagements, delivered a slew of measures at different time points following the declaration of the policy. The policy core of WoD, highlighted in the documents, centred primarily on increasing the population's level of physical activity, improving the quality and quantity of dietary intake, increasing early screening uptake and improving intervention to better control diabetes and its associated complications [ 27].

Notably, in the first 2 years of the policy launch, the government actively used words, images and symbols to form winning coalitions with different policy actors, such as the F&B industry and people with diabetes and their caregivers, and through various languages, including dialects and vernacular languages, to address older adults in the public. The modes of the images included posters, health screening booths and media programmes. Some common symbols and schemes, such as the Healthier Choice Symbol (HCS), Healthier Ingredient Development Scheme (HIDS), Healthier Dining Innovation (HDI), Healthier Dining Grant (HDG) and National Steps Challenges™, targeted consumers, F&B enterprises and the general public.

As part of its overall strategy, the government collaborated with the primary care networks (PCNs) to provide more supportive services for people with diabetes [ 1]. It subsidized basic screening tests for the public to encourage early detection and treatment. It also put in place systems to foster healthier lifestyles, promote good health by employers in the workplace, and facilitate adjustment of lifestyle habits and better decision-making by individuals [ 28, 29]. Nonstandard drugs in the treatment of diabetes were subsidized, which helped open up options for primary care physicians to offer newer treatments at lower rates to the general public. According to respondent 5, a physician, older generations of drugs were found to have "potential side-effects and less of non-glucose reducing properties", whereas "newer drugs have heart failure protection, cardiovascular protection". This could only benefit patients with diabetes.

The health ministry also partnered with the F&B industry to support major beverage companies and companies undertaking innovation to lower sugar content in their products, by fostering a supportive regulatory environment to encourage innovation and experimentation [ 30, 31]. This is illustrated in the 2017 industry pact, where seven beverage companies pledged to reduce the sugar level in their beverages to 12% or less by 2020 [ 32]. This incremental decrease signalled the government's recognition that innovation and (re)formulation of F&B products would need time, and that immediate introduction of any measures or regulation may backfire. Consumers' taste acceptance of newer and healthier products would also need time to develop. The MOH further supported and enabled the industry to use Singapore as a regional headquarters and launch pad through which to access other Asian markets to sell their healthier products, to provide the economic conditions for the business community to thrive.

Legal parameters were also explored. A public consultation was carried out from 4 December 2018 to 25 January 2019, where a wide range of stakeholders were engaged for their inputs on introducing mandatory front-of-pack nutrient summary labelling, advertising regulations for the least healthy sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), excise duty on manufacturers and importers, and banning of higher-sugar prepackaged SSBs [ 33]. The proposed measures, which were scheduled to be rolled out later in 2020, came nearly three years after the declaration of the WoD, as the government set the stage to create an environment for its people to lead a healthier lifestyle. In November 2019, the MOH went on to introduce the Patient Empowerment for Self-Care Framework, which constituted the first tranche of materials for people with diabetes to more directly effect change in the lives of those with the condition [ 34].

Processes

Several critical factors enabled or constrained the context in the implementation of the WoD. The following discusses the support for and resistance to the WoD policy, and the potential resources that are further needed for its implementation.

Why war? Why diabetes?

While the WoD served as a useful "policy frame to galvanize government action, and whole-of-society action and attention", as stated by a government official (P13), there were considerable competing views among non-policy elites. Many non-policy elite actors, for example, questioned the rationale of the WoD. A member of the general public with diabetes (P19) stated: "I am not sure what the logic is behind using diabetes as the condition, because diabetes is so innocent!" Some respondents, such as P12, a diabetes nurse educator, opined that waging a War on Diabetes was unnecessary, and it might risk perpetuating stigma among those with diabetes. She explained that some of her diabetes patients were upset with the policy and were relatively more withdrawn and "shut off" since its introduction due to their perceived stigma. One of her patients told her, "Then I am not going to tell people I have got diabetes," because people will relate diabetes to medical complications, she said. Others, including P20, a member of the general public, suggested waging a war against sedentary lifestyle or promoting healthier living might be more appropriate.

Policy actors, particularly professional dieticians and the general public, were unclear whether looking solely at individual nutrients, such as sugar, which was seen to be the primary focus of the WoD, was the best approach to stem diabetes. Respondent 18, a representative from the national nutrition and dietetics association, said: "So I think in a sense we cannot look at individual nutrients; we need to look at diet as a whole. This probably has got to be a very consistent message to the public!" Along the same lines, respondents opined that the policy had focused too heavily on packaged SSBs, rather than on freshly cooked or prepared food. Respondent 3, an MNC F&B manufacturer, highlighted: "The beverage may not be the biggest culprit. In fact, the biggest culprit is food."

Who is the policy for?

Many respondents were unclear of the intended target of the policy. For example, a respondent (P20), a member of the public, reported: "I am not sure who they are targeting, I always thought it is the general public from all age groups." Another respondent [ 19], a medical social worker who works with diabetes patients, said: "It is more for the general public, not for those who already have diabetes." Respondent 29, who has type 1 diabetes, explained: "Type 1 (diabetics) will switch off because it's like it is too late for them, they already have diabetes." This sentiment was echoed by respondents with type 2 diabetes and their caregivers, who highlighted that WoD should more directly address their immediate concerns, which would include helping them with their immediate treatment costs and costs of consumables and related devices. For type 1 diabetes, the causal factors were also unclear and it would not be possible to wage war against type 1 diabetes, stated respondent 29. Some respondents observed, and as a government official acknowledged (P13), that pre-diabetic programmes, whilst carefully designed to reduce diabetes incidence, were more accessible to retirees who were available to attend the programmes during workdays, rather than the "supposed" at-risk and younger diabetic groups, who may hold full-time jobs. Others, such as general public respondents P15 and P17, who were both aver 60 years of age, felt that any programme following the policy is good, as it signals a step forward in the fight against diabetes.

Messaging quality: unclear images, fake news and diet fads

The barrage of messages pertaining to diabetes was found to be at best overwhelming, at worse conflicting and confusing. Messages such as "white rice is bad" and "too much meat will increase diabetes risk" were confusing to the general public respondents. A respondent (P10), an academic, explained: "Everything you [can't eat] eat also cannot. That's the flip side of pushing things too hard." The HCS, which had made significant inroads in encouraging healthier F&B consumption, was found to be unclear in its representation. For example, respondent P10 explained: "If we take drinks with the Healthier Choice Symbol (beverages with lower sugar levels), does it mean drinking five bottles of it will be fine?" Rather than emphasizing a particular nutrient such as sugar, some respondents suggested focusing on individual needs, which might be more appropriate. Fake news and popular commercial "diet fads", such as the ketogenic and Atkins diets, and intermittent fasting were other concerns reported by respondents. Academic and dietician respondents asserted that consistent advice was lacking, and relevant authorities needed to actively clarify unclear images and fake news, and provide consistent messaging on "diet fads" to the public.

With the proliferation of technology, some professionals and general public respondents highlighted the need to regulate healthcare services provided via online apps and virtual coaching programmes. Respondent 18, a dietician, explained that nutrition coaches on these platforms may not have the necessary qualifications and training, and could in fact, do more harm than good to service users or patients. She asserted that necessary regulation of online healthcare services is crucial to mitigate any potential risks of unregulated online healthcare services.

High innovation, production and marketing costs

High innovation, production and marketing costs in the (re)formulation of F&B products were major challenges for the F&B industry respondents. Respondents in this sector explained that taste acceptance for newer and healthier F&B products may not come immediately. F&B retailers, driven by profits, may not be quick to support the sale of healthier products, as the demand for them may not be there at the start. A general manager of an MNC F&B (P3), which produces aerated drinks among other F&B products, highlighted that government support to assist them in engaging in research and development (R&D), marketing, and diversifying and (re)formulating their products would be important and useful. They reported seeing double-digit negative profit margins since the introduction of the policy, and proposed a collaboration that would be beneficial, not just for their corporation, but also for the government and the general public:

We can actually kind of co-create product that we know that is good. Maybe there are certain health concerns, and can do this. Or it could be even at the launch, they [government] could endorse it, or they [government] could give us some promotional funds-how can we jointly, I mean with the help and the support, we can fund it.

Healthier F&B products must also have reach beyond the local market to offset the R&D costs of F&B manufacturers. F&B manufacturer/producer respondents explained that it would mean having to harmonize accreditation of healthier products across countries in order for it to make business sense for them, particularly for a country with a relatively small domestic market like Singapore. To this end, F&B respondents suggested government-to-government and business-to-business collaborations, expressed in forms of shared policies and practices, to give F&B manufacturers the legitimacy to market their (re)formulated healthier products worldwide.

Smaller F&B manufacturers and outlets, such as SMEs, reported acute cash flow issues and were less able to engage in innovation to (re)formulate healthier products. They had to contend with issues such as rising utility costs, rental footprints, high labour costs and limited physical space for stock-keeping units (SKUs) to offer healthier F&B options to their customers. Many respondents questioned the sustainability of rewards, vouchers and subsidies programmes that encourage healthier cooking, eating and living: "Once you finish, then what? I will go back to my own same old way of cooking. I think it's about sustainability that we need to consider as well before we start on something" (respondent 12, a diabetes nurse educator).

In contrast, F&B retailers, such as larger supermarkets, were least hit by this policy. They were better resourced and better able to offer wider-ranging F&B products with both high and low/no sugar content to their consumers. Larger food establishments, such as restaurants, similarly reported no impact on their profit margins. They were better resourced and were able to offer a wider variety of F&B choices, whether healthier or otherwise, using better-quality and sometimes more expensive ingredients, to meet the needs of consumers who were more willing and able to pay higher prices in these establishments.

Discussion

This study has explored how the WoD policy has been positioned to bring about changes in its population and the challenges that have arisen as a result. The findings showed that the WoD has generated, to varying extent, a sense of unity and purpose across most policy actors. Policy actors were cognisant of the thrusts of the policy and were quick to make shifts to align their interests with the policy. Legal parameters and economic conditions were debated at public consultations and would be set in place over time. Different policy actors were engaged at various time points. The findings also showed that most respondents demonstrated comprehension and acceptance of the arguments of the policy, and were able to appreciate the implications of diabetes for individuals, institutions and society.

Words, images and symbols were used to strategically shape the policy to produce "winning coalitions" with the policy actors. However, findings showed that there were competing perspectives or views across the policy actors. For example, some non-policy elites wondered whether a war should be waged against diabetes. Specifying diabetes as the target in the WoD could be seen as labelling or blaming those with diabetes and perpetuating stigma via the causal mechanism or action-consequences typology [ 35]. This causal mechanism has been observed elsewhere and among those with poorer diabetes control or advanced diabetic complications [ 36, 37]. Sontag [ 38] cautions that describing disease in terms of siege and war or in the form of "militarized rhetoric" could backfire and may have unintended consequences. There is a need to foster and encourage a positive view towards prevention and treatment of diabetes.

Mitigating the high innovation, production and marketing costs for policy actors in the F&B industry would be crucial. Larger F&B businesses, including manufacturers, producers, retailers and F&B outlets, which were better resourced and better able to innovate and offer diverse and finer products, reported fewer issues in delivering on the policy. Smaller F&B enterprises-which generally have fewer resources-faced acute cash flow issues related to the necessary innovation and (re)formulation of healthier F&B products. Concerns over sustainability, linkages to marketing agencies, and physical space and costs highlighted the varying interests, paradigms, operational concerns and decision-making processes within the F&B business community and their associated implementation challenges, which will need to be addressed.

It will be crucial to continue to explore the concerns of the F&B industry and to support them in ways specific to their challenges. The individual F&B enterprises may differ in their challenges, depending on where they are situated in the larger business ecosystem and environment. They are also influenced by the nature and range of F&B products they produce or offer, their operational size, and their physical capacity and resources. As many of these business enterprises were quick to acknowledge their corporate and social roles to fellow citizens at the start, it would be imperative that they be supported in this endeavour as the challenges they face are real. Rather than describing their relationship with the government or policy-makers in adversarial terms, and masking them as "conflicts of interest", it will be important, and perhaps more meaningful, to address their operational challenges head-on, and help them problem-solve to facilitate the implementation of the policy.

Additionally, the role of harmonizing accreditation for healthier products across countries will be critical for the F&B manufacturers, considering the relatively small domestic market in Singapore, to encourage them to engage in R&D for healthier products. A political commitment demonstrated as shared policies by governments to foster innovation and strengthen international partnerships to tackle diabetes and develop healthier F&B products will be crucial [ 42]. This could be achieved through epistemic communities, policy transfer and policy translation, and collaboration and coordination at the global level.

Study strengths and limitations

Current frameworks looking at diabetes prevention and management generally examine the wider determinants of population health, and the commercial or private sector often does not appear to be prominently included [ 43, 48]. This study explicitly considers their roles and explores how they could be better supported in this WoD to mediate the negative impacts on health arising from their commercial activities. The findings gathered may add to the body of knowledge surrounding commercial determinants of health, where it is still a growing field [ 12]. The study's inclusion of those with diabetes, their caregivers and the general public also means that their myriad views are considered and added to the diverse insights into this policy.

All studies have limitations. As with any qualitative research study, the findings cannot be generalized due to its inductive nature. The respective voice of the various policy actors from the five different clusters cannot be generalized, as they each constitute a small number of respondents. Potential respondents who viewed the WoD negatively or were not informed about the policy might not have participated in this study, and their views and experience would not have been reflected. A deep dive to explore the role of social determinants of health on diabetes in the context of the WoD would be useful.

Conclusion

This study has shown that the WoD policy has generated a general sense of unity and purpose across most policy actors. It has also illustrated the highly complex environment in "doing" policy analysis [ 49]. The findings showed that the WoD policy needs to segment and engage the clusters of policy actors separately, and to explore their concerns and listen to their voices. In this instance, addressing those with diabetes directly will be critical to understanding their needs, and being clear on who the intended targets are and articulating how the policy seeks to support them is imperative. Issues of fake news, unclear messaging and lack of regulation of uncertified online health providers need to be addressed. High innovation, production and marketing costs should be looked into in greater detail with the F&B enterprises. The policy also needs to be situated at the global stage and environment, to nurture the economic conditions necessary for the F&B industry (manufacturers and innovators in particular) to engage in innovation and venture into (re)formulation of healthier F&B products. Diabetes is a global issue, and efforts to foster and enhance collaboration and coordination across countries on diabetes prevention and management policy is essential and crucial.

Availability of data and materials

Data can be obtained from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

CIRB:

Centralised Institutional Review Board

F&B:

Food and beverage

HCS:

Healthier Choice Symbol

HIDS:

Healthier Ingredient Development Scheme

MNCs:

Multinational corporations

MOH:

Ministry of Health

PCN:

Primary care network

SingHealth:

Singapore Health Services

SKUs:

Stock-keeping units

SMEs:

Small and medium enterprises

SSB:

Sugar-sweetened beverages

WoD:

War on Diabetes

References

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge Dr. Carol Soon, Institute of Policy Studies, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, for her initial advice and guidance in this research. We are also appreciative of the sharing by our respondents in this research study.

Funding

This research was funded by the National Medical Research Council Health Services Research-New Investigator Grant (NMRC HSR-NIG) awarded to LM. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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Affiliations

Medical Social Services, Singapore General Hospital, Block 3 Level 1, Outram Road, Singapore, 169608, Singapore

Lai Meng Ow Yong & Ling Wan Pearline Koe

Contributions

LM is the principal investigator of the study. LM conceived the study design, and conducted the data collection and analysis with PK. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lai Meng Ow Yong.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Ethical approval from the SingHealth Centralised Institutional Review Board was obtained prior to conducting the study (CIRB Ref: 2018/2728). All interview data collected were anonymised and reported using individual codes.

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Not applicable.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Ow Yong, L., Koe, L.W.P. War on Diabetes in Singapore: a policy analysis. Health Res Policy Sys 19, 15 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-021-00678-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-021-00678-1

Keywords

Diabetes mellitus

Health services

Health system

Health policy

Policy analysis

Singapore

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War on Diabetes in Singapore: a policy analysis - Health Research Policy and Systems

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Background In April 2016, the Singapore Ministry of Health (MOH) declared War on Diabetes (WoD) to rally a whole-of-nation effort to reduce diabetes burden in the population. This study aimed to explore how this policy has been positioned to bring about changes to address the growing prevalence of diabetes, and to analyse the policy response and the associated challenges involved.

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https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/mental-health-problems-introduction/causes/
Brief write up:
We need to take care of our mental health. Having good mental health means that we can think feel react in ways that we want to, however people with poor mental health may not be able to do so.
Experiencing mental health may be challenging for most, they may feel upset confused or frightened and may feel helpless as they cannot or are unable to seek help which may lead them to suffer in silence which could make them think they are useless which could worsen their mental health leading them to ,in serious cases, killing themselves.

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Link: https://edition.cnn.com/2021/11/26/world/us-gun-culture-world-comparison-intl-cmd/index.html

Brief Write-up:
There are 120 guns for every 100 Americans,which is the highest rate of civilian owned guns in the world. In 2019, The number of death from gun violence in the USA is 4 per 100000 people,which is 18 times the average in other countries.The US was also home to 4% of the world's population but accounted for 44% of the global suicide by firearm in 2019.Over 23,000 American died from self-inflicted gunshot wound in 2019. Researchers at Stanford University found that men who owned handguns were almost eight times as likely to die of self-inflicted gunshot wounds as men who didn't own a gun. Women who owned handguns were 35 times as likely to die by firearm suicide, as compared to those who didn't. Regular mass shootings are a unique American phenomenon. The US is the only developed country where mass shootings have happened every single year for the past 20 years.68 people were killed and 91 injured in eight public shootings in the US over the course of 2019 alone.They counted as many as 417 mass shootings in 2019. And in 2021, 641 incidents have been recorded.Meanwhile, countries that have introduced laws to reduce gun-related deaths have achieved significant changes.For Example, the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, prompted the Australian government to take action.

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Link: https://elunanetwork.org/resources/cyber-bullying-awareness
Write up: The number of cases of cyberbullying in schools has risen, but only 15% of students admit to being bullied online, and are 2 to 9 times more likely to contemplate committing suicide. Cyberbullying can occur on social media as its interconnected, and anyone can have a say in an individuals life, while harassment and flaming is also prevalent online with mean comments and a collective hatred towards an individual.

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Before the internet, bullying was a problem-but it was a problem that didn't extend into the pockets, bedrooms, living rooms, and beyond of students' lives. Parents, educators, and mental health professionals in our communities are aware of how damaging cyberbullying can be-but preventing it can be a major challenge.

The good news? We can take effective steps to keep students safe. Preventing the problem involves understanding just what cyberbullying is, how big the problem has gotten, and examples of cyberbullying in action.

What is Cyberbullying?

Cyberbullying is a form of bullying that takes place over digital mediums. Students may be cyberbullied on their phones, computers, and other devices by receiving harassing chats, texts, messages, comments, forum posts, and pictures that cause them emotional harm.

Cyberbullying Facts

Often takes many forms (social media, texting, instant messaging)

Can be public or private

Few parents and educators see cyberbullying in action

Cyberbullies may act alone or in groups

Cyberbullies may act anonymously (Victim never knows who exactly is targeting them.)

Because it's online, cyberbullies can follow their victims wherever they go

Instead of only tormenting their victims when they are in the same physical space, cyberbullies infiltrate their victims' lives as often as they want to, sometimes even 24/7. It can be difficult for victims to avoid communications and escape from their attacker. Worse, false or hurtful information, private images, and other communications are recorded permanently online, and could affect the victim's reputation for years to come. For more cyberbullying statistics click here.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Cyberbullying Statistics and Facts

Chapter 2: Examples of Cyberbullying

Chapter 3: Cyberbullying Prevention Tips, Laws, and Policies

_________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 1: Alarming Cyberbullying Stastics

Though many states still don't have specific laws that apply to cyberbullying, it's a growing problem that has gained researchers' attention. We now have access to ample data on the true dangers of cyberbullying, and we can use that data to prevent kids from being targeted.

Notable Cyberbullying Statistics:

Around 1 in 3 students experience bullying through the academic year

Only 15% of students admit to being cyberbullied

61% of overweight teens have reported being bullied online

70% of K-12 kids have witnessed cyberbullying take place

Only 10% of cyberbullying victims will report to an adult about getting cyberbullied

Females are 2 times more likely to be victims of cyber bulling

Kids are 7 times more likely to experience cyberbullying from friends than strangers

Cyberbullying victims are 2 to 9 times more likely to contemplate suicide

Bullies will often stop their behavior temporarily when others intervene on their victim's behalf, but this is more difficult when bullies shift to cyberbullying, since there are fewer witnesses to the attacks. Additionally, those who might speak out on behalf of a bullying victim in person may be unwilling or unable to do so over a digital medium.

Cyberbullying Victims and Online Threats

According to cyberbullying statistics, most bullies who engage in online harassment don't look to the Internet to find their victims-they just use it to extend the reach of their bullying behavior from school to online platforms.

A University of Warwick survey of 2,700 children ages 11 to 16 revealed that only 1% of students had been bullied solely online. Most had experienced both "traditional" bullying and cyberbullying. Cyberbullies still choose their victims at school in the vast majority of cases, and simply use digital platforms as another tool to reach their victims.

Threats have become a common form of harassment, and bullies make these threats either online or through text and email. Some cyberbullies also pretend to be their victims online, in order to damage their reputation, or circulate hurtful images and videos.

Which Students Are at Risk?

Both boys and girls are regularly victims of cyberbullying, and unfortunately, those who are bullied themselves regularly victimize others online.

Overall, girls are more likely to report cyberbullying (40.6% of girls and 28.2% of boys), but both boys and girls reported that they had been cyberbullied in the last 30 days at a similar rate.

Cyberbullying statistics reveal that nearly as many teens and children are bullied online as they are in person-about 34%. Some reports show even higher cyberbullying numbers-the i-SAFE Foundation reports that about 50% of adolescents have both been cyberbullied and engaged in cyberbullying themselves.

Though any young person can experience bullying, the most common targets are those perceived as "different" in some way from their peers, which can change based on the cultural context at school. More about bullying at the Resource Center.

Types of Mental Health Services

Cyberbullying statistics show that victims of online harassment are at risk for depression at a higher rate than both cyberbullies and victims of traditional bullying. Interestingly, bullies who engage in traditional bullying behaviors are more likely to develop depression than their victims, but the same is not true for cyberbullying.

Cyberbullying can make depression and anxiety more likely to develop, exacerbate existing mental health issues, disrupt academic performance, and impact overall happiness and well-being.

Because of this, it is crucial to make mental health services available to adolescents involved with bullying and encourage them to seek help when they're being bullied. Some options for mental health services for young people include:

911, for immediate and severe threats

Suicide hotlines, for adolescents in crisis who feel like they have nowhere to turn

School counseling

Family counselors/therapists

Teachers and principals

More on how to access mental health care.
Chapter 2: Examples of Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying, because of its reach into the personal lives of victims, can impact every aspect of life, and affect everything from school performance to relationships with peers and family members.

That's why it's so important to look at examples of cyberbullying and remember that these victims (many of whom have committed suicide) had their whole lives ahead of them-lives that were destroyed by cyberbullying.

Because there are so many mobile devices, digital platforms and mediums that can be used for bullying, several different types of cyberbullying have emerged. It's important to differentiate and understand them, although any type of cyberbullying can cause the victim to become depressed, anxious, or self-harm.

Types of Cyberbullying:

1. Social Media Bullying

Cyberbullies thrive on social media because the entire social network is interconnected, and there are opportunities to shame their victims in front of their social circles.

Mean comments, making fun of the victim publicly on social media, gossiping, and even threatening through private messages are all ways social bullying occurs.

While some of these platforms allow users to block specific people from communicating with them, cyberbullying can still continue even if the bully has been blocked by the victim. They can still spread malicious rumors, share humiliating pictures, and make fun of the victim to their other connections, continuing their patterns of social media bullying without the victim even being directly accessible.

2. Harassment

Harassment is an extremely common component of most types of cyberbullying. This is because harassment is the repeated and unrelenting negative threats, mean comments, and other hurtful activity, which is a defining characteristic of cyberbullying: repetition.

Harassment can occur over all different channels, including text messaging, instant messaging, as part of social media bullying, or on gaming platforms.

Specifically, harassment can mean sharing private communications online with others, targeting the victim relentlessly in group communications, or simply sending hurtful private messages.

An extreme but common form of harassment is posing or impersonating. The bully creates a fake profile of the victim and poses as them (often on dating sites), posting their name, phone number, and other personal details, putting the victim at risk for further harassment and danger.

3. Flaming

Instead of taking place over private messaging or texts, flaming usually occurs in a more public setting online, such as a chat group, gaming chat, or forum. The cyberbully (or bullies) send hurtful, angry, or shaming messages to the victim directly, but within the group so others can see.

In addition to the effect of the hurtful message itself, the victim has also lost some of their credibility and reputation within the group, and may feel like they cannot be part of the community anymore.

4. Exclusion

Social bullying doesn't even have to include talking to the victim-sometimes, cyberbullies torment their victims by doing the opposite.

Instead of directing harassment at the victim directly, cyberbullies sometimes use exclusion, deliberately cutting their victim out of an online group. It's common for the group to then make fun of the victim and harass them with malicious comments and discuss the victim among themselves.

Chapter 3: Cyberbullying Prevention Tips, Laws, and Policies

Cyberbullying prevention is everyone's responsibility, as it's crucial for protecting the safety of children and teens all over the world. However, it's sometimes difficult to tell if an adolescent is being bullied online or not.

There are several reasons that cyberbullying flies under the radar so often, and many well-meaning adults have no idea that there is a problem at all until the issue has become severe. It's easy for bullies and their victims to hide cyberbullying because parents and teachers don't see all the communications that occur between young people.

So much of cyberbullying takes place over mobile devices and online that it's very easy for a child to be repeatedly harassed without any adults knowing about it.

Many victims are ashamed, or feel like they can't talk about what's going on, even with people they trust. Some fear it will make the bullying worse, or cause their peers to exclude them from social groups.

While it's important to respect teens' and children's privacy, it's just as important to help prevent cyberbullying and ensure that young people are not being abused and victimized online. Parents, educators, and mental health professionals should all learn to spot the warning signs of cyberbullying and proactively take steps to prevent cyberbullying.

Cyberbullying Prevention Tips

Though cyberbullying prevention isn't 100% effective, parents and educators should remain vigilant and apply these tips to help keep kids from being abused by their peers online:

Acknowledge cyberbullying and discuss with children and teens exactly what it is and why it's so harmful.

Create expectations around online conduct-teens should not send or circulate harmful content including messages, photos, or videos, even in retaliation.

Look for signs of withdrawal, anxiety, depression, irritability, and other changes in behavior. This could indicate cyberbullying or other harassment.

Remind teens to avoid sending or posting anything they would not want shared with all of their classmates.

Be cautious about access to computers, phones, and social media accounts.

Teach young people to safeguard their passwords and personal details online.

Have teens block cyberbullies if they are being repeatedly contacted by someone who is trying to demean, humiliate, or harass them.

Encourage teens to stand up to others who are being harassed, and to report cyberbullying they may witness.

Provide resources such as counseling and hotline assistance for teens who need it.

Anti-Cyberbullying Laws
Over the last few years, high-profile cyberbullying cases have caught lawmakers' attention. There have been a number of recent cases involving teens who have been harassed online by groups of their peers, individuals, and even their boyfriends and girlfriends, leading to tragic deaths that could have been prevented with intervention.

Though no law can prevent cyberbullying altogether, having laws against cyberbullying is important for raising awareness and prosecuting crimes appropriately.

Unfortunately, there is currently no federal law that forbids cyberbullying. The good news is that most states have added on to their existing anti-bullying laws by specifically adding language that addresses cyberbullying. Only two do not include electronic harassment in their bullying laws.

Of the 48 states that do have laws against cyberbullying, 18 have criminal sanctions, and 12 have proposed criminal sanctions. Cyberbullying laws still have a ways to go, but the foundation is being laid across the nation to recognize and address this severe and growing problem.
Crimes and Punishments for Bullying
Anti-bullying laws vary greatly on the subject of crime and punishment for bullying. Many states leave the cyberbullying punishment up to the schools, however, schools have limited power when it comes to effectively curbing and punishing cyberbullying behavior.

Other states have given schools more assistance in cracking down on online harassment. California schools can suspend or expel students for cyberbullying, while schools in Oklahoma are empowered to work with law enforcement in cyberbullying cases.

In every state, schools are expected to respond to cyberbullying reports with a thorough investigation, providing support for targeted students and communicating with the involved students and their guardians.

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Before the internet, bullying was a problem-but it was a problem that didn't extend into the pockets, bedrooms, living rooms, and beyond of students' lives. Parents, educators, and mental health professionals in our communities are aware of how damaging cyberbullying can be-but preventing it can be a major challenge.