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Does affirmative action hurt Asian Americans?

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Does affirmative action hurt Asian Americans?

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Claim: Many Asian Americans believe that affirmative action hurts their chances of getting into colleges.

Affirmative Action is a policy that aims to increase the representation of individuals belonging to groups that have been historically discriminated against. Affirmative action policy started in the 1960s as American colleges began considering race and gender as a factor when admitting new students. The goal of this policy was to accept students from groups that have been historically excluded from colleges and universities, such as Black students, Latino students, and female students.

Affirmative action has made its way to the Supreme Court multiple times. The Supreme Court has shifted its stance over the years, sometimes in support of affirmative action, sometimes against it. As it currently stands, colleges can consider race as a factor in admitting students as a way to make their campus more diverse.

The most recent case to come before the Supreme Court is Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College. In this case, an anti-affirmative action group called Students for Fair Admissions sued Harvard University. The group claimed that in considering race in its admissions process, Harvard unfairly discriminated against Asian Americans.

Harvard responded that its Asian American student population has grown over time. A decade ago, the percentage of Asians admitted into Harvard was 17%. In 2022, 27.8% of students admitted to Harvard were Asian Americans. And in recent years, Asian Americans have been the second-largest ethnic group admitted to Harvard, behind white students.

Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College was first brought to the United States District Court in Massachusetts. In court, no Asian student testified that they were discriminated against by Harvard. But there were Asian students that testified in favor of affirmative action. The judge sided with Harvard.

Students for Fair Admissions appealed the case, taking it to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has not filed a decision on the case. But many experts believe that if the Supreme Court sides with Students for Fair Admissions, it could make it illegal for colleges to consider race when admitting students. This could negatively impact Asian Americans.

How does affirmative action benefit Asian Americans?

When discussing college admissions, many universities take a holistic review to applicants, with race being one of many factors. Harvard in particular wants to "create a campus community that is diverse on multiple dimensions" so in admissions, it considers not just test scores, but also, "extracurricular interests, race, socioeconomic background, and life experiences." Harvard also considers personal essays and letters of recommendation from teachers.

Harvard describes race as a "plus factor" that could influence a close decision if an applicant comes from a historically underrepresented group, but race can only be a plus not a minus - meaning race can help a student get into college but it cannot hurt their chances.

In a recent admissions cycle, there are only 2,000 available admission slots available at Harvard, while 8,000 applicants had perfect GPAs, 3,400 had perfect SAT math scores, and 2,700 had perfect SAT verbal scores. This shows that even if Harvard just prioritized GPAs and test scores, many applicants with perfect scores would still be denied admissions.

National data also DOES NOT show that Asian Americans are being discriminated against in college admissions. From the Condition of Education study, released by the U.S. Department of Education, in 2018, Asians had the largest college enrollment (59%), more than any other race.

A study from Georgetown University also found that Asian Americans actually benefit from affirmative action. If colleges only considered test scores, while Asian American enrollment would increase slightly, 21% of Asian Americans admitted under the holistic system would lose their spot. In short, Asian Americans with lower SAT/ACT scores would give up their admission to Asian Americans with higher test scores. This would potentially affect lower-income Asian Americans, who cannot afford to spend money to prepare for those tests.

The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and 32 Asian American groups and higher education faculty, released a statement in support of Harvard's admission policy and affirmative action, saying that abolishing affirmative action "would mostly benefit white applicants, not Asian Americans."

Experts say that abolishing affirmative action would prevent students from writing about their race in their college admissions essay, which has been a benefit to many Asian American students. "You had applicants who talked very frankly about their race. They talked about being Chinese American or being the child of immigrants," said Julie J. Park, a professor at the University of Maryland, to NBC News. "There was no evidence that they were marked down. If anything, that was seen as an asset or something that spoke to why this person had a really interesting story and ultimately was admitted."

In a 2020 study from AAPI Data, 77% of Vietnamese Americans surveyed supported affirmative action.

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Does affirmative action hurt Asian Americans?

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Claim: Many Asian Americans believe that affirmative action hurts their chances of getting into colleges. Rating: This claim is FALSE. Affirmative Action does not hurt Asian Americans' chances of attending college. In fact, according to a study released by the U.S. Department of Education, Asians ha

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What happens if the US Supreme Court bans affirmative action?

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What happens if the US Supreme Court bans affirmative action?

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March 27 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court is weighing whether colleges can continue to consider race as part of their admissions decisions, a practice commonly known as affirmative action.

Here is what to know about the policy, its history and the possible consequences of the court's decision.

WHAT IS AFFIRMATIVE ACTION?

In the context of higher education, affirmative action typically refers to admissions policies.

Colleges that take race into consideration say they do so as part of a holistic approach that reviews every aspect of an application, including grades, test scores and extracurricular activities.

The goal of race-conscious admissions policies is to increase student diversity. Schools also employ recruitment programs and scholarship opportunities intended to boost diversity, but the Supreme Court litigation is focused on admissions.

WHICH SCHOOLS CONSIDER RACE?

While many schools do not disclose details about their admissions processes, taking race into account is more common among selective schools that turn down most of their applicants.

In a 2019 survey by the National Association for College Admission Counseling, 24.6% of schools said race had a "considerable" or "moderate" influence on admissions, while more than half reported that race played no role whatsoever.

Nine states have banned the use of race in admissions policies: Arizona, California, Florida, Idaho, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and Washington.

WHAT IS THE CURRENT LITIGATION ABOUT?

The court is weighing two cases brought by Students for Fair Admissions, a group helmed by Edward Blum, a conservative legal strategist who has spent years fighting affirmative action.

One case contends that Harvard's admissions policy discriminates against Asian American applicants. The other asserts that the University of North Carolina discriminates against Asian American and white applicants.

The schools reject those claims. They say race is determinative in only a small number of cases and that barring the practice would result in a significant drop in the number of minority students on campus.

The court's conservative justices, who hold a 6-3 majority, expressed skepticism about the role of race in admissions during oral arguments in October, and most legal analysts expect the court to rule against the schools. The rulings are due by the end of June.

HOW HAS THE SUPREME COURT RULED IN THE PAST?

The court has largely upheld race-conscious admissions for decades, though not without limits.

A divided Supreme Court took up the issue in the landmark 1978 case Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, after schools began using affirmative action in response to the Civil Rights era to correct the effects of segregation.

The swing judge, Justice Lewis Powell, ruled that schools could not use affirmative action to rectify the effects of past racial discrimination and struck down the university's practice of setting aside a certain number of spots for minorities.

Nevertheless, he found that increasing campus diversity was a "compelling interest" because students of all races - not just minorities - would receive a better education if exposed to different viewpoints. He ruled that schools could weigh race in admission, as long as it remained only one factor among many.

In 2003, the court struck down the University of Michigan's use of a system that awarded "points" to minority applicants as going too far, but affirmed Bakke's central finding that schools can use race as one of several admission factors.

The court again upheld the practice in a pair of 2016 cases challenging the University of Texas admissions policies.

WHAT ARE THE POSSIBLE OUTCOMES?

The court could choose to maintain the current system, eliminate race-conscious admissions altogether or settle on something in between, such as more stringent limits on the practice.

A decision banning affirmative action would force elite colleges to revamp their policies and search for new ways to ensure diversity. Many schools say other measures will not be as effective, resulting in fewer minority students.

In briefs filed with the court, the University of California and the University of Michigan - top public school systems from states that have outlawed race-conscious admissions - said they have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on alternative programs intended to improve diversity, but that those efforts have fallen far short of their goals.

Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Bill Berkrot

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Explainer: What happens if the US Supreme Court bans affirmative action?

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March 27 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court is weighing whether colleges can continue to consider race as part of their admissions decisions, a practice commonly known as affirmative action. Here is what to know about the policy, its history and the possible consequences of the court's decision.

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Ending Affirmative Action Would Be A Terrible Mistake

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Ending Affirmative Action Would Be A Terrible Mistake

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WASHINGTON, D.C. - APRIL 19, 2018: The U.S. Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C., is the seat ... [+]
Getty Images

Last year, the conservative majority on the US Supreme Court shocked the nation - and set the stage for the 2022 midterms - by overturning Roe v. Wade and undermining the bodily autonomy of millions of American women. Undeterred, they now seem poised to eliminate affirmative action, a reliable tool used for decades in efforts to advance racial equity in America.

Last October, the Court heard arguments in two cases against Harvard and the University of North Carolina from the same plaintiff, "Students for Fair Admissions," aiming to disallow colleges from taking race into consideration for admissions. Judging from the conservative bloc's comments at this hearing, as CNN's court watchers put it, "the question may be not whether the court will strike down affirmative action, but how far it will rule."

Just as with the rash Dobbs decision, it would be a terrible and partisan mistake to end affirmative action because its absence would generate profound consequences beyond the universities where the fight is playing out. Ending affirmative action will only compound the many lingering and systemic racial inequities that people of color still face today. It will also accelerate a national trend toward widening inequality that already endangers our democratic way of life.

Ending affirmative action at this moment would be, in a word, un-American. As Justice Elena Kagan said at the hearing, "I thought part of what it meant to be an American and to believe in American pluralism is that actually our institutions...are reflective of who we are as a people, in all our variety." Much as we'd like to believe otherwise, we are not yet at the point where we can close the door on affirmative action in the name of color blindness, nor can we pretend structural racism no longer exists. If anything, we are only beginning to confront the issue in all its manifestations.

Affirmative action policies don't just benefit minorities, they benefit everyone. Being part of a diverse student body undoubtedly contributed to the educational experience I enjoyed as an undergraduate student many years ago. I arrived at Stanford in 1976, during a time when many universities were in the process of being integrated. My relationship with my Black roommate and his network of friends taught me so much about the challenges America has created for its citizens of color. I would have never learned these perspectives without the benefit of a diverse student body. These experiences inspired me to advocate for change and shaped the trajectory of my life in many ways. It would be a disserve to young people to take away opportunities to learn with and from people with diverse backgrounds and experiences.

So, let's explore why there is a push to eliminate a policy that has opened the doors of higher education to millions of Americans (including, by her own account, Justice Sonia Sotomayor)? As NYT's Adam Liptak explains here, the plaintiff's argument rests on two ideas in these cases. First, the 14th Amendment already prohibits classifying people by race, so affirmative action has been unconstitutional from the start. And second, arguing that people's race informs their views is a stereotype that should not exist (even if race clearly informs how people experience life in America today).

While questioning the defendants' lawyer, the conservative Justices revealed their own thinking. Justice Kavanaugh asked why religious and other forms of diversity were not equally privileged. Justice Barrett cited the Court's 2003 ruling in Grutter v. Bollinger that affirmative action should have an endpoint in the future when it has achieved its mission. And Justices Thomas and Alito cast doubt on whether diversity and race have meaning at all.

Though I'm not a lawyer, I know enough history to understand that the Court's conservatives' dubious claims about the 14th Amendment's protections are nothing new. (In the Lochner era 120 years ago, they used it to prevent sensible business regulations.) I also think these arguments against affirmative action miss much of the point about why it exists in the first place and why it's critical today.

To take a page from Antonin Scalia's famous "originalism," let's look at why affirmative action was first created. Lyndon Johnson's 1965 executive order mandated that government contractors work to expand opportunities for people of color. He stated outright that it was needed because the legacies of systemic discrimination in America would not be overcome without concerted action - affirmative action - on behalf of those long discriminated against.

"You do not wipe away the scars of centuries by saying: Now you are free to go where you want," LBJ said at Howard in 1965. "It is not enough just to open the gates of opportunity. All our citizens must have the ability to walk through those gates." Affirmative action was needed, he concluded, because "we seek not just equality as a right and a theory but equality as a fact and equality as a result."

Opponents of affirmative action have often tried to enlist Martin Luther King, Jr. in their ranks on account of his famous quote from the March on Washington: "Judge a man not by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character." While that remains the goal, Dr. King nonetheless strongly supported affirmative action policies in hiring, education, and other areas and recognized their necessity to overcome centuries of systemic racism.

So, do we still need affirmative action today? Some people argue, as Justice Barrett did when she cited the Grutter decision, that affirmative action has essentially achieved its goal and that it's time to sunset these policies for the greater good. In that 2003 decision, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote, referring to the earlier 1978 Bakke case that upheld affirmative action, "it has been 25 years since Justice Powell first approved the use of race to further an interest in student body diversity in the context of education...We expect 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today."

It's now 20 years later - does that sound like the America we live in today? Let's look at the tape. In 2019, the typical white family in America still enjoyed eight times the net worth of the typical Black family, in no small part due to centuries of housing discrimination. In 2020, the median household income for Black and Hispanic adults was roughly $46,000 and $55,500, respectively, compared with $75,000 for white workers. Poverty rates among African Americans and Hispanic Americans remain roughly double those for white families.

Across virtually every social and economic institution in American life, statistics show that, even beyond the centuries of discrimination, Americans of color are still routinely discriminated against daily. Unfortunately, that includes education at every level, from pre-K to college. "If you're Black," said Justice Sotomayor at the Court's October hearing, "you're more likely to be in an under-resourced school. You're more likely to be taught by teachers who are not as qualified as others. You're more likely to be viewed as having less academic potential."

In short, racism continues to be a structural problem in America - afflicting many of our core institutions - so it requires structural solutions. Affirmative action is just one of these. Yes, there has been a tremendous amount of progress in racial justice in the years since affirmative action was created. However, we are still far from reaching that higher plateau of equality where the program becomes unnecessary. (To be fair to Justice O'Connor, she has said many times since 2003 that she regrets this 25-year wording in Grutter.)

Without affirmative action, racial inequities would likely worsen as more students of color get closed out of the pathways to power and prosperity that higher education brings. As Justice Sotomayor pointed out in October, in the nine states where affirmative action has been overturned, admissions for white students to colleges have remained the same or increased, while admissions for students of color in some places have dropped precipitously.

Eliminating affirmative action programs will also further aggravate the disconcerting trends toward economic inequality we're seeing across the board. Today in America, the top 10% of jobs take home nearly half of the income, and the richest 10% of households own more than 70% of the wealth. When affirmative action was created in 1965, CEOs made about 20 times more than the average worker at their company - today, it's 278 times more. White men hold the vast majority of these lucrative jobs. Now imagine how even more lopsided this will be when African Americans and other minorities are no longer adequately represented at the universities where companies recruit their talent.

Eliminating affirmative action will exacerbate the structural inequities it was created to overcome. The Supreme Court should decide to be on the right side of history by keeping it intact, which will support the future growth and prosperity of all American families and businesses at a time when our country is becoming more diverse than ever.

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Ending Affirmative Action Would Be A Terrible Mistake

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Last year, the conservative majority on the US Supreme Court shocked the nation - and set the stage for the 2022 midterms - by overturning Roe v. Wade and undermining the bodily autonomy of millions of American women. Undeterred, they now seem poised to eliminate affirmative action, a reliable tool used for decades in efforts to advance racial equity in America.

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It turns out that even 150 years ago, legislators wanted to police gender expression in public spaces.

Who are they? LGBTQ Tennesseans. Advocates worry that recently-passed legislation restricting drag performances in public spaces in Tennessee could be used to discriminate against them, and fuel the slew of similar laws being proposed in other states.

The bill that passed in Tennessee last week restricts "adult cabaret performances" in public or in the presence of children, and bans them from occurring within 1,000 feet of schools, public parks, or places of worship.

This was passed alongside separate legislation that bans transgender minors in Tennessee from receiving gender-affirming care like puberty blockers, hormones, and surgery.

As of a month ago, at least 9 GOP-led state legislatures were pushing similar anti-drag bills.

Those found violating the anti-drag law face misdemeanor charges in the first instance, punishable by a fine up to $2,500 and/or up to a year in jail. Those found for subsequent violations face a felony charge, punishable by up to six years in jail.

Want to learn more? Listen to the What's the big deal? Consider This episode on What are people saying? how restrictions on drag shows have a history in the U.S. On the precedent set before these laws:

Laws restricting gender expression in public and in private have been around in the U.S. for more than 100 years, with one in New York only just being repealed in 2021.

Critics say the Tennessee bill is so constitutionally vague there is little clarity about what falls under the jurisdiction of the ban, making business owners, performers and others uncertain of what could come next.

Others say the laws will be used to target queer Tennesseans everywhere: "It's ... this subtle and sinister way to further criminalize just being trans," ACLU of Tennessee's Henry Seaton told NPR earlier this month.

Tennessee Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson, the drafter of the state's drag show bill, told NPR in a statement, "Just as current law prohibits strip clubs from admitting children, this legislation would also prohibit sexually suggestive drag shows from being performed on public property, or on any non-age-restricted private property where a minor could be present."

On whether first amendment rights were brought up with these previous laws:

On what enforcement could look like, particularly at pride events in Tennessee this summer:
Jules Gill-Peterson, a historian and professor at Johns Hopkins University, studies transgender history and the history of sexuality. She spoke with NPR's Ari Shapiro to highlight the history behind these types of laws.
So, what now?

Unlike a lot of other anti-LGBT legislation that doesn't really have any precedent, we actually have almost 150 years worth of laws in this kind of zone.

In 1863, San Francisco was actually the very first place to enact a ban, what it called a cross-dressing or masquerade ordinance, which prohibited someone from being out in public if they were wearing clothing that was different from their sort of legal sex or assigned sex. And those kinds of laws really took off in the late 19th century.

They were really used for many decades, well into the 20th century to imperil and harass, but also silence LGBT people. Because if you were arrested, which was so easy under the way these laws were written, your name might be published in the newspaper, you'd have a criminal record. It could really ruin your employment chances and out you to everyone.

Read more:

As far as I know, that question was never really settled under the law. In some ways, the question with these sorts of status offenses, or these laws that target how people appear or what they wear, is that they're so vaguely worded, that so much comes down to how they're implemented. It's much more a matter of policing than it is the letter of the law.

The notion that police might arrive at pride and start arresting drag queens, or frankly, anyone who could be dressed in a costume, and because there could be children in the crowd, is really, kind of an incredible thing to imagine happening.

But I think this is the sort of uncertainty of how these laws are written. I'm not totally sure Tennessee's law would necessarily allow the police to take that action, but certainly some of the other laws being considered in other states definitely would.

And so the question is, what is going to be the newfound danger that folks are going to face at a popular family friendly event like Pride? I think that just goes to show how far the reach and the scope of some of these laws really can be that they're reaching into, and allowing the government to exercise a really powerful degree of authority in determining what you're allowed to wear, where you're allowed to be in public, and frankly, how you're allowed to exist when you're walking down the street.

North Dakota recently advanced similar legislation to Tennessee, with other bills also introduced in Texas, West Virginia, Nebraska, and South Carolina.

Gill-Peterson says that while these new laws may be a painful reminder of what existing while LGBTQ in this country has been like, there is power in knowing how they can be fought: "They have been repealed before. That reminds us that no matter what kinds of legislation are being passed today and how cruel or devastating the impact is, these aren't foregone conclusions."

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The anti-drag bills sweeping the U.S. are straight from history's playbook

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It turns out that even 150 years ago, legislators wanted to police gender expression in public spaces. Who are they? LGBTQ Tennesseans. Advocates worry that recently-passed legislation restricting drag performances in public spaces in Tennessee could be used to discriminate against them, and fuel the slew of similar laws being proposed in other states.

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2024 Anti-Trans Bills: Trans Legislation Tracker

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2024 anti-trans bills tracker. Explore data on U.S. anti-trans legislation including passed bills and themes including sports, bathrooms, healthcare, pronouns, drag shows, and education.

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Unchained started and now leads a growing national movement to end child marriage in the U.S.

Child marriage, or marriage before age 18, was legal in all 50 U.S. states as of 2017. Thanks to Unchained's relentless advocacy, that is changing. Delaware and New Jersey in 2018 became the first two states to end this human rights abuse, followed by American Samoa in 2018, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Pennsylvania and Minnesota in 2020, Rhode Island and New York in 2021, Massachusetts in 2022 and Vermont and Connecticut in 2023.

However, child marriage remains legal in 41 states and is happening in the U.S. at an alarming rate: Unchained's groundbreaking research revealed that nearly 300,000 children as young as 10 were married in the U.S. between 2000 and 2018 - mostly girls wed to adult men.

Here are the three main reasons we must end child marriage in the U.S.:

1. Child marriage can easily be forced marriage. The age of majority, when children become legal adults and get the rights of adulthood, is 18 or higher in every U.S. state. Children who have not yet reached the age of majority have limited legal rights and therefore can easily be forced into marriage or forced to stay in a marriage. They face overwhelming legal and practical barriers if they try to leave home to escape a forced marriage, get help from an advocate, enter a domestic violence shelter or retain an attorney.

Perhaps most shockingly, children typically are not allowed to initiate a legal proceeding - such as seeking a protective order or even filing for divorce - unless they act through a guardian or other representative. This outrageous legal setup puts the "lock" in "wedlock."

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights categorizes all child marriage as forced marriage.

2. Child marriage destroys nearly every aspect of American children's lives, including their health, education and economic opportunities. It even undermines their physical safety: Individuals in the U.S. who were married before age 18 report high rates of physical, sexual, financial or emotional abuse during their marriage as well as unwanted or unplanned pregnancies.

And the impacts of underage marriage are even more severe for teen mothers. Teen mothers who marry and then divorce are more likely to suffer economic deprivation and instability than teen mothers who stay single - and marriage before age 18 has a 70-80% divorce rate.

Child marriage is recognized globally as a harmful practice that disempowers women and girls in particular and hinders gender equality. The U.S. State Department considers child marriage a form of child abuse and has called child marriage a human rights abuse.

3. Child marriage undermines statutory rape laws. In most states and under federal law, sex with a child that would otherwise be considered rape - in some cases, felony rape - becomes legal within marriage. In those situations, the marriage license becomes a "get out of jail free" card for a child rapist.

In some states, statutory rape remains a crime within marriage. The marriage is legal, but sex within the marriage is rape. In those situations, the state that issues the marriage license sends a child home to be raped.

At least 60,000 child marriages in the U.S. between 2000 and 2018 occurred at an age or with a spousal age difference that should have been considered a sex crime. Of those child marriages, 88% gave a rapist a "get out of jail free" card, while 12% sent a child home to be raped. Either way, the marriage license made a mockery of statutory rape laws.

Are you part of the movement to end child marriage in the U.S.? Take action.

Click state/territory for more information.

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About Child Marriage in the U.S. - Unchained At Last

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Unchained started and now leads a growing national movement to end child marriage in the U.S. Child marriage, or marriage before age 18, was legal in all 50 U.S. states as of 2017. Thanks to Unchained's relentless advocacy, that is changing.

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Social Justice Center Speaks of Problems of Ukrainian Refugees in Georgia - Civil Georgia

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The Social Justice Center, a local civil society organization, released a report on February 24 on t

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2022 Deadliest Year in Israel-Palestine Conflict

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2022 Deadliest Year in Israel-Palestine Conflict

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The international community's immediate priority in the Occupied Palestinian Territory must be reversing the trends that marked 2022 as one of the deadliest years in recent history, the United Nations senior official working to end the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict told the Security Council today as it held its regular open debate on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian Question.

Tor Wennesland, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said that, even as a new year dawns, the dangerous cycle of violence that characterized recent months continues to persist, amid increased political tensions and a long-stalled peace process.

"The violent trends that dominated the last months of 2022 continue to take a devastating human toll," he said, adding: "Preventing more loss of life and reversing negative trends on the ground must be our collective priority." At the same time, the global community must not lose sight of the ultimate goal - to end the Israeli occupation, resolve the conflict and realize a two-State solution.

Noting that a new Government has just been sworn into power in Israel, he said that country's settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory have regrettably continued, and more violence has been observed at the hands of both parties. A total of 14 Palestinians were killed between 8 December 2022 and 13 January 2023, and another 117 were injured by Israeli security forces. According to Israeli sources, five Israeli civilians and four security forces personnel were injured by Palestinians in attacks, clashes, the throwing of stones and Molotov cocktails, and other incidents.

He added that the 3 January visit by Israel's new Minister for National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, to the holy sites in Jerusalem - which was widely viewed as a provocative act - and following the Council's 5 January meeting on the visit, is still sparking tensions. Meanwhile, an additional source of friction was a resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 30 December 2022, which requested the International Court of Justice to issue an advisory opinion relating to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory.

Against that backdrop, he called for courageous political leadership, along with concerted support from partners around the globe, to prevent spoilers and extremists from "pour[ing] more fuel on the fire".

Both the recent General Assembly resolution and the Israeli Minister's visit were widely discussed today by both Council members and the wider United Nation membership. Delegates also raised concerns about the trend of escalating violence and the inability of the parties to re-launch formal peace process negotiations, which have been stalled since 2014.

Addressing the Council, the Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine noted that "peace is still possible", albeit less probable with every day that passes. Spotlighting Israel's violations of international law, he underlined his rejection of the impunity Israel enjoys for such crimes as killing and maiming Palestinians and conducting mass arbitrary arrests. "Whatever leverage you have, whatever tools are at your disposal, whatever influence you enjoy - they must be used now, or it will no longer matter later," he urged Council members.

However, the representative of Israel, rejecting the charade of "false victimization", said the statistics constantly fed to the Council about Palestinian fatalities are not true. The vast majority of Palestinian fatalities and casualties are not civilians, but, instead, terrorists who were "neutralized in the midst of their acts of violence". Pledging to unpack those misleading claims at every forthcoming Council meeting, he went on to describe the General Assembly's recently adopted resolution as a "poisonous and one-sided text", but disguised as a seemingly innocent and non-toxic one.

France's representative was among those speakers who urged the Council to mobilize to avoid an escalation on the ground. Calling on the parties to exercise restraint, he declared: "It is the responsibility of the Council to enforce international law, including its own resolutions," such as resolution 2334 (2016) relating to Israeli settlement-expansion. Calling on the new Israeli authorities to take measures to end violence perpetrated by settlers, he also urged them to cease their legalization of outposts in the West Bank, and called on the global community to urgently relaunch the peace process.

The representative of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), voicing grave alarm over Israel's ongoing acts against Christian and Islamic holy places, joined others in condemning the recent provocative incursion by Israel's Minister for National Security to the Aqsa Mosque compound. "These Israeli provocative and irresponsible acts offend the feelings of Muslims across the globe, violate their religious rights and eternal attachment to this holy site, and jeopardize stability in the region and beyond," he warned

Egypt's delegate also condemned the Israeli Minister's recent visit to Al-Haram al-Sharif. Calling on the parties to refrain from any steps that could lead to a further escalation, he said the Council should assume its responsibility vis-a-vis the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. Among other things, he said, that would require a stop to all unilateral measures in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the lifting of all movement restrictions in Gaza, international protection for the Palestinian people and accountability for those responsible for violations against them.

Retno Lestari Priansari Marsudi, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Indonesia, urged the international community to break "the cycle of concern and inaction", while welcoming the General Assembly's adoption of its resolution requesting an International Court of Justice advisory opinion. Calling on Israel to uphold international law and resume a credible peace process to achieve a two-State solution, she pointed to a possible economic recession in the horizon, warning that, for millions of Palestinians, hardships will only multiply.

Nonetheless, South Africa's representative noted that, since the Council last met on this topic, the situation has become even more precarious for Palestinians. If nothing is done, the Council will meet again in a month's time to lament more violence and death, he said, asking if the United Nations was created to receive reports on violations of human rights and international law without attempting to say or do anything. The international community must seek a solution that facilitates equality and equity for all people who have the right to live in the territories of Israel and Palestine.

The representative of Morocco recalled that King Mohammed VI had underscored that the lack of political logic and the actions of extremists might transform the conflict from a political into an ideological conflict. He also noted that the King had highlighted the legal and historical importance of the city of Jerusalem as common heritage of mankind in the Jerusalem Declaration signed with His Eminence, Pope Francis. As well, an agency, created in 1995, promoted projects in education, health and culture and improve living conditions of the inhabitants of Jerusalem and preserve Jerusalem's status as a link between monotheistic religions and a place for those religions to connect, he said.

In that vein, the representative of Brazil emphasized that improving the living conditions of the Palestinian people is an important step towards peace. Economic growth can contribute to intra-Palestinian reconciliation, which is a crucial step towards stabilization and the resumption of genuine dialogue. He joined other speakers in condemning all actions aimed at creating a fait accomplion the ground and changing the demography of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, while expressing support for the Special Coordinator's assessment that the "mere management of this conflict in perpetuity is not an option".

Also speaking today were the representatives of the United States, Albania, Ghana, China, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Gabon, Ecuador, Mozambique, Switzerland, Russian Federation, Malta, Japan, Lebanon, Jordan, Algeria, Morocco, Pakistan, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Türkiye, Iran, Syria, Malaysia, Iraq, Kuwait, Maldives, Bangladesh, Norway, Cuba, Argentina, Brunei Darussalam and the Republic of Korea.

Representatives of the European Union, the League of Arab States and the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People also participated.

The meeting began at 10:05 a.m., suspended at 1:01 p.m., resumed at 3 p.m. and ended at 5 p.m.

TOR WENNESLAND, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said a dangerous cycle of violence persists amidst increased political tensions and a stalled peace process in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, even as a new year is dawning. "The violent trends that dominated the last months of 2022 continue to take a devastating human toll," he said, adding: "Preventing more loss of life and reversing negative trends on the ground must be our collective priority." At the same time, the global community must not lose sight of the ultimate goal - to end the occupation, resolve the conflict and realize a two-State solution.

Since his last briefing, a new Government has been sworn into power in Israel, he said. Reiterating the United Nations steadfast support to both sides in achieving a sustainable peace, he outlined recent developments on the ground, noting that a total of 14 Palestinians were killed between 8 December 2022 and 13 January 2023, and another 117 were injured by Israeli security forces. Israeli settlers or other civilians perpetrated 63 attacks against Palestinians resulting in 28 injuries, including six children. According to Israeli sources, five Israeli civilians and four security forces personnel were injured by Palestinians in attacks, clashes, the throwing of stones and Molotov cocktails, and other incidents. Palestinians perpetrated a total of 89 attacks against Israeli civilians during the reporting period.

Giving a detailed report on how violence continued to affect children, he reported that five Palestinian children killed during the reporting period. Among them, a 16-year-old boy was killed near Ramallah as he was apparently preparing to throw stones and paint at Israeli vehicles. On 5 January, Israeli security forces shot and killed another 16-year-old during an arrest operation in Balata Refugee Camp in Nablus, and an 18-year-old Palestinian was subsequently shot and killed by an armed Israeli near the settlement outpost of Havat Yehuda on 11 January. Emphasizing that the perpetrators of all acts of violence must be held accountable and swiftly brought to justice, he added that security forces must exercise maximum restraint and use lethal force only when strictly unavoidable in order to protect life. Children must never be the targets of violence or put in harm's way.

Turning to settlement-related developments, he said that, on 2 January, the Israeli Government informed the High Court of Justice that it intends to legalize, under Israeli law, the outpost of Homesh - which is built on private Palestinian land - by repealing part of the 2005 Disengagement Law. On the same day, the Court issued a decision giving the State 90 days to explain why the outpost should not be evacuated and the Palestinian rights holders not allowed to exercise their rights. Reiterating that all settlements are illegal under international law and remain a substantial obstacle to peace, he said demolitions and seizures of Palestinian-owned property also continued through the reporting period, and remain a serious concern.

Describing several additional developments of concern, he said that, on 27 December 2022, Israeli settlers accompanied by security forces forcibly took control of a parcel of agricultural land that a Palestinian family has leased from the Greek Orthodox Church since 1931, in occupied East Jerusalem. Israeli forces arrested at least five Palestinians protesting the takeover. The settlers maintain that they purchased the land from the Greek Orthodox Church, in a deal the Church has rejected as fraudulent. In addition, on 1 January, some 30 gravestones were desecrated at the Protestant Cemetery on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. Two Israelis, aged 14 and 18, were arrested for the act, and according to a statement issued by Israeli police following an investigation, a formal indictment is expected.

He went on to recall the 3 January visit by Israel's new Minister for National Security to the holy sites in Jerusalem, which was condemned by the Palestinian Authority and Jordanian officials, among others, calling it was a provocation and violation of the status quo. Following the visit, senior Israeli officials, including the Prime Minister's Office, reaffirmed that the Government is committed to upholding the status quo and stated that the visit did not represent a deviation from that. Reiterating the Secretary-General's call for all parties to refrain from steps that could escalate tensions in and around the holy sites, he urged all to uphold the status quo, in line with the special role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

He also recalled that, on 30 December 2022, the General Assembly adopted a resolution containing a request to the International Court of Justice for an advisory opinion relating to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory. In response, on 6 January, the Israeli security cabinet approved a series of measures against the Palestinian Authority, including the withholding of Palestinian tax funds to pay damages to the families of Israelis killed in Palestinian attacks. A directive was also issued to the Israeli police to increase enforcement of the removal of Palestinian flags from public spaces in Israel and occupied East Jerusalem.

Turning to the Gaza Strip, he said the United Nations continues to deliver vital humanitarian and development assistance, while also engaging in diplomatic efforts to further ease restrictions on the movement of people and goods. Nevertheless, Gaza's socioeconomic situation remains of grave concern. Neither humanitarian nor economic support alone will resolve the situation in Gaza - or the broader conflict. "Political solutions are required, [and] there are no quick fixes," he said. The ultimate goal remains to fully lift the closures in line with Council resolution 1860 (2009), and to reunite Gaza and the occupied West Bank as part of a two-State solution.

Turning finally to regional developments, he noted that, on 9 10 January, senior officials from Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and the United States gathered for the inaugural meeting of the Negev Forum Working Groups and released a framework through which they affirmed that the new regional relationships can be harnessed to create momentum towards a negotiated solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Nonetheless, the Special Coordinator warned: "Israelis and Palestinians remain on a collision course amid escalating political and inflammatory rhetoric, as well as heightened violence in the West Bank - both with potentially grave consequences." Courageous political leadership, along with concerted support from partners around the globe, is urgently needed to prevent spoilers and extremists from "pour[ing] more fuel on the fire", he stressed.

At the end of the Second World War, the international community decided to build an international law-based order, with two principles - the right of peoples to self-determination and the prohibition against the acquisition of land by force - at its heart, he continued. "Palestine exemplifies the denial of the former and the breach of the latter," he said, adding that the Israeli Government openly states it will advance settlements and annexation. It does not recognize Palestinian rights anywhere but proclaims rights for its settlers everywhere. Further, it denies the Palestinian people's very existence as a nation, banning the Palestinian flag in public spaces as the latest manifestation of this denial. Peace will not come from the negation of Palestinians' existence, but from recognition of their plight and rights. "Whatever leverage you have, whatever tools are at your disposal, whatever influence you enjoy - they must be used now, or it will no longer matter later," he stressed.

Decrying the fact that such false numbers are fed to the Security Council before every meeting, he pledged to use all upcoming meetings to unpack the Palestinian representative's lies and fabrications. Turning to another misleading and harmful statement, he said the representative alluded to a seemingly "innocent, non-toxic resolution" adopted recently in the General Assembly, requesting an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice. In reality, that was a poisonous and one-sided text - one of more than a dozen adopted at the United Nations every year - whose aim is to destroy the Israeli State. Israel's guilt was predetermined in the resolution's language, and all that remains is for the Court to hand down a sentence. Unilateral steps must be met with unilateral steps, he emphasized, underlining that Israel is absolutely not the root of this conflict. Only the Palestinians' constant rejectionism stands in the way of peace, he stressed, warning: "Supporting the Palestinians' lies only serves to further escalate and inflame the situation on the ground."

PASCALE CHRISTINE BAERISWYL ( Switzerland) called on all parties to take the necessary measures to protect civilians and non-combatant persons. Also calling for investigations into allegations of disproportionate use of force by the Israeli security forces, she noted the high number of violent incidents by settlers and called on Israel to respect its international legal obligations towards the occupied population. Deploring the number of children that were among the victims of violence, she welcomed the dialogue launched by the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory and urged all parties to engage in it. She welcomed the willingness of the new Government of Israel to pursue normalization agreements with Arab States, stressing that Palestinians must also be able to benefit from that dynamic. In addition, she voiced concern about the weakening of the Palestinian Authority, calling for elections to be held throughout the Palestinian territory.

Calling on Israel to uphold international law and resume a credible peace process to achieve the two-State solution, she pointed to the economic recession in the horizon. For millions of Palestinians, the hardship will only multiply, she said, stressing the importance of humanitarian assistance for the more than 2 million Palestinians in need. More so, 2023 must be the year of progress in resolving the Palestinian issue. Addressing the Palestinian people, she added: "Let this struggle unite you." Her country will remain steadfast in its support for their efforts, she said.

BJÖRN OLOF SKOOG, Head of Delegation of the European Union, in its capacity as observer, said the international community must build upon the recent establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and a number of Arab countries. Underscoring the importance of upholding the status quo of Haram al-Sharif, he reiterated the Union's strong opposition to Israel's settlement policy and related actions, such as building the separation barrier beyond the 1967 line, demolitions, confiscation evictions and forced transfers, including of Bedouins. The Union will not recognize changes to the 1967 lines, unless agreed to by the parties. Condemning the indiscriminate launching of rockets into Israel by Hamas and other terrorist groups, he also called on the Palestinian Authority to hold transparent and inclusive national elections without further delay.

Turning to the situation in Syria, he expressed support for Special Envoy Geir O. Pedersen's efforts, including his "steps-for-steps" approach in resuming the work of the Constitutional Committee. However, lifting sanctions or reconstruction will not be possible until the Syrian regime engages in a credible and inclusive political transition, in the framework of resolution 2254 (2015). In the absence of international processes, the prosecution of war crimes and other serious crimes under national jurisdiction where possible, now under way in several of the Union's member States, represents a crucial contribution towards securing justice. Also highlighting the Dutch-Canadian initiative to hold Syria to account for breaching the Convention Against Torture, he expressed support for efforts to gather evidence with a view to future legal action, including through the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism for Syria. Commending Syria's neighbouring countries for hosting Syrian refugees for more than a decade, he highlighted the importance of uninterrupted delivery of cross-border humanitarian assistance for 4 million people living in north-west Syria.

The international community has called on the Council to press Israel to end its aggression against Palestinians, cease its violation of international humanitarian law and guarantee that it does not undertake further provocations in Jerusalem. he continued. Instead, that Government has adopted further collective punishment methods against the Palestinian people. Israel claims to be the largest democracy in the Middle East, and yet it has regrettably committed all sorts of violations. For its part, the Council must uphold its responsibility to defend international law, enforce it and address the serious violations of the new Government. All United Nations entities, including the Assembly and the International Court of Justice, must fulfil their responsibilities. He then underscored the need to revive the Middle East Quartet, and reiterated the League's commitment to end the Israeli occupation of the Syrian Golan.

Voicing grave alarm over Israel's ongoing acts of aggression, incitement and provocation against Christian and Islamic holy places - including the Aqsa Mosque compound/Al-Haram al-Sharif - he strongly condemned the recent deplorable and provocative incursion by Israel's Minister for National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, to the Aqsa Mosque compound. Rejecting all attempts to alter the historical and legal status quo of Aqsa Mosque compound/Al-Haram al-Sharif, he reiterated calls to fully respect the status quo, as well as international law. "We have cautioned, time and again, that these Israeli provocative and irresponsible acts offend the feelings of Muslims across the globe, violate their religious rights and eternal attachment to this holy site, and jeopardize stability in the region and beyond," he said. The Council and other key actors must uphold their responsibilities, implement United Nations resolutions and protect the Palestinian people, or risk further destabilizing the fragile situation, he cautioned.

CHEIKH NIANG (Senegal), Chair of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, expressed that body's deep concern and dismay at the recent provocations at the holy sites in Jerusalem - the first such incursion by an Israeli minister since 2017. "The long history of this conflict reveals that the cost of such violations of the historic status quo, breaches of international law and unilateral measures and provocations is very high, and is the primary cause of the rising levels of violence and instability," he said. Such illegal actions have repeatedly undermined the efforts to find a just and peaceful solution to the conflict and are undermining the viability of a two-State solution.

The Committee also remains concerned about high levels of violence that continue throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, he continued, calling for the violence, provocations, incitement and spreading of inflammatory rhetoric to stop and all perpetrators held accountable. Yet, despite the Council's repeated affirmations that settlements constitute a flagrant violation of United Nations resolutions and international law, Israel's settlement-expansion in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, continues unabated. In February, the Committee will finalize its independent legal study on "The legality of the Israeli occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem", commissioned in 2021, which follows the General Assembly's adoption of resolution 77/247. The Committee supports the decision therein to request an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice, he said, expressing concern about retaliatory measures by Israel following that adoption.

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With 2022 Deadliest Year in Israel-Palestine Conflict, Reversing Violent Trends Must Be International Priority, Middle East Coordinator Tells Security Council

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The international community's immediate priority in the Occupied Palestinian Territory must be reversing the trends that marked 2022 as one of the deadliest years in recent history, the United Nations senior official working to end the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict told the Security Council today as it held its regular open debate on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian Question.

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Is Teen Mental Health in a State of Crisis?

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Is Teen Mental Health in a State of Crisis?

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https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/05/learning/is-teen-mental-health-in-a-state-of-crisis.html

Submitted by Claire Marslender

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Is Teen Mental Health in a State of Crisis? (Published 2022)

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Have you noticed a rise in anxiety, depression and other serious mental health disorders among your generation? What can be done to help?

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How to Help Teens Struggling With Mental Health 

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How to Help Teens Struggling With Mental Health 

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https://www.nytimes.com/explain/2022/04/23/health/teen-mental-health-faq

Submitted by Claire Marslender

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How to Help Teens Struggling With Mental Health (Published 2022)

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Answers to common questions about identifying and compassionately addressing issues of anxiety and depression in adolescents.

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How Does Peer Pressure Affect a Teen’s Social Development?

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How Does Peer Pressure Affect a Teen’s Social Development?

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Submitted by Sera K.

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Learn how teen peer pressure could affect your teen's social development in positive and negative ways. A Scripps pediatrician explains.

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Nearly 34% of S. Korean adolescents have thought about suicide over academic pressure: poll

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Nearly 34% of S. Korean adolescents have thought about suicide over academic pressure: poll

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Submitted by Jessica Park

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Nearly 34 percent of South Korean adolescents have thought about killing themselves because of academic pressure, a recent survey showed Wednesday.

The grim finding came in the National Youth Policy Institute's survey of 9,060 elementary, middle and high school students conducted from June-August last year.

According to the results, 33.8 percent of the students polled said they had considered committing suicide over the previous year.

The biggest reason was the pressure they felt over academic achievement, with 37.2 percent of those who experienced the impulse to commit suicide giving it as the reason. Anxiety about their future career was cited as the second biggest reason at 21.9 percent, followed by family conflict at 17.9 percent.

The survey also showed that 45.6 percent of South Korean adolescents spend more than three hours studying every day, while 44.2 percent said they have less than two hours of leisure time daily.

Nearly one out of four adolescents said they never exercise, the survey also showed, revealing the dire lifestyles many adolescents are subject to.

Due mainly to a wish not to study, 28.8 percent of those who were polled said they dreamed about quitting school, according to the survey.

Some 26 percent of the respondents said their parents had inflicted physical violence on them, and 31.3 percent said they had received verbal abuse from their parents. Slightly over 12 percent said they had also experienced corporal punishment at the hands of their teachers.

A total of 11 percent of the respondents said they had worked in part-time jobs, but 57.5 percent said they had been employed without a legal labor contract.

About five percent of the respondents also said they'd experienced sexual harassment or teasing by schoolmates over the previous year, but a majority said they could not find any help to resolve the problem.

The survey result indicated that 44 percent of the adolescent respondents were not aware of the existence of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, while 30 percent said they did not know about the National Human Rights Commission of Korea.

"(The government) needs to expand the routes for securing labor rights for adolescents as recommended by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child," the institute said. (Yonhap)

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Nearly 34% of S. Korean adolescents have thought about suicide over academic pressure: poll

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Nearly 34 percent of South Korean adolescents have thought about killing themselves because of academic pressure, a recent survey showed Wednesday. The grim finding came in the National Youth Policy Institute's survey of 9,060 elementary, middle and high school students conducted from June-August last year.

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https://integrisok.com/resources/on-your-health/2021/may/how-parents-affect-their-child-mental-health

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How Parents Affect Their Child’s Mental Health

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Parenting styles and a parent’s mental health impacts their children. As part of Children’s Mental Health Week, we discuss how a parent can pass down mental health disorders to children and which behavioral and emotional patterns can have a lasting impact on childhood development.

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https://medium.com/one-future/academic-stress-in-students-498c34f064d7

Submitted by Bailey Kim

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Cues to ensure and assure a stress-free academic environment for students.

School education is a very important part in an individual's life and is also a turning point in their academic life. At this stage, the academic performance of a student plays a crucial role in deciding the next stage of their education, which in turn shapes their career. An excess of academic stress during this stage can result in adverse effects that are far-reaching and prolonged.

In today's highly competitive world, students face various academic problems including exam stress, disinterest in attending classes and the inability to understand a subject. Academic stress involves mental distress regarding anticipated academic challenges or failure or even the fear of the possibility of academic failure. Academic stressors show themselves in many aspects in the students' environment: at school, home, in their peer relations and even in their neighbourhood.

Excessive levels of academic stress can result in an increased prevalence of psychological and physical problems like depression, anxiety, nervousness and stress related disorders, which in turn can affect their academic results. Anxiety as a disorder is seen in about 8% of adolescents and children worldwide. Anxiety and stress have a substantial negative effect on their social, emotional and academic success. Depression is becoming the most common mental health problem college students suffer these days. It is also a reflection of an individual's academic frustration, academic conflict, academic anxiety and academic pressure. The four components of academic stress usually identifiable in a student are academic frustration, academic conflicts, academic anxieties and academic pressures.

According to most high school students, their greatest academic stressors include tests, grades, homework, academic and achievement expectations and parental pressure. School related stresses include inadequate instructional methods, teacher-student relationships, heavy academic workload, poor physical classroom environments, inability to balance one's leisure time with school, and disorganization surrounding academic assignments and schedules. Additional sources consist of a struggle to meet academic standards, worries about time management and concerns over grades and scores. Students are thus, seen to be affected by the negative causes of academic stress.

The mental health of students, especially in terms of academic stress and its impact, has become a serious issue among school and policymakers because of the increasing incidence of suicides among students across the globe. The Lancet Report states that, India has the world's highest suicide rates among the youth. Parental pressure for better academic performance is found to be mostly responsible for academic stress. Due to the constant pushing of the student by the parents in order to perform better in both academics and extra-curricular activities, some children develop deep-rooted nervous disorders during their childhood.

Academic and exam stress is found to be positively correlated with parental pressure and psychiatric problems. It is important to remember that the mental constitution or coping capacities vary from one child to another. Therefore, children with poor coping capacities become more prone to anxiety, depression and fear of academic failure and this shows us that one should not compare one student with another.

Looking at these high levels of academic stress in students which can also lead to psychological disorders, there is an urgent need to develop suitable interventions and solutions to reduce this level of stress and psychiatric morbidity.

Here are some ways for students to manage and overcome academic stress:

1) Always have something to look forward to everyday and it doesn't always have to be something big. This helps to have a reason to anticipate the next day and thus cope with academic stress better.

2) Studies have shown that a regular exercise routine often decreases symptoms of depression and stress. So exercise and sports, YES.

3) Create a proper schedule that will help you manage your academics and other activities in a more efficient manner.

4) Understand your academic capabilities, what is expected of you and try not to have unreasonable expectations.

5) Surround yourself with positive people, ALWAYS.
http://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2011/09/academic-stress.aspx https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5193280/ http://synergies.lib.uoguelph.ca/index.php/ajote/article/view/2762/3253 https://cheekyscientist.com/9-ways-to-manage-and-overcome-academic-stress/ Anoushka Thakkar is a Research Associate (Mental Health) at One Future Collective.
Resources:

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School education is a very important part in an individual's life and is also a turning point in their academic life. At this stage, the academic performance of a student plays a crucial role in...

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From the beginning, parents work to teach their children how to make healthy decisions. But as children age, parents' influence decreases and the opinion of peers becomes more and more important. Social pressure can affect a wide range of thoughts, actions and behaviors, from academic performance to substance use to mental health.

"Teens have so much on their plates," says Stacie Goran, LPC, LCDC, Teen Recovery Program Manager at Children's Health℠. "Between school expectations, parental guidelines, the desire to fit in and the influences of their peers, it's easy to become overwhelmed and follow the group. It's important that teens develop their own identity and learn how to hold firm to their values to avoid peer pressure."

Learn more about the types and effects of peer pressure and how you can prepare your child to deal with it in a healthy way.

What is peer pressure?

Peer pressure is internal or external pressure felt to behave in certain ways, both good and bad. Peer pressure begins as early as age 10 with the forming of social groups in elementary school and increases during adolescence, throughout junior high and high school.

Changing hormones, developing brains and emerging identities makes the start of adolescence a particularly vulnerable time, where peer pressure is most influential. This is also a stage in life where friend groups are of utmost importance and the need to fit in is a major factor in decision making.

Types of peer pressure

There are several different types of peer pressure that kids and adolescents may experience. Types of peer pressure include spoken and unspoken, direct and indirect, and negative and positive.

What are the effects of peer pressure?

The effects of peer pressure can manifest differently in each person. Peer pressure can play on certain strengths or challenges that an adolescent already faces. For example, a teen with low confidence and few close friends may be more susceptible to the effects of negative peer pressure, while a confident, extroverted teen may be more likely to give and receive positive peer pressure.

Negative peer pressure can encourage teenagers to participate in negative behaviors and habits, such as:

Negative peer pressure can also affect mental health. It can decrease self-confidence and lead to poor academic performance, distancing from family members and friends, or an increase in depression and anxiety. Left untreated, this could eventually lead teens to engage in self-harm or have suicidal thoughts.

On the other hand, social pressure can have positive effects on teens as well. Positive effects of peer pressure can include pressure to:

Excel academically

Develop leadership qualities

Become a leader of a school group

Participate in extracurricular activities

Volunteer for a good cause

Positive peer pressure can foster sense of belonging, self-confidence and a solidified sense of self.

What are the effects of social media on peer pressure?

Just as in-person interactions can be both positive and negative, communication through social media can also have a positive or negative effect. Social media is constantly available, enabling teens to receive those messages 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This means social media has great potential to amplify feelings of peer pressure, both negative and positive.

One common social media misrepresentation is when people post the "best" of their lives, creating a false sense of reality. This can lead teens to compare the true reality of their lives to the "picture-perfect" portrayal of others' lives and feel pressure to keep up. Additionally, the absence of in-person feedback can enable an environment in which people share harmful content or abusive comments that they would not otherwise say in person. This phenomenon (called trolling) is an incredibly pervasive form of negative peer pressure found on social media. There have also been examples of harmful online challenges that have the potential to negatively impact a child's health.

Fortunately, social media can also promote positive peer pressure through groups that support charitable causes or pages that highlight inspirational stories. Access to social media also allows us to stay connected to far away family and friends in ways that were not possible before.

To support children in an age of screens and social media, it's important for parents to teach healthy digital habits that encourage emotional health.

How can teens deal with peer pressure?

Given the effects that peer pressure can have on adolescents and teens, it's important for parents to encourage open communication and help their child prepare for situations of negative peer pressure. See seven tips to help teens avoid negative peer pressure and respond in a healthy way.

1. Create an environment of open communication with your child from an early age. Look for opportunities to ask your child about pressure they have seen or experienced and how that made them feel. Let them know you are there to listen and help if they need it.

2. Share your own experiences of peer pressure as appropriate and ways you've handled them. Model healthy behaviors with your friends and family.

3. Teach your child how to set boundaries and be assertive in their communication. Ask them to think about what they would say in a negative situation, and practice saying no in different ways.

4. Establish a plan and a backup plan with your child for situations of negative peer pressure. Let them know there is nothing wrong with making an excuse if they are unsure what to do and help them brainstorm creative ways to exit an uncomfortable situation.

5. Make an effort to get to know your child's friends and their parents. If possible, encourage your child to invite friends over as one way to become familiar with them.

6. Encourage your child to seek out positive relationships and to choose friends who respect them and do not put unfair pressure on them.

7. Foster independence in your child and teach them to listen to their gut. Let them know that they cannot please everyone, and that is okay.

If you continue to have concerns regarding your child and peer pressure, reach out to teachers, school administration or a mental health professional for additional support.

Learn more

The Children's Health pediatric psychiatry and psychology department provides comprehensive services to support children's and teens' mental health. Learn more about our programs and services.

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Teens and Peer Pressure - Children's Health

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From the beginning, parents work to teach their children how to make healthy decisions. But as children age, parents' influence decreases and the opinion of peers becomes more and more important. Social pressure can affect a wide range of thoughts, actions and behaviors, from academic performance to substance use to mental health.

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Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends Project

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Anxiety and depression are on the rise among America's youth and, whether they personally suffer from these conditions or not, seven-in-ten teens today see them as major problems among their peers. Concern about mental health cuts across gender, racial and socio-economic lines, with roughly equal shares of teens across demographic groups saying it is a significant issue in their community.

Fewer teens, though still substantial shares, voice concern over bullying, drug addiction and alcohol consumption. More than four-in-ten say these are major problems affecting people their age in the area where they live, according to a Pew Research Center survey of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17.

When it comes to the pressures teens face, academics tops the list: 61% of teens say they feel a lot of pressure to get good grades. By comparison, about three-in-ten say they feel a lot of pressure to look good (29%) and to fit in socially (28%), while roughly one-in-five feel similarly pressured to be involved in extracurricular activities and to be good at sports (21% each). And while about half of teens see drug addiction and alcohol consumption as major problems among people their age, fewer than one-in-ten say they personally feel a lot of pressure to use drugs (4%) or to drink alcohol (6%).

The pressure teens feel to do well in school is tied at least in part to their post-graduation goals. About six-in-ten teens (59%) say they plan to attend a four-year college after they finish high school, and these teens are more likely than those who have other plans to say they face a lot of pressure to get good grades.

Girls are more likely than boys to say they plan to attend a four-year college (68% vs. 51%, respectively), and they're also more likely to say they worry a lot about getting into the school of their choice (37% vs. 26%). Current patterns in college enrollment among 18- to 20-year-olds who are no longer in high school reflect these gender dynamics. In 2017, 64% of women in this age group who were no longer in high school were enrolled in college (including two- and four-year colleges), compared with 55% of their male counterparts.

In many ways, however, the long-term goals of boys and girls don't differ significantly. About nine-in-ten or more in each group say having a job or career they enjoy would be extremely or very important to them as an adult (97% of girls and 93% of boys say this). And similar shares of girls and boys see getting married (45% and 50%, respectively) and having children (41% and 39%) as priorities for them, personally, when they grow up. Still, boys are considerably more likely than girls to say having a lot of money would be extremely or very important to them (61% vs. 41%).

While boys and girls face many of the same pressures - for example, they're about equally likely to say they feel pressure to get good grades - their daily experiences differ in other ways. Girls are more likely than boys to say they face a lot of pressure to look good: About a third of girls (35%) say this is the case, compared with 23% of boys. And a larger share of girls than boys say they often feel tense or nervous about their day (36% vs. 23%, respectively, say they feel this way every day or almost every day). At the same time, girls are more likely to say they regularly get excited about something they study at school: 33% of girls say this happens every day or almost every day, versus 21% of boys. And while small shares of girls (7%) and boys (5%) say they get in trouble at school daily or almost daily, girls are more likely than boys to say this never happens to them (48% vs. 33%).

In addition to these gender differences, the survey also finds some differences in the experiences and aspirations of teens across income groups. About seven-in-ten teens in households with annual incomes of $75,000 or more (72%) say they plan to attend a four-year college after they finish high school; 52% of those in households with incomes between $30,000 and $74,999 and 42% in households with incomes below $30,000 say the same. Among teens who plan to attend a four-year college, those in households with incomes below $75,000 express far more concern than those with higher incomes about being able to afford college.

And while a relatively small share of teens overall say they face a lot of pressure to help their family financially, teens in lower-income households are more likely to say they face at least some pressure in this regard.

There are also differences by household income in the problems teens say exist in their communities. Teens in lower-income households are more likely to say teen pregnancy is a major problem among people their age in the area where they live: 55% of teens in households with incomes below $30,000 say this, versus 38% of those in the middle-income group and an even smaller share (22%) of those in households with incomes of $75,000 or more. Compared with teens in the higher-income group, those in households with incomes below $30,000 are also more likely to cite bullying, drug addiction, poverty and gangs as major problems.

A note on racial and ethnic differences among teens

The survey suggests that, in some ways, the attitudes and experiences of teens may vary along racial and ethnic lines. However, because of small sample sizes and a reduction in precision due to weighting, estimates are not presented by racial or ethnic groups.

Teens in lower-income households also have different assessments of the amount of time they spend with their parents. Four-in-ten teens in households with incomes below $30,000 say they spend too little time with their parents, compared with about one-in-five teens in households with higher incomes.

These are among the key findings of a survey of 920 U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 conducted online Sept. 17-Nov. 25, 2018. Throughout the report, "teens" refers to those ages 13 to 17.

A majority of teens say they plan to attend a four-year college after high school

About six-in-ten teens (59%) say they plan to attend a four-year college after they finish high school; 12% plan to attend a two-year college, 5% plan to work full time, 4% plan to enroll in a technical or vocational school and 3% plan to join the military. Another 13% of teens say they are not sure what they'll do after high school.

Girls are more likely than boys to say they plan to attend a four-year college after finishing high school: 68% of girls say this, compared with about half of boys (51%). Differences in the shares of boys and girls who say they plan to attend a two-year college, enroll in a technical or vocational school, work full time or join the military after high school are small or not significant.

Among teens with at least one parent with a bachelor's degree or higher, as well as those in households with annual incomes of $75,000 or more, about seven-in-ten say they plan to attend a four-year college after high school. By comparison, about half of teens whose parents don't have a bachelor's degree or with household incomes below $75,000 say the same.

Some 65% of teens who say they plan to attend a four-year college after high school say they worry at least some about being able to afford college. Similarly, 70% express at least some concern about getting into the college of their choice.

Perhaps not surprisingly, concerns about affording college are more prevalent among teens in lower-income households. Among teens who say they plan to attend a four-year college, about three-quarters (76%) in households with incomes below $75,00o say they worry at least some about being able to afford it, compared with 55% of those in households with incomes or $75,000 or more.

Having a job or career they enjoy is at the top of teens' long-term goals

Looking ahead, virtually all teens say they aspire to having a job or career they enjoy: 63% say this would be extremely important to them, personally, as adults, and another 32% say it would be very important. Most teens also say helping other people who are in need would be extremely (42%) or very (39%) important to them when they grow up.

Teens give lower priority to marriage and kids. About half (47%) say getting married would be extremely or very important to them as adults, and 39% say the same about having children.

When it comes to fortune and fame, 51% of teens say having a lot of money would be extremely or very important to them, while relatively few (11%) say the same about becoming famous.

For the most part, boys and girls have similar aspirations. Roughly equal shares of boys and girls say getting married, having kids, and having a job or career they enjoy would be extremely or very important to them as adults. But boys (61%) are far more likely than girls (41%) to say having a lot of money when they grow up would be extremely or very important to them.

Teens' aspirations are also fairly consistent across income levels, with similar shares in each income group saying having a job or career they enjoy, helping others in need, having a lot of money and becoming famous would be extremely or very important to them as adults.

However, teens in households with incomes below $30,000 are less likely than those in households with higher incomes to prioritize marriage and children. Some 56% of teens in households with incomes of $75,000 or more and 46% in households with incomes between $30,000 and $74,999 say getting married would be extremely or very important to them when they grow up, compared with 31% of those in the lower-income group. And while about four-in-ten in the higher- and middle-income groups (43% each) say having children would be extremely or very important to them, 27% of those in the lower-income group say the same.

Academics are at forefront of the pressures teen face

Most teens (61%) say they personally feel a lot of pressure to get good grades, and another 27% say they feel some pressure to do so.

Compared with getting good grades, about half as many say they feel a lot of pressure to look good (29%) and to fit in socially (28%). Roughly one-in-five say they face a lot of pressure to be involved in extracurricular activities and to be good at sports (21% each), while smaller shares say they feel a lot of pressure to help their family financially (13%), to participate in religious activities (8%), to be sexually active (8%), to drink alcohol (6%) or to use drugs (4%).

Boys and girls, as well as teens across income groups, generally feel similar levels of pressure in each of these realms, but there are some exceptions. Girls are more likely than boys to say they feel a lot of pressure to look good (35% vs. 23%). And teens in the lower- and middle-income groups are more likely than those in higher-income households to say they feel at least some pressure to help their family financially (42% and 38%, respectively, vs. 28%).

In some ways, teens' day-to-day experiences vary by gender and income

When asked how often they have certain experiences or feelings, four-in-ten teens say they feel bored every day or almost every day, while about three-in-ten say they feel tense or nervous about their day (29%) or wish they had more good friends (29%) with the same frequency. Roughly a quarter of teens say they get excited by something they study in school (26%), come across people who try to put them down (24%) or worry about their family having enough money for basic expenses (23%) every or almost every day.

Smaller shares say they regularly feel targeted by law enforcement (7%) or get in trouble at school (6%). In fact, 54% of teens say they never feel targeted by law enforcement, and 40% say they never get in trouble at school.

Concerns about their family having enough money for basic expenses differ greatly by income: 36% of teens in the lower-income group and 29% of those in the middle-income group say they worry about this daily or almost daily, whereas 13% of teens in higher-income households say the same.

Gender differences are also apparent, particularly when it comes to experiences in school. Girls are more likely than boys to say they get excited every or almost every day by something they study in school (33% vs. 21%), and they're less likely to get in trouble at school. About half of girls (48%) say they never get in trouble at school, compared with 33% of boys. In addition, higher shares of girls than boys say they feel tense or nervous about their day on a daily or almost daily basis (36% vs. 23%).

Parents are more likely to say they don't spend enough time with their teens than teens are to say the same about their parents

When it comes to the amount of time they spend with each other, parents and teens diverge in their assessments, with parents far more likely to say it's not enough. Among parents who live with their teens, 45% say they spend too little time with their teenage children; a quarter of teens say the same about the time they spend with their parents. Most teens (65%) say they spend the right amount of time with their parents, while 9% say they spend too much time.

Teens from lower-income households are the most likely to say they spend too little time with their parents: Four-in-ten teens in households with annual incomes below $30,000 say this, compared with roughly one-in-five in households with higher incomes. These same income differences are not evident among parents, however. Similar shares of parents across income levels say they spend too little time with their teenage children.

Among parents who live with their teens, fathers are more likely than mothers to say they spend too little time with their teenage children (53% vs. 39%).

Majority of teens say they get a hug or kiss from their parents almost daily

When asked about interactions with their parents, about six-in-ten teens (59%) say they get a hug or kiss from their parents every day or almost every day. Roughly three-in-ten (31%) say they get help or advice from their parents with homework or school projects on a daily or almost daily basis, and 19% say they regularly get into arguments with their parents.

Girls and boys are about equally likely to say they get a hug or kiss from their parents every day or almost every day, as are teens from different socio-economic backgrounds.

The share of teens who say their parents help them with homework or school projects every day or almost every day is considerably lower than it was two decades ago. A Public Agenda survey conducted in 1996 found that, at that time, about half of teens (48%) reported daily or almost daily involvement from parents in their schoolwork.

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Most U.S. Teens See Anxiety and Depression as a Major Problem Among Their Peers

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Anxiety and depression are on the rise among America's youth and, whether they personally suffer from these conditions or not, seven-in-ten teens today see them as major problems among their peers. Concern about mental health cuts across gender, racial and socio-economic lines, with roughly equal shares of teens across demographic groups saying it is a significant issue in their community.

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Universal Healthcare Pros and Cons - Is It a Human Right?

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Universal Healthcare Pros and Cons - Is It a Human Right?

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Submitted by Luca

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Proponents say it would stop medical bankruptcies and improve public health. Opponents say it is socialism and should be an individual’s responsibility.

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A Walk in My Shoes: Social Justice in Education

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A Walk in My Shoes: Social Justice in Education

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Submitted by Jessica Park

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A Walk in My Shoes: Social Justice in Education

A video documentary produced by the K-State College of Education.

"Great teaching is about so much more than education; it is a daily fight for social justice." - Arne Duncan, former Secretary of Education

Deeply imbedded within the complexities of American society are issues such as poverty, race relations, gender equity, cultural identity and privilege. These issues arrive in classrooms every day where learners converge from many backgrounds, identities, and abilities.

This film touches on the lives and experiences of five dynamic educators whose passion for social justice was forged when they were in school. Their personal accounts bear witness to both the overt and subtle forms of injustice that create critical barriers to quality learning and inclusion. Each person enacted their beliefs in equity, access, and respect in order to provide a just and quality education for the learners they serve.

We invite people everywhere to learn from their experiences and see what they can do to make education more just and equitable for all.

Full Documentary

→ Documentary transcript (TXT)

Individual Stories

Alex Red Corn

Alex was born and raised in Pawhuska Oklahoma, and later moved to Kansas City, Kansas with his family. As a member of the Osage Nation, Alex shares his story of growing up in two worlds and navigating his way through educational systems while holding to his culture. He taught high school geography for seven years in Kansas before returning to his studies on indigenous educational systems. Today Alex is working with his home nation to bring additional training for indigenous teachers and administrators. Alex's story coves a variety of topics, including making spaces for indigenous people, the need for highly trained indigenous teachers, and the effects of mascot culture.

Amanda Morales

Growing up in the small town of Hoxie, Kansas didn't hold Amanda back from exploring the world and becoming a first generation college student. Throughout her life she has worked to build bridges for other first generation college students and to help recruit teachers of diverse backgrounds. As Amanda shares in her story, social justice is about so much more than helping oneself, it's about helping others. At the time of this filming Amanda was serving as an Assistant Professor in the College of Education at Kansas State University. Dr. Morales is now an Assistant Professor in the College of Education at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln specializing in Migration, Immigration and Multicultural Education.

Jim Teagarden

When Jim Teagarden was just a small boy, he witnessed an act of injustice that stayed with him throughout his life. Years later a chance encounter with a teacher got him thinking about how he could make a change for the better. For more than twenty years, Jim worked as a special education teacher, working with kids with severe emotional and behavior disorders in Marysville, Kansas. Today Jim is helping to train the next generation of special education teachers at Kansas State University.

Teara Lander

Teara Lander grew up traveling the world with her military family. Her experiences meeting new people and living in new cultures gave her a greater appreciation for multicultural societies. Returning to the United States, she discovered that injustices are often the result of preconceived stereotypes. Teara has worked hard to break down those stereotypes and to become an advocate for social justice in higher education.

Eli Schoeman

At a young age, Eli Schoeman was a gifted and talented student in a school that did not have the resources to help him thrive. After a few years of moving to different schools with varying levels of support, he became conscious of the inequality of resources given to different students. As Eli puts it, "How often do we drive around a really nice neighborhood and see a school that looks visually appealing on the outside, but don't realize that inside it is full of inequality of services and help for all kids." Hear why he is giving back as a teacher and a role model in this touching story.

Video of the live Premiere event...

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A video documentary produced by the K-State College of Education. "Great teaching is about so much more than education; it is a daily fight for social justice." - Arne Duncan, former Secretary of Education Deeply imbedded within the complexities of American society are issues such as poverty, race relations, gender equity, cultural identity and privilege.

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Submitted by Benny

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A New Covid-19 Crisis: Domestic Abuse Rises Worldwide (Published 2020)

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Movement restrictions aimed to stop the spread of the coronavirus may be making violence in homes more frequent, more severe and more dangerous.

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A Great Example Of Why Everyone Should Have Health Coverage

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A Great Example Of Why Everyone Should Have Health Coverage

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In the debate over health care, we still have not answered the basic question: Should everyone receive at least basic health care? All industrialized nations other than the United States provide healthcare to everyone. Economists state providing health care is good public policy. Getting our nation healthy will create better resilience. Providing basic health care is the humane thing to do, and in the long run, it will be cost effective. There are so many reasons why we need health care reform.

Many people are against the Affordable Care Act. Certainly it is not perfect. But it is a start to fix a very big problem in this country.

Just how big a problem is illustrated by a compelling first-hand account a St. Augustine, Fla. physician wrote for the Florida Times-Union today. I urge you to read his full post here, but the upshot of this M.D.'s story is that an unemployed, uninsured 48-year-old man walked into the urgent-care facility where he works complaining of sudden back pain.

The physician/author suspected the pain could be the result of a life-threatening obstructed aorta and sent him to the hospital for an MRI. After the MRI confirmed a large blood clot in his aorta, the hospital discharged him without operating because the man was uninsured and couldn't pay. Fortunately, this patient's family took him to another hospital which did perform the needed surgery, saving his ability to continue a productive life.

This story illustrates multiple issues with our healthcare system. Here are only a few:

Lack of access to primary care

Inefficiency in addressing a serious problem

Waste from multiple visits and uncoordinated care

Ethical challenges - our duty in medicine is to heal, and the first hospital decided to not take ownership of that concept.

The ACA would mitigate this significantly.

In Florida, this patient would eventually qualify for Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, but Florida refuses to expand Medicaid coverage. Also, right now, the hospital that treats this patient receives what is know as DSH payments for providing care for the uninsured. Under the ACA, DSH payments will go away, because supposedly everyone will be insured. So in the states without Medicaid expansion, the hospitals that take care of uninsured cases will suffer greatly. They will not get paid anything to save this man's life. What a shame.

For those of you who are against healthcare reform, please share the system you would create to save this man's life. I want to know your answers. Let the comments begin...

I am a physician, financial planner, educator, and I love to tell great stories. The world is too complicated and doesn't have to be that way. The goal for this blog is

... Read More

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A Great Example Of Why Everyone Should Have Health Coverage

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Don't like Obamacare? What's your alternative? Anti-Obamacare protesters demonstrating in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in June. (Getty Images via @daylife) In the debate over health care, we still have not answered the basic question: Should everyone receive at least basic health care? All industrialized nations other than the [...]

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Negative health Affects of Abortion Restrictions

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Negative health Affects of Abortion Restrictions

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Submitted by Sophia and Cheily

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The negative health implications of restricting abortion access

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Ana Langer, professor of the practice of public health and coordinator of the Women and Health Initiative, discusses abortion access in the U.S. and globally, and the negative health implications c…

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The supreme courts potential Roe v. wade Reversal 

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The supreme courts potential Roe v. wade Reversal 

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Submitted by Cheily and Sophia

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Getty Images/Shondaland Staff

Women's right to choose what they do with their bodies appears to be under attack once again. This week, Justice Samuel Alito's draft opinion in the case of Dobbs v. Mississippi, a case that called into question the state's attempt to ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, leaked to , causing outrage, anger, fear, and disappointment across the country. The draft opinion went on to call for the reversal of Roe v. Wade, a landmark Supreme Court decision that gave women the right to choose back in 1973. Roe made abortion legal across the United States. In Alito's draft, he is now calling for the undoing of the 1973 law. Many academics and political organizers believe that Alito and the court's possible ruling, should the draft be made into law and abortion become illegal in the U.S., has far wider implications than just denying abortion care for women. It also has the potential to impact both social justice and equality.

While the country reels from the possible ramifications of such an unprecedented change in long-held rights, the broader implications are even more vast. They include everything from the long-term impact on maternal health - especially for women of color - to economic burdens and instability, to institutional racism and repression.

A leaked draft decision that removes federal abortion protection

The leaked draft decision, labeled as the "Opinion of the Court" (meaning that it would represent the majority opinion on the case), would end 50 years of federal constitutional protection of abortion rights and push the decision of whether to ban, restrict, or allow abortions to the states.

Alito wrote in the draft that "We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled." The 1992 case of Casey v. Planned Parenthood upheld Roe v. Wade and crafted what is known as the "undue burden standards," which removed some of the more restrictive and arcane obstacles that women faced in order to obtain an abortion. (These included things like spousal notice, going through a predetermined waiting period, and parental consent, even if the parent was the one who got the child pregnant.) Roe v. Wade was the landmark 1973 case that recognized the constitutional right to abortion.

"Monday night felt like an earthquake that the entire nation felt," Leila Abolfazli, the director of federal reproductive rights at the National Women's Law Center, said in a phone interview with Shondaland. "The reverberations were felt deeply by a lot of people. This will have deep and profound impacts across society."

Abolfazli said, "Our country is so retrograde when it comes to gender. We are going to double down on how this country doesn't support women and families, thanks to this ruling, and it's absolutely ridiculous. We have never experienced a situation where a country has an abortion protection and then loses that overnight."

To be clear, the draft decision is just that, a draft, and many experts agree that there is some small possibility that the opinions could change, especially in light of the leak - though Abolfazli said that she doesn't believe that is likely.

The court is largely conservative leaning, with a 6 to 3 conservative to liberal balance, thanks in large part to the nominations that former President Trump and Congress seemingly forced through during his time in office. Not to mention the years that a Republican Congress spent blocking President Barack Obama's nominees, leaving vacant seats on the court. The Supreme Court's main job is to serve as the final arbiter of law - historically a role that requires a balanced approach that doesn't skew toward one political leaning over another.

The draft, if it becomes final, pushes the decision of whether to allow abortion, restrict it by various means, or ban it outright down to the individual states. States like Texas have already banned most abortions after 6 weeks into a pregnancy. And if the draft decision becomes final, there are 13 states with what are known as "trigger laws" in place. States like Arkansas, Utah, Texas, and Wyoming already have laws on the books that will ban abortion almost immediately after the Supreme Court releases its final decision this summer, according to .

David S. Cohen is a professor of law at Drexel University's Thomas R. Kline School of Law who explores the intersection of constitutional law and gender, emphasizing how the law impacts abortion provision, including violence against abortion providers, as well as sex segregation and masculinity. He also researches voting anomalies in the Supreme Court. He and two other law professors recently wrote a piece for Rolling Stone that argues that if the draft decision becomes final, the Supreme Court is condemning women to second-class status. He says that the court, with its current conservative bent, is focused only on furthering its conservative ideals, rather than the impact its decisions have on real people.

"The Supreme Court justices are appointed for life," Cohen said in a phone interview with Shondaland. "The court is not concerned with the effects of their ruling. It is only concerned with what is right or wrong under the law, and their interpretation under that law."

He continued, "The justices were put on the Supreme Court with a singular focus on conservative ideology. American conservatives do not care about social justice."

Abolishing abortion rights will result in higher maternal death rates for women of color

That conservative ideology, many argue, impacts both poor people and people of color more significantly than it does their white counterparts, especially when it comes to abortion access, protections, and care.

The CDC reports that women of color are more likely to die in pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum. In fact, according to data from the CDC for 2020 (the most recent data available), there was an average of 23.8 deaths per 100,000 live births for pregnant women in the United States compared with a rate of 20.1 deaths in 2019. The maternal mortality rate for Black women, however, was 55.3 deaths per 100,000 live births - 2.9 times the rate for white women. In short, according to the CDC, the increases in the maternal death rate from 2019 to 2020 for Black and Hispanic women were significant. According to the National Institutes of Health, systemic racism is a significant factor in this tremendous disparity.

Dr. William Lopez is a clinical assistant professor of health behavior and health education at the University of Michigan, where he focuses on the impact of policies on communities of color. He says that if the draft decision, which removes abortion protections, becomes final, the impact on maternal mortality could be dire.

"The maternal mortality rate is higher for pregnant people of color when they give birth," he told Shondaland. "Forcing these people to give birth, forcing more people to give birth will result in higher mortality among communities of color. We already know this based on the data."

Abolishing abortion rights will have significant economic impacts on women

In addition to a higher maternal death rate for white women and women of color, experts argue that abolishing abortion rights, and putting the decision into state legislatures hands, is likely to have a significant economic impact on women - and will continue to keep many poor women in a cycle of poverty.

According to a story at , abolishing abortion rights could roll back economic gains for women across the board.

Dr. Sarah Miller is an assistant professor of business economics and public policy at the University of Michigan and one of the authors of a that looked at the economic and social outcomes of women who were denied abortions versus those who were not. She notes that privileged white women will always have access to abortions, no matter where they live.

"If you have privilege, you will always be able to get abortion services in a safe way," she told Shondaland. "That has borne out historically. In contrast, the people who don't have the means to get on a plane to California, or the eastern seaboard, won't be able to access these services. If you look at the map of abortion constrictions, where states have made it incredibly difficult or restrictive to get an abortion, you'll notice that these issues tend to be in places that have a high population of people of color. Particularly areas in the South."

The Turnaway Study, conducted by the University of California, San Francisco (and a study that Dr. Miller has worked on and contributed to), showed that denying a woman an abortion that she needs or wants creates economic hardship and insecurity that lasts for years. In fact, women who were denied an abortion and went on to give birth experienced an increase in household poverty lasting at least four years relative to those who received an abortion, according to the data.

"We have followed these women over time," Miller said. "We saw a big spike in financial problems, bankruptcies, an 80 percent increase in credit debt. We see higher rates of use of social services. We also know from the broader literature in economics, that having a child has a really big effect on economic self-sufficiency. A lot of the gender gap is basically nonexistent before women become mothers. Once women have children, we see a big collapse in earnings, and I think that's something we can anticipate happening at a greater frequency if this draft opinion becomes final."

Dr. Lopez agrees that the economic burdens will fall largely on communities of color. "Those most impacted by this change in policy will absolutely be low-income communities, especially communities of color, as is the case with all aggressive health policies," Dr. Lopez said. "I also want to point out that this is especially egregious in a country that does not have universal childcare and in a country that does not have mandated parental leave."

In context, there are only a small handful of the 193 countries in the United Nations that do not have paid parental leave: Suriname, New Guinea, a few small South Pacific nations, and the United States, according to .

What we can do to protect abortion rights

The experts within this story all agree that there are only a handful of things we can do to protect women's right to bodily autonomy, and work to break the cycle of systemic repression and poverty: Advocate, donate and vote.

"It is going to take all of us - local communities, local leaders, national leaders - to turn this ship around," Abolfazli said. "It's going to require sustained engagement. This is a decades-long effort now. It took 50 years to accomplish what has been wiped out overnight."

That means that individuals must get out and vote in local and state elections and support abortion rights, universal health care, women's rights, and family rights that offer support for child caregivers.

"I think the best next step is to try and codify Roe into law," Dr. Miller said, "Instead of relying on the court. I also think that we need to look outside the political system and put pressure on corporations to act to protect women's rights and abortion rights."

Companies like Uber and Lyft have created funds to help defend drivers against lawsuits that could crop up if they drive women to clinics to have an abortion, according to . Amazon and Citigroup have also announced programs that will reimburse employees for travel expenses and other costs if they need to travel to get a safe abortion, and reported.

While the outlook is dire if the Supreme Court finalizes the draft decision this summer, it is clear that the time to engage, advocate, and vote is now if there is to be hope to protect all women's right to bodily autonomy now and in the future.

"This is all part and parcel to unpacking hundreds of years of discrimination, slavery, and also an ongoing denial of tools to live and thrive for women across this country," Abolfazli said. "There's a huge gap forming and a whole new moment of engagement is going to be needed. The fight has just been ignited and that's going to be what it takes to make abortion a meaningful right."

Abigail Bassett is an Emmy-winning journalist, writer and producer who covers wellness, tech, business, cars, travel, art and food. Abigail spent more than 10 years as a senior producer at CNN. She's currently a freelance writer and yoga teacher in Los Angeles.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io

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The Supreme Court's Potential Roe v. Wade Reversal Has Social Justice and Equality Ramifications

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Getty Images/Shondaland Staff Women's right to choose what they do with their bodies appears to be under attack once again. This week, Justice Samuel Alito's draft opinion in the case of Dobbs v. Mississippi, a case that called into question the state's attempt to ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, leaked to , causing outrage, anger, fear, and disappointment across the country.

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Submitted by Sophia and Cheily

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Criminalising abortion does not stop abortions, it just makes abortion less safe.

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Submitted by Cheily and Sophia

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The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed the constitutional right to abortion for almost fifty years. How does regulation of abortion in the United States compare to that in th…

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Submitted by Cheily and Sophia

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Tracking the rates of abortion around the world is difficult because many nations do not record or report abortion rates. This is especially true in nations where abortion is illegal, and no types of records are kept.

Studies show that abortion rates may be much higher in nations where abortion is illegal. Because abortion is prohibited, these abortions are illegal abortions, which are more dangerous than legal abortions. There are also higher risks and complications, including the death of the mother, as a result of these illegal abortions.

However, abortion is legal in 58 of 193 member states of the United Nations. Just seven of the UN's member states - Malta, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Chile, Nicaragua, and South Sudan - have made abortion illegal.

One of the most accurate ways to find abortion rates is through the World Abortion Policies reports created by the United Nations. These reports measure the number of abortions performed on women between the ages of 15 to 44. This rate measures the number of abortions per 1,000 women in the country.

One of the nations with the highest rates of abortion is Russia. According to UN reports, Russia's abortion rate is 53.7 per 1,000 women. Vietnam has the second-highest rate at 35.2, followed by Kazakhstan with 35. On the opposite end, Mexico has the lowest abortion rate of 0.1, followed by Portugal with 0.2. Abortion is legal in all of these nations.

The United States has an abortion rate of 20.8 abortions per 1,000 women. A women's right to abortion was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Roe v. Wade. The decision states that the government cannot regulate a women's choice to have an abortion before the fetus's viability. However, abortion laws vary by state, including some that attempt to restrict abortions before viability. Because of different regulations on abortion and other factors, abortion rates also vary significantly between states.

Below is a table of abortion rates by country, according to the United Nations.

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Tracking the rates of abortion around the world is difficult because many nations do not record or report abortion rates. This is especially true in nations where abortion is illegal, and no types of records are kept. Studies show that abortion rates may be much higher in nations where abortion is illegal.

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Submitted by Sophia and Cheily

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What’s Happening With Abortion Legislation in States Across the Country

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With the Supreme Court appearing poised to strike down Roe v. Wade, a cascade of restrictive abortion legislation has been proposed in Republican-led states.

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Submitted by Lindsey

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What Would the End of Roe Mean? Key Questions and Answers.

Abortion would remain legal in about half of states, but the rest would likely ban it. The number of abortions would probably fall, particularly among poor women in the South and Midwest.

Credit...Gabriela Bhaskar/The New York Times

Published May 3, 2022 Updated May 25, 2022

A leaked Supreme Court draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade describes a United States not seen in half a century, in which the legal status of abortion is entirely up to the states. If the draft, from February and published Monday night by Politico, ends up being similar to the court’s final opinion, expected next month, reproductive rights will be rewritten almost immediately.

If Roe were overturned, would abortion become illegal everywhere in the U.S.?

No. Individual states would decide whether and when abortions would be legal. Many states would continue to allow them, and some have even begun making provisions to help serve women who live in states that are likely to restrict abortion. Right now, abortion remains legal in every state.

Where would abortion access be most likely to change?

Abortion would probably become illegal in about half of states, although forecasts differ.

According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, a group that fights abortion restrictions in court and closely tracks state laws, 25 states are likely to ban abortion if they are allowed to. Those states are: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

The Guttmacher Institute, a research group focused on reproductive health care, says a slightly different group of states is likely to substantially limit abortion access: Its list of 26 states excludes North Carolina and Pennsylvania, but includes Florida, Iowa and Montana.

Thirteen states have so-called trigger laws, which would immediately make abortion illegal if Roe were overturned. Some have old abortion laws on the books that were invalidated by the Roe decision but could be enforced again. Still other states, like Oklahoma, have abortion bans that were passed during this legislative session, despite the Roe precedent.

How would the number of U.S. abortions change?

Some women seeking abortions could obtain them in other ways, including traveling to a state where abortion is legal or ordering pills online from outside the country. Texas provides an example. In September, a law went into effect banning abortion after fetal cardiac activity is detected, around six weeks. Abortions at Texas clinics fell by half. But many women were able to obtain abortions in neighboring states or by ordering pills, resulting in an overall decline of only around 10 percent.

Without Roe, abortion would probably decline more because women would have to travel farther to reach a state where it was legal. Many women who get abortions are poor, and long travel distances can be insurmountable. The states likely to ban abortion are concentrated in the South, Midwest and Great Plains. Because of the expected increase in interstate travel, remaining clinics would most likely have less capacity to treat the women who were able to reach them.

Research from December on the estimated changes in distances to clinics found that, if Roe were overturned, the number of legal abortions would be likely to fall by around 14 percent (updated to 13 percent in more recent research). Our article from December explained that research and offered a map of where abortions were likely to decline the most.

Who has abortions now?

Under current law, around one in four American women would be expected to obtain an abortion at some point, according to research from the Guttmacher Institute.

They include women from all backgrounds. But statistics show women who receive abortions in the United States are more likely to be unmarried; to be in their 20s; to have low incomes; and to already have a child. They are disproportionately likely to be Black. They are more likely to live in a Democratic-leaning state.

Our article from December describes the demographics of the typical abortion patient.

Without Roe, how would the U.S. compare with the rest of the world?

The United States would join a very small group of countries that has tightened abortion laws in recent years, as opposed to loosening them. Three countries have done so since 1994: Poland, El Salvador and Nicaragua. In that period, 59 countries have expanded access, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights.

Under Roe, the United States is unusual in allowing abortion for any reason until around 23 weeks. Yet in many countries with earlier cutoffs, abortion is allowed for a wide variety of reasons, according to the center.

Sixty-six countries — home to about a quarter of women of reproductive age — prohibit abortion or allow it only if a woman’s life is in danger. Without Roe, certain states would align with these countries.

Our article from January explains international approaches to abortion law.

When would this happen?

Not right away. Abortion remains legal in every state for now, and each has at least one clinic.

The leaked document was described as a draft, not a final opinion. It may be a month or more before the Supreme Court officially rules in the case, and that decision could differ from the draft that is circulating.

If the Supreme Court does rule against Roe, clinics in some states would most likely begin closing within days. In other states that ban the procedure, the process may take several months.

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What Would the End of Roe Mean? Key Questions and Answers.

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Abortion would remain legal in about half of states, but the rest would likely ban it. The number of abortions would probably fall, particularly among poor women in the South and Midwest.

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Submitted by Sophia and Cheily

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Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project

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A majority of Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, but many are open to restrictions; many opponents of legal abortion say it should be legal in some circumstances

Protesters gather outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 1, 2021, as the court was hearing oral arguments over a Mississippi law restricting abortions in the state after 15 weeks of pregnancy. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post/Getty Images)

The abortion debate in America is often framed as a legal binary, with "pro-life" people on one side, seeking to restrict abortion's availability, and "pro-choice" people on the other, opposing government restrictions on abortion.

But as the country approaches what could be a watershed moment in the history of abortion laws and policies, relatively few Americans on either side of the debate take an absolutist view on the legality of abortion - either supporting or opposing it at all times, regardless of circumstances.

A new Pew Research Center survey explores in detail the nuances of the public's attitudes on this issue. The survey was conducted March 7-13, 2022 - after the Supreme Court's oral arguments on a case this term challenging the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established a federal right to abortion, but before the May 2 publication of a leaked draft of a Supreme Court majority opinion that suggests the court is poised to strike down Roe.

Nearly one-in-five U.S. adults (19%) say that abortion should be legal in all cases, with no exceptions. Fewer (8%) say abortion should be illegal in every case, without exception. By contrast, 71% either say it should be mostly legal or mostly illegal, or say there are exceptions to their blanket support for, or opposition to, legal abortion.

As in the past, more Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most circumstances (61%) than illegal in all or most circumstances (37%). But in many ways, the public's attitudes are contingent upon such circumstances as when an abortion takes place during a woman's pregnancy, whether the pregnancy endangers a woman's life and whether a baby would have severe health problems.

There is evidence that many people are cross-pressured on this issue. For example, more than half of Americans who generally support abortion rights - by saying it should be legal in "most" or "all" cases - also say the timing of an abortion (i.e., how far along the pregnancy is) should be a factor in determining its legality (56%).

The same share of people who generally support legal abortion say abortion providers should be required to get the consent of a parent or guardian before performing an abortion on a minor (56%).

And about a third of Americans who generally support legal abortion (33%) say the statement "human life begins at conception, so a fetus is a person with rights" describes their own view at least "somewhat" well.

At the same time, large shares of those who generally oppose abortion say it should be legal in certain situations or say their position depends on the circumstances. For example, among those who say abortion should be against the law in most or all cases, nearly half (46%) say it should be legal if the pregnancy threatens the health or life of the woman. An additional 27% say "it depends" in this situation, while 27% say abortion should be illegal even in circumstances that threaten the health or life of the pregnant woman.

More than a third of abortion opponents (36%) say it should be legal if the pregnancy results from rape, with 27% saying "it depends" and 37% expressing opposition to legal abortion even in this situation. And four-in-ten abortion opponents (41%) say the statement "the decision about whether to have an abortion should belong solely to the pregnant woman" describes their own view at least "somewhat" well.

Among Americans overall, most people (72%) say that "the decision about whether to have an abortion should belong solely to the pregnant woman" describes their views at least somewhat well, and more than half (56%) say the same about the statement "human life begins at conception, so a fetus is a person with rights."

A third of Americans hold these seemingly conflicting views about the autonomy of pregnant women and the rights of the fetus at the same time, saying that both statements describe their views either extremely well, very well, or somewhat well.

Moreover, the survey finds a distinction between how Americans feel about abortion in moral terms and in legal terms. While many (47%) see abortion as morally wrong in most or all cases, fewer (22%) say that abortion should be illegal in every situation where they believe it is immoral. Nearly half of U.S. adults (48%) say there are circumstances in which abortion is morally wrong but should nevertheless be legal.

And while nearly six-in-ten adults (57%) say they think stricter abortion laws would reduce the number of abortions performed in the United States, similar or larger shares say that increasing support for pregnant women (65%), expanding sex education (60%) and increasing support for parents (58%) would have the same effect.

These are among the key findings of a new Pew Research Center survey, conducted among 10,441 adults on the Center's American Trends Panel. The Center has asked the public about their opinions on abortion for decades, but many of the questions in this survey are new, aimed at providing a more nuanced picture of public opinion.

On the Center's long-running question about the legality of abortion - which asks whether it should generally be illegal in all cases, illegal in most cases, legal in most cases, or legal in all cases - public views have remained relatively stable in recent years. But support for legal abortion is as high today as at any point in surveys asking this question since 1995.

Most Americans typically do not give a lot of thought to issues around abortion: 36% say, prior to taking the survey in March, they had given a lot of thought to abortion-related issues.

Broad public agreement that abortion should be legal if pregnancy endangers a woman's health or is the result of rape

While most Americans do not have absolutist views about abortion - desiring neither to see it completely outlawed nor permitted without exception - there are certain situations in which there is clear consensus abortion should be legal.

Nearly three-quarters of adults (73%) say abortion should be legal if the woman's life or health is endangered by the pregnancy, while just 11% say it should be illegal. And about seven-in-ten say abortion should be legal if the pregnancy is a result of rape, with just 15% saying it should be illegal in this case.

A smaller majority of U.S. adults (53%) say abortion should be legal if the baby is likely to be born with severe disabilities or health problems - though in this situation, too, a far larger share say abortion should be legal than say it should be against the law (19% say it should be illegal in such cases, while a quarter say "it depends").

Most Americans open to some restrictions on abortion

At the same time, the survey shows that large numbers of Americans favor certain restrictions on access to abortions. For example, seven-in-ten say doctors should be required to notify a parent or legal guardian of minors seeking abortions. And most of those who say abortion should be legal in some cases and illegal in others say that how long a woman has been pregnant should be a factor in determining whether abortion is legal or illegal (56% among all U.S. adults).

Combined with the 8% of U.S. adults who say abortion should be against the law in all cases with no exceptions, this means that nearly two-thirds of the public thinks abortion either should be entirely illegal at every stage of a pregnancy or should become illegal, at least in some cases, at some point during the course of a pregnancy.

On the other side, combining the 56% of U.S. adults who say how long a woman has been pregnant should matter in determining the legality of abortion with the 19% who say abortion should be legal in all cases also means that about three-quarters of the public thinks abortion either should be entirely legal at every stage of a pregnancy or should be legal, at least in some cases, at some point in a pregnancy.

When, exactly, during a pregnancy should abortion be legal, and at what point should it become illegal? To help answer this question, the survey posed follow-up queries about three periods: six weeks (when cardiac activity - sometimes called a fetal heartbeat - can be detected), 14 weeks (roughly the end of the first trimester), and 24 weeks (near the end of the second trimester).

The survey data shows that as pregnancy progresses, opposition to legal abortion grows and support for legal abortion declines. Americans are about twice as likely to say abortion should be legal at six weeks than to say it should be illegal at this stage of a pregnancy: 44% of U.S. adults say abortion should be legal at six weeks (including those who say it should be legal in all cases without exception), 21% say it should be illegal at six weeks (including those who say abortion should always be illegal), and another 19% say whether it should be legal or not at six weeks "depends." (An additional 14% say the stage of pregnancy shouldn't factor into determining whether abortion is legal or illegal, including 7% who generally think abortion should be legal, and 6% who generally think it should be illegal.)

At 14 weeks, the share saying abortion should be legal declines to 34%, while 27% say illegal and 22% say "it depends."

When asked about the legality of abortion at 24 weeks of pregnancy (described as a point when a healthy fetus could survive outside the woman's body, with medical attention), Americans are about twice as likely to say abortion should be illegal as to say it should be legal at this time point (43% vs. 22%), with 18% saying "it depends."

However, in a follow-up question, 44% of those who initially say abortion should be illegal at this late stage go on to say that, in cases where the woman's life is threatened or the baby will be born with severe disabilities, abortion should be legal at 24 weeks. An additional 48% answer the follow-up question by saying "it depends," and 7% reiterate that abortion should be illegal at this stage of pregnancy even if the woman's life is in danger or the baby faces severe disabilities.

Views of penalties for abortion in situations where it is illegal

If most people think there are at least some situations in which abortion should be against the law, an obvious follow-up question is: Who should face legal penalties if an abortion is performed illegally? And what should those penalties entail?

The survey asked whether four types of people should face penalties if an abortion takes place in a situation where it is illegal: doctors or medical providers who perform abortions, women who have abortions, people who help pay for abortions and people who help find or schedule abortions.

Six-in-ten U.S. adults say that if doctors and other providers perform abortions in situations where it is illegal, then they should face penalties - including 25% who say the doctors/providers should serve jail time for performing abortions illegally, 18% who say they should face fines or community service, and 17% who aren't sure what type of penalty would be appropriate. In response to a separate question, 31% of Americans say doctors should lose their medical licenses for performing an abortion illegally.

Compared with views on penalizing doctors, there is less support for punishing women who obtain an abortion illegally or for punishing people who help find, schedule and pay for the procedures. Nearly half of U.S. adults (47%) say women who obtain an abortion illegally should be penalized for doing so, while half say such women should not face penalties. Roughly four-in-ten favor legal punishments for people who help pay for an abortion that is performed illegally (43%) or who help find and schedule it (41%).

Support for punishing those who perform or obtain abortions illegally is tied to views about whether abortion should be legal or illegal in the first place. Still, 55% of those who say abortion should be legal, with some exceptions, say doctors who perform abortions in situations where it is illegal should face penalties, as do overwhelming shares of those who say abortion should always or mostly be illegal. See Chapter 1 for details.

Partisan differences in views of abortion

There are wide differences between the views of Democrats and Republicans on abortion. Democrats are far more likely than Republicans to say abortion should be legal in most or all cases, while Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say it should be illegal in most or all cases.

And in every specific scenario asked about in the survey - including situations where pregnancy threatens the life or health of the woman, or where pregnancy is the result of rape - Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say abortion should be legal.

Still, most Democrats say there are at least some instances in which abortion should be illegal, and most Republicans say there are at least some instances in which abortion should be legal, including when the life or health of the pregnant woman is at risk and when the pregnancy is the result of rape.

About half of Democrats and roughly two-thirds of Republicans say the stage of pregnancy should be a factor in determining abortion's legality. Four-in-ten Democrats and independents who lean toward the Democratic Party (40%) say the statement "human life begins at conception, so a fetus is a person with rights" describes their own view at least somewhat well, and more than half of Republicans and GOP leaners (55%) say the same about the statement "the decision about whether to have an abortion should belong solely to the pregnant woman."

Women are more likely than men to have thought 'a lot' about abortion, but there are only modest gender differences in views of legality

More than half of U.S. adults - including 60% of women and 51% of men - say that women should have a greater say than men in setting abortion policy. Just 3% of U.S. adults say men should have more influence over abortion policy than women, with the remainder (39%) saying women and men should have equal say when it comes to making abortion policy.

The survey also finds that by some metrics, women report being closer to the issue than men. For example, women are more likely than men to say they have thought "a lot" about abortion (40% vs. 30%). They are also considerably more likely to say they personally know someone who has had an abortion (66% vs. 51%) - a gap that is evident across age groups, political parties and religious groups.

But there are only modest gender differences on the survey's questions about abortion's legality; women and men mostly agree with each other that abortion should be legal in cases of danger to the life or health of the pregnant woman and in the case of rape. More than half of both women and men agree that how long a woman has been pregnant should be a factor in determining whether abortion is legal in any given case. And while women are slightly more likely than men to say abortion should be legal in all cases with no exceptions (21% vs. 17%), large majorities of both women (68%) and men (74%) say there are some cases where abortion should be legal and others where it should be illegal.

White evangelicals are most opposed to abortion - but majorities across Christian subgroups see gray areas

Among religious groups analyzed in the survey, White evangelical Protestants are most opposed to abortion. Nearly three-quarters say that abortion should be against the law in all cases without exception (21%) or that it should be illegal in most cases (53%). White evangelicals are also far more likely than U.S. adults who identify with other religious groups to say that life begins at conception and that the fetus is thus a person with rights; 86% of White evangelicals express this view. White evangelicals are also more likely than those in other Christian groups to say their opinions on abortion are influenced by their religious beliefs.

At the other end of the spectrum, religious "nones" - U.S. adults who describe themselves, religiously, as atheists, agnostics or "nothing in particular" - are most supportive of legal abortion. Among religious "nones," upwards of eight-in-ten say abortion should be legal in all cases with no exceptions (34%) or that it should be legal in most cases (51%). Self-described atheists are more absolutist in their opinions about abortion than any other religious group analyzed in the survey, with 53% saying abortion should be legal in all cases, no exceptions.

White Protestants who are not evangelical, Black Protestants, and Catholics tend to be less opposed to legal abortion than White evangelicals, but they are also less supportive of it than religious "nones."

One commonality across these groups is that sizable numbers in all of them see the issue of abortion in shades of gray. Large majorities in every group - ranging from 63% of religious "nones" to 78% of White non-evangelical Protestants - say abortion should be legal in some circumstances and illegal in others. Half of White evangelicals (51%) say abortion should be legal if the pregnancy threatens the life or health of the woman. Half of religious "nones" (50%) say the stage of pregnancy should factor into decisions about whether abortion should be legal.

Although the survey was conducted among Americans of all religious backgrounds, including Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus, it did not obtain enough respondents who are religiously affiliated with non-Christian groups to report separately on their responses. Small subgroups of Christians are unable to be analyzed separately for the same reason.

Guide to this report

The remainder of this report discusses these findings in additional detail. Chapter 1 focuses on legal questions surrounding abortion. Chapter 2 examines the broader moral and religious questions surrounding the topic. Chapter 3 discusses the public's experiences and engagement with abortion.

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A majority of Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, but many are open to restrictions; many opponents of legal abortion say it should be legal in some circumstances.

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Submitted by Cheily Lee and Sophia Park

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Thousands of people were taking part in protests across the US on Saturday to decry the supreme court's expected reversal of the landmark 1973 law that made abortion legal in America.

Organizers said there were more than 380 protest events in cities including major demonstrations in Washington DC, New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago to demand that the right to an abortion is not stripped away by the court, which is dominated by rightwing justices.

Gathering in large groups and holding signs that included slogans such as "Reproductive justice for all" and "We will not go back", and chanting "My body, my choice", the protesters have been spurred by the leak of a supreme court draft opinion on 2 May. The leaked draft showed that the five rightwing justices on the nine-member court had voted to overturn Roe v Wade, the historic case that provided federal protection for abortion rights and proved a beacon in international efforts to improve the rights of women.

In the US capital, protesters gathered at the Washington Monument before marching to the supreme court, which is surrounded by a security fence. Some held pictures of coat hangers to symbolize the dangerous measures some people resorted to for illegal abortions prior to the Roe v Wade ruling. "If it's a fight they want, it's a fight they'll get," said Rachel Carmona, executive director of the Women's March, one of the groups, along with Planned Parenthood, UltraViolet and MoveOn that organized Saturday's demonstrations, which they called "Bans Off Our Bodies".

"We have to see an end to the attacks on our bodies," Carmona added. "You can expect for women to be completely ungovernable until this government starts to work for us."

An abortion rights protester at the rally in Washington DC. Photograph: Leah Millis/Reuters

If the court were to end protections for abortion following the challenge brought by Mississippi, at least 26 US states, mostly in the south and midwest, would be certain or likely to outlaw abortion, forcing women to travel hundreds of miles to the nearest clinic, self-manage abortions with medication and heighten the risk of prosecution, abuse and violence for women and doctors.

Even though a clear majority of Americans support in principle women's right to have an abortion, the topic has long been a politically toxic one, with Republicans persistently pushing for the protections to be weakened or scrapped entirely.

Oklahoma and Texas, both Republican-led states, have established bans on abortion after six weeks, while lawmakers in Louisiana recently mulled a bill that would charge women with murder should they end their pregnancy.

Protest organizers stressed that abortion remains legal until the final supreme court decision. "Planned Parenthood health centers remain open, abortion is currently still legal, and we will continue to fight like hell to protect the right to access safe, legal abortion," said Alexis McGill Johnson, chief executive of of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

But people at the protests spoke of their alarm over the prospect of losing a right that women have relied upon for the past 50 years. "How can they take away what I feel is a human right from us?" said Julie Kinsella, a teacher who took part in the New York protest. Kinsella said she felt "anger" and "outrage" when she heard the news of the draft opinion.

"It just made me think: what direction is the US moving toward with that decision?" she said. "We have made so much progress up until this point. I would just hate to see us backtrack and fight for what we already have right now."

Thousands of people march for abortion rights across the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Other women shared their own experiences of abortion. Teisha Kimmons, who traveled 80 miles to attend the Chicago rally, said she feared for women in states that are ready to ban abortion. She said she might not be alive today if she had not had a legal abortion when she was 15.

"I was already starting to self-harm and I would have rather died than have a baby," said Kimmons, a massage therapist from Rockford, Illinois.

At the rally in Los Angeles, Gloria Allred, the women's rights lawyer, shared the story of how she had an illegal abortion in California in the 1960s, before Roe v Wade.

"I was left in a bathtub in a pool of my own blood," Allred said. "A nurse said to me, 'I hope this teaches you a lesson.' It did teach me a lesson, but not the one she wanted. Abortion must be safe, it must be legal, it must be affordable, it must be available."

Barbara Lee, a Democratic member of Congress, also told the Los Angeles crowd of her own pre-Roe abortion, which happened when she was a teenager. "We're here today to tell these radical extremists that if you criminalize people for having an abortion, if you make abortion illegal, if you take away our rights to make our personal decisions about our bodies, we will see you at the ballot box in November," Lee said.

Elijah Lopez, 15, stood side by side with his mother, Lidia, at the rally carrying a sign that said: "My mom is pissed." Lidia's sign read: "Yeah, I'm pissed."

"Today is an important day in history," she said, referring to the rallies taking place across the US. "I was telling my son even though California is likely to maintain reproductive rights, in many other states that's not going to be the case."

"We can show them that people don't want this," Elijah said.

They came from the Inland Empire to advocate for reproductive rights together, part of a shared tradition of activism that began years ago when they started demonstrating against family separation under the Trump administration, which Lidia said was her son's introduction to peaceful protest.

"It's easy to just not do anything. We have to take as many opportunities as we can to show up. I want him to be here," she said.

People hold up a sign supporting abortion rights during a rally outside city hall in Los Angeles. Photograph: Caroline Brehman/EPA

Saturday's rally brought out many people who had never attended such protests before but were called to action seeing reproductive rights in jeopardy. Reginald Wheeler, a lifelong Los Angeles resident, said the event downtown marked his first protest.

"I support women," he said. "I would hope this is a reality check for those judges." He added that he worries about what will happen when people don't have access to abortion. "We're gonna have a lot of unwanted children, children suffering from homelessness."

Luna Hernandez with Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights, an organizer of the rally, said the event would get people into the streets to stop the supreme court from taking away reproductive rights.

"Only the people can stop this," Hernandez said. "We have to refuse to allow this. This has to be a turning point, it's not a done deal.

"When abortion is illegal, women die. Forced motherhood is female enslavement," she said.

The prospect of looming bans on abortion in dozens of US states has provoked international, as well as domestic alarm. On Saturday, Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng, the United Nations special rapporteur on the right to health, told the Guardian that the US should not drop federal protections for abortion.

"It sends chills down my spine to think that the court is being brought on to play - as a very powerful player - to decide on an issue of human rights that has jurisprudence, and has a basis in legal findings, that will actually lead to restriction of rights," said Mofokeng.

The primary concern of Clarence Thomas, however, appears to be the leak itself. Thomas, a conservative supreme justice, said the release of the draft opinion to Politico was "tremendously bad".

The judge, whose wife Virginia repeatedly urged Donald Trump's chief of staff to take steps to overturn the 2020 election won by Joe Biden, told a conference in Dallas: "I wonder how long we're going to have these institutions at the rate we're undermining them. And then I wonder when they're gone or destabilized, what we're going to have as a country."

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'We will not go back': thousands rally for abortion rights across the US

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Thousands of people were taking part in protests across the US on Saturday to decry the supreme court's expected reversal of the landmark 1973 law that made abortion legal in America.

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Submitted by Sophia and Cheily

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Women > Abortion > United States
Abortion: United States

Restrictions on womens access to safe abortion are not limited to Mexico. Even in the United States, where abortion is legal, services are not readily accessible. In fact, many women and girls face serious legal or financial obstacles to accessing safe abortion services because of burdensome regulations, lack of providers, insufficient funding, or political opposition.

Obstacles to safe abortion in the United States seem to be on the rise. Since the landmark Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade in 1973, which established womens right to decide with regard to abortion as a matter of privacy, both state and federal legislators have limited access to legal abortion. These roll-back measures generally seek to do one of two things:

1. curtail womens access to legal abortion (such as through mandatory waiting periods or mandatoryand at times manifestly inaccuratecounseling); or

2. limit legal access to abortion to certain populations (such as rape victims or women whose lives are endangered by their pregnancy).

Women with limited economic resources face additional obstacles to safe abortion, resulting particularly in discrimination against women who may already be marginalized. Abortion services have been subject to a federal funding freeze since 1977 except in cases of life endangerment, rape, or incest. Furthermore, the majority of states do not provide funding for abortion services that fall outside these exceptions. A safe abortion often costs $500-$1,500. As a result, women with limited resourceswho have not been raped or whose lives are not endangered by their pregnancymay be forced to choose between carrying an unwanted pregnancy to term or taking desperate measures that could seriously jeopardize their health.

Regulatory Obstacles to Abortion in the United States

Since 1973, the United States Supreme Court has consistently ruled that an outright ban on abortion is unconstitutional. However, the Court has allowed states to regulate and limit access to abortion, so long as they do not place an undue burden on the individual seeking to terminate her pregnancy.

Over the past decade, legislators at the state and federal levels have pushed the limits of this Supreme Court mandate, and at times have imposed regulations with the explicit aim of challenging the constitutionality of legal abortion. Many states implement regulations that, in practice, may be unduly burdensome. For example, some states require that women and girls who wish to terminate a pregnancy submit themselves to counseling, which, in addition to being unsolicited, is often manifestly biased and medically unsound.

Inaccurate or Imposed Information

According to the nongovernmental research organization Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI), as of September 2006 well over half the states in the United States (32) subject all women seeking abortion to mandatory counseling. Three states require clinics to inform women of a purported link between abortion and breast cancer, which numerous scientific studies have conclusively disproved. Four states also stipulate that women must be told that the fetus might be capable of feeling pain at any point during gestation. Such information, however, is contrary to recent scientific studies that conclude that fetuses cannot feel pain until the twenty-ninth week of gestation. In fact, as 90 percent of abortions in the United States occur in the first twelve weeks of the pregnancy, the mandatory information on fetal pain is not only scientifically wrong, but also irrelevant to the vast majority of abortion patients.

Access to accurate and complete information on medical procedures is an integral part of the human right to the highest attainable standard of health, and also essential to the principle of informed consent. When health professionals are required to give women and girls one-sided or inaccurate information about medical proceduresas the law mandates in many jurisdictions in the United Statesthe human right to health is threatened.

Mandatory Waiting Periods Add Cost

According to AGI, 24 of the 32 states that require mandatory counseling also require women and girls to wait for a specific period of timemost often twenty-four hoursbetween the counseling session and the abortion. While a waiting period before a medical procedure may not in and of itself be incompatible with the right to health, it can create additional, and potentially unduly burdensome, barriers to access to safe and legal abortions. For example, in those states where the law requires an in-person counseling procedure (as opposed to over the phone) a mandatory waiting period requires that the patient travel at least twice to the abortion facility. As a consequence, many must leave work for several days, and where there are no abortion facilities nearbyand 87 percent of U.S. counties have no such facilities (2000 figures, latest available)the mandatory waiting period may require such additional cost as an overnight stay or several long-distance trips.

Added Restrictions for Girls

Many U.S.-based NGOs note that girls typically are subject to more restrictions than adult women regarding access to safe abortion. AGI and NARAL Pro-Choice America note that 44 states have laws on the books requiring parental consent or notification prior to a minors abortion. More than 20 states enforce parental consent laws requiring consent from a parent before a minor may obtain a legal abortionin 3 cases the laws require consent from both parents. Further, more than 10 states have laws requiring that a parent be informed of a minors intent to have an abortion, and 2 states require that both parents be informed.

Mandatory parental consent and notification regulations are problematic for a number of reasons, especially in cases where both parents must consent or be notified. Abortion providers in the United States note from experience that the vast majority of teenage girls already seek support and guidance from one or both parents. The impact of notification and consent laws thus falls hardest on particularly vulnerable girls unable to involve their parents in their decision, including girls who do not have contact with either or both parents.

International human rights law requires governments to prioritize the best interests of children at all times, and to give the childs opinion due weight according to his or her evolving capacities. A parents declared opposition to abortion should not automatically result in the assumption that carrying a pregnancy to term is in the best interest of the child, especially when the pregnant girl herself declares a desire to terminate the pregnancy. A U.S. Supreme Court precedent mandates that parental consent laws must have a judicial procedure to waive parental consent in specific circumstances. It is incumbent upon states to ensure that this precedent is reflected in law and adequately protects the interests of all children.

Criminalization of Doctors and Family Members

Women and girls who procure abortions are currently not subject to criminal sanctions anywhere in the United States. However, in some states, family members, doctors, nurses, and friends who support women and girls in need of an abortion soon could be.

In July 2006, the U.S. Senate passed a version of the Child Custody Protection Act, a version of which had already passed as the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act in the House of Representatives in April 2005. If this law enters into force, any adult who helps a minor cross a state line to procure an abortion in circumvention of parental consent or notification regulations in the childs home state would be committing a federal crime.

Furthermore, some states have passed legislation to criminalize medical doctors who perform abortions on certain types of patients. Most prominent is the blanket ban on abortion in South Dakota, signed into law in March 2006, which makes abortion illegal except when the procedure is carried out to save the pregnant womans life. Nongovernmental advocacy organizations that follow closely the developments of abortion legislation note that several other statesincluding Georgia, Indiana, Ohio, Louisiana, and Tennesseehave moved to enact similar legislation.

Conclusion

Abortion is a highly emotional subject and one that excites deeply held opinions. However, equitable access to safe and legal abortion services is first and foremost a human right. In the United States the legality of abortion co-exists with cumbersome regulations, thinly veiled political opposition to a womans right to make independent decisions regarding pregnancy and abortion, and a lack of federal and state funding for the provision of abortion services for poor women that seriously hampers womens ability to exercise this right. Until access to safe abortion is guaranteed, the human rights of women and girls across the United States will not be fully secure.

What you can do:

Write letters to your federal and state senators or representatives urging them to ensure equitable access to reproductive health services, including modern contraceptive methods, emergency contraception, and voluntary abortion services. A number of bills have already been introduced on these issues. In particular, you should encourage your federal congressperson to support:

The Compassionate Assistance for Rape Emergencies Act (CARE S.1264/H.R.2928). This bill would ensure that survivors of sexual assault are offered the morning-after pill in the emergency room.

The Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA S.2593/H.R.5151). FOCA guarantees a womans right to choose to bear a child or to terminate a pregnancy without interference by the state or others.

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Human Rights Watch: Women's Human Rights: Abortion

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Women > Abortion > United States Restrictions on womens access to safe abortion are not limited to Mexico. Even in the United States, where abortion is legal, services are not readily accessible. In fact, many women and girls face serious legal or financial obstacles to accessing safe abortion services because of burdensome regulations, lack of providers, insufficient funding, or political opposition.

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Good resource with info about current challenge to Roe V/ Wade in USA
Mrs. Mugatha

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Unborn in the USA: what happened and what’s next for Roe v Wade and abortion rights?

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The US appears poised to remove the guaranteed right of access to abortion—but it was already halfway there, reports Joanne Silberner Obstetrician-gynaecologist Sarah Prager lives and works in Washington state, in the far northwestern corner of the US. “I’ve never felt any pressure not to provide…

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https://www.hsi.org/news-media/new-poll-shows-majority-of-south-koreans-reject-eating-dog-meat-as-hsi-rescues-nearly-200-dogs-from-meat-farm/
Submitted by Jioh Kim

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SEOUL-A new opinion poll in South Korea shows growing support for a ban on dog meat consumption, with 84% of those polled saying they don't or won't eat dog, and almost 60% supporting a legislative ban on the trade. The poll, conducted by Nielsen and commissioned by Humane Society International/Korea, is released on the day HSI/Korea rescues 170 dogs from a dog meat farm in Haemi, to seek new homes in the United States and Canada.

Key poll findings include:

84% of South Koreans haven't consumed dog meat or say they are not willing to consume it in the future.

59% of South Koreans support banning dog meat, an increase of 24% from 2017, with opposition to a ban at an all-time low (fewer than half (41%) of the population.

57% of South Koreans believe dog meat consumption reflects poorly on Korea, increasing from 37% in 2017.

The 170 dogs rescued by HSI were kept in filthy cages on the dog meat farm until farmer Il-Hwan Kim asked HSI for help closing after 40 years in the dog meat business. This is the 17th dog farm permanently closed down by the animal protection group, and farmer Kim's story is becoming increasingly familiar as the decline in popularity of dog meat in South Korea sees more farmers struggle to make a living. A further 26 dogs also headed to the United States to start a new life had been saved from the dog meat trade by HSI in previous rescue operations but had been unable to leave their South Korean temporary shelter until now due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. In total, HSI is taking 196 dog meat trade survivors out of South Korea on a single flight, including a poodle, Korean jindos and mastiffs, Pomeranians, terriers and a Labrador retriever.

Due to COVID-19 safety precautions, the rescue effort saw HSI's U.S. team quarantine for two weeks at a government-sanctioned hotel in Seoul before being allowed to head to the dog meat farm to rescue the dogs. As dog adoption is not yet widely accepted in South Korea, HSI's Shelter and Rescue partners in the United States and Canada will take the dogs and start the process of matching them with forever families. HSI hopes that its work to raise awareness about the benefits of adoption and promotion of its adoption success stories overseas, will gradually lead to more dogs finding forever families within the country.

Nara Kim, HSI/Korea's dog meat campaign manager, says: " Every dog meat farm I've visited has a horrible stench of faeces and rotting food, but there is something different about this dog farm, it smells of death. The conditions are truly pitiful, and when we found these dogs they had looks of utter despair on their faces that will haunt us forever. Many of them are covered in painful sores and wounds from neglect, some have inflamed eyes and peer out blindly from their cage. I feel grateful they can no longer see this horrible place they live in, and when they finally receive veterinary care and can open their eyes, they will never have to endure this hopelessness again."

As the Nielsen/HSI poll shows, most South Koreans do not consume dog meat, and a growing population see dogs only as companion animals. The suffering of dogs and the unsanitary conditions on meat farms has also received far greater visibility in South Korean media in recent times, with rescues by local Korean animal welfare groups and Humane Society International/Korea featured on prime time Korean TV, contributing to rising support for a ban on this cruel industry that keeps around 2 million dogs on thousands of farms in deprived conditions.

A study from the University of Glasgow published last year revealed that dogs on South Korean dog meat farms live with chronic cumulative stress, twice as high as pet dogs living in and around Seoul. Researchers examined levels of the stress hormone cortisol in dog hair samples, including from 63 dogs rescued from farms by Humane Society International. Cortisol is released into the bloodstream by the adrenal glands when the body perceives stress. In the short term this supports a "flight or fight" response, but when cortisol is elevated for long periods it can result in negative consequences including poor immune function, greater susceptibility to disease and decreased quality of life and welfare.

Nara Kim says: " More people in South Korea are interested in animal welfare and the environment, and so when they see footage of our dog farm closures on the news showing the animal suffering and filthy conditions, or read about dog meat exposés by other Korean groups, they are really shocked and upset. The inevitable drop in sales is leading more dog farmers to look for a way out, and right now HSI runs the only scheme in the country working in partnership with dog farmers to help them start a new life. But we hope in time the Korean government will adopt this type of approach to phase out the dog meat industry for good."

Farmer Il-Hwan Kim says in the last 10 years business has been really bad. He says: " There is no future in dog meat at all, it's already dying and will fall apart completely. And dog farming is physically hard and I'm getting old, so I want to get out. Forty years ago it was different, but now it's over for dog farming. I might start work in construction, because I used to work in scaffolding and there are opportunities there."
Facts:

Dog meat is most popular during the Bok days of summer in July and August based on its perceived curative properties during the hot and humid summer months.

Recent crackdowns by authorities to curb the dog meat industry include the shutting down of Taepyeong dog slaughterhouse (the country's largest) by Seongnam City Council in November 2018, followed in July 2019 by the closure of Gupo dog meat market in Busan (South Korea's second largest dog meat market after Moran market, which has also closed), and a declaration in October last year by the mayor of Seoul that the city is "dog slaughter free". In November 2019 a Supreme Court found that a dog farmer who electrocuted dogs was in violation of the Animal Protection Act, a judgement that could have huge implications for an industry that relies almost entirely on electrocution as a killing method.

HSI has rescued more than 2,000 dogs from 17 South Korean dog farms. The farmers sign a 20-year contract, stipulating they will not breed dogs or any animals again, and the cages are demolished to ensure that no animals will suffer on the property in future. HSI follows up regularly to ensure compliance among past farmers.

This farm closure was conducted under COVID-19 health and safety restrictions, including HSI's U.S. team quarantining in a government-sanctioned hotel for 14 days before starting the rescue. At each dog meat farm closure, HSI has a veterinarian test for the presence of the H3N2 virus ("canine influenza"), at the time the dogs receive their rabies, DHPP and coronavirus vaccines. HSI also vaccinates the dogs for distemper and parvo. HSI then quarantines the dogs on the farm or at a shelter for at least 30 days, and the dogs are health certified again prior to transport overseas.

Download b-roll video and photos of the rescue here
ENDS
Media contact:
Nielsen online research conducted August/September 2020. Total sample size 1,000 people across six major cities in South Korea (Busan, Daegu, Incheon, Gwangju, Daejeon, Ulsan) weighted and representative of South Korean adults (aged 18+).

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New poll shows 84% of South Koreans reject eating dog meat as HSI rescues nearly 200 dogs from meat farm that "smells of death"

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SEOUL-A new opinion poll in South Korea shows growing support for a ban on dog meat consumption, with 84% of...

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Submitted by Alex J

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While slaughtering dogs and eating their meat may horrify Americans, it's a longstanding custom in South Korea and other Asian nations. Most South Koreans don't eat dog meat, though a minority do. Young South Koreans are abandoning the tradition, even as animal rights groups campaign to end it.

Generations of Americans have loved dogs and been moved to tears over them - think of Old Yeller, Lassie, Marley, the movie A Dog's Purpose, and Seymour from the Futurama episode Jurassic Bark.

South Koreans, however, historically regarded dogs as edible farm animals, not loving indoor companions. Dogs were more plentiful than cattle, which were scarce and valued for farm labor such as pulling carts or plowing fields.

That lingering view affects how South Koreans consider dogs today, as the country grapples with its practice of raising dogs for meat and dog meat consumption itself.

About 2.5 million dogs are raised in South Korean dog farms each year. About 1 million are killed and eaten. The rest are used for breeding with many dogs dying because of the farms' high mortality rate, according to Humane Society International, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that advocates for animal protection worldwide.

The South Korean mindset toward dogs began changing in the 1980s and '90s as the nation grew wealthier and Western influence increased. Younger Koreans began advocating for abolishment of dog farms. Some are acquiring dogs as pets.

These developments counter a long history, which suggests Koreans have been eating dogs for more than a thousand years. They were a familiar food source during the near-starvation years of Japan's brutal occupation of Korea, World War II, and the Korean War.

These days, South Koreans who eat dog meat eat much of it during boknal, the hottest days of the year, in July and August. Some believe consuming it revives energy or virility sapped by the heat. They consider dog meat in bosintang stew or the drink gaesoju as "a soup form of Gatorade," according to American food writer Joe McPherson in a 2015 UPI interview.

About 70 percent of South Korea's 51.5 million population disapprove of eating dogs, according to a July 2017 survey cited by Humane Society International. While the number of dog farms has been reduced, nearly 17,000 remain in South Korea, a country slightly larger than Indiana.

However, the number of South Koreans surveyed who say they would not eat dog meat is growing. Yet some, bowing to history, say the practice should not be completely outlawed.

Confusing laws let dog farms operate

The term gray area appears frequently when researching South Korean laws on dogs and dog meat. Dogs are not classified as livestock under South Korea's 1962 Livestock Processing Act, which means their slaughter is not regulated.

However, dogs are recognized as food by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, which says any edible product (except drugs) can be called food.

A Food Sanitation Law in 1984 prohibited restaurants from selling food considered "disgusting, repugnant, unhealthy or unsanitary." Dogs were cited among specific examples, but the law was not enforced.

In 1991, the Korean National Assembly passed an Animal Protection Law forbidding the killing of non-livestock animals "in a way which is cruel or provokes disgust without proper, rational reason."" It also prohibited inflicting unnecessary pain or injury. The intent was to end cruel slaughter of dogs and cats. The law, however, was criticized as too vague and was rarely enforced.

The South Korean legal discord over dog meat is akin to confusing U.S. views on marijuana. As a Lewis & Clark Law School study notes, though "recreational use of marijuana is effectively legal in some states," federal law continues to classify it as a controlled substance.

South Korean lawmakers have tried to close regulatory gaps without success. Even subsequent amendments to laws prohibiting cruel killing are seldom enforced.

The result is South Korean dog farms continue to operate. The most common dog breed raised for food is called nureongi - Korean for "yellow dog." They have short, yellow fur, are considered mid-sized, and are seldom adopted as pets. However, many other breeds have been found in dog farms, says Humane Society International.

Sports events put focus on dogs

Dogs-as-food has never been a secret, but the world started paying serious attention to South Korea in 1988, when the Winter Olympics were held in Seoul. The South Korean government asked restaurants to downplay serving dog meat. Westerners protested the treatment of dogs then, and again leading up to the 2002 FIFA World Cup, held in South Korea and Japan.

French actress Brigitte Bardot, an animal rights activist, was vilified in South Korea after criticizing the practice in a 2001 interview:
"Cows are grown to be eaten; dogs are not. I accept that many people eat beef, but a cultured country does not allow its people to eat dogs."

Attention was renewed in 2018 with the Winter Olympics in South Korea's Gangwon Province. American skier Gus Kenworthy became a high-profile advocate when he adopted a puppy from a dog farm. On Instagram Kenworthy wrote:
"I do agree that it's not my place to impose western ideals on the people here. The way these animals are being treated, however, is completely inhumane and culture should never be a scapegoat for cruelty."
Brutal living conditions, horrifying deaths

Visitors to South Korean dog farms routinely describe them as cruel and inhumane. Dogs are crammed in wire cages, never cleaned, and fed the worst kind of food, including meat from dead dogs and feces.

USA TODAY journalists covering the 2018 Olympics wrote:
"The grim surroundings of the farm pains the senses. The first thing to be noticed is the sound, the pitiful whines and yelps of about 300 animals being kept in filthy cages until their execution."
More: Inside the grim scene of a Korean dog meat farm, just miles from the Winter Olympics

Dogs in South Korea are usually killed by electrocution. Humane Society International says electrocuted dogs are soaked with water and shocked with an electric rod. The process can take 2 to 3 minutes or more. Other countries use more brutal methods.

U.S. didn't officially outlaw killing dogs for food until 2018

Until 2018 in the U.S., it was extremely rare, but legal, in 44 states to kill dogs and cats for food. President Trump signed the Dog and Cat Meat Prohibition Act on Dec. 20, which makes it a federal offense to slaughter, trade, import or export dogs and cats for human consumption. Native American tribes are exempted for religious rituals.

Supporters of the U.S. act say it bolsters efforts for international bans on killing dogs and cats for food around the world, including South Korea.

In the meantime, South Korea's movement against dog meat and farms is gaining traction:

June 20, 2018: A member of Parliament proposes strengthening South Korea's Animal Protection Act to prohibit killing animals 'in principle,' except when slaughtered or disposed of to prevent disease.

June 21, 2018: A South Korean court rules it's illegal to kill dogs for meat. (Debate on that decision continues.)

Nov. 22, 2018: Seoul closes Taepyeong, considered the largest dog-killing operation in the country. (It had six slaughterhouses.) That closure leads to the shutdown of the Moran Market, once the largest seller of dog meat in South Korea.

Feb. 12, 2019: The mayor of Seoul says he intends to close dog slaughterhouses in the city.

Feb. 22, 2019: Humane Society International reports closing its 14th dog farm in four years.

SOURCES Humane Society International; Associated Press; koreananimals.org; Sydney Morning Herald; Rakhyun Kim, University of Auckland, New Zealand, and Utrecht University, Netherlands; Anthony Podberscek, University of Cambridge, U.K.; Claire Czajkowski, Lewis & Clark Law School, Oregon; The Korea Herald; BBC; United Press International; USA TODAY research; TOP PHOTO Sandy Hooper/USA TODAY, February 2018; GRAPHICS George Petras/USA TODAY

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South Koreans eat more than 1 million dogs each year - but that's slowly changing. Here's why.

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While slaughtering dogs and eating their meat may horrify Americans, it's a longstanding custom in South Korea and other Asian nations. Most South Koreans don't eat dog meat, though a minority do. Young South Koreans are abandoning the tradition, even as animal rights groups campaign to end it.

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http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20190220000488
Short Video:
https://youtu.be/0PbqNdZ0SLU
Submitted by Jioh Kim

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HONGSEONG, South Chungcheong Province -- On a rainy Friday morning, howls filled the cold, foggy air around a recently decommissioned dog farm in a remote corner of South Chungcheong Province. Here some 200 dogs had been confined in filthy cages with inadequate food, water and care.

Friday was the third day of Humane Society International's dog rescue project, which kicked off on Feb. 13 as part of the organization's efforts to save dogs from Korea's puppy mill trade and dog meat industry. The global animal protection organization dispatched five veteran staff members in the project's first week to rescue every dog from the farm.

"Today we are here to move the dogs out from the farm and send them to Canada and the US for adoption," said Adam Parascandola, a senior director from HSI's animal protection and crisis response team.

"We already removed some 40 dogs over the last two days, and will remove 38 more today."

Plastic crates were piled on the ground, waiting to transport the rescued dogs and puppies to Incheon Airport.

When staff approached the cages, barking built to a crescendo as the canines desperately seemed to call for help. A tiny golden brown poodle could barely be heard, hoarse from woofing too much.

The staff entered the cages and carefully brought the dogs out one by one. As the operation proceeded, more dogs jumped and barked in agitation to escape.

The farm had been divided into two parts, with some cages located in a wide open space outside and other cages inside a makeshift building. Pregnant dogs and newborn puppies stayed in heated cages. Most of the dogs, however, were confined to cramped cages exposed to the subzero temperatures of Korea's harsh winter.

Before the rescue staff put down straw in the cages, dogs were forced to wrap their paws uncomfortably around the steel piping of the cages, which were suspended about 50 centimeters above ground.

"When we first came here, the dogs and puppies were eating meals made out of food garbage and the leftovers from chicken processing factories," Kim Na-ra from HSI told The Korea Herald.

"At least, the owner here seemed to have cleaned up the feces frequently. In some dog meat farms, feces pile up and rot under the cage for years."

The breeds on the farm varied from toy dogs, including Chihuahuas, corgis, Yorkshire terriers, poodles, Pomeranians, shih tzus and French bulldogs, to bigger breeds such as huskies and Jindos, which are indigenous to Korea, as the owner bred all kinds of dogs for both the pet trade and slaughter.

"I started the dog meat farm with four dogs eight years ago," the 60-year-old farm owner, surnamed Lee, told The Korea Herald.

"The business became increasingly unprofitable as years passed, since many people in Korea don't eat dogs anymore."

He said he was looking to exit the trade because business was slow and his family had also put pressure on him to find a better paying occupation.

HSI gave Lee compensation for the closure of the farm and to support retraining. Lee will begin a computer competence course and said he hopes to become a security guard.

As Lee said, the popularity of dog meat has slowly decreased here as public sentiment toward eating dog meat has grown more negative.

According to the latest survey conducted by Gallup Korea in 2018, about 60 percent of 1,006 respondents felt negative about dog meat consumption, while 74.8 percent said they would not eat dog meat in the future.

Last year, more than 214,000 people signed a petition calling for the prohibition of the slaughter of dogs on Cheong Wa Dae's official online petition platform. There were also three similar petitions registered on the platform that garnered over 200,000 signatures that same year.

(Shot and edited by Park Ju-young / The Korea Herald)

"I earned at least 200,000 won ($178) if I sold a 30-kilogram dog in the past, but they now cost less than 100,000 won. More than half of dog meat farms in Hongseong have shut down due to financial difficulties," Lee said.

Lee reduced the number of dogs raised for slaughter from 70 to 20. Instead, he started a puppy mill business by buying small dogs at auction.

"I had bought 1- to 3-year-old dogs from the dog auctions. The female dogs gave birth twice a year, and the puppies were brought to auctions for sale 30 days after they were born. If the mother dogs became over 5 years old, I sold them via auctions for people who needed them," Lee said.

Under Korean law, the operations of puppy mills and dog auctions require permission from the government. As of Tuesday, 1,130 puppy mills and 17 auctions are officially registered on the approved list, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

Local animal activists groups, however, estimate there are over 3,000 puppy mills and 20 auctions in operation in Korea.

"It's difficult to find and regulate all illegal puppy mills here, as those are hidden all across the country. Some puppy mill owners breed dogs in their private houses, which is extremely hard to track down," Song Ji-sung, an animal activist from the Korean Animal Welfare Association, told The Korea Herald.

"As illegal routes of selling and trading puppies have increased especially via online platforms, the number of illegal puppy mills has become greater as well. The puppy mills that produce so many puppies can easily lead to animal abuse as the owners often can't offer proper conditions for the dogs to breed."

Lee in Hongseong was one of many owners who could no longer manage his farm properly. As profit plummeted and his health deteriorated, he decided in November to shut down the farm and hand over the dogs to HSI.

"The line between puppy mills and dog meat farms is routinely blurred in Korea, and with our dog farm closure we are exposing the shocking reality of that," HSI activist Kim Na-ra said.

"They all start life in this depressing, squalid place, with only a lucky few ending up as a beloved companion, while their cage mates are served at a restaurant or enter a chain of auctions where they are sold on to the next farmer to produce litter after litter of puppies."

When the staff finished placing the rescued dogs in the new crates, they were loaded on a truck headed to Incheon Airport. The dogs are set to stay in temporary shelters in the US and Canada until they find new families.

A new English name for each dog is written on the crates -- from Lily to Patrick.

"It is an immense relief to be able to rescue them and fly them to North America where we can work with partner organizations and begin the search for adoptive families. For them, the nightmare is over, and we hope that by exposing their suffering we can hasten the end of the entire industry for good," Kim said.

By Park Ju-young ( jupark@heraldcorp.com)

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HONGSEONG, South Chungcheong Province -- On a rainy Friday morning, howls filled the cold, foggy air around a recently decommissioned dog farm in a remote corner of South Chungcheong Province. Here some 200 dogs had been confined in filthy cages with inadequate food, water and care.

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Submitted by Alex J

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Seoul city council proposes bill to ban dog meat consumption - Humane Society International

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SEOUL —Humane Society International/Korea is encouraged to see reports that Yang Min-gyu, a Seoul city municipal council member, has proposed a...

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Submitted by Jioh

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Submitted by Jasmine

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There is a saying that goes, "The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated."

At a glance, South Korea -- with 15 million pet owners -- is a decent place for animals. With a growing trend toward considering pets part of the family, some guardians spare no expense and shop around carefully for the best foods, toys, vets and groomers.

Looking closely, however, there is a dark side. Many animals are abandoned when they are sick, old or no longer considered adorable. Some are abused just for fun, and still others suffer in farms and laboratories.

The number of animals admitted to shelters in Korea has increased each year -- from 102,000 in 2017 to 135,791 in 2019, government data showed. The number of animals used for experiments was 3.71 million last year. The number of police complaints filed in animal abuse cases stood at 914 in 2019, up from 69 in 2010, with few abusers sentenced to prison.

According to London-based World Animal Protection, a nonprofit animal welfare organization that evaluates different countries on the basis of laws, government bodies and support for international animal welfare standards, Korea got a score of D on the group's Animal Protection Index in 2020. A is the highest score, and G is the lowest.

Animal experts say animals' lives are still undervalued in Korea, partly because of their low status under the law.

"According to Article 98 of the Civil Code, animals are regarded as objects and the subjects of animal rights are humans. So humans can own, use, trade (animals) or do whatever they want with them -- and it goes to the extent of abusing them," said Hong Wan-sik, a professor at Konkuk University Law School, author of "Legal Common Sense of Pets" and chair of the Korea Animal Law Research Society.

Although the Animal Protection Act was created to protect animals, they still have no rights under the law and are treated as things that need to be protected and managed, he said.

"This is compared to countries like Germany, Austria and Switzerland, which recognized the special legal status of animals. In those countries, animals are not seen as objects and neither as humans. They are given special status," Hong said.

In 1990, Germany stipulated in its Civil Code that "Animals are not objects and they are protected by separate laws." In 1992, Switzerland amended its constitution to recognize that animals are not things, but beings with inherent worth.

"It is necessary to raise the legal status of animals to give people the perception that animals are living creatures," Hong said.

In 2017, former Rep. Lee Jung-mi of the Justice Party proposed adding a clause to Article 98 of the Civil Code that would have stated "animals are not objects." But it did not draw much attention in the National Assembly.

Animal protection issues have been put on the back burner in the National Assembly because the pressing agenda for the related standing committee has been livestock, or animals for commercial use, said Rep. Park Hong-geun of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea and co-chair of the Animal Welfare National Assembly Forum.

There were 89 amendments to the Animal Protection Act proposed in the 20th National Assembly, which ended in May 2020. But 37 of those proposals expired without ever being discussed due to the indifference of the standing committee.

Although animal protection faces various challenges, the situation is not hopeless. There are lawmakers, civic groups, academics and members of the general public who are constantly raising the issue and pushing for changes.

Since the 21st National Assembly began in June 2020, 42 animal-related bills have been proposed. They address animal protection, zoos and aquariums, wildlife, animals used for experiments and alternatives to animal testing.

Rep. Park said he and his colleagues are also preparing a sweeping revision to the Animal Protection Act together with the government.

"We are working to reflect a large number of pending proposals to the revision," he said.

Alongside lawmakers, a number of civic groups backed by ordinary citizens are also working on animal welfare and protection.

"I believe the perception of animals has changed a lot compared to 10 years ago," said Jung Jin-ah, a social change team leader with a local civic group called the Korean Animal Welfare Association.

She pointed to the examples of "improved awareness of stray cats, many ongoing animal rescue projects and revised animal protection laws."

Supporters of her civic group have increased in number, to 20,000 from around 1,000 in 2010, reflecting the changed public perception of animal welfare and protection.

"Still, it is not yet enough to guarantee the welfare or safety of animals. We will work harder on that."

By Shin Ji-hye ( shinjh@heraldcorp.com)

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[Animals in Korea (1)] Animals still things, not beings, in Korea

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There is a saying that goes, "The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated." At a glance, South Korea -- with 15 million pet owners -- is a decent place for animals.

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Submitted by Jasmine

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Newsela | California may pass the world's most progressive farm animal welfare law

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Some California residents are collecting signatures for a petition to end the sale of any pork, eggs or veal that comes from an animal that spent its life in a cage.

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What the Korean Government has done to help ban dog meat

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What the Korean Government has done to help ban dog meat

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Submitted by Alex J

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South Korean government to launch task force on dog meat ban

HSI/Korea has saved almost 2,500 dogs from South Korean dog meat farms

Humane Society International / South Korea

SEOUL-The South Korean government has announced its plan to set up a task force to consider a ban on the eating of dog meat. The joint announcement by government ministries comes after President Moon Jae-in suggested the time is right to consider a ban. The task force will include officials, civilian experts and stakeholder representatives, who will make recommendations on next steps to take and ways to end dog meat consumption. The discussions are expected to continue until April 2022.
"As someone who has visited many dog meat farms and witnessed first-hand the squalor, deprivation, and physical and mental trauma endured by the dogs, I dream of the day when this cruel industry will be consigned to South Korea's history books. I really hope that this taskforce is a crucial step towards that goal, and HSI/Korea stands ready to contribute our expertise in dog meat farm closures and dog welfare. With more than a million dogs every year enduring excruciating suffering and brutal deaths and with many dog farmers struggling to make a living due to dwindling consumer demand, this taskforce must deliver a bold outcome that brings relief to all. Of course the dog meat association will oppose it, that's to be expected, but the truth is that the market for dog meat is now so small, most dog farmers know there is no future in it and so it would be far better to launch a government-supported phase out. HSI/Korea has helped many farmers leave the dog meat industry behind them and switch to more sustainable and humane livelihoods. It's better for them and of course better for the dogs who will no longer be born into a life of suffering." Download video and photos of HSI/Korea's dog meat farm closure program in action. Facts:
The news is welcomed by Seoul-based animal protection organisation Humane Society International/Korea as a crucial step, but the organisation hopes for decisive action to end both the suffering of animals and the struggles of dog farmers. Since 2015, HSI/Korea has rescued almost 2,500 dogs from South Korean dog meat farms and permanently closed 17 dog farms in co-operation with farmers eager to exit the controversial and dying industry.

Nara Kim, Humane Society International/Korea's End Dog Meat campaign manager, says:

HSI/Korea helps farmers transition to new, more humane and profitable livelihoods such as chili plant growing or water truck delivery. Most of the farmers with whom HSI/Korea has worked experience mounting societal, family and financial pressure to get out of farming dogs. With growing concern for animal welfare, and over six million pet dogs now living in Korean homes, demand for dog meat has dwindled.

A 2020 opinion poll commissioned by HSI/Korea and conducted by Nielsen shows growing support for a ban on the dog meat trade, with nearly 84% of South Koreans saying they don't or won't eat dog, and almost 60% supporting a legislative ban on the trade.

Although most people in South Korea don't eat dog, the belief that dog meat soup will cool the body during the hot summer and build stamina still holds with some, particularly the older generation.

In South Korea up to 1.5 million dogs a year are raised on thousands of farms across the country. Many of them are sold to butchers for Bok Nal season across July and August, to be killed by electrocution and sold for soup.

Dog meat is banned in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand and Singapore, as well as the cities of Shenzhen and Zhuhai in mainland China, and Siem Reap province in Cambodia. An estimated 30 million dogs a year are still killed for meat in other parts of Asia.

Media contact:

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South Korean government to launch task force on dog meat ban - Humane Society International

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HSI/Korea has saved almost 2,500 dogs from South Korean dog meat farms Humane Society International / South Korea SEOUL-The South Korean government has announced its plan to set up a task force to consider a ban on the eating of dog meat.

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Korean Citizens' thoughts divided on banning dog meat

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Korean Citizens' thoughts divided on banning dog meat

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Submitted by Alex J

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Traditionally dogs are eaten during the summer months in Korea. But with an increasing number of South Koreans owning dogs as pets, dog meat is becoming more controversial and the government is under pressure to ban it.

BBC Korea brought together South Koreans with different views on the matter.

Can they overcome their differences?
Produced by: David Cann Filmed by: Jungmin Choi and Kevin Kim Edited by: Kevin Kim and Jungmin Choi

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Traditionally dogs are eaten during the summer months in Korea. But with an increasing number of South Koreans owning dogs as pets, dog meat is becoming more controversial and the government is under pressure to ban it. BBC Korea brought together South Koreans with different views on the matter.

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Consideration of closing dog meat in Korea

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Consideration of closing dog meat in Korea

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Submitted by Alex J

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South Korea to consider banning dog meat

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While the number of restaurants that serve dog meat has fallen, surveys indicate more people oppose legally banning it.

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How to help close down dog meat farms.

Submitted by Jioh

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Closing South Korea's dog meat farms

Humane Society International

In South Korea, dogs are intensively farmed for human consumption. They are given little food, usually no water, and live outdoors in small cages with no protection from the hot summers or brutally cold winters. Many suffer from disease and malnutrition and all are subjected to daily, extreme neglect. The methods used to kill the dogs are very cruel-electrocution is most common.

While the majority of South Koreans don't routinely eat dog meat, the "right" for others to do so is still strongly felt. Dog meat is mostly eaten by older, male citizens who have the misguided belief that it is beneficial for health when consumed either as a soup called "boshintang"-which is believed by some to invigorate the blood and reduce lethargy-or as a tonic (gaesoju), which is sold in traditional medicine shops. Dog meat is particularly popular during the summer months, especially during "bok nal"-the three hottest days between July and August when 70 to 80 percent of the dog meat is consumed.

Closing dog meat farms

Since 2015, HSI has worked on the ground in South Korea to shut down more than a dozen farms and rescued more than 2,000 dogs who have found loving homes in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and the Netherlands. However, these farm closures are only a small part of our strategic and ambitious program to phase out dog meat farming in South Korea.

What sets HSI's strategy apart

HSI works collaboratively with dog meat farmers who wish to leave the controversial industry but don't have the means to stop. We don't simply buy the dogs, leaving empty cages to be filled again. We sign a legally binding contract with each farmer to permanently shut down each farm and transition the dog meat farmer to a more profitable-and humane-business model, such as medicinal herb farming, water parsley farming, or blueberry farming. Our working model for change helps us demonstrate to the South Korean government that the dog meat industry can be phased out in cooperation, rather than conflict, with dog meat farmers.

Our broader campaign

Our goal is a ban on the consumption of dog meat and the cruel industry which supplies the dogs within the next 10 years. We work on the ground with local organizations and activists to create culturally sensitive solutions that will change public perceptions and influence policy makers in favor of reform. Dog meat farm closures are part of HSI's strategy to facilitate the political and societal circumstances to make this possible.

Many people in South Korea love and keep pet dogs. However, there is a misconception that "meat dogs" are different from "pet dogs." We campaign to show the public that all dogs suffer the same and are deserving of love. Another goal of our campaign is to encourage pet adoption. Currently, the few shelters in South Korea are overcrowded. Pet adoption is uncommon, particularly of large dogs, and older dogs are often discarded on farms since there are no shelters to take them.

Progress/An industry in decline

Our dog farm closures demonstrate that there is a willingness within the industry to phase out this trade. HSI works with two leading Korean groups, Korea Animal Rights Advocates (KARA) and Korean Animal Welfare Association (KAWA). Together, we have helped close some of the country's largest dog slaughterhouses and dog meat markets.

According to the Korea Times, "Fewer people in Seoul are eating dog, as nearly 40 percent of the restaurants selling dog meat have closed over the last 10 years." A 2020 opinion poll in South Korea commissioned by HSI and conducted by Nielsen, shows growing support for a ban on dog meat consumption, with 84 percent of those polled saying they don't or won't eat dog, and almost 60 percent supporting a legislative ban on the trade.

A growing number of South Korean animal rights activists are dedicated to ending the dog meat trade. Local authorities are cracking down on the industry, and new legislation applied stricter health and safety requirements on the dog farms. At a higher level, the Supreme Court concluded that killing dogs by the common method of electrocution breaches animal welfare law, and the President's Blue House pledged to consider removing dogs and cats from the legal definition of livestock. Change is taking place in South Korea like never before and HSI is proud to work alongside our Korean partners to support their work in developing practical, culturally sensitive solutions to animal welfare concerns.

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Closing South Korea's dog meat farms - Humane Society International

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Humane Society International In South Korea, dogs are intensively farmed for human consumption. They are given little food, usually no water, and live outdoors in small cages with no protection from the hot summers or brutally cold winters. Many suffer from disease and malnutrition and all are subjected to daily, extreme neglect.

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Check this out for new legislation.
Mrs. Mugatha

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We begin our work in 2022 encouraged by the knowledge that a handful of significant animal protection laws at the state level have now taken effect across the country. That makes for a great start to a year in which we hope to extend the reach of our campaigns to help all animals.

Two ballot initiatives, Proposition 12 in California, approved by voters in 2018, and Question 3 in Massachusetts, approved in 2016, are now in force in those states. These laws prohibit the sale of products from egg-laying hens confined in cages, pigs in gestation crates and calves in veal crates (in MA, the pig provision kicks in about 7 months from now).

Proposition 12, which earned the support of 63% of California voters, is the strongest farm animal protection law in U.S. history. Since its passage, it's been under steady attack from special interest groups including the National Pork Producers Council, the American Farm Bureau Federation and the North American Meat Institute. We've fought them off in the courts, and we'll be ready to face off with them and other opponents in the U.S. Congress and in state legislatures if that's what's necessary to defend the protections that Proposition 12 and related measures provide.

In 2021, we waged a successful campaign to strengthen the scope of Question 3 through a measure signed into law in late December. As a result, Massachusetts law provides precise cage-free standards for the treatment of hens, including a requirement for areas in which the birds can perch, scratch, dust bathe and lay eggs in nesting areas. Moreover, the law covers liquid eggs and other egg products used in restaurants and university dining centers, promising relief from cage confinement to an additional two million chickens.

Several laws taking effect in Illinois this year are heartening as precedents for the future of our companion animal protection efforts. As of February 23, Illinois pet shops will be permitted only to adopt out dogs and cats received from animal shelters or animal control facilities; they cannot legally sell animals sourced from puppy and kitten mills. In addition, Illinois pet dealers are no longer able to offer financing for puppies and kittens, under a law we argued was necessary to prevent pet purchase loans with exorbitant interest rates and hidden fees. Another Illinois law taking effect will allow low and very low-income tenants to keep pets and prevent landlords from adopting policies that prohibit pets of a specific breed or size. This law applies to certain multifamily rental housing units that receive funds from a state-administered affordable housing fund and spare renters from having to choose between relinquishing their pets or keeping a roof over their heads. Landlords may continue to enforce policies related to sanitation, vaccination and registration of pets under the law, which also specifies that a housing provider will not be held liable for injuries caused by a tenant's pet, except in cases of willful and wanton misconduct.

Under new laws in Nevada and New York, insurers can no longer cancel, refuse to issue or renew a policy, or increase the premium or rate for a homeowner policy based solely on the assumed breed of a homeowner's dog (with certain exemptions for dogs formally declared dangerous or vicious or having a clear history of dangerous behavior). Illinois passed a law requiring insurance companies to report data over a 2-year period on all dog-related claims to help end breed restrictions for policyholders with dogs.

In Virginia and Maryland, laws that prevent cosmetics manufacturers from conducting or contracting for cosmetic animal testing in the state are also in effect, and provisions to prohibit the sale of cosmetics products tested on animals will come into force on July 1. Laws to ban the sale of animal-tested cosmetics are also in effect in Maine and Hawaii with New Jersey's law set to take effect in March. These state laws have helped to build momentum for passage of the Humane Cosmetics Act at the federal level.

Our public policy work is complex and challenging, and success involves close coordination between our state directors, program staff and legislative and lobbying teams. The laws we seek to pass at the state level play a decisive role in advancing our priority agenda for animal protection in a range of areas. They provide encouragement for the passage of similar laws in other states. In many cases, too, they lay the groundwork for strong federal legislation on the same topics. But whatever their focus, what really matters about these laws is this: They make a difference in the lives of countless animals right now, and they'll continue to do so in the future.

Kitty Block is CEO of the Humane Society of the United States.

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Good news to start 2022: These new laws are now in place to protect animals

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By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson We begin our work in 2022 encouraged by the knowledge that a handful of significant animal protection laws at the state level have now taken effect across the country. That makes for a great start to a year in which we hope to extend the reach of our campaigns to help all animals.

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Facts and Statistics About Animal Testing

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Facts and Statistics About Animal Testing

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Each year, more than 110 million animals-including mice, rats, frogs, dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs, monkeys, fish, and birds-are killed in U.S. laboratories for biology lessons, medical training, curiosity-driven experimentation, and chemical, drug, food, and cosmetics testing. Before their deaths, some are forced to inhale toxic fumes, others are immobilized in restraint devices for hours, some have holes drilled into their skulls, and others have their skin burned off or their spinal cords crushed. In addition to the torment of the actual experiments, animals in laboratories are deprived of everything that is natural and important to them-they are confined to barren cages, socially isolated, and psychologically traumatized. The thinking, feeling animals who are used in experiments are treated like nothing more than disposable laboratory equipment.

Animal Experiments Are Wasteful and Unreliable

A Pew Research Center poll found that 52 percent of U.S. adults oppose the use of animals in scientific research, and other surveys suggest that the shrinking group that does accept animal experimentation does so only because it believes it to be necessary for medical progress. 5,6 The majority of animal experiments do not contribute to improving human health, and the value of the role that animal experimentation plays in most medical advances is questionable.

In an article published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers found that medical treatments developed in animals rarely translated to humans and warned that "patients and physicians should remain cautious about extrapolating the finding of prominent animal research to the care of human disease ... poor replication of even high-quality animal studies should be expected by those who conduct clinical research." ⁷

Diseases that are artificially induced in animals in a laboratory, whether they be mice or monkeys, are never identical to those that occur naturally in human beings. And because animal species differ from one another biologically in many significant ways, it becomes even more unlikely that animal experiments will yield results that will be correctly interpreted and applied to the human condition in a meaningful way.

For example, according to former National Cancer Institute Director Dr. Richard Klausner, "We have cured mice of cancer for decades, and it simply didn't work in humans." ⁸ This conclusion was echoed by former National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Dr. Elias Zerhouni, who acknowledged that experimenting on animals has been a boondoggle. "We have moved away from studying human disease in humans," he said. "We all drank the Kool-Aid on that one, me included. ... The problem is that it hasn't worked, and it's time we stopped dancing around the problem. ... We need to refocus and adapt new methodologies for use in humans to understand disease biology in humans." ⁹

The data is sobering: Although at least 85 HIV/AIDS vaccines have been successful in nonhuman primate studies, as of 2015, every one has failed to protect humans. ¹⁰ In one case, an AIDS vaccine that was shown to be effective in monkeys failed in human clinical trials because it did not prevent people from developing AIDS, and some believe that it made them more susceptible to the disease. According to a report in the British newspaper The Independent, one conclusion from the failed study was that "testing HIV vaccines on monkeys before they are used on humans, does not in fact work." ¹¹

These are not anomalies. The National Institutes of Health has stated, "Therapeutic development is a costly, complex and time-consuming process. The average length of time from target discovery to approval of a new drug is about 14 years. The failure rate during this process exceeds 95 percent, and the cost per successful drug can be $1 billion or more." ¹²

Research published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine revealed that universities commonly exaggerate findings from animal experiments conducted in their laboratories and "often promote research that has uncertain relevance to human health and do not provide key facts or acknowledge important limitations." ¹³ One study of media coverage of scientific meetings concluded that news stories often omit crucial information and that "the public may be misled about the validity and relevance of the science presented." ¹⁴ Because experimenters rarely publish results of failed animal studies, other scientists and the public do not have ready access to information on the ineffectiveness of animal experimentation.

Funding and Accountability

Through their taxes, charitable donations, and purchases of lottery tickets and consumer products, members of the public are ultimately the ones who-knowingly or unknowingly-fund animal experimentation. One of the largest sources of funding comes from publicly funded government granting agencies such as NIH. Approximately 47 percent of NIH-funded research involves experimentation on animals, and in 2020, NIH budgeted nearly $42 billion for research and development. 15,16 In addition, many charities--including the March of Dimes, the American Cancer Society, and countless others-use donations to fund experiments on animals. One-third of the projects funded by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society involve animal experimentation. ¹⁷

Despite the vast amount of public funds being used to underwrite animal experimentation, it is nearly impossible for the public to obtain current and complete information regarding the animal experiments that are being carried out in their communities or funded with their tax dollars. State open-records laws and the U.S. Freedom of Information Act can be used to obtain documents and information from state institutions, government agencies, and other federally funded facilities, but private companies, contract labs, and animal breeders are exempt. In many cases, institutions that are subject to open-records laws fight vigorously to withhold information about animal experimentation from the public. ¹⁸

Oversight and Regulation

Despite the countless animals killed each year in laboratories worldwide, most countries have grossly inadequate regulatory measures in place to protect animals from suffering and distress or to prevent them from being used when a non-animal approach is readily available. In the U.S., the species most commonly used in experiments (mice, rats, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians) comprise 99% of all animals in laboratories but are specifically exempted from even the minimal protections of the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA). 19,20 Many laboratories that use only these species are not required by law to provide animals with pain relief or veterinary care, to search for and consider alternatives to animal use, to have an institutional committee review proposed experiments, or to be inspected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) or any other entity. Some estimates indicate that as many as 800 U.S. laboratories are not subject to federal laws and inspections because they experiment exclusively on mice, rats, and other animals whose use is largely unregulated. ²¹

As for the more than 11,000 facilities that the USDA does regulate (of which more than 1,200 are designated for "research"), only 120 USDA inspectors are employed to oversee their operations. ²² Reports have repeatedly concluded that even the minimal standards set forth by the AWA are not being met by these facilities, and institutionally based oversight bodies, called Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCs), have failed to carry out their mandate. A 1995 report by the USDA's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) "found that the activities of the IACUCs did not always meet the standards of the AWA. Some IACUCs did not ensure that unnecessary or repetitive experiments would not be performed on laboratory animals." ²³ In 2000, a USDA survey of the agency's laboratory inspectors revealed serious problems in numerous areas, including "the search for alternatives [and] review of painful procedures." ²⁴ A September 2005 audit report issued by the OIG found ongoing "problems with the search for alternative research, veterinary care, review of painful procedures, and the researchers' use of animals." ²⁵ In December 2014, an OIG report documented continuing problems with laboratories failing to comply with the minimal AWA standards and the USDA's weak enforcement actions failing to deter future violations. The audit highlighted that from 2009 to 2011, USDA inspectors cited 531 experimentation facilities for 1,379 violations stemming from the IACUCs' failure to adequately review and monitor the use of animals. The audit also determined that in 2012, the USDA reduced its penalties to AWA violators by an average of 86 percent, even in cases involving animal deaths and egregious violations. ²⁶

Research co-authored by PETA documented that, on average, animal experimenters and laboratory veterinarians comprise a combined 82 percent of the membership of IACUCs at leading U.S. institutions. A whopping 98.6 percent of the leadership of these IACUCs was also made up of animal experimenters. The authors observed that the dominant role played by animal experimenters on these committees "may dilute input from the few IACUC members representing animal welfare and the general public, contribute to previously-documented committee bias in favor of approving animal experiments and reduce the overall objectivity and effectiveness of the oversight system." ²⁷ Even when facilities are fully compliant with the law, animals who are covered can be burned, shocked, poisoned, isolated, starved, forcibly restrained, addicted to drugs, and brain-damaged. No procedures or experiments, regardless of how trivial or painful they may be, are prohibited by federal law. When valid non-animal research methods are available, no federal law requires experimenters to use such methods instead of animals.

Alternatives to Animal Testing

A high-profile study published in the prestigious BMJ (formerly British Medical Journal) documenting the ineffectiveness and waste of experimentation on animals concluded that "if research conducted on animals continues to be unable to reasonably predict what can be expected in humans, the public's continuing endorsement and funding of preclinical animal research seems misplaced." ²⁸

Research with human volunteers, sophisticated computational methods, and in vitro studies based on human cells and tissues are critical to the advancement of medicine. Cutting-edge non-animal research methods are available and have been shown time and again to be more accurate than crude animal experiments. ²⁹ However, this modern research requires a different outlook, one that is creative and compassionate and embraces the underlying philosophy of ethical science. Human health and well-being can also be promoted by adopting nonviolent methods of scientific investigation and concentrating on the prevention of disease before it occurs, through lifestyle modification and the prevention of further environmental pollution and degradation. The public is becoming more aware and more vocal about the cruelty and inadequacy of the current research system and is demanding that tax dollars and charitable donations not be used to fund experiments on animals.

History of Animal Testing

PETA created " Without Consent"-an interactive timeline featuring almost 200 stories of animal experiments from the past century-to open people's eyes to the long history of suffering that's been inflicted on nonconsenting animals in laboratories and to challenge people to rethink this exploitation. Visit " Without Consent " to learn more about harrowing animal experiments throughout history and how you can help create a better future for living, feeling beings.
Without Consent
You Can Help Stop Animal Testing

Virtually all federally funded research is paid for with your tax dollars. Your lawmakers needs to know that you don't want your money used to pay for animal experiments.

Urge your members of Congress to endorse PETA's Research Modernization Deal, which provides a roadmap for modernizing U.S. investment in research by ending funding for useless experiments on animals and investing in effective research that's relevant to humans.
Take Action Not a U.S. Resident? Take Action Here
Animal Testing Facts and Figures

Almost 1 million animals are held captive in laboratories or used in experiments (excluding rats, mice, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and agricultural animals used in agricultural experiments), plus an estimated 110 million mice and rats

69 million animals used in experiments as reported by CCAC-certified institutions*

115,818 animals subjected to "severe pain near, at, or above the pain tolerance threshold of unanesthetized conscious animals"

*The Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC) is a "national peer-review organization" that is funded by the Canadian government but has no regulatory capacity. Only institutions that receive public funds are required to be certified by the CCAC, and the figures reported by the organization reflect only this subset of facilities. Most private research facilities are not certified by the CCAC, and their animal use is not accounted for in the CCAC's figures.

76 million procedures on animals

Of those procedures, 110,400 were assessed to be "severe," including "long-term disease processes where assistance with normal activities such as feeding and drinking are required or where significant deficits in behaviours/activities persist."

References

¹Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, " Annual Report Animal Usage by Fiscal Year: Total Number of Animals Research Facilities Used in Regulated Activities (Column B)" and " Annual Report Animal Usage by Fiscal Year: Total Number of Animals Research Facilities used in Regulated Activities (Column F)," 27 Apr. 2021.
²Larry Carbone, " Estimating Mouse and Rat Use in American Laboratories by Extrapolation From Animal Welfare Act-Regulated Species," Scientific Reports 11, 493 (2021).
³Canadian Council on Animal Care, " CCAC 2021 Animal Data Report," 2022
⁴U.K. Government, " Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals, Great Britain 2022," Home Office, 13 July 2023.
⁵Cary Funk and Meg Hefferon, " Most Americans Accept Genetic Engineering of Animals That Benefits Human Health, but Many Oppose Other Uses," Pew Research Center, 16 Aug. 2018
⁶Peter Aldhous and Andy Coghlan, " Let the People Speak," New Scientist 22 May 1999.
⁷Daniel G. Hackam, M.D., and Donald A. Redelmeier, M.D., " Translation of Research Evidence From Animals to Human," The Journal of the American Medical Association 296 (2006): 1731-2.
⁸Marlene Simmons et al., " Cancer-Cure Story Raises New Questions," Los Angeles Times 6 May 1998.
⁹Rich McManus, "Ex-Director Zerhouni Surveys Value of NIH Research," NIH Record 21 June 2013.
¹⁰Jarrod Bailey, " An Assessment of the Role of Chimpanzees in AIDS Vaccine Research," Alternatives to Laboratory Animals 36 (2008): 381-428.
¹¹Steve Connor and Chris Green, " Is It Time to Give Up the Search for an AIDS Vaccine?" The Independent 24 Apr. 2008.
¹²National Institutes of Health, " About New Therapeutic Uses," National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences 9 Oct. 2019.
¹³Steve Woloshin, M.D., M.S., et al., " Press Releases by Academic Medical Centers: Not So Academic?" Annals of Internal Medicine 150 (2009): 613-8.
¹⁴Steven Woloshin and Lisa Schwartz, " Media Reporting on Research Presented at Scientific Meetings: More Caution Needed," The Medical Journal of Australia 184 (2006): 576-80.
¹⁵Diana E. Pankevich et al., " International Animal Research Regulations: Impact on Neuroscience Research," The National Academies (2012).
¹⁶National Institutes of Health, " Budget," (last accessed on 3 May 2021).
¹⁷Pankevich et al.
¹⁸Deborah Ziff, " On Campus: PETA Sues UW Over Access to Research Records," Wisconsin State Journal 5 Apr. 2010.
¹⁹U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, "Animal Welfare, Definition of Animal," Federal Register, 69 (2004): 31513-4.
²⁰Justin Goodman et al., " Trends in Animal Use at US Research Facilities," Journal of Medical Ethics 0(2015): 1-3.
²¹The Associated Press, "Animal Welfare Act May Not Protect All Critters," 7 May 2002.
²²U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, "Animal Care: Search."
²³U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General, " APHIS Animal Care Program, Inspection and Enforcement Activities," audit report, 30 Sept. 2005.
²⁴U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, " USDA Employee Survey on the Effectiveness of IACUC Regulations," Apr. 2000.
²⁵U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General, "APHIS Animal Care Program, Inspection and Enforcement Activities," audit report, 30 Sept. 2005.
²⁶U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General, " Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Oversight of Research Facilities," audit report, Dec. 2014.
²⁷Lawrence A. Hansen et al., " Analysis of Animal Research Ethics Committee Membership at American Institutions," Animals 2 (2012): 68-75.
²⁸Pandora Pound and Michael Bracken, " Is Animal Research Sufficiently Evidence Based To Be A Cornerstone of Biomedical Research?," BMJ (2014): 348.
²⁹Junhee Seok et al., " Genomic Responses in Mouse Models Poorly Mimic Human Inflammatory Diseases," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110 (2013): 3507-12.

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Animal Testing Facts and Statistics | PETA

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The facts on animal testing are clear: Researchers in U.S. laboratories kill more than 110 million animals in wasteful and unreliable experiments each year.

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Forensic Research & Criminology International Journal

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Animal cruelty, pet abuse & violence: the missed dangerous connection

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The mistreatment and abuse of animals is a significant indicator of violence towards humans, up to and including intimate partner abuse, sexual assault, rape, murder. All too often mental health professionals and prosecutors miss the seriousness of any cruelty towards animals and the significant role animal cruelty plays in the perpetuation of violent and non-violent criminal behavior. The literature supports that animal cruelty is one of the earliest markers for future acts of both violent and nonviolent criminal behaviors. Whether animal cruelty occurs prior to or subsequent to witnessing or experiencing any type of abuse is unknown. What is known is the connections between experiencing abuse, witnessing domestic abuse, and animal cruelty. This means that the directionality of cruelty to animals is not always clear, that is, which occurs first, the negative environmental factors (abuse) or animal cruelty

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Submitted by Ethan

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Submitted by Joshua

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The shocking number of animal cruelty cases reported every day is just the tip of the iceberg-most cases are never reported. Unlike violent crimes against people, cases of animal abuse are not compiled by state or federal agencies, making it difficult to calculate just how common they are. However, we can use the information that is available to try to understand and prevent cases of abuse.

Who abuses animals?

Cruelty and neglect cross all social and economic boundaries and media reports suggest that animal abuse is common in both rural and urban areas.

Intentional cruelty to animals is strongly correlated with other crimes, including violence against people.

Hoarding behavior often victimizes animals. Sufferers of a hoarding disorder may impose severe neglect on animals by housing far more than they are able to adequately take care of. Serious animal neglect (such as hoarding) is often an indicator of people in need of social or mental health services.

Surveys suggest that those who intentionally abuse animals are predominantly men under 30, while those involved in animal hoarding are more likely to be women over 60.

Most common victims

The animals whose abuse is most often reported are dogs, cats, horses and livestock. Undercover investigations have revealed that animal abuse abounds in the factory farm industry. But because of the weak protections afforded to livestock under state cruelty laws, only the most shocking cases are reported, and few are ever prosecuted.

Organized cruelty

Dogfighting, cockfighting and other forms of organized animal cruelty go hand in hand with other crimes, and continues in many areas of the United States due to public corruption.

The HSUS documented uniformed police officers at a cockfighting pit in Kentucky.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency has prosecuted multiple cases where drug cartels were running narcotics through cockfighting and dogfighting operations.

Dozens of homicides have occurred at cockfights and dogfights.

A California man was killed in a disagreement about a $10 cockfight bet.

The HSUS's investigative team combats complacent public officials and has worked with the FBI on public corruption cases in Tennessee and Virginia. In both instances, law enforcement officers were indicted and convicted.

Correlation with domestic violence

Data on domestic violence and child abuse cases reveal that a staggering number of animals are targeted by those who abuse their children or spouses.

There are approximately 70 million pet dogs and 74.1 million pet cats in the U.S. where 20 men and women are assaulted per minute (an average of around 10 million a year).

In one survey, 71 % of domestic violence victims reported that their abuser also targeted pets.

In one study of families under investigation for suspected child abuse, researchers found that pet abuse had occurred in 88 % of the families under supervision for physical abuse of their children.

To put a stop to this pattern of violence, the Humane Society Legislative Fund supported the Pets and Women's Safety (PAWS) Act, introduced to Congress in 2015 as H.R. 1258 and S.B. 1559 and enacted as part of the farm bill passed by Congress and signed by President Trump in 2018. Once fully enacted, the PAWS Act helps victims of domestic abuse find the means to escape their abusers while keeping their companion animals safe-many victims remain in abusive households for fear of their pets' safety.

State legislative trends

The HSUS has long led the push for stronger animal cruelty laws and provides training for law officials to detect and prosecute these crimes. With South Dakota joining the fight in March of 2014, animal cruelty laws now include felony provisions in all 50 states.

First vs. subsequent offense

Given that a fraction of animal cruelty acts are reported or successfully prosecuted, we are committed to supporting felony convictions in cases of severe cruelty.

49 states have laws to provide felony penalties for animal torture on the first offense.

Only Iowa doesn't have such a law.

Animal cruelty laws typically cover intentional and egregious animal neglect and abuse.

Changes in federal tracking

On January 1, 2016, the FBI added cruelty to animals as a category in the Uniform Crime Report, a nationwide crime reporting system commonly used in homicide investigations. While only about a third of U.S. communities currently participate in the system, the data generated will help create a clearer picture of animal abuse and guide strategies for intervention and enforcement. Data collection covers four categories: simple/gross neglect, intentional abuse and torture, organized abuse (such as dogfighting and cockfighting) and animal sexual abuse.

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Facts, statistics and trends of animal abuse, animal cruelty and abused animals in the U.S.

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Submitted By Gia Woo

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In 2009, Anders Osborne found himself at rock bottom. He was bankrupt, his house was in foreclosure, his wife had kicked him out, and he couldn't see his two young kids. His livelihood was playing gigs, but he couldn't even do that - he'd often show up too drunk or high to perform. "For close to a year, I'd [either] try to find a friend's couch to sleep on [or] I lived in the park," says Osborne, a New Orleans-based singer-songwriter who's collaborated with everyone from Phil Lesh to Tim McGraw. "I ruined everything."

Osborne, then 42, was eight years into his latest struggle with substance abuse and mental illness, which manifested in psychotic episodes and hallucinations. "The bipolar tendencies, like staying up for days and days, flourished in my addiction," he says. "I'd make these dramatic changes from, like, Tuesday night to Wednesday morning, and before you know it, I'm hitchhiking somewhere in the middle of nowhere."

Osborne's story isn't new. Every generation has its share of musicians - from Charlie Parker and Janis Joplin to Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse - who've battled addiction and mental illness. (The two are closely linked; according to national data, about half of people who suffer from mental illness will also experience substance abuse during their lives.)

Lately, it's become clear that the number of artists suffering is staggeringly high. In a 2018 study from the Music Industry Research Association, 50 percent of musicians reported battling symptoms of depression, compared with less than 25 percent of the general adult population. Nearly 12 percent reported having suicidal thoughts - nearly four times the general population. According to a 2019 study published by Swedish digital-distribution platform Record Union, the numbers are even starker: It found that 73 percent of independent musicians have battled stress, anxiety, and depression.

As album sales continue to fall and record labels and digital distributors gobble up the majority of streaming revenue, artists essentially have no choice but to tour more and more. "We've hit a tipping point where the people who work in our industry - artists as well as crew - are commodities," says Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman, a professor at the University of Southern California's music school and a longtime mental-health advocate. "People are working twice as hard to stay in the same spot they used to. The pressures are ratcheted up."

Aside from financial instability, all kinds of stressors accompany this literal gig economy: loneliness; being surrounded by drugs and alcohol; strain on relationships; poor sleeping and eating habits; lack of access to quality health insurance and care, and so on. "Creatives in the industry today suffer more because their routines are so destabilized," says Dr. Chayim Newman, a Toronto-based clinical psychologist whose private practice focuses on performers and touring artists. "The intense, long hours on the road or in the studio create a challenge in maintaining health routines and healthy relationship routines." Or, as Osborne puts it, "it's the perfect collision" for a breakdown.

While top-tier musicians aren't immune to these problems, they tend not to be the ones hardest hit, at least when it comes to financial and health-care issues. "For every artist that stands onstage, there are 10 to 100 crew members invisible to the public who make that performance, tour, or album run," says Newman. "Those crew members all burn out in the same way [as the artist]."

There may even be neurological reasons why so many artists struggle with mental health. "Centers in the limbic system that control negative emotion tend to be more heavily [located] in the right side of the brain," says Newman. Translation: "Right-brained" people - like artists, who can more easily tap into their feelings - "tend to have dominance in the side of the brain that creates more negative emotions," he says. "We might even say there's a predisposition for [that]."

What's more, performing can throw an artist's bodily systems out of whack. "With the pressure and rush of the stage, artists are in this ramped-up sympathetic-activation mode," says Newman. "It almost looks like the equivalent of a panic state, except it's being induced by voluntary circumstances."

In the past few years, these problems have played out in striking and tragic terms. In 2019 alone, Silver Jews' David Berman, guitarist Neal Casal, Yonder Mountain String Band founder Jeff Austin, and Prodigy singer Keith Flint all died by suicide. In the two years prior, rapper Mac Miller suffered an accidental drug overdose, and superstar DJ Avicii, Soundgarden's Chris Cornell and Linkin Park's Chester Bennington all died by suicide.

Now, the music industry is taking action like never before to address the growing mental-health crisis. There are new initiatives popping up from both corporate giants and grassroots organizations; festivals and benefits being planned to raise awareness of mental health; and efforts by record labels and artists to destigmatize mental illness. Musicians from Bruce Springsteen and Justin Bieber to Lizzo and Demi Lovato are increasingly opening up about their own mental-health struggles.

The idea of providing support to artists has been around for decades - the Recording Academy launched MusiCares to lend medical and financial help back in 1989 - but recently, the number of resources for musicians in need exploded. "We've lost so many artists that [industry leaders] are finally paying attention," says Lyman. "They're realizing, 'We can't have all our artists die.' "

Hilary Gleason was friends with both Austin, who died in June, and Casal, who died two months later. "Both were seemingly doing really well in their careers and playing these huge shows," she says. "It's a silent killer." Gleason is the CEO of Level, a consulting firm that connects bands with nonprofits. The day after Casal died, her phone started blowing up with calls from despondent friends and clients. "They said, 'This is so messed up,' " she recalls. "'What are we going to do?' "

Her answer: Organize a conference call with what she calls the "music-industry mental-health task force," more than 40 music-industry vets, including promoter Pete Shapiro, plus musicians, tour managers, and crew members. "We had a conversation around, 'Let's see what initiatives are out there and what the gaps are and where we can throw our support behind,'" says Gleason. "All of us in music understand that it's both the best thing that ever happened to us and the hardest life we could've signed up for."

Out of that call grew Backline, an organization dedicated to connecting musicians and anyone in their orbit - from roadies and sound engineers to agents and family members - with mental-health resources. (Newman is on the clinical advisory team.) Gleason announced the initiative in early October; 70 submissions came in that month. "We've had agents and managers say, 'I'm experiencing so much anxiety because of my never-ending email inbox and booking for [all these] bands, and I think it should all be great, but I feel this crushing weight,' " she says.

Backline acts as a clearinghouse for long-running mental-health resources like MusiCares, Sweet Relief Musicians Fund (founded in 1993 to help artists pay for living expenses), and HAAM (which has been helping Austin-based musicians access affordable health care for 15 years). "There was no central hub for all these places to coexist," says Backline's clinical director, Zack Borer, a licensed therapist and musician himself. "We're trying to bring all the existing organizations out of their silos, where people can see all the things happening."

Backline's case managers have a one-on-one conversation with everyone who submits a form on its website, then pairs individuals with the appropriate resources - be it a therapist, life coach, support group, or AA meeting. Backline's services are free. "The discourse around mental health is changing," says Borer. "It's not just sex, drugs, and rock & roll anymore. It's how sex, drugs, and rock & roll can have a long-term impact."

Live Nation announced it was backing a new nonprofit called Aside from Backline, a slew of music-focused initiatives launched in the fall. On October 10th - World Mental Health Day - Tour Support, which gives artists, crew members, and vendors on a given tour 24/7 access to a therapist via phone or online. (Vicky Cornell, Chris' widow, is a partner, and artists from John Legend to My Morning Jacket have endorsed the organization.) Live Nation also recently funded an industry guide to mental-health best practices published by the Music Industry Therapist Collective. "With more artists touring than ever before, it's increasingly important to consider the challenges that artists, crews, and vendors face while on the road for long periods of time," says Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino. "It's inspiring to see major industry players step up to tackle some of those issues."

Trade associations and performance-rights organizations also joined the cause . In October, the Association for Electronic Music released a mental-health guide for people working in the electronic-music industry. It explains how to identify conditions like depression, burnout, and imposter syndrome, and goes deep on coping strategies for managers and artists, who tend to tour heavily.

In December, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) debuted a wellness program called TuneUp in response to a survey that found musicians are 31 percent more likely than the general population to say their health and wellness majorly impact their careers. ASCAP will launch recovery-support groups in several cities and online, plus offer discounts to its 725,000 members on fitness, nutrition, and mindfulness services. (First up in 2020: a group meditation in New York.)

At least one record label has caught on to the shift. Last February, Toronto-based indie Royal Mountain Records announced that every act on its roster would get a $1,500 stipend for mental-health-related services. Borer has seen a jump in the number of inquiries from managers and label executives looking to provide support to their artists, but would like to see more from major labels. "With every additional death or overdose, the industry is being confronted with the growing problem of depression and anxiety within the business," says Borer. "Ultimately, it depends on whether they want to invest in providing clinical support."

Artists are also doing their part to destigmatize mental illness. There are many examples, but in 2019 alone, Sully Erna of Godsmack debuted the Scars Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to mental-health education; veteran jam band Widespread Panic held a ticket raffle that brought in $100,000 for a suicide-prevention organization called Nuci's Space; and Billie Eilish starred in a PSA to share her battles with depression and urge those who are struggling to ask for help.

On the event side, multiple festivals designed to raise awareness of mental-health issues are in the works. On May 9th in Los Angeles, Lyman is producing 320 Fest, an event he created with Talinda Bennington, Chester's widow. (Touring giant AEG and Warner Records are also partners.) It will feature free daytime performances by musicians and comedians (the lineup is TBD) and panel discussions - including one moderated by Bennington - on mental health and addiction. The festival will culminate in a benefit concert at the Microsoft Theater. No acts have been confirmed as of press time, but the talent will be "A-List," Lyman says. "I believe if people have a good time they're more willing to learn."

In New York, plans are underway for Sound Min d, a mental-health benefit concert that debuted last year in Brooklyn. Passion Pit and Aimee Mann are in talks to appear. There's also Recovery Fest in Nashville, an event dedicated to increasing attention around mental illness and addiction, slated for fall 2020. "The more we talk about mental health, the more normal it is," says Gleason. "Increasing transparency can lead to more willingness to get help. It's a tide that needed to come in."

Despite the industry's new attempts to address the mental-health dilemma, Newman, the clinical psychologist, says it's only scratching the surface of what needs to be done. "Every little bit definitely counts - if a program helps prevent a single suicide, it was an unmitigated success," he says. "But what often happens in cases like this is as soon as there's an awakening around an issue, it's like, 'Let's find a Band-Aid.' But the goal isn't to provide solutions - it's to provide solutions that work."

I n a few weeks, Newman is launching his own initiative: TourHealth.org, the first-ever major research study on mental health in the touring industry. The goal is to gather data on the mental-health problems that artists and crew members face (the survey will be sent to about 10,000 industry members worldwide) and use it for scientific research on the most effective interventions. "The only way to provide solutions that work is that everything has to be empirically based," says Newman. "We're trying to get to the roots of the key issues that pop up, and then we can begin to test and develop solutions. If we make sure people get the right care, I think there can be a major impact."

In the meantime, Newman says he's hopeful companies like Live Nation can usher in industrywide changes on the mental-health front. (He'd like to see tour routes plotted with more breaks, and venues and festivals designed to be more "nurturing" to the mental-health needs of artists and crew members.) "We're just starting to understand what the issues are," he says. "We're just at the beginning of being able to get our finger into the dam to stem the flood."

Osborne, for one, is doing his part to hold back the surge. A decade ago, when his life was falling apart, a few musician friends - among them Dr. John and Ivan Neville - coordinated with MusiCares to arrange a bed for him at a California rehab center. "That's when the new chapter started," Osborne says, adding that he got his house back, he's reunited with his wife, and his career is back on track. (He released his latest album, Buddha & the Blues , in 2019.) This month, he'll celebrate 11 years of sobriety.

Osborne decided to pay his good fortune forward, in 2017 starting a nonprofit called Send Me a Friend. The organization, which supplies sober buddies to recovering artists on tour, has a network of 3,500 volunteers in 50 states, and has helped more than 100 musicians since it launched. ("Friends" are recovering addicts too - they must have at least one year of sobriety under their belts to participate.)

Osborne was inspired to start SMAF after going back to work in the early days of sobriety. "You come back from the total bottom and you're supposed to be sharp enough to do a gig where everyone is drinking and doing drugs," he says. With his program, artists (or crew members, or managers, or anyone who has a role in the music world) would have a hand on tour. "You're accountable for those two to four hours," says Osborne. "You have a space that feels safe and solid."

He says that if an organization like his had been around when he was struggling, he would have gotten help sooner. "If there would've been less tip-toeing and avoidance, and people were straight-up understanding" of mental illness and substance abuse, he says, things may have been different.

But thanks to the efforts of Osborne and others like him, artists today have a better shot at avoiding the live-fast-die-young cliche that's plagued so many before them. "Layne Staley, Scott Weiland, Chris Cornell ... we lost so many people," says Lyman, who worked with the frontmen of Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, and Soundgarden, respectively, as a stage manager for Lollapalooza in the early 1990s. (Staley and Weiland both died after accidental drug overdoses.) "That whole era of our legacy bands is gone. We can't lose another generation."

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'We Can't Have All Our Artists Die': How the Music Industry Is Fighting the Mental-Health Crisis

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In 2009, Anders Osborne found himself at rock bottom. He was bankrupt, his house was in foreclosure, his wife had kicked him out, and he couldn't see his two young kids. His livelihood was playing gigs, but he couldn't even do that - he'd often show up too drunk or high to perform.

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Submitted By Gia Woo

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Kpop Idols Who Suffered With Mental Disorders

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Study Shows Students Want More Mental Health Support From Schools

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Study Shows Students Want More Mental Health Support From Schools

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Psychological distress is on the rise among young people in Australia. The implications of COVID-19 and the strain on the training and availability of psychologists are likely to add to the mental health challenges and hinder young people's ability to get help.

Social isolation, loneliness and uncertainty due to COVID-19 have contributed to a decline in the mental health of Australian youth. Young people in our research and other studies do not feel well equipped to manage their mental health. This is concerning as the onset of mental illness peaks at 14.5 years of age, and about one in seven Australian youth experience mental illness.

Currently, schools address mental health and well-being through a social and emotional learning curriculum. Some have school counsellors or psychologists to offer students individual or group support.

However, research shows more than a third of young people with mental health problems do not seek professional help. This is due to limited mental health knowledge and awareness of how to seek help, and negative attitudes towards mental illness.

There is a need to address youth mental health through preventive approaches such as mental health literacy programs. Mental health literacy is the knowledge and awareness of mental health, help-seeking options and positive mental health behaviours. Mental health literacy programs aim to increase skills to achieve and maintain good mental health.

Schools are one setting to base such programs. Young people spend much of their childhood and adolescence in school where the environment is already geared towards supporting learning and development.

Read more: We've been tracking young people's mental health since 2006. COVID has accelerated a worrying decline

Young people need to be included in the development of these programs. Neglecting their voice in research leads to a risk of misinterpreting their needs and misguided approaches.

We used online group discussions as a forum for young people to give their perspective on current mental health education in the curriculum and whether it's meeting their mental health literacy needs. Thirteen young Australians took part in these discussions in 2021.

What did the students tell us?

Our study participants expressed concern that they do not receive enough information about mental health in school. They also find it difficult to identify appropriate help sources. They told us:

"I haven't been happy with [...] how little they talk about mental health."

"They don't really talk about how you can help other people deal with it [mental health], so, like, then it [...] is harder to help your friends."

Informal sources of help such as family, friends and the internet were the most common avenues for seeking help. Young people were less likely to go to formal sources such as a mental health professional or general practitioner.

Young people are not confident about supporting a friend who may be experiencing mental health challenges for fear of crossing a boundary or saying the wrong thing.

Read more: Climate change, mental health services, a better education system: what marginalised young people told us needs to be fixed

Stigma is still a big problem

Stigma and negative attitudes towards mental illness exist despite many mental health initiatives and campaigns to normalise mental health challenges.

Young people described mental health as a "hush-hush topic", with language relating to the issue often framed negatively.

A lack of mental health knowledge was seen as contributing to stigma. As one young person said:

"When people don't understand something [...] they become afraid of it."

The youth in our study suggested discussing mental health in schools and normalising mental health difficulties can reduce this stigma.

Though mental health can be a sensitive topic, young people believe it is important to understand and learn about it at school with others that are experts on mental health.

Schools are the right place to learn about mental health

Young people want schools to teach them how to recognise mental health challenges and practical coping strategies. They observed that discussions of mental health in school are often in response to crises or a stressful time such as exams. These discussions are usually rushed and not comprehensive.

There is a need to proactively talk about mental health with students throughout their schooling. This will build their mental health literacy, as one young person told us:

"If you're equipped with everything you need to know prior to that experience [mental health issues] you could better tackle that and you could better bounce back from that difficult time in the future if you're equipped with the knowledge of how to overcome that issue."

Youth want to learn about mental health at all year levels. Some felt frustrated that they didn't learnt appropriate coping skills before entering secondary school.

Students see schools as a safe place for supporting their mental health, suggesting schools have an obligation to provide a holistic education that includes mental health.

"It's [school] almost like a second home, and within that second home mental health needs to be the safe discussion topic."

Read more: Youth anxiety and depression are at record levels. Mental health hubs could be the answer

Good education includes mental health literacy

From the perspectives of the young people in our study, more needs to be done in schools to improve mental health literacy.

There is evidence that preventive mental health approaches are effective. School-based mental health literacy programs are one way to overcome the lack of mental health education in Australia.
Schools exist to support the learning and development of young people, which should include fostering good mental health and increasing mental health literacy.

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'It's almost like a second home': why students want schools to do more about mental health

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A rise in psychological distress among young Australians, compounded by COVID and difficulties in getting professional help, has added to the urgency of mental health education in schools.

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Submitted By Joanna Choi

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Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

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Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act, and helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices.

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Submitted By Joanna Choi

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Adolescence (10-19 years) is a unique and formative time. Multiple physical, emotional and social changes, including exposure to poverty, abuse, or violence, can make adolescents vulnerable to mental health problems. Promoting psychological well-being and protecting adolescents from adverse experiences and risk factors that may impact their potential to thrive are critical for their well-being during adolescence and for their physical and mental health in adulthood.

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Submitted By Joanna Choi

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Overview

Teen depression is a serious mental health problem that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest in activities. It affects how your teenager thinks, feels and behaves, and it can cause emotional, functional and physical problems. Although depression can occur at any time in life, symptoms may be different between teens and adults.

Issues such as peer pressure, academic expectations and changing bodies can bring a lot of ups and downs for teens. But for some teens, the lows are more than just temporary feelings - they're a symptom of depression.

Teen depression isn't a weakness or something that can be overcome with willpower - it can have serious consequences and requires long-term treatment. For most teens, depression symptoms ease with treatment such as medication and psychological counseling.

Symptoms

Teen depression signs and symptoms include a change from the teenager's previous attitude and behavior that can cause significant distress and problems at school or home, in social activities, or in other areas of life.

Depression symptoms can vary in severity, but changes in your teen's emotions and behavior may include the examples below.

Emotional changes

Be alert for emotional changes, such as:

Feelings of sadness, which can include crying spells for no apparent reason

Frustration or feelings of anger, even over small matters

Feeling hopeless or empty

Irritable or annoyed mood

Loss of interest or pleasure in usual activities

Loss of interest in, or conflict with, family and friends

Low self-esteem

Feelings of worthlessness or guilt

Fixation on past failures or exaggerated self-blame or self-criticism

Extreme sensitivity to rejection or failure, and the need for excessive reassurance

Trouble thinking, concentrating, making decisions and remembering things

Ongoing sense that life and the future are grim and bleak

Frequent thoughts of death, dying or suicide

Behavioral changes

Watch for changes in behavior, such as:

Tiredness and loss of energy

Insomnia or sleeping too much

Changes in appetite - decreased appetite and weight loss, or increased cravings for food and weight gain

Use of alcohol or drugs

Agitation or restlessness - for example, pacing, hand-wringing or an inability to sit still

Slowed thinking, speaking or body movements

Frequent complaints of unexplained body aches and headaches, which may include frequent visits to the school nurse

Social isolation

Poor school performance or frequent absences from school

Less attention to personal hygiene or appearance

Angry outbursts, disruptive or risky behavior, or other acting-out behaviors

Self-harm - for example, cutting or burning

Making a suicide plan or a suicide attempt

What's normal and what's not

It can be difficult to tell the difference between ups and downs that are just part of being a teenager and teen depression. Talk with your teen. Try to determine whether he or she seems capable of managing challenging feelings, or if life seems overwhelming.

When to see a doctor

If depression signs and symptoms continue, begin to interfere in your teen's life, or cause you to have concerns about suicide or your teen's safety, talk to a doctor or a mental health professional trained to work with adolescents. Your teen's family doctor or pediatrician is a good place to start. Or your teen's school may recommend someone.

Depression symptoms likely won't get better on their own - and they may get worse or lead to other problems if untreated. Depressed teenagers may be at risk of suicide, even if signs and symptoms don't appear to be severe.

If you're a teen and you think you may be depressed - or you have a friend who may be depressed - don't wait to get help. Talk to a health care provider such as your doctor or school nurse. Share your concerns with a parent, a close friend, a spiritual leader, a teacher or someone else you trust.

Symptoms

Suicide is often associated with depression. If you think you may hurt yourself or attempt suicide, call 911 or your local emergency number immediately.

Also consider these options if you're having suicidal thoughts:

Call your mental health professional.

Contact a suicide hotline.

In the U.S., call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Or use the Lifeline Chat. The Spanish language phone line is 1-888-628-9454 (toll-free). Services are free and confidential.

Or contact a crisis service for teenagers in the U.S. called TXT 4 HELP: Text the word "safe" and your current location to 4HELP (44357) for immediate help, with the option for interactive texting.

Seek help from your primary care doctor or other health care provider.

Reach out to a close friend or loved one.

Contact a minister, spiritual leader or someone else in your faith community.

If a loved one or friend is in danger of attempting suicide or has made an attempt:

Make sure someone stays with that person.

Call 911 or your local emergency number immediately.

Or, if you can do so safely, take the person to the nearest hospital emergency room.

Never ignore comments or concerns about suicide. Always take action to get help.

Causes

It's not known exactly what causes depression, but a variety of issues may be involved. These include:

Brain chemistry. Neurotransmitters are naturally occurring brain chemicals that carry signals to other parts of your brain and body. When these chemicals are abnormal or impaired, the function of nerve receptors and nerve systems changes, leading to depression.

Hormones. Changes in the body's balance of hormones may be involved in causing or triggering depression.

Inherited traits. Depression is more common in people whose blood relatives - such as a parent or grandparent - also have the condition.

Early childhood trauma. Traumatic events during childhood, such as physical or emotional abuse, or loss of a parent, may cause changes in the brain that increase the risk of depression.

Learned patterns of negative thinking. Teen depression may be linked to learning to feel helpless - rather than learning to feel capable of finding solutions for life's challenges.

Risk factors

Many factors increase the risk of developing or triggering teen depression, including:

Having issues that negatively impact self-esteem, such as obesity, peer problems, long-term bullying or academic problems

Having been the victim or witness of violence, such as physical or sexual abuse

Having other mental health conditions, such as bipolar disorder, an anxiety disorder, a personality disorder, anorexia or bulimia

Having a learning disability or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

Having ongoing pain or a chronic physical illness such as cancer, diabetes or asthma

Having certain personality traits, such as low self-esteem or being overly dependent, self-critical or pessimistic

Abusing alcohol, nicotine or other drugs

Being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender in an unsupportive environment

Family history and issues with family or others may also increase your teenager's risk of depression, such as:

Having a parent, grandparent or other blood relative with depression, bipolar disorder or alcohol use problems

Having a family member who died by suicide

Having a family with major communication and relationship problems

Having experienced recent stressful life events, such as parental divorce, parental military service or the death of a loved one

Complications

Untreated depression can result in emotional, behavioral and health problems that affect every area of your teenager's life. Complications related to teen depression may include, for example:

Alcohol and drug misuse

Academic problems

Family conflicts and relationship difficulties

Suicide attempts or suicide

Prevention

There's no sure way to prevent depression. However, these strategies may help. Encourage your teenager to:

Take steps to control stress, increase resilience and boost self-esteem to help handle issues when they arise

Practice self-care, for example by creating a healthy sleep routine and using electronics responsibly and in moderation

Reach out for friendship and social support, especially in times of crisis

Get treatment at the earliest sign of a problem to help prevent depression from worsening

Maintain ongoing treatment, if recommended, even after symptoms let up, to help prevent a relapse of depression symptoms

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This serious mental health problem affects how your teenager thinks, feels and behaves, and can cause emotional, functional and physical problems.

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Submitted By Joanna Choi

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‘It’s Life or Death’: The Mental Health Crisis Among U.S. Teens (Published 2022)

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Depression, self-harm and suicide are rising among American adolescents. For one 13-year-old, the despair was almost too much to take.

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Submitted By Joanna Choi

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Submitted by Joanna Choi

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It’s clear to everyone that the events of 2020 have led to uncertain and unprecedented times. Americans are scrambling to pick up the pieces of lost loved ones or lost jobs. But it’s not just adults feeling the anxiety of it all: our kids are feeling it too. Add increased academic stress on top of the rapid changes caused by the pandemic and we can only imagine the toll this year is taking on our kids’ mental health.

Aside from the pandemic, there are many other reasons why kids might be so stressed. Full schedules and responsibilities, relentless media overload, and less sleep are all examples of our kids’ stressors. One of the biggest reasons kids are stressed is academic pressure. While this isn’t a new problem, kids are experiencing academic pressure from an earlier age than ever before. Besides pressure to succeed, technology has changed the landscape for how kids engage with their schoolwork, instructors and peers.

Whether kids are distance learning at home or are in the classroom, academic stress continues to affect them. No, more than ever, though, we need to address how typical academic stress impacts mental health. To do this, it’s also important to examine how digital learning has impacted traditional academic stress.

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Relationship between academic stress and mental health

Academic stress and its impact on mental health is a well-researched topic. Research shows that academic stress leads to less well-being and an increased likelihood of developing anxiety or depression. Additionally, students who have academic stress tend to do poorly in school. This shows how this stress can keep kids from doing as well as they could. Research also suggests that if given help or a better academic situation, students will have better mental health. So how does the influence of new technology impact academic stress?

Consider the hidden impacts of technology

As technology evolves and digital devices become more accessible, educators have embraced technology to enhance learning environments. Of course, technology has amazing benefits for all kinds of learners! While there are clear benefits and opportunities, these can also be a lot for kids to handle.

For example, kids can hear, see or read instructions multiple times, work at their own pace, and have access to more materials and resources. However, this also means that there are more distractions and potentially more ways miscommunications can happen. Technology is a gift, but considering the other academic stressors, it can be a double-edged sword. As adults, we’re accustomed to IT interfaces and tools, but for students, especially younger students, it can seem overwhelming.

With technology comes new challenges that add to the pressures of schooling. Especially in a more virtual setting necessitated by COVID-19 in some circumstances. There’s more to track and know. Instead of just learning how to solve math problems, kids must troubleshoot their WiFi connection or other technological problems. If a page reloaded and their work was lost, which many of us can relate to, it can be a struggle to complete key assignments. If there was trouble asking teachers questions as they present material, kids might scramble to find answers online afterward. These are just some examples of many that show that learning online is much more than just learning the subject matter. While digital learning is powerful, there are examples of increased frustration and stress with students.

Considering such scenarios, it’s clear that digital tech can contribute to typical factors of academic stress, such as trouble understanding new material. But now we have to remember that a digital learning framework is always present with students and learn to adapt.

The virtual classroom: Class is always in session

There used to be a time where kids could go home and be generally disconnected from school. Sure, they had homework to complete but they usually had time to relax and recharge. But now kids have online portals to log in to and can easily send or receive messages from instructors or classmates. While accessibility is good, the flip side is that students can be logged on to an excess. Getting away from school and schoolwork is important for kids, just as it is for remote workers to disconnect.

Playing outside, reading for fun, and hanging out with friends or family are important leisure activities for de-stressing. But these activities can be less enjoyable if kids feel they need to check on assignments or be online for discussion. Just like adults need to disconnect from work emails, kids should be able to log off from school. If your kids are taking digital classes, consider creating boundaries from school for your children. It’s important for their mental health.

Separated from support

For years, researchers have been saying that even though digital devices give us more ways to connect, they can also make us more lonely. While technology might be able to bridge the gap to make learning happen, it isn’t the same as direct contact. Technology can enhance learning, but it can sometimes limit or lack the support systems in place at school.

Kids who are strictly distance learners may be more at risk for feelings of isolation and loneliness, especially if they aren’t used to it. Stress can build from not being able to simply raise a hand and ask for clarification from teachers. Similarly, not being able to lean across desks and ask classmates for feedback may increase feelings of being alone. Remote instruction requires students to be more proactive in their learning. For those who are shy and/or afraid to speak up even when in-person, this presents a deeper challenge.

Figuring out technology, constant connectedness, and a lack of support are stressors that make school even more difficult for kids. This new kind of academic stress only adds to the typical academic pressure to succeed. Handling it all is a lot to ask of our kids, and it’s not surprising to see their mental health start to suffer.

Ending the stigma

All this talk of education in the digital, pandemic age is stressful in and of itself! But here’s the good news: the stigma against mental health is weakening.

Through organizations like the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI),  The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), and The Child Mind Institute, Americans are starting to take mental health more seriously. Further, educators and parents alike are considering how kids might be affected by academic pressure.

The more awareness and understanding surrounding academic stress, how it is evolving, and how our kids are affected, the better. School boards and administrations, educators, and parents can work together to make academic stress more manageable for all students. To start helping your loved ones master their mental health and stress, particularly with school, start by opening the conversation. Showing you care and want to help is a huge step to creating positive ways to help your kids succeed!

Children don’t come with a handbook, and parenting can feel frustrating and difficult at times. But while there’s no simple guide to parenting, there are many time-tested skills that every parent can benefit from learning. KVC’s 13-part Parenting Series features research-backed videos, articles and worksheets on how you can improve your relationship with your child. Subscribe to the FREE series here.

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How Does Academic Stress Affect Mental Health in the Age of Digital Learning

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As digital learning becomes more common, so does academic stress. Read this blog to find out how this change will affect your kids’ mental health!

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Submitted By Joanna Choi

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Poor Mental Health is a Growing Problem for Adolescents

Adolescence is a time for young people to have a healthy start in life. The number of adolescents reporting poor mental health is increasing. Building strong bonds and connecting to youth can protect their mental health. Schools and parents can create these protective relationships with students and help them grow into healthy adulthood.

Mental Health Is A Growing Problem

Some groups are more affected than others.

These feelings were found to be more common among lesbian, gay, or bisexual students and female students.

Almost half of lesbian, gay, or bisexual students and nearly one-third of students not sure of their sexual identity reported they had seriously considered suicide-far more than heterosexual students.

The number of black students who reported attempting suicide in 2019 rose by almost 50%.

Why Is This a Big Deal?

Poor mental health in adolescence is more than feeling blue. It can impact many areas of a teen's life. Youth with poor mental health may struggle with school and grades, decision making, and their health.

Mental health problems in youth often go hand-in-hand with other health and behavioral risks like increased risk of drug use, experiencing violence, and higher risk sexual behaviors than can lead to HIV, STDs, and unintended pregnancy. Because many health behaviors and habits are established in adolescence that will carry over into adult years, it is very important to help youth develop good mental health.

The Good News

The good news is that teens are resilient, and we know what works to support their mental health: feeling connected to school and family.

Fortunately, the same prevention strategies that promote mental health-like helping students feel connected to school/family-help prevent a range of negative experiences, like drug use and violence.

Building strong bonds and relationships with adults and friends at school, at home and in the community provides youth with a sense of connectedness.

This feeling of connectedness is important and can protect adolescents from poor mental health, and other risks like drug use and violence.

Youth need to know someone cares about them. Connections can be made virtually or in person.

There is a Role for Everyone in Supporting Teen Mental Health

As we've learned nationally during the COVID-19 pandemic, schools are critical in our communities to supporting children and families. While the expectation is that schools provide education, they also provide opportunities for youth to engage in physical activity and academic, social, mental health, and physical health services, all of which can relieve stress and help protect against negative outcomes.

However, the pandemic has disrupted many school-based services, increasing the burden on parents, increasing stress on families, and potentially affecting long-term health outcomes for parents and children alike, especially among families already at risk for negative health outcomes from social and environmental factors.

Support is needed to mitigate these negative outcomes and lessen educational and health disparities.

Critical supports and services need to be comprehensive and community wide and should include:

Helping schools provide safe and supportive environments-whether in person or virtually-is critical to students' wellbeing.

Linking students to mental health services.

Integrating social emotional learning.

Training staff.

Supporting staff mental health.

Reviewing discipline policies to ensure equity.

Building safe and supportive environments.

Communicate openly and honestly, including about their values.

Supervise their adolescent to facilitate healthy decision-making.

Spend time with their adolescent enjoying shared activities.

Become engaged in school activities and help with homework.

Volunteer at their adolescent's school.

Communicate regularly with teachers and administrators.

Ask adolescents about family relationships and school experiences as a part of routine health screenings.

Encourage positive parenting practices.

Engage parents in discussions about how to connect with their adolescents, communicate effectively, and monitor activities and health behaviors.

Educate parents and youth about adolescent development and health risks.

Parents and families may find the following resources helpful to support the mental and emotional well-being of their adolescents:

Page last reviewed:

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Adolescence is a time for young people to have a healthy start in life. The number of adolescents reporting poor mental health is increasing. Building strong bonds and connecting to youth can protect their mental health. Schools and parents can create these protective relationships with students and help them grow into healthy adulthood.

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Check out this great resource for COVID mental health statistics

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In the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, global prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by a massive 25%, according to a scientific brief released by the World Health Organization (WHO) today. The brief also highlights who has been most affected and summarizes the effect of the pandemic on the availability of mental health services and how this has changed during the pandemic.

Concerns about potential increases in mental health conditions had already prompted 90% of countries surveyed to include mental health and psychosocial support in their COVID-19 response plans, but major gaps and concerns remain.

"The information we have now about the impact of COVID-19 on the world's mental health is just the tip of the iceberg," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. "This is a wake-up call to all countries to pay more attention to mental health and do a better job of supporting their populations' mental health."
Multiple stress factors
One major explanation for the increase is the unprecedented stress caused by the social isolation resulting from the pandemic. Linked to this were constraints on people's ability to work, seek support from loved ones and engage in their communities.

Loneliness, fear of infection, suffering and death for oneself and for loved ones, grief after bereavement and financial worries have also all been cited as stressors leading to anxiety and depression. Among health workers, exhaustion has been a major trigger for suicidal thinking.
Young people and women worst hit
The brief, which is informed by a comprehensive review of existing evidence about the impact of COVID-19 on mental health and mental health services, and includes estimates from the latest Global Burden of Disease study, shows that the pandemic has affected the mental health of young people and that they are disproportionally at risk of suicidal and self-harming behaviours. It also indicates that women have been more severely impacted than men and that people with pre-existing physical health conditions, such as asthma, cancer and heart disease, were more likely to develop symptoms of mental disorders.

Data suggests that people with pre-existing mental disorders do not appear to be disproportionately vulnerable to COVID-19 infection. Yet, when these people do become infected, they are more likely to suffer hospitalization, severe illness and death compared with people without mental disorders. People with more severe mental disorders, such as psychoses, and young people with mental disorders, are particularly at risk.
Gaps in care
This increase in the prevalence of mental health problems has coincided with severe disruptions to mental health services, leaving huge gaps in care for those who need it most. For much of the pandemic, services for mental, neurological and substance use conditions were the most disrupted among all essential health services reported by WHO Member States. Many countries also reported major disruptions in life-saving services for mental health, including for suicide prevention.

By the end of 2021 the situation had somewhat improved but today too many people remain unable to get the care and support they need for both pre-existing and newly developed mental health conditions.

Unable to access face-to-face care, many people have sought support online, signaling an urgent need to make reliable and effective digital tools available and easily accessible. However, developing and deploying digital interventions remains a major challenge in resource-limited countries and settings.
WHO and country action
Since the early days of the pandemic, WHO and partners have worked to develop and disseminate resources in multiple languages and formats to help different groups cope with and respond to the mental health impacts of COVID-19. For example, WHO produced a story book for 6-11-year-olds, My Hero is You, now available in 142 languages and 61 multimedia adaptations, as well as a toolkit for supporting older adults available in 16 languages.

At the same time, the Organization has worked with partners, including other United Nations agencies, international nongovernmental organizations and the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, to lead an interagency mental health and psychosocial response to COVID-19. Throughout the pandemic, WHO has also worked to promote the integration of mental health and psychosocial support across and within all aspects of the global response.

WHO Member States have recognized the impact of COVID-19 on mental health and are taking action. WHO's most recent pulse survey on continuity of essential health services indicated that 90% of countries are working to provide mental health and psychosocial support to COVID-19 patients and responders alike. Moreover, at last year's World Health Assembly, countries emphasized the need to develop and strengthen mental health and psychosocial support services as part of strengthening preparedness, response and resilience to COVID-19 and future public health emergencies. They adopted the updated Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2030, which includes an indicator on preparedness for mental health and psychosocial support in public health emergencies.

Step up investment
However, this commitment to mental health needs to be accompanied by a global step up in investment. Unfortunately, the situation underscores a chronic global shortage of mental health resources that continues today. WHO's most recent Mental Health Atlas showed that in 2020, governments worldwide spent on average just over 2% of their health budgets on mental health and many low-income countries reported having fewer than 1 mental health worker per 100 000 people.

Dévora Kestel, Director of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Use at WHO, sums up the situation: "While the pandemic has generated interest in and concern for mental health, it has also revealed historical under-investment in mental health services. Countries must act urgently to ensure that mental health support is available to all."

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COVID-19 pandemic triggers 25% increase in prevalence of anxiety and depression worldwide

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In the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, global prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by a massive 25%, according to a scientific brief released by the World Health Organization (WHO) today. The brief also highlights who has been most affected and summarizes the effect of the pandemic on the availability of mental health services and how this has changed during the pandemic.

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References

1 WHO (2003). Caring for children and adolescents with mental disorders: Setting WHO directions. [online] Geneva: World Health Organization. Available at: http://www.who.int/mental_health/media/en/785.pdf [Accessed 14 Sep. 2015].

2 Kessler RC, Berglund P, Demler O, Jin R, Merikangas KR, Walters EE. (2005). Lifetime Prevalence and Age-of-Onset Distributions of DSM-IV Disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Archives of General Psychiatry, 62 (6) pp. 593-602. doi:10.1001/archpsyc.62.6.593.

3 Green,H., Mcginnity, A., Meltzer, Ford, T., Goodman,R. 2005 Mental Health of Children and Young People in Great Britain: 2004. Office for National Statistics.

4 Children's Society (2008) The Good Childhood Inquiry: health research evidence. London: Children's Society.

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References 1 WHO (2003). Caring for children and adolescents with mental disorders: Setting WHO directions. [online] Geneva: World Health Organization. Available at: http://www.who.int/mental_health/media/en/785.pdf [Accessed 14 Sep. 2015]. 2 Kessler RC, Berglund P, Demler O, Jin R, Merikangas KR, Walters EE. (2005). Lifetime Prevalence and Age-of-Onset Distributions of DSM-IV Disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PbqNdZ0SLU
Related Article: koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20190220000488
Submitted by Jioh Kim

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Dramatic Increase in US Active Shooter Situations

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Dramatic Increase in US Active Shooter Situations

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*This was published just hours before the most recent school shooting in Texas.

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The numbers were released days after a gunman killed 10 in a in a racist attack in Buffalo, New York.

Police evacuate people near the scene of an active shooter in Washington, DC, in April [Carolyn Kaster/The Associated Press]

There were 61 "active shooter" incidents in the United States in 2021, according to newly released FBI data - a 52 percent increase from the previous year and the highest on record.

Last year's attack spread across 30 states, leaving 103 people dead and 140 wounded, the report by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said on Monday.

In contrast, the department counted 40 active-shooter attacks in 19 states in 2020 that killed 38 people and wounded 126. That year coincided with the height of restrictions on social and economic life due to the coronavirus pandemic. The FBI had recorded 31 such incidents in 2017, and 30 in both 2018 and 2019.

The department defines an "active shooter" as someone engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a public space in a seemingly random fashion. About one in five "active shooter" incidents in 2021 were also mass killings.

The report was released just over a week after a gunman opened fire at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, killing 10 people. The racist attack drew attention to increasingly mainstream white supremacy ideology and renewed calls for increased federal gun control in the US.

The incidents counted in the FBI report included the killing of 10 by a gunman at the Kings Soopers Grocery Store in Boulder, Colorado, in March 2021; an attack on three spas in Atlanta, Georgia, that same month that killed eight; and an attack on a FedEx facility in Indianapolis, Indiana in April of that year that also killed eight.

The attackers ranged in age from 12 to 67 years old and were predominantly male, with only one incident involving a female shooter.

The report also identified an emerging trend of "roving active shooters", in which an attacker targets more than one location. Roughly 27 of the recorded incidents in 2021 fell into that category, according to the data.

Still, despite the spike in incidents, the 2021 active-shooter death toll ranked only seventh-highest since 2000, the first year for which FBI figures are available.

The highest figure was recorded in 2017 when 143 people were killed and 591 wounded in just 31 individual incidents. The high casualty is the result of a mass shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 1, when a gunman opened fire from a hotel room overlooking a crowded concert, killing 60 people and wounding 411.

The FBI noted that its active shooter report does not encompass all gun violence or even all mass shootings. The Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit tracker, has recorded 211 mass shootings in just the first five months of 2022 alone.

Excluded from the data were also gang or drug-related shootings, incidents defined strictly as domestic disputes, isolated hostage situations or crossfire from other criminal acts, the FBI said.

Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies

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US 'active shooter' incidents jumped by 52 percent in 2021

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The numbers were released days after a gunman killed 10 in a in a racist attack in Buffalo, New York. There were 61 "active shooter" incidents in the United States in 2021, according to newly released FBI data - a 52 percent increase from the previous year and the highest on record.

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Gun Violence in Black American Communities

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Gun Violence in Black American Communities

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Data on gun violence for black americans.
Submitted by: Luke Casper

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Black Americans are disproportionately impacted by gun violence. They experience nearly 10 times the gun homicides, 15 times the gun assaults, and 3 times the fatal police shootings of white Americans.

Gun homicides, assaults, and police shootings are disproportionately prevalent in historically underfunded neighborhoods and cities. This lack of funding intensifies our country's long-standing racial inequities.

Local groups, residents, and city officials are driving solutions to reduce gun violence and increase safety in their communities, but data and resources to support these efforts .

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Impact of Gun Violence on Black Americans | Everytown Research & Policy

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Black Americans are disproportionately impacted by gun violence. They experience nearly 10 times the gun homicides, 15 times the gun assaults, and 3 times the fatal police shootings of white Americans. Gun homicides, assaults, and police shootings are disproportionately prevalent in historically underfunded neighborhoods and cities.

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The Child’s Right to Protection from Drugs: Understanding History to Move Forward

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Human rights violations during war in Ukraine

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Ukraine: Executions, Torture During Russian Occupation

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Russian forces controlling much of the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions in northeastern Ukraine from late February through March 2022 subjected civilians to summary executions, torture, and other grave abuses that are apparent war crimes, Human Rights Watch said today.

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american journalist danny fenster detained in myanmar while trying to fly out of country - cnn

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An American journalist working in Myanmar was detained by local authorities Monday, his family and his news organization told CNN.

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People of Myanmar descent in US demand firmer action against military leaders' February power grab and recognition of civilian government.

People of Myanmar descent across the US have rallied to show their support for the anti-coup movement back home [File: Frederic J Brown/AFP]

New York, United States - A student leader during the 1988 uprisings against Myanmar's previous military dictatorship, Nay Myint was imprisoned and tortured for his efforts.

"I gave a speech to the public about democracy, human rights and freedom. Shortly after, the military intelligence arrested me and then they gave me a life sentence. I stayed in the prison for 15 years, 10 years in solitary confinement," he told Al Jazeera.

Last weekend, rather than giving a speech to crowds in Yangon, the US-based activist addressed the Myanmar community in New York City, which had gathered at Union Square to protest against February's military coup.

The power grab ended a brief experiment with democracy and removed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD), which won a landslide victory in November's election; a result the military says is fraudulent. The coup sparked a significant protest movement and a brutal crackdown, with the military still unable to secure full control over the country more than three months later.

While in prison, Nay Myint was subjected to harsh treatment including physical torture.

"Between my legs they put iron shackles for two years," he said, which caused permanent damage to his left leg. "But I believed I was in the right position. My people supported me. I am a Buddhist, I meditated to calm my body. That's how I survived," he said.

A few years after his release, people began to mobilise again in what became known as the 2007 Saffron Revolution, which was a reference to the colour of the robes of the monks who had led the demonstrations. The military rulers began preemptively arresting activists involved in the 1988 protests, so Nay Myint fled to the Thai border and was resettled in the US in 2008.

According to Pew Research, there were nearly 200,000 people of Myanmar descent living in the US as of 2019. From 2010 to 2020 Myanmar contributed more refugees to tuhe US than any other country. Most Myanmar people settle in Minneapolis but New York has about 7,000 people of Myanmar descent, making it the state with the fifth-largest population of Myanmar people in the country.

Me Me Khant has been studying in the US since 2016 but the 25-year-old remembers attending a protest near Yangon's Sule Pagoda during the Saffron Revolution with her mother when she was a child.

"I remember hearing some gunshots and then the police started beating up people so then my mom and I just ran. Everyone was running," she said. "I think the one thing that's driving us is just the outrage and how many people had fled the country after '88 and 2007. This has to be the time it ends; this has to be the final fight."

'Survivor's guilt'

Me Me Khant was at a beach in California the day of the coup, celebrating a friend's birthday. She had turned her phone data off to avoid distractions.

"I was trying to show my friend a video on my phone. I turned on the data and all these messages flooded in ... I just couldn't believe it," she said. "We knew that people were going to protest, we knew that things were going to turn ugly going forward."

On February 28 this year, after about three weeks of mostly peaceful protests, security forces opened fire on demonstrations, killing at least 18 people. It was just a taste of the carnage to come. By May 23, the military had killed more than 800 civilians including dozens of children, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which is keeping track of the deaths. Some of the victims have been burned alive or tortured to death in detention.

"When the crackdowns started that was the hardest part," Me Me Khant said. "Every morning we'd wake up and watch videos of violence. There's a feeling of guilt and you always want to know what's happening. I couldn't detach myself from it. It was a few weeks of just being consumed by the news of the violence."

The horrors in Myanmar have inspired many members of the diaspora to do what they can to fight back, including a woman named Shin, who helps Nay Myint organise events in New York.

"You have a type of survivor's guilt, I think that's the best way to describe how I'm feeling. Because your life doesn't really change. You can still do whatever you want here. You can still have your comfort and your safety. But my friends who are there are losing everything," she said, asking to use only part of her name for fear of retaliation.

Shin said as soon as the coup happened, she started going to protests in New York and has continued going "every single time". "The more they oppress there the more we have to rise from here because we can rise safely," she said.

The protests, which take place roughly every two weeks, usually attract a few hundred people, although a march with the Milk Tea Alliance, a pan-Asian democracy movement, attracted about 3,000 supporters according to Shin.

The US has taken the strongest stance against the coup in the international community, sanctioning the State Administration Council - the governing body set up by the coup leaders - and many cabinet members, children of senior military officials and military-linked companies.

But Shin wants greater action, including for the US and others to recognise the National Unity Government - a government in exile - as the legitimate government of Myanmar. Members of the NUG were appointed by a group of legislators elected in the November election and include representatives from the NLD, ethnic minority groups, civil society and other minor parties.

But the NUG has also been brought into disrepute because of its Rohighya policies. In 2017, the military engaged in a brutal campaign of violence against the mostly Muslim Rohingya minority in Rakhine State, driving some 700,000 across the border into Bangladesh, which has since been described as ethnic cleansing and genocide.

Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD were condemned for failing to adequately stand up against the atrocities. In 2019 Aung San Suu Kyi even defended the country from allegations of genocide at the International Court of Justice.

Earlier this month, Democrat members of the US House of Representatives grilled Myanmar's UN representative, who has remained loyal to the civilian government, asking to guarantee the Rohingya be granted citizenship and a Rohingya representative appointed to the NUG.

"The US should not support the National Unity Government in Burma unless it includes Rohingya representation," said Ted Lieu, a representative from California.

Shin says she understands why some might not like the NLD but compares the situation to former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders supporters voting for President Joe Biden to defeat his predecessor Donald Trump.

"They might not like everything about the NUG, but we voted for them," she said, calling the stance "condescending".

"Rejecting the NUG is rejecting and undermining democracy."

Shin believes the NUG will soon put out a statement on the Rohingya crisis that will satisfy some of its critics but urged foreign powers not to delay their recognition.

Financial support

In addition to staging demonstrations and lobbying the US government, members of the Myanmar diaspora have also been raising money.

Aung Moe Win, with Support the Democracy Movement in Burma, says his organisation was able to raise over $100,000 in a single day during a fundraising bazaar in New Jersey over Burmese New Year.

"I think that's the most that's been raised outside of Burma in any city in the world," he said. Another fundraiser is planned for June 19, Aung San Suu Kyi's birthday.

One-third of the funds was sent to support striking civil servants who have refused to work for the military but in many cases have lost their income or been evicted from government housing. One-third has gone to the representatives of the parallel civilian government. The final portion was donated to civilians who have been displaced by conflict, after some major ethnic armed groups rejected the coup which led to several civil wars breaking out across various parts of the country.

Like many involved in the pro-democracy movement abroad, Aung Moe Win was forced to flee the country.

"I left Burma and I worked for The Irrawaddy magazine in Thailand in Chiang Mai. That was a big shift, once I worked for The Irrawaddy, I became an exile. I could never go back," he said, referring to a news outlet that has long been critical of the military.

He spent a few years in Thailand, moving to the US shortly before the Saffron Revolution.

"We are trying our best to help the people of Burma even though we are far away. We can live our own life here; we don't have to worry about anything," he said. "But still, we care so much about the country and we want the people of Burma to have the same freedoms and rights that we have in the United States."

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Myanmar diaspora in US rally, raise funds in battle against coup

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People of Myanmar descent in US demand firmer action against military leaders' February power grab and recognition of civilian government. New York, United States - A student leader during the 1988 uprisings against Myanmar's previous military dictatorship, Nay Myint was imprisoned and tortured for his efforts.

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Myanmar marks 100 days of military coup, Junta struggles to maintain power | World News | English

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The Israel-Palestine conflict: a brief, simple history

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The Israel-Palestine conflict: a brief, simple history

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The Israel-Palestine conflict: a brief, simple history

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Submitted by Seoa

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WHO fact sheet on child maltreatment providing key facts and information on the scope of the problem, consequences, prevention and WHO response.

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South Korea's Legal System Needs to Contend With Sexual Abuse and Crimes Against Women

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South Korea's Legal System Needs to Contend With Sexual Abuse and Crimes Against Women

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In early July, Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon died by suicide amid a former assistant's public accusations against him of yearslong sexual assault and harassment. But Park's death overshadows a darker, and more telling, development from days earlier. On July 6, South Korea denied the United States' request to extradite Son Jong-woo, the longtime operator of the world's largest darknet child pornography website, after his completion of a slap-on-the-wrist term of 18 months in prison.

Far from an anomaly, the decision underscores official South Korea's turning of a blind eye to a culture of sexual abuse, crimes against women and children, and worse. It's the mayor's suicide, to the extent it represents any sort of reckoning with the subject at all, that is the aberration.

Making sense of the South Korean judicial system's laxity toward perpetrators of sexual abuse requires an understanding of gender relations in a deeply patriarchal country. To start, South Korean women confront harsher economic realities and wield far less political power than do their male peers. The World Economic Forum's 2020 Global Gender Gap Index ranks South Korea 127 out of 153 countries when it comes to economic participation and opportunity, making it the largest gap among advanced economies. South Korean women struggle to find high-paying employment-less than 4 percent of top executives are women-and are subject to rampant workplace discrimination. Sadly, Park's former assistant does not appear to be an anomaly in this respect. A 2015 government survey found that 8 out of 10 respondents reported that they had experienced some form of sexual harassment in the workplace.

When it comes to gender-based violence, Korean women fare no better. According to South Korean police, in 2019 women accounted for 98 percent of victims in the nearly 10,000 cases of crimes against intimate partners, and the Korea Women's Hotline estimated that a woman was killed or nearly killed every 1.8 days that year. Korean women account for more than half of all homicide victims, making it one of the highest rates of female murder in the world. According to a 2014 study by the Korea Women's Hotline, nearly 90 percent of female respondents said they had experienced physical or emotional abuse from a romantic partner. Workplace harassment and discrimination, domestic violence, rape-none of these is legal. But clearly, the laws themselves do not provide sufficient deterrence for perpetrators of sexual- or gender-based violence.

Even still, how is it that someone who profited to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars hosting a child pornography website over three years was sentenced to a year and a half in prison? Simply put, that's the pattern: South Korean courts are notoriously lenient when it comes to sex crimes. It wasn't until this year that the age of consent was raised from 13 to 16, and it wasn't until 2013 that the Supreme Court upheld the country's first conviction of spousal rape. Historically speaking in South Korea, the courts and public alike have considered problems related to sexual assault or domestic violence "private matters" to be resolved among the involved parties themselves. What's more, only 30 percent of judges and less than 4 percent of police officers are women, which has clear ramifications for how crimes of this nature are treated in the Korean legal system.

Even when prosecutors obtain a successfully conviction of a sex crime, the assailant is often handed a suspended sentence. (This year, the former chairman of the major multinational DB Group received a suspended 30-month prison sentence after being convicted of raping his maid and sexually assaulting his assistant.) And proving rape and other sex crimes in South Korea is still difficult under the country's narrow legal definitions. To make matters worse, defendants could previously cite drunkenness as a legal defense for rape, and some have even exploited South Korea's tough defamation laws to sue their alleged victims.

Back to Son Jong-woo. In this legal environment, Son's light sentence is less surprising. But still, Son's website, which the U.S. Justice Department describes as the "first of its kind to monetize child exploitation videos using bitcoin," was a particularly heinous operation. The department indicted Son on nine counts including producing, advertising, and distributing child pornography as well as conspiracy and money laundering (though, due to issues of double jeopardy, only the final charge was considered in the extradition petition).

It is difficult to quantify the horror of Son's website, but we can try. In a joint operation by the United States, the United Kingdom, and South Korea, agents uncovered 8 terabytes of child pornography and catalogued more than 250,000 unique videos on the site (45 percent of which were previously unknown). What began as an investigation into illicit transactions on the dark web led agents to the 23-year-old's operation and its 337 global users. Investigators also rescued 23 children from the United States, Spain, and the U.K. who were being actively abused by users of the site.

Given the severity of Son's crimes, it would be reasonable to assume that the South Korean court had a credible reason for rejecting Washington's extradition request. Instead, the Seoul High Court denied the extradition on the grounds of Son's South Korean citizenship (despite having extradited a South Korean national to the United States already this year), adding that extraditing him to the United States would " hamper South Korea's investigation into sexually exploitative content." (It is unclear whether such an investigation is underway.) Son's website wasn't just a Korean enterprise but an international one uniting pedophiles across the globe and involving child victims of various nationalities, some of whom were from the United States.

More troubling still, Seoul's historic record on cases involving "sexually exploitative content" is spotty at best. This March heralded the fallout of the infamous " Nth Room," a series of encrypted chats featuring sexually exploitative videos (including child pornography). While authorities continue to track down the hundreds of participants, some have already received astoundingly light sentences. In April, courts handed down a one-year sentence to one of the chat's ringleaders. Other Nth Room accomplices have been given similarly light sentences, despite possessing and distributing child pornography. And don't forget the website Soranet, which housed thousands of illegally filmed spycam porn videos for millions of viewers and whose leader squeaked away with a four-year sentence.

Importantly, official South Korea's apathy in the face of sexual abuse is hardly reflected in public sentiment. Several Change.org petitions calling for Son's extradition have garnered tens of thousands of signatures from outraged netizens around the world. The overseas website Digital Prison also released the identities of Son (whose face has been barely concealed in the media) and the judges who rejected the United States' extradition request. A government petition in South Korea calling for the disqualification of one of the presiding judges of Son's case from his Supreme Court justice nomination has more than 500,000 signatures, making it one of the largest petitions currently on the Blue House site.

Protests and petitions are perhaps signs of genuine desire to overhaul the way South Korea handles crimes of this nature, but deep and persistent gender divides combined with a lack of female representation in the judicial system may prove to be significant obstacles in effecting systemic change. In this case, will public outrage translate into a more serious policy on sexual exploitation? So far, at least as far as the Seoul government and the nation's judiciary are concerned, the answer seems to be no.

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South Korea Needs to Contend With Sexual Violence

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In early July, Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon died by suicide amid a former assistant's public accusations against him of yearslong sexual assault and harassment. But Park's death overshadows a darker, and more telling, development from days earlier.

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Submitted by Junie

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A 6th Grader Opened Fire in Her Idaho Middle School, Injuring 3 People

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A sixth-grade student opened fire in her Idaho middle school on Thursday,shooting two students and a custodian, according to authorities. All of the gunshot victims sustained non-life-threatening injuries and are expected to survive. The shooting occurred around 9:15 a.m.

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Submitted by Raphaella

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What is Rape Culture?

Rape Culture is an environment in which rape is prevalent and in which sexual violence is normalized and excused in the media and popular culture. Rape culture is perpetuated through the use of misogynistic language, the objectification of women's bodies, and the glamorization of sexual violence, thereby creating a society that disregards women's rights and safety.

Examples of Rape Culture

Blaming the victim ("She asked for it!")

Trivializing sexual assault ("Boys will be boys!")

Sexually explicit jokes

Tolerance of sexual harassment

Inflating false rape report statistics

Publicly scrutinizing a victim's dress, mental state, motives, and history

Gratuitous gendered violence in movies and television

Defining "manhood" as dominant and sexually aggressive

Defining "womanhood" as submissive and sexually passive

Pressure on men to "score"

Pressure on women to not appear "cold"

Assuming only promiscuous women get raped

Assuming that men don't get raped or that only "weak" men get raped

Refusing to take rape accusations seriously

Teaching women to avoid getting raped

Victim Blaming

One reason people blame a victim is to distance themselves from an unpleasant occurrence and thereby confirm their own invulnerability to the risk. By labeling or accusing the victim, others can see the victim as different from themselves. People reassure themselves by thinking, "Because I am not like her, because I do not do that, this would never happen to me." We need to help people understand that this is not a helpful reaction.

Why is it Dangerous?

Victim-blaming attitudes marginalize the victim/survivor and make it harder to come forward and report the abuse. If the survivor knows that you or society blames her for the abuse, s/he will not feel safe or comfortable coming forward and talking to you.

Victim-blaming attitudes also reinforce what the abuser has been saying all along; that it is the victim's fault this is happening. It is NOT the victim's fault or responsibility to fix the situation; it is the abuser's choice. By engaging in victim-blaming attitudes, society allows the abuser to perpetrate relationship abuse or sexual assault while avoiding accountability for his/her actions.

What Does Victim-Blaming Look Like?

Example of Victim-Blaming Attitude: "She must have provoked him into being abusive. They both need to change."

Reality: This statement assumes that the victim is equally to blame for the abuse, when in reality, abuse is a conscious choice made by the abuser. Abusers have a choice in how they react to their partner's actions. Options besides abuse include: walking away, talking in the moment, respectfully explaining why an action is frustrating, breaking up, etc. Additionally, abuse is not about individual actions that incite the abuser to hurt his partner, but rather about the abuser's feelings of entitlement to do whatever he wants to his partner.

When friends and family remain neutral about the abuse and say that both people need to change, they are colluding with and supporting the abusive partner and making it less likely that the survivor will seek support.

How Can Men and Women Combat Rape Culture and Victim Blaming?

Avoid using language that objectifies or degrades women

Speak out if you hear someone else making an offensive joke or trivializing rape

If a friend says they have been raped, take your friend seriously and be supportive

Think critically about the media's messages about women, men, relationships, and violence

Be respectful of others' physical space even in casual situations

Let survivors know that it is not their fault

Hold abusers accountable for their actions: do not let them make excuses like blaming the victim, alcohol, or drugs for their behavior

Always communicate with sexual partners and do not assume consent

Define your own manhood or womanhood. Do not let stereotypes shape your actions.

Be an Active Bystander!

Adapted from Marshall University and Center for Relationship Abuse Awareness
Dating and Domestic Violence Facts

FACT: Regardless of their actions, no one deserves to be physically, verbally or sexually abused. In fact, putting the blame for the violence on the victim is a way to manipulate the victim and other people. Batterers will tell the victim, "You made me mad," or, "You made me jealous," or will try to shift the burden by saying, "Everyone acts like that." Most victims try to placate and please their abusive partners in order to de-escalate the violence. The batterer chooses to abuse, and bears full responsibility for the violence.

FACT: Many victims love their partners despite the abuse, blame themselves, or feel as if they have no support system or resources outside of the relationship and so they feel as if they can't leave. Furthermore, the period immediately after leaving an abusive relationship is extremely dangerous.

FACT: Jealousy and possessiveness are signs that the person sees you as a possession. They are one of the most common early warning sign of abuse

FACT: Abuse can come in many forms, such as sexual, physical, verbal, and emotional. When a person in a relationship repeatedly scares, hurts, or puts down the other person, it is abuse. Harassment, intimidation, forced or coerced isolation from friends and family and having an independent social life, humiliation, threats of harm to you or your family or pets, threats of suicide if you leave, violating your privacy, limiting your independence and personal choices are all examples of abuse.

FACT: While the majority of victims of domestic violence are women, men may also be victims of relationship violence. Men face many of the same barriers as women that prevent them from reporting abuse, but also face a different kind of stigma since many do not believe that men can be victims of dating/domestic violence.

FACT: The majority of men and young men in our community are not violent. The use of violence is a choice. Men who use violence in their relationships choose where and when they are violent. The large majority of offenders who assault their partners control their violence with others, such as friends or work colleagues, where there is no perceived right to dominate and control.

Stating that 'All men are violent' places the blame for the violence elsewhere and prevents the perpetrator from being responsible for his violence. The majority of men and women want and can be allies to help in the fight against this kind of violence.

FACT: As many as one-third of all high school and college-age young people experience violence in an intimate or dating relationship. Physical abuse is as common among high school and college-age couples as married couples.

Sexual Assault Facts

FACT: Men, women and children of all ages, races, religions, and economic classes can be and have been victims of sexual assault. Sexual assault occurs in rural areas, small towns and larger cities. It is estimated that one in three girls and one six boys will be sexually assaulted by the age of eighteen. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, a rape or attempted rape occurs every 5 minutes in the United States.

FACT: Sexual assault is NEVER the victim's fault. Sexual assault is a violent attack on an individual, not a spontaneous crime of sexual passion. For a victim, it is a humiliating and degrading act. No one "asks" for or deserves this type of attack.

FACT: Most sexual assaults are committed by someone the victim knows. Studies show that approximately 80%-90% of women reporting sexual assaults knew their assailant.

FACT: A sexual assault can happen anywhere and at any time. The majority of assaults occur in places ordinarily thought to be safe, such as homes, cars and offices.

FACT: Reported sexual assaults are true, with very few exceptions. According to CONNSACS, only 2% of reported rapes are false. This is the same rate of false reporting as other major crime reports.

FACT: Men can be, and are, sexually assaulted. Current statistics indicate that one in six men are sexually assaulted in their lifetime. Sexual assault of men is thought to be greatly under-reported.

FACT: Almost all sexual assaults occur between members of the same race. Interracial rape is not common, but it does occur.

FACT: Sexual assault is motivated by hostility, power and control. Sexual assaults are not motivated by sexual desire. Unlike animals, humans are capable of controlling how they choose to act on or express sexual urges.

FACT: Sexual offenders come from all educational, occupational, racial and cultural backgrounds. They are "ordinary" and "normal" individuals who sexually assault victims to assert power and control over them and inflict violence, humiliation and degradation.

FACT: Anytime someone is forced to have sex against their will, they have been sexually assaulted, regardless of whether or not they fought back or said "no". There are many reasons why a victim might not physically fight their attacker including shock, fear, threats or the size and strength of the attacker.

FACT: Survivors exhibit a spectrum of emotional responses to assault: calm, hysteria, laughter, anger, apathy, shock. Each survivor copes with the trauma of the assault in a different way.
Adapted from Connecticut Sexual Assault Crisis Services (CONNSACS)

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Rape Culture, Victim Blaming, And The Facts

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What is Rape Culture? Rape Culture is an environment in which rape is prevalent and in which sexual violence is normalized and excused in the media and popular culture. Rape culture is perpetuated through the use of misogynistic language, the objectification of women's bodies, and the glamorization of sexual violence, thereby creating a society that disregards women's rights and safety.

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Submitted by Raphaella

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Child abuse and neglect are serious public health problems that can have long-term impact on health, opportunity, and wellbeing. CDC works to understand the problems of child abuse and neglect and prevent them.

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Child abuse and neglect can have a lasting effect on victims. The CDC Injury Center's goal is to stop it from happening in the first place. Learn More.

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Submitted by Jay

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Grieving Columbus mom who lost her teenage son to gun violence claims 'all kids have guns'

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A Columbus mother is now forced to bury her 15-year-old son who police say was learning remotely from home and gunned down by another 15-year-old teenage boy. Tre Von Dickson was shot and killed at his east Columbus apartment last month by a boy his mother Shawna Brady told ABC 6/FOX 28 he knew from his football league.

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Sexual Assault/harrassment of women in S. Korea

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Sexual Assault/harrassment of women in S. Korea

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Submitted by Julia L.

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Amid a worsening humanitarian situation in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, reports of indiscriminate and targeted attacks against civilians, including rape and other horrific forms of sexual violence, continue to surface. This must stop.

We call on all State and non-State parties to the conflict to fulfil their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law; ensure their forces respect and protect civilian populations, particularly women and children, from all human rights abuses; explicitly condemn all sexual violence; and take action to bring perpetrators to justice where abuses do occur.

Women and children in affected areas are reporting significant challenges in accessing health, social welfare and justice services. Facility assessments undertaken in some health facilities in the region, including Mekelle, Adigrat and Shire, show gaps in premises' security, as well as in staffing, services and supplies. Initial assessments of 106 facilities in Tigray between December 2020 and March 2021 show that nearly 70 per cent of facilities were looted, 30 per cent damaged, and only 13 per cent in Tigray were functional. Health services have also been rendered less functional by the displacement of many health-care workers, in addition to non-payment of salaries. Further health service availability assessments of over two thirds of the total 264 facilities in the region report large and widespread disruptions of services. Childhood vaccination services were observed in only 28 per cent of facilities and comprehensive nutrition services available in approximately 29 per cent of functioning facilities.

Only one facility provides the full range of services for clinical management of rape survivors, and emergency contraception is fully available in less than half of the facilities assessed. The lack of direct access to health care also creates an environment of fear accessing health care, especially for women and children, who are already facing frequent and severe security threats and displacement. Moreover, many displaced civilians are sheltering in unfinished or damaged buildings, and most collective centres do not include separate spaces or latrines for women and men, girls and boys, thus increasing risks of gender-based violence (GBV) and the spread of certain infectious diseases.

Preventing and responding to the grave human suffering resulting from this conflict will require a concerted effort at all levels.

First, it is essential that an independent investigation into conflict-related sexual violence in Tigray be initiated, with the involvement of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Humanitarian access is essential. Humanitarian staff need to be able to reach all regions of Ethiopia affected by conflict and violence. This includes major towns and rural areas in Tigray, as well as Benishangul Gumuz, Oromia, Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples (SNNP) and Amhara, and in the regions hosting thousands of internally displaced people.

When it comes to getting aid staff and supplies into Tigray, notwithstanding recent developments, much more remains to be done. If they are given the access and resources they need, aid agencies will be able to make the desperately needed prevention and response interventions that will save and transform lives, including health services and supplies, GBV case management, dignity kits, post-rape treatment, and safe spaces for women and children. Given the deep trauma many have experienced, support for mental health and psychosocial needs is also required.

It is only with a concerted and comprehensive effort, fully grounded in respect for human rights and international humanitarian law, that the humanitarian response in Tigray will match the scale of humanitarian need, especially for women and children.

Mr. Mark Lowcock, Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

Mr. Ignacio Packer, Executive Director, International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA)

Mr. Samuel Worthington, Chief Executive Officer, InterAction

Mr. António Vitorino, Director General, International Organization for Migration (IOM)

Ms. Michelle Bachelet, High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

Mr. Achim Steiner, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Dr. Natalia Kanem, Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

Mr. Filippo Grandi, High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

Ms. Maimunah Mohammed Sharif, Executive Director, United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat)

Ms. Henrietta H. Fore, Executive Director, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)

Ms. Cecilia Jimenez-Damary, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons (IDPs)

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO)

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Statement on Gender-Based Violence in Tigray region of Ethiopia

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Amid a worsening humanitarian situation in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, reports of indiscriminate and targeted attacks against civilians, including rape and other horrific forms of sexual violence, continue to surface.

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Gun Violence Increasingly Targeting Black Women 

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Gun Violence Increasingly Targeting Black Women 

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PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- As gun violence explodes across Philadelphia, women - and particularly Black women - make up a growing share of the victims.

So far this year, 83 women have been shot in Philadelphia, and 66 of these women are Black. This time last year, 36 women had been shot, including 26 Black women.

These record numbers of female victims represent about 11.7% of all Philadelphia shooting victims in 2021 - up from 10.3% last year. Since 2015, the share of shooting victims who are women has grown by about half.

Rev. Robert Collier, President of Black Clergy of Philadelphia and Vicinity, said the increasing gun violence against women and communities of color is overwhelming.

"It's gotten to a point that we're in a crisis," he added.

After losing her son to gun violence, Dr. Dorothy Johnson-Speight founded Mothers in Charge, an organization that supports victims and families while advocating for change. Johnson-Speight said the current number of homicides is the worst that she's seen in the 18 years she's been working to combat gun violence.

"There has been an increase - an unbelievable increase - in female homicides, and that's not something we ever saw before," Johnson-Speight said. "Babies and females weren't the targets, but now they are."

The surge in female victims of gun violence is driven by Black female victims, who made up about 9.4% of all gun violence victims and over 80% of all female gun violence victims in the city so far this year. This disparity isn't new, but it is growing steadily each year. Last year, Black female victims made up about 77.8% of all female shooting victims, up from 74.6% the previous year.

Lisa Christian, Director of Community Services at Anti-Violence Partnership of Philadelphia, said this disparity is related to higher rates of gun violence in areas of concentrated poverty, an issue that has been exacerbated by shrinking resources during the pandemic. She has noticed a recent increase in calls for support for clients impacted by gun violence.

Christian cited several pandemic-related factors - including increased isolation, unemployment and adolescents not in school - that she says have contributed to the escalating gun violence. She also cited crime related to the drug trade and retaliations as contributing factors, as well as "the proliferation of guns into communities, particularly communities of color, who are hardest hit by the pandemic."

Experts say the rise in gun violence against women is likely due in part to domestic violence, which has increased during the pandemic as lockdowns have forced women to stay at home.

"There has been a retreat into the domestic space, and oftentimes the domestic space is not safe," said Natasha McGlynn, Interim Executive Director at Anti-Violence Partnership of Philadelphia. McGlynn added that this particularly affects vulnerable populations, such as communities of color and LGBTQIA+ communities.

Adam Garber, Executive Director at CeaseFire PA, a local nonprofit working to end gun violence across Pennsylvania, noted that the increase in female victims is also related to more bystanders being hit by gunfire as people are more willing to shoot indiscriminately in public areas.

"Past agreements to not target women and children have been breaking down, and we've seen more of that violence grow," Garber said.

Garber added that women have increasingly become a source of illegal firearms by buying guns for people who are not allowed to own them. He said these transactions put women in violent situations and can make them targets down the road. Johnson-Speight of Mothers in Charge is addressing this issue through Operation Lipstick, an educational program to help women understand that this practice is illegal and dangerous.

Experts say that education is an important step in combatting gun violence. They also cite the need for advocacy, policy work and violence prevention programs.

At Anti-Violence Partnership of Philadelphia, solutions include connecting women with services such as career coaching and housing relocation for those experiencing domestic violence or witness intimidation.

"We need an increase in funding dollars to agencies and organizations who have been at the forefront of battling these issues all along," said Christian. "We need multi-pronged approaches to these issues, not just for African-Americans, but for women of color across the board."

Christian added that gun violence must be addressed from a public health perspective, rather than from a crime perspective. Johnson-Speight agreed, calling gun violence an epidemic.

"It's not some incurable disease," Johnson-Speight said. "It's homicide in our community. And it has to be treated like an epidemic."

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Gun violence in Philadelphia increasingly targets Black women, data shows

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PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- As gun violence explodes across Philadelphia, women - and particularly Black women - make up a growing share of the victims. So far this year, 83 women have been shot in Philadelphia, and 66 of these women are Black. This time last year, 36 women had been shot, including 26 Black women.

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US invests heavily to reduce income inequality | DW | 29.04.2021

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Business In a talk with DW, the head of the Aspen Institute Germany, Stormy-Annika Mildner, looks at what's behind the Biden administration's huge spending plans and who's going to profit from them.

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Submitted by Erin B.

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The World Bank Group's goals are to end extreme poverty and promote shared prosperity. This mission underpins our analytical, operational, and convening work in about 140 client countries.

For three decades, the number of people living in extreme poverty- defined as those who live on less than $2.15 per person per day at 2017 purchasing power parity-was declining. But the trend was interrupted in 2020, when poverty rose due to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 crisis. The number of people in extreme poverty rose by 70 million to more than 700 million people. The global extreme poverty rate reached 9.3 percent, up from 8.4 percent in 2019.

The world's poorest people bore the steepest costs of the pandemic. Their income losses were twice as high as the world's richest, and global inequality rose for the first time in decades. The poorest also faced large setbacks in health and education which, if left unaddressed by policy action, will have lasting consequences for their lifetime income prospects.

The recovery since then has been uneven. Rising food and energy prices-fueled in part by the war in Ukraine and by climate shocks and conflict-have hindered a swift recovery. By the end of 2022, as many as 685 million people could still be living in extreme poverty.

The recent setbacks took place when the speed of progress toward poverty reduction was already slowing, in tandem with subdued global economic growth.

The recent crises have pushed the world further off track from the global goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030. Given current trends, 574 million people-nearly 7 percent of the world's population-will still be living on less than $2.15 a day in 2030. And the challenge is made harder by the fact that extreme poverty is concentrated in parts of the world where it will be hardest to eradicate: in Sub-Saharan Africa, in conflict-affected areas, and in rural areas.

Last Updated: Nov 30, 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic dealt the biggest setback to global poverty in decades. The economic recovery has been uneven, affected by rising food and energy prices-due to the war in Ukraine and climate change, among other factors-and high indebtedness in many countries. In addition, extreme poverty is now more concentrated in places where it will be hardest to eradicate, including in conflict-affected and rural areas.

Strategies to reach the least well-off must be tailored to each country's context, considering the latest data and analysis, and the needs of the population. How the world responds to these major challenges today will have a direct bearing on whether the current reversals in global poverty reduction can be turned around.

The World Bank provides recommendations for a complementary two-track approach: responding effectively to the urgent crisis in the short run, while continuing to focus on foundational development problems, including conflict and climate change.
Closing the gaps between policy aspiration and attainment
Too often, there is a wide gap between policies as articulated and their attainment in practice-between what citizens rightfully expect, and what they experience daily. Policy aspirations can be laudable, but there is likely to be considerable variation in the extent to which they can be realized, and in which groups benefit from them. For example, at the local level, those who have the least influence in a community might not be able to access basic services. It is critical to forge implementation strategies that can rapidly and flexibly respond to close the gaps.
Enhancing learning, improving data
From information gathered in household surveys to pixels captured by satellite images, data can inform policies and spur economic activity, serving as a powerful weapon in the fight against poverty. More data is available today than ever before, yet its value is largely untapped. Data is also a double-edged sword, requiring a social contract that builds trust by protecting people against misuse and harm, and works toward equal access and representation.
Investing in preparedness and prevention
The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that years of progress in reducing poverty can quickly disappear when a crisis strikes. Prevention measures often have low political payoff, with little credit given for disasters averted. Over time, populations with no lived experience of calamity can become complacent, presuming that such risks have been eliminated or can readily be addressed if they happen. COVID-19, together with climate change and enduring conflicts, is reminding us of the importance of investing in preparedness and prevention measures comprehensively and proactively.
Expanding cooperation and coordination
Contributing to and maintaining public goods require extensive cooperation and coordination. This is crucial for promoting widespread learning and improving the data-driven foundations of policymaking. It is also important for forming a sense of shared solidarity during crises and ensuring that the difficult policy choices by officials are both trusted and trustworthy.

Overall, with more than 60 percent of the world's extreme poor living in middle-income countries, we cannot focus solely on low-income countries if we want to end extreme poverty. We need to focus on the poorest people, regardless of where they live, and work with countries at all income levels to invest in their well-being and their future.

The goal to end extreme poverty works hand in hand with the World Bank Group's goal to promote shared prosperity, focused on increasing income growth among the bottom 40 percent in every country. Boosting shared prosperity broadly translates into improving the welfare of the least well-off in each country and includes a strong emphasis on tackling persistent inequalities that keep people in poverty from generation to generation.

Our work at the World Bank Group is based on strong country-led programs to improve living conditions-to drive growth, raise median incomes, create jobs, fully incorporate women and young people into economies, address environmental and climate challenges, and support stronger, more stable economies for everyone.

We continue to work closely with countries to help them find the best ways to improve the lives of their least advantaged citizens.

Last Updated: Nov 30, 2022

The World Bank Group works to end poverty in several ways:

Funding projects that can have transformational impacts on communities.

Collecting and analyzing the critical data and evidence needed to target these programs to reach the poorest and most vulnerable.

Helping governments create more inclusive, effective policies that can benefit entire populations and lay the groundwork for prosperity for future generations.

Some examples:

Cambodia has achieved remarkable progress in reducing poverty and boosting shared prosperity, but key reforms are needed to sustain pro-poor growth. The World Bank is supporting Cambodia to help address the country's challenges of limited economic diversification, rapidly increasing urbanization, human capital deficiencies, and infrastructure gaps.

Mexico has experienced high income inequality and concentration of poverty in a few states. The World Bank Group has supported Mexico's efforts to develop a more inclusive, effective, and integrated social protection system including relaunching a conditional cash transfer program to help improve access to higher education and formal employment.

In one of India's poorest states, Bihar, a program financed by the World Bank has transformed livelihoods by mobilizing almost 10 million rural women into self-help groups and granting them access to finance and markets to start and expand their businesses.

A pilot program in Ecuador used text messages to relay information and encouragement to caregivers in an impoverished region of the country and saw a significant improvement in the nutrition and health of children.

Since 2007, a team of experts from the World Bank has been helping Kenya strengthen statistical capacity by reshaping its National Bureau of Statistics. With World Bank's support, the bureau implemented a range of surveys to update key indicators of official statistics and improved the data ecosystem. The project is funded by $50 million from the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA).

In-depth maps in countries such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Croatia, Republic of Serbia, and Vietnam show where economic diversity and gaps in services exist within a country. This, as part of the poverty assessment process, helps policymakers better target policies and programs to reach and benefit the poor.

Yemen's high malnutrition rates have drawn global attention, highlighting the impact the country's five-and-half-year civil war has had on its population. The Emergency Crisis Response Project gives pregnant women and women with children under the age of five money to buy food and teaches them about child nutrition. It has been able to reach more than 165,000 pregnant or lactating women and 175,000 children so far.

Conflict-affected communities in Mindanao are among the poorest in the Philippines, suffering from poor infrastructure and lack of basic services. The World Bank along with other partners have aimed to enhance access to services and economic opportunities and build social cohesion. These projects have help build water systems, community centers, sanitation facilities, access roads, post-harvest facilities, and farming and fishing equipment, benefiting 650,000 people in 284 villages in a decade.

An innovative series of rapid survey methodologies were pioneered in Somalia, one of the poorest countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The surveys overcame significant security and implementation obstacles to yield the most comprehensive analysis of the welfare of the Somali people in decades and is now being used in other countries.

Last Updated: Nov 30, 2022

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Fighting poverty in all of its dimensions lies at the core of the World Bank's work. We work closely with governments to develop sound policies so that poor people can improve their livelihoods, and access social and infrastructure services and good jobs.

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Submitted by James

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The problem of education inequality | CNBC Reports

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Submitted by Isabel

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What is Health Equity? This three-minute motion graphic video explains how social, economic, and environmental conditions can create health inequities and how these inequities can affect health disparities. For more information and to download our infographic series visit: http://healthequity.sfsu.edu/content/infographic Motion graphic designed by Peter Wang, Department of Design and Industry, SF State.

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Submitted by Isabel

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In order to forge a path toward health equity and progress, we must undo the health consequences of racism, particularly its less visible - but more insidious - structural manifestations, such as the heavy concentration of health risks in communities of color.

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In order to forge a path toward health equity and progress, we must undo the health consequences of racism, particularly its less visible - but more insidious - structural manifestations, such as the heavy concentration of health risks in communities of color.

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Submitted by Aya

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SEJONG -- The gulf between the haves and have-nots is wider in South Korea than in almost any other member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a recent analysis suggests, with only the US showing greater inequality.

The OECD measured income disparities by analyzing the poverty rates of 35 of its 37 members as of 2019. (Colombia and New Zealand were excluded.)

The poverty rate is the percentage of people whose income is less than half the median household income, according to the organization's definition. If a country's median household income were 40 million won ($33,500) per annum, the poverty line would be 20 million won.

Korea posted a poverty rate of 17.4 percent -- the second-highest among the 35 economies analyzed. The US poverty rate stood at 17.8 percent.

Further down the list were Greece (12.6 percent), Portugal (10.7 percent), Poland (9.6 percent), Slovenia (8.5 percent), Hungary (8 percent) and Slovakia (7.3 percent).

Other countries with poverty rates lower than Korea's included Turkey (17.2 percent), Mexico (16.6 percent), Latvia (16.6 percent), Estonia (15.8 percent) and Japan (15.7 percent).

Among English-speaking countries, the UK, Canada and Australia were at similar levels with 11.7 percent, 12.1 percent and 12.4 percent, respectively.

Polarization between the haves and have-nots in Korea has continued to widen over the past few years.

A research analyst said "the nation's middle-income bracket has collapsed, and a large portion of middle-income households should be reclassified as part of the low-income bracket."

Meanwhile, the poverty rate for "seniors," defined by the OECD as people aged 66 or over, was much higher in Korea. In this age group Korea topped the list with 43.8 percent, far surpassing the corresponding figures for the US (23.1 percent), Japan (19.6 percent), Sweden (10.9 percent), Spain (10.2 percent) and Italy (9.7 percent).

Denmark and Iceland both recorded the lowest poverty rate for seniors, 3 percent. Next-lowest were the Netherlands at 3.1 percent, France at 3.6 percent, Norway at 4.3 percent and Slovakia at 4.8 percent.

While the Moon Jae-in administration recently created a huge number of public-sector jobs for seniors, the poverty rate among older people had climbed to 47.4 percent as of September 2019, according to Statistics Korea.

For young people up to the age of 17, Korea posted a poverty rate of 14.5 percent -- not far behind the corresponding figures for other developed countries.

The UK's youth poverty rate stood at 12.4 percent, Australia's at 13.3 percent, Luxembourg's at 13.9 percent, Japan's at 13.9 percent and that of the US at 21.2 percent.

But many of the 35 countries posted youth poverty rates of less than 10 percent. Among them were Sweden with 9 percent, the Czech Republic with 6.8 percent, Norway with 8.1 percent, Slovenia with 6.4 percent, Denmark with 3.7 percent and Finland with 3.5 percent.

According to an opposition party lawmaker citing data from Statistics Korea, households in the top 20 percent income bracket saw their monthly earnings increase by an average of 966,000 won in 2019 over 2017.

In contrast, the average monthly income for the bottom 20 percent fell by 108,000 won in the corresponding period -- from 790,000 won to 682,000 won.

By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)

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[News Focus] Korea has 2nd-highest income gap in OECD

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SEJONG -- The gulf between the haves and have-nots is wider in South Korea than in almost any other member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a recent analysis suggests, with only the US showing greater inequality. The OECD measured income disparities by analyzing the poverty rates of 35 of its 37 members as of 2019.

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Submitted by Jay

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Study Shows Income Gap Between Rich and Poor Keeps Growing, With Deadly Effects (Published 2019)

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The Government Accountability Office, which looked at the relationship between income, wealth and longevity, found that poor people are living shorter lives and the rich are living longer.

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Featured image courtesy of Polyp.org.uk
CW: Pictures and discussion of racism, famine, poverty, and death.
In my all too frequent procrastinatory forays into social media, I am regularly challenged when I link colonialism, capitalism, and the plight of refugees and other migrants. It can become tedious having to repeat oneself so much, so I want to address this in a little more depth. What follows is adapted from some of the answers I have given on this topic; why do I, and many like me, believe migration, whether for reasons of asylum or economy, is an inevitable consequence of capitalism? Why do we think that this stems from the colonial era? What is neo-colonialism? Naturally these are questions with very long and complicated answers, but I will attempt to give a very brief overview of how and why colonialism continues to have particularly tangible repercussions to this day. Because this is a very brief account, there is a lot that will not be covered. I will generally steer clear of specific examples, and I will also not address the role of racism. This is not because it is not important, but because it plays such a huge role that it cannot be adequately addressed here, so whilst I could talk for an age on the transatlantic slave trade, this will be for a later piece. Note also, that I'm not referring exclusively to the British, although the British were particularly accomplished at their subjugation of native peoples.

It is pretty well documented of course, that beginning around the year 1500, Europe became unusually violent (the anthropologist David Graeber talks interestingly about this in his book "Debt: The First 5000 Years"). The European colonial powers began a determined process of going to non-European lands, and colonising them. That invariably means violently conquering whoever lives there, and claiming the land, people, and resources as possessions of the conquering colonial power. Of course, the European colonialists were not the first empire builders, but nobody had ever done it on the scale they had before, and few had employed such dehumanising ideological methods.

One of the most important things to bear in mind when building an empire, is how you're going to pay for it, which is why being able to extract wealth from your colonies is so important. This stage of capitalism is known as 'primitive accumulation' because it is a fairly basic, or 'primitive' form of accumulating wealth. With primitive accumulation, you begin to see pretty stark separations forming between individuals, peoples, and nations based on how much money each has. Being the stage that is most intimately involved with imperialism, as you can imagine, most of that wealth flows from those getting poorer, to those getting richer, and includes for example, laws to enforce land grabs whereby previously communally owned land that was farmed by peasant communities, is taken and given to those who are gaining wealth. Naturally, when you're a member of a conquering power, you're going to end up with this land, whilst the native people who had previously lived on and farmed it, end up with nothing, but are now forced to sell their labour for considerably less than they need to survive. This process happens to the peasantry within self-governing capitalist nations as well, which is partly why working-class leftists in Britain for example, would say they have more in common with the working-classes in other nations, than they do with the capitalist class in their own.

Now let's fast forward a few hundred years to post WWII, where more and more countries are demanding their independence and Britain and the other colonial powers can no longer administer such huge burdensome empires, particularly after a disastrous war. They begin to withdraw and the colonies gain their independence, but what they're left with are countries where the main source of income is from raw resources because all major manufacturing or oil production, or whatever it may be, is owned by foreign companies (often owned by the former colonialist state). The best way to make money is to produce cash crops like coffee or cocoa, so that's what most do. The problem with that is that an overabundance drives down the price, so whilst this is good for the former colonial countries because, hey cheap coffee, it's terrible for the young former colonies, and pretty soon they're out of cash. Luckily though, there are two main ways your country is helped in its hour of need ( Jason Hickel is good on this). The first is foreign aid, where the former colonial countries so benevolently spend 0.7% of their GDP on targeted projects in your country. Of course the fact that those same countries successfully lobby the World Trade Organisation to allow illicit financial flows such as trade misinvoicing, is neither here nor there, even though this contributes to the fact that for every $1 going into the global south in aid, they're losing $24 in the opposite direction. Which leads us to the second way your country can be helped in its hour of need: the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

The IMF and World Bank will give you a loan if you fulfil the conditions of one of their 'Structural Adjustment Programmes'. Structural Adjustment Programmes rewrite your rules for you. You may have been democratically elected to serve the people, but these rules take precedence, and if you don't like that, the IMF and World Bank have the military might of the USA (and others) to show you the error of your ways. Now the first of these rules is that you have to balance your budgets, so a programme of extreme austerity is implemented. Instantly all social programmes, education, healthcare, anything like that, vanish. Taxes are raised and the currency devalued so that straight away, the long term growth of the country is jeopardised. Then they start to make demands about things that run deeper. Privatisation of any state businesses, liberalisation of the markets, and weirdly, focusing on export of raw resources, which as we have seen, is extremely bad for a developing economy.

What happens with all of this, is that your country is trapped in a spiral of debt with no way to get out, and often, that leads to poverty, starvation, military coups, and war. Finally, this in turn leads to refugees and 'economic migrants', each and every one of them the victim of hundreds of years of colonialist and capitalist oppression. At this point, we have to ask ourselves not whether we should be helping these people, but why we aren't helping them enough, and that brings us to the topic of propaganda and media bias, which shall have to wait for another time.

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Why Immigration is Caused by Colonialism

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Featured image courtesy of Polyp.org.uk CW: Pictures and discussion of racism, famine, poverty, and death. In my all too frequent procrastinatory forays into social media, I am regularly challenged when I link colonialism, capitalism, and the plight of refugees and other migrants. It can become tedious having to repeat oneself so much, so I want...

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https://www.aecf.org/blog/exploring-americas-food-deserts/

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Learn about America’s food deserts — areas offering residents few to no convenient options for securing affordable and healthy foods — and how to solve them.

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Among the many striking images from the pandemic is an aerial photo showing cars in seemingly endless rows lined up at a food bank in San Antonio, Texas.

A jarring awareness of food insecurity in the U.S. has accompanied the health and financial concerns brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, with record numbers of people visiting food banks for the first time.

Even those not immediately in need were made increasingly aware of food insecurity in 2020, amid conversations not only of the economic fallout of the coronavirus, but also how structural racism has disproportionately left Black and Hispanic households at risk.

This conversation is overdue. Long consumed with the obesity epidemic, Americans have found it harder to grapple with the issue of food insecurity as a wealthy nation.

As a researcher of food policy, I have seen how people have focused more attention on addressing the issue of food insecurity in recent years. In 2000, just seven research articles with "food insecurity" in the title or abstract were listed in the leading database of biomedical literature. The total rose to 137 in 2010 and to 994 by 2020.

I am currently conducting the first National Institutes of Health-funded study of the charitable food system, which includes food banks - nonprofits that procure, store and distribute food, usually to smaller agencies - and food pantries, which distribute food directly to households that need it.

Although awareness of food insecurity is growing, it is important to understand what is meant by the term and how it fits with other food access concepts, such as hunger and food sovereignty.

Paul Hennessy/NurPhoto via Getty Images

What is food insecurity?

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture), food insecurity occurs when households are unable to acquire adequate food because they have insufficient money and other resources.

Food insecurity is measured at the household level and reflects limited access to food. This makes it different from hunger, which is a physiological condition experienced by an individual. The USDA does not measure hunger in the U.S. Instead, the agency sees it as a consequence of people having limited access to food.

The USDA has measured food insecurity for 25 years. This metric captures both the uncertainty of not knowing where one's next meal is coming from and the disruptions of normal eating patterns and reductions in food intake.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the prevalence of food insecurity peaked at just under 15% of households in 2011. Rates then steadily declined each year through 2019, when just over 1 in 10 households reported experiencing food insecurity.

But then came 2020.

Although official statistics have not been released yet, early evidence suggests that food insecurity rates hit unprecedented levels, affecting perhaps 17 million more Americans than in 2019. Households with children were struck at alarmingly high rates, exacerbated by the closure of schools and child care facilities. In particular, Black and Hispanic families with children were disproportionately affected.

Food justice, sovereignty and apartheid

That Black and Hispanic households were hit the hardest by food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic is part of a bigger picture. Food insecurity is fundamentally an issue of health equity - the fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible without facing obstacles like poverty and discrimination. Even in normal times, food insecurity disproportionately affects low-income households, Black and Hispanic families, female-headed households and families with children.

Families struggling with food insecurity face not only insufficient food, but also insufficient nutritious food. Because of this, people who are food-insecure have higher risks of a range of diet-related chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension.

Food insecurity can be exacerbated by living in low-income areas without access to sources of healthy and affordable food. These areas have often been referred to as " food deserts," although this metaphor is being phased out by food justice advocates, researchers, and government agencies.

Another term that has emerged - " food swamp " - describes neighborhoods where sources of unhealthy foods outnumber sources of healthy food - for example, the number of fast-food outlets outnumbers grocery stores.

Meanwhile, several other terms bring civil rights into U.S. urban food activism. " Food justice" is a food movement rooted in addressing class and race issues, often through local community food production. " Food sovereignty " originates from indigenous and global agrarian communities, and refers to the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems.

Another term, " food apartheid," even more explicitly identifies structural racism as a root cause of food-related inequalities.

What these terms - food sovereignty, food justice and food apartheid - have in common is that they prod citizens, researchers and policymakers to move beyond issues of geographic food access and " how to feed the poor " and instead focus on how food systems can be reformed to address fundamental causes of food insecurity and health inequities.

[ The Conversation's newsletter explains what's going on with the coronavirus pandemic. Subscribe now.]

A new era

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump administration tightened restrictions on SNAP benefits. Formerly known as food stamps, SNAP is the largest of the federal food programs, providing monthly benefits to supplement the food budget in income-eligible families. Food insecurity was a critical part of policy discussions of SNAP restrictions.

But the issue of food insecurity has seemingly seeped more broadly into the public consciousness in conversations about racial justice, economic hardship, school reopening, pandemic preparedness and the food supply chain that ramped up in 2020 - conversations that are continuing in 2021.

The recent rise in food insecurity has prompted a response that has at times overwhelmed food banks and food pantries and the providers of free meals. But more sustainable solutions, such as anti-poverty policies, are needed to address the problem's root causes.

Food insecurity is not a new problem, but the current challenges come in an era in which more people are aware of the problem. My hope is that the long-overdue public exposure of America's fault lines can be the catalyst for new efforts.

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Among the many striking images from the pandemic is an aerial photo showing cars in seemingly endless rows lined up at a food bank in San Antonio, Texas. A jarring awareness of food insecurity in the U.S. has accompanied the health and financial concerns brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, with record numbers of people visiting food banks for the first time.

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Busting 3 common myths about homelessness

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Busting 3 common myths about homelessness

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As a young psychologist in the 1980s who had researched treatment of the mentally ill, I was concerned by many reports suggesting that the growing number of homeless people may be due to deinstitutionalization.

Over the past 30 years, my research group and I have conducted a wide range of studies on homelessness. In our work, we've found that Americans hold a number of myths about this population. Some of these myths have some basis in fact, while others have little or no validity.

Myth #1: The homeless and 'poor will always be with us'

This statement about the poor, attributed to Jesus in Matthew 26:11, can be taken out of context to suggest that people need not be concerned with caring for the poor and homeless. According to such an interpretation, assistance to the poor is a waste of time. Most Biblical scholars disagree with such a pessimistic interpretation.

But will there really always be poor people? Rates of homelessness vary widely across nations. In our telephone surveys of random samples of citizens across 10 developed nations, the chance that a given citizen had experienced homelessness at some point in their lifetime varied between 2.2 and 8.6 percent.

It's not yet clear what explains this variation. Is it the quality of social and health services in different countries? Could different patterns of substance abuse or immigration explain it? In any event, at 6.1 percent, the U.S. has one of the highest rates among developed nations.

If nations vary so widely, that suggests national policy changes could reduce high rates of homelessness. In the past decade or so, the U.S. has dramatically ramped up resources devoted to eliminating homelessness among veterans. Thanks to these efforts, veteran homelessness went down 35 percent between 2009 and 2015, outpacing the 10 percent total reduction in homelessness.

Provided with ongoing support services, the homeless mentally ill and other homeless persons can maintain themselves in permanent housing over long periods of time.

Other research suggests that homelessness can be prevented among vulnerable groups. For example, in a statewide evaluation, youth exiting foster care and detention facilities in Tennessee were randomly assigned to a special outpatient program or to a control group. Those in the program spent significantly less time homeless over the next year and also had other positive outcomes, like higher employment income.

Myth #2: Homelessness affects only very limited segments of American society

For sure, homelessness is more likely to affect those who are poor or otherwise disadvantaged in our society. But homelessness appears to touch the lives of a wide range of Americans, including some who average citizens would never have thought to be vulnerable.

Many people mistakenly believe that most of the homeless are mentally ill. Studies done by our group and others over the last 30 years have found that only one-quarter to one-third of homeless adults show a documented serious mental disorder, like schizophrenia, major depression or bipolar disorder.

Substance use disorders among homeless adults are much more common. Sixty to 75 percent of homeless people struggle with substance abuse at some point in their lifetime, versus 16 percent among the general population. Both serious mental and substance use disorders are less common among homeless mothers, their children and unaccompanied homeless youth.

Recently, studies have shown that college students suffer from high rates of homelessness and food insecurity. A recent survey of over 40,000 students across the U.S. found that 9 percent of university students and 12 percent of community college students had been homeless in the past year.

Over three decades, my team has interviewed thousands of homeless people. We have very rarely found anyone who we might consider to have "chosen" a homeless lifestyle. Yes, there are women, youth and others fleeing violent or otherwise very difficult life circumstances. Yes, there are some with severe mental or substance use disorders who have no other alternative to the streets or homeless shelters. If given the "choice" between a mental hospital, a jail or a homeless shelter in a dangerous area of town, some will, with good reason, take to the streets.

Myth #3: The public has developed 'compassion fatigue' when it comes to homelessness

Starting in the late 1980s, researchers have conducted a series of public opinion surveys on homelessness in the U.S. and other developed nations. In the 1990s, some in the U.S. media started to suggest that the public was experiencing "compassion fatigue," the feeling that homelessness had become an intractable problem that no longer needed so much societal attention.

However, the evidence doesn't support this at all. For example, surveys continue to find that a majority of the public would pay more taxes to help the homeless.

Perhaps it's an issue of perception. My team analyzed the media's interest in homelessness over the past 40 years, focusing on four major U.S. newspapers: The New York Times, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times.

There was virtually no media interest in homelessness prior to 1980, when Ronald Reagan began his first term as president. Interest then took off, perhaps due to actual increases in the numbers experiencing homelessness. This curiosity peaked in 1987, the same year that the first major federal funding was passed, then declined as the media became interested in other topics.

Since 1995, media interest has been steady at a relatively low level. Given these findings, perhaps a more accurate conclusion is that the mass media have experienced "compassion fatigue."

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Busting 3 common myths about homelessness

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As a young psychologist in the 1980s who had researched treatment of the mentally ill, I was concerned by many reports suggesting that the growing number of homeless people may be due to deinstitutionalization. Over the past 30 years, my research group and I have conducted a wide range of studies on homelessness.

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U.S. is a land of plenty, so why do millions of Americans still go hungry?

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U.S. is a land of plenty, so why do millions of Americans still go hungry?

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Are people in the U.S. getting enough to eat?

Unfortunately, even though the U.S. is bountiful and the world's biggest individual exporter of food, millions of Americans actually are not.

Each year the Department of Agriculture runs a nationwide survey to determine how many people go hungry. The latest figures show almost 6 percent of households - about 18 million people - are consistently not getting enough to eat. Another 8 percent - 30 million people - have occasional problems feeding themselves.

Altogether, about 14 percent of U.S. households - roughly 48 million people or one in seven Americans - go hungry at some point during the year, and not because they are trying to lose weight. This number actually underestimates the problem because the survey excludes the homeless and transients, groups that almost by definition lack enough food.

Given the size of the problem, you might think it'd be a prominent issue on the campaign trail this year.

Yet none of the presidential candidates discusses this issue, even as they attend endless breakfast meetings, lunch roundtables and dinner fundraisers. It doesn't seem to be on their minds, perhaps because they are surrounded by food. A Secret Service agent assigned to protect a candidate once jokingly told one of us the most dangerous part of the job was ensuring he didn't die from overeating.

While the candidates, their staff and protectors are well-fed, the news is not as good for the rest of the country.

In other words, why do we have such a tough time ending hunger in America?

What hunger really means

If you are like most people, you know what it is like to think yourself, "I'm hungry." You have probably said as much to a friend or family member.

And your hunger is real. It is a feeling of emptiness caused by a lack of food.

But being hungry in the moment - maybe you skipped breakfast or missed lunch - is not the same as hunger. Hunger is not knowing if there is a next meal, which is quite different from being temporarily hungry.

The 48 million Americans who face hunger and food insecurity are found across our nation. Yet, poverty, lack of education and state programs as well as infrastructure combine to concentrate hunger and food insecurity in the South and especially in Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, Alabama, North Carolina and Kentucky.

According to the USDA's Economic Research Service, these food-insecure households respond to hunger and food insecurity in various ways. They eat a less varied diet, they participate in federal food assistance programs and they turn to emergency food programs including community pantries. Hungry families juggle expenses. They trade one kind of insecurity for another and forego payments for utilities in order to buy food.

Hunger has been with us for eons. Not so long ago, people suffered hunger because their crops failed, there were no animals to hunt or there was a climate catastrophe. A drought, rains or rain that arrived at the wrong time were just some of the climate events that might cause hunger.

Defining food security

Food security is a simple concept. People who are "food secure" have enough to eat. People who are "food insecure" do not.

Not only are the numbers large, the Department of Agriculture survey shows the percentage of households experiencing food insecurity has climbed slightly since 1995. This is shocking since the overall U.S. economy has grown roughly 60 percent over the same period, indicating economic gains alone are not improving the lives of the most vulnerable.

The survey tracks hunger each December by asking if the following statements apply:

1. "We worried whether our food would run out before we got money to buy more."

2. "The food that we bought just didn't last and we didn't have money to get more."

3. "We couldn't afford to eat balanced meals."

Using these questions and a few others, each household is classified as "food secure," "low food security" or "very low food security."

Does the U.S. grow enough food?

Is the reason for such large numbers of food-insecure people that U.S. farmers are not growing enough?

Data from a special program that monitors food availability show the answer is no. For example, the U.S. produces about 200 pounds of grains like wheat, rice and oats; 250 pounds of red meat and poultry; and 200 pounds of dairy products each year for every person in the country. The typical hiker needs about two pounds a day when active outdoors. That means using just the three categories noted would provide enough food to satisfy the average person - and that's ignoring fruits, vegetables and everything else the U.S. grows.

Not only does the U.S. produce far more food than it needs, it could grow much more. Farmers enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program are paid each year not to use their land. The program annually pays about US$1.7 billion a year to ensure 24 million acres are left fallow.

This means more land than the entire state of Indiana is taken out of production annually.

Reuters

So why are people still going hungry?

Given how bountiful the U.S. is, why does hunger remain a problem? Poverty and lack of access to resources are two of the key forces defining hunger in the U.S.

The link between poverty and hunger is clear. Approximately 40 percent of families living below the federally mandated poverty rate ($23,850 for a family of four in 2014) were hungry that year. Households with children, single parents and those living below the poverty line are at particular risk.

In Child Food Insecurity: the Economic Impact on our Nation, John Cook and Karen Jeng note that hunger and food insecurity are a health issue. Hungry children are more likely to be sick and developmentally impaired. In other words, hungry children do not live up to their potential.

Food deserts, areas that lack grocery stores, farmers' markets and access to nutritious foods, are a problem across our nation.

Recall the last time you went grocery shopping. Did you take a cab or drive yourself?

For Americans who lack cars, it is a challenge to find transportation to and from a market. Traveling home with bags of heavy, perishable goods (think of carrying a gallon of milk to and from a bus stop) is not easy. Add in the time constraints of work, child care and maintaining a home, and the challenge grows even more overwhelming.

But the challenge of hunger is not simply an urban or ethnic problem. Food deserts are a problem for rural Americans and are concentrated in the south.

Rural Americans may live hundreds of miles and many hours from a grocery store or a source of nutritious foods. In fact, more than 50 percent of all food-insecure households are found outside of metropolitan areas.

Rural and southern households pose a unique challenge. Rural homes suffer from unemployment at rates greater than their urban neighbors. Southern homes lack educational opportunities and both lack access to family-based services like affordable child care and public transportation.

Can we end hunger in the U.S.?

Unfortunately, there is no way to prevent hunger. It is a problem that will persist. Yet we do have some ways to fight hunger and, with luck, reduce food insecurity.

Aid is a good place to start. By donating our time, money and food to local charities, we become part of the solution. But charity doesn't address the bigger challenges the hungry face.

Hunger is about health care, poverty and education. Ending hunger and food insecurity requires investing more money in these areas and enacting policies that reduce unemployment and lift wages.

We can also reduce food insecurity by improving public transportation and other infrastructure to make it easier for grocers and farmers to get nutritional food to the people who really need it.

No one should go hungry or feel insecure about their next meal in the U.S. in the 21st century. As the 2016 presidential campaign slogs on, we can be part of the solution by both giving of ourselves and asking our leaders to address this vital issue and promote food security as a sacred right for all Americans.

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U.S. is a land of plenty, so why do millions of Americans still go hungry?

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Are people in the U.S. getting enough to eat? Unfortunately, even though the U.S. is bountiful and the world's biggest individual exporter of food, millions of Americans actually are not. Each year the Department of Agriculture runs a nationwide survey to determine how many people go hungry.

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What Beauty Is Like For Homeless Women On The Streets | Shady | Refinery29

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How Hong Kong is home to the crazy rich and the mega poor

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We surprised a Korean grandma living on $2 a day | THE VOICELESS #5

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Inside the Lives of Rich Kids in South Korea

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Inside the Lives of Rich Kids in South Korea

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Inside The Lives Of The Rich Kids Of South Korea

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Brandi Carlile at The Washington Correction Center For Women

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Overcoming life's basic truth: Talent is universal, but opportunity is not.

Tanitoluwa Adewumi, who lives with his family in a shelter in New York City, went from chess novice to chess champion in little over a year. Credit... Christopher Lee for The New York Times

In a homeless shelter in Manhattan, an 8-year-old boy is walking to his room, carrying an awkward load in his arms, unfazed by screams from a troubled resident. The boy is a Nigerian refugee with an uncertain future, but he is beaming.

He can't stop grinning because the awkward load is a huge trophy, almost as big as he is. This homeless third grader has just won his category at the New York State chess championship.

Much of the news of the last week has focused on wealthy families buying access to great universities, either illegally through bribes or legally through donations. There is no question that America is a tilted playing field that gives wealthy children huge advantages.

So we should all grin along with Tanitoluwa Adewumi, the newly crowned chess champion for kindergarten through third grade. He went undefeated at the state tournament last weekend, outwitting children from elite private schools with private chess tutors.

What's even more extraordinary is that Tani, as he is known, learned chess only a bit more than a year ago. His play has skyrocketed month by month, and he now has seven trophies by his bed in the homeless shelter.

"I want to be the youngest grandmaster," he told me.

Tani's family fled northern Nigeria in 2017, fearing attacks by Boko Haram terrorists on Christians such as themselves. "I don't want to lose any loved ones," his father, Kayode Adewumi, told me.

So Tani, his parents and his older brother arrived in New York City a bit more than a year ago, and a pastor helped steer them to a homeless shelter. Tani began attending the local elementary school, P.S. 116, which has a part-time chess teacher who taught Tani's class how to play.

Tani enjoyed the game and prodded his mom, Oluwatoyin Adewumi, to ask if he could join the chess club.

Tani, as he's known, carrying his chess trophy home from school, accompanied by his mother and brother. Credit... Christopher Lee for The New York Times

"He is interested in the chess program, which he will like to be participating in," Mrs. Adewumi, who is working hard to master American English, emailed the club. She explained that she could not pay the fees for the program because the family was living in a shelter.

Russell Makofsky, who oversees the P.S. 116 chess program, waived the fees, and a year ago the boy took part in his first tournament with the lowest rating of any participant, 105.

His rating is now 1587 and rising fast. (By comparison, the world's best player, Magnus Carlsen, stands at 2845.)

Tani has an aggressive style of play, and in the state tournament the coaches, watching from the sidelines, were shocked when he sacrificed a bishop for a lowly pawn. Alarmed, they fed the move into a computer and it agreed with Tani, recognizing that the gambit would improve his position several moves later.

"It's an inspiring example of how life's challenges do not define a person," said Jane Hsu, the principal of P.S. 116, which held a pep rally to celebrate Tani's victory. Hsu noted that while Tani lacks a home, he has enormously supportive parents dedicated to seeing him succeed.

Tani's mom can't play chess but takes him every Saturday to a three-hour free practice session in Harlem, and she attends his tournaments. His dad lets Tani use his laptop each evening to practice. And although religion is extremely important to the family, the parents let Tani miss church when necessary to attend a tournament.

"Tani is rich beyond measure," in the strength, love and support of his family, Makofsky told me.

Tani's dad has two jobs: He rents a car that he uses to drive for Uber, and he has also become a licensed real estate salesman. Tani's mom has passed a course to become a home health aide. Meeting them, it's easy to see where Tani's scrappy diligence came from.

It is sometimes tough for Tani. His parents say that he once came home from school crying after classmates teased him for being homeless. And at an immigration hearing last fall, he burst into tears when he misunderstood the judge to say that the family would be deported.

"I feel American," he explained. In fact, the family's asylum request is dragging on, with the next hearing scheduled for August.

Tani tries to put that out of his mind. He lies on the floor of the shelter and practices chess for hours each evening - now preparing for the elementary national championship in May.

"He is so driven," said his school chess teacher, Shawn Martinez. "He does 10 times more chess puzzles than the average kid. He just wants to be better."

Makofsky shook his head wonderingly. "One year to get to this level, to climb a mountain and be the best of the best, without family resources," he said. "I've never seen it."

Tani is a reminder that refugees enrich this nation - and that talent is universal, even if opportunity is not. Back in Nigeria, his parents say, his brilliance at chess would never have had an outlet.

"The U.S. is a dream country," his dad told me. "Thank God I live in the greatest city in the world, which is New York, New York."

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Opinion | This 8-Year-Old Chess Champion Will Make You Smile (Published 2019)

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Overcoming life's basic truth: Talent is universal, but opportunity is not. In a homeless shelter in Manhattan, an 8-year-old boy is walking to his room, carrying an awkward load in his arms, unfazed by screams from a troubled resident. The boy is a Nigerian refugee with an uncertain future, but he is beaming.

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Info on Air Pollution, What it is, What it does, and more

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Info on Air Pollution, What it is, What it does, and more

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Lots of information on air pollution as a whole.

Steve Yoon

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Air pollution refers to the release of pollutants into the air-pollutants that are detrimental to human health and the planet as a whole. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) , each year, indoor and outdoor air pollution is responsible for nearly seven million deaths around the globe. Ninety-nine percent of human beings currently breathe air that exceeds the WHO's guideline limits for pollutants, with those living in low- and middle-income countries suffering the most. In the United States, the Clean Air Act , established in 1970, authorizes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to safeguard public health by regulating the emissions of these harmful air pollutants.

What Causes Air Pollution?

"Most air pollution comes from energy use and production," says , director of the Clean Air team at NRDC. Driving a car on gasoline, heating a home with oil, running a power plant on fracked gas : In each case, a fossil fuel is burned and harmful chemicals and gases are released into the air.

"We've made progress over the last 50 years in improving air quality in the United States, thanks to the Clean Air Act. But climate change will make it harder in the future to meet pollution standards, which are designed to protect health ," says Walke.

Air pollution is now the world's fourth-largest risk factor for early death. According to the 2020 State of Global Air report -which summarizes the latest scientific understanding of air pollution around the world-4.5 million deaths were linked to outdoor air pollution exposures in 2019, and another 2.2 million deaths were caused by indoor air pollution. The world's most populous countries, China and India, continue to bear the highest burdens of disease.

The effects of air pollution on the human body vary, depending on the type of pollutant, the length and level of exposure, and other factors, including a person's individual health risks and the cumulative impacts of multiple pollutants or stressors.

Smog and soot

These are the two most prevalent types of air pollution. Smog (sometimes referred to as ground-level ozone) occurs when emissions from combusting fossil fuels react with sunlight. Soot-a type of particulate matter -is made up of tiny particles of chemicals, soil, smoke, dust, or allergens that are carried in the air. The sources of smog and soot are similar. "Both come from cars and trucks, factories, power plants, incinerators, engines, generally anything that combusts fossil fuels such as coal, gasoline, or natural gas," Walke says.

Smog can irritate the eyes and throat and also damage the lungs, especially those of children, senior citizens, and people who work or exercise outdoors. It's even worse for people who have asthma or allergies; these extra pollutants can intensify their symptoms and trigger asthma attacks. The tiniest airborne particles in soot are especially dangerous because they can penetrate the lungs and bloodstream and worsen bronchitis, lead to heart attacks, and even hasten death. In 2020, a report from Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health showed that COVID-19 mortality rates were higher in areas with more particulate matter pollution than in areas with even slightly less, showing a correlation between the virus's deadliness and long-term exposure to air pollution.

Hazardous air pollutants

Another category of toxic compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), are by-products of traffic exhaust and wildfire smoke. In large amounts, they have been linked to eye and lung irritation, blood and liver issues, and even cancer. In one study , the children of mothers exposed to PAHs during pregnancy showed slower brain-processing speeds and more pronounced symptoms of ADHD.

Greenhouse gases

While these climate pollutants don't have the direct or immediate impacts on the human body associated with other air pollutants, like smog or hazardous chemicals, they are still harmful to our health. By trapping the earth's heat in the atmosphere, greenhouse gases lead to warmer temperatures, which in turn lead to the hallmarks of climate change: rising sea levels, more extreme weather, heat-related deaths, and the increased transmission of infectious diseases. In 2021, carbon dioxide accounted for roughly 79 percent of the country's total greenhouse gas emissions, and methane made up more than 11 percent. "Carbon dioxide comes from combusting fossil fuels, and methane comes from natural and industrial sources, including large amounts that are released during oil and gas drilling," Walke says. "We emit far larger amounts of carbon dioxide, but methane is significantly more potent, so it's also very destructive."

Pollen and mold

Mold and allergens from trees, weeds, and grass are also carried in the air, are exacerbated by climate change, and can be hazardous to health. Though they aren't regulated, they can be considered a form of air pollution. "When homes, schools, or businesses get water damage, mold can grow and produce allergenic airborne pollutants," says Kim Knowlton, professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University and a former NRDC scientist. " Mold exposure can precipitate asthma attacks or an allergic response, and some molds can even produce toxins that would be dangerous for anyone to inhale."

Pollen allergies are worsening because of climate change . "Lab and field studies are showing that pollen-producing plants-especially ragweed-grow larger and produce more pollen when you increase the amount of carbon dioxide that they grow in," Knowlton says. "Climate change also extends the pollen production season, and some studies are beginning to suggest that ragweed pollen itself might be becoming a more potent allergen." If so, more people will suffer runny noses, fevers, itchy eyes, and other symptoms. "And for people with allergies and asthma, pollen peaks can precipitate asthma attacks, which are far more serious and can be life-threatening."

Air Pollution in the United States

More than one in three U.S. residents-120 million people-live in counties with unhealthy levels of air pollution, according to the by the American Lung Association (ALA). Since the annual report was first published, in 2000, its findings have shown how the Clean Air Act has been able to reduce harmful emissions from transportation, power plants, and manufacturing.

Recent findings, however, reflect how climate change-fueled wildfires and extreme heat are adding to the challenges of protecting public health. The latest report-which focuses on ozone, year-round particle pollution, and short-term particle pollution-also finds that people of color are 61 percent more likely than white people to live in a county with a failing grade in at least one of those categories, and three times more likely to live in a county that fails in all three.

In rankings for each of the three pollution categories covered by the ALA report, California cities occupy the top three slots (i.e., were highest in pollution), despite progress that the Golden State has made in reducing air pollution emissions in the past half century. At the other end of the spectrum, these cities consistently rank among the country's best for air quality: Burlington, Vermont; Honolulu; and Wilmington, North Carolina.

Air Pollution and Environmental Justice

No one wants to live next door to an incinerator, oil refinery, port, toxic waste dump, or other polluting site. Yet millions of people around the world do, and this puts them at a much higher risk for respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, neurological damage, cancer, and death. In the United States, people of color are 1.5 times more likely than whites to live in areas with poor air quality, according to the ALA.

Historically, racist zoning policies and discriminatory lending practices known as have combined to keep polluting industries and car-choked highways away from white neighborhoods and have turned communities of color-especially low-income and working-class communities of color-into sacrifice zones, where residents are forced to breathe dirty air and suffer the many health problems associated with it. In addition to the increased health risks that come from living in such places, the polluted air can economically harm residents in the form of missed workdays and higher medical costs.

Environmental racism isn't limited to cities and industrial areas. Outdoor laborers, including the estimated three million migrant and seasonal farmworkers in the United States, are among the most vulnerable to air pollution-and they're also among the least equipped, politically, to pressure employers and lawmakers to affirm their right to breathe clean air.

Recently, cumulative impact mapping , which uses data on environmental conditions and demographics, has been able to show how some communities are overburdened with layers of issues, like high levels of poverty, unemployment, and pollution. Tools like the Environmental Justice Screening Method and the EPA's provide evidence of what many environmental justice communities have been explaining for decades: that we need land use and public health reforms to ensure that vulnerable areas are not overburdened and that the people who need resources the most are receiving them.

Controlling Air Pollution

In the United States, the Clean Air Act has been a crucial tool for reducing air pollution since its passage in 1970, although fossil fuel interests aided by industry-friendly lawmakers have frequently attempted to its many protections. Ensuring that this bedrock environmental law remains intact and properly enforced will always be key to maintaining and improving our air quality.

But the best, most effective way to control air pollution is to speed up our transition to cleaner fuels and industrial processes. By switching over to renewable energy sources (such as wind and solar power), maximizing fuel efficiency in our vehicles, and replacing more and more of our gasoline-powered cars and trucks with electric versions, we'll be limiting air pollution at its source while also curbing the global warming that heightens so many of its worst health impacts.

And what about the economic costs of controlling air pollution? According to a report on the Clean Air Act commissioned by NRDC, the annual benefits of cleaner air are up to 32 times greater than the cost of clean air regulations. Those benefits include up to 370,000 avoided premature deaths, 189,000 fewer hospital admissions for cardiac and respiratory illnesses, and net economic benefits of up to $3.8 trillion for the U.S. economy every year.

How to Help Reduce Air Pollution

"The less gasoline we burn, the better we're doing to reduce air pollution and the harmful effects of climate change," Walke explains. "Make good choices about transportation. When you can, ride a bike, walk, or take public transportation. For driving, choose a car that gets better miles per gallon of gas or buy an electric car ." You can also investigate your power provider options-you may be able to request that your electricity be supplied by wind or solar. Buying your food locally cuts down on the fossil fuels burned in trucking or flying food in from across the world. And most important: "Support leaders who push for clean air and water and responsible steps on climate change," Walke says.

How to Protect Your Health

"When you see in the news or hear on the weather report that pollution levels are high, it may be useful to limit the time when children go outside or you go for a jog," Walke says. Generally, ozone levels tend to be lower in the morning.

If you exercise outside, stay as far as you can from heavily trafficked roads. Then shower and wash your clothes to remove fine particles.

The air may look clear, but that doesn't mean it's pollution free. Utilize tools like the EPA's air pollution monitor, , to get the latest conditions. If the air quality is bad, stay inside with the windows closed.

If you live or work in an area that's prone to wildfires, stay away from the harmful smoke as much as you're able. Consider keeping a small stock of masks to wear when conditions are poor. The most ideal masks for smoke particles will be labelled "NIOSH" (which stands for National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) and have either "N95" or "P100" printed on it.

If you're using an air conditioner while outdoor pollution conditions are bad, use the recirculating setting to limit the amount of polluted air that gets inside.

This story was originally published on November 1, 2016, and has been updated with new information and links.

This NRDC.org story is available for online republication by news media outlets or nonprofits under these conditions: The writer(s) must be credited with a byline; you must note prominently that the story was originally published by NRDC.org and link to the original; the story cannot be edited (beyond simple things such as grammar); you can't resell the story in any form or grant republishing rights to other outlets; you can't republish our material wholesale or automatically-you need to select stories individually; you can't republish the photos or graphics on our site without specific permission; you should to let us know when you've used one of our stories.

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Air Pollution: Everything You Need to Know

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The effects of air pollution wreck havoc on human health and our planet as a whole. Learn about what causes air pollution and how to help reduce the effects.

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Bumblebees are going extinct in a time of ‘climate chaos’

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Bumblebees are going extinct in a time of ‘climate chaos’

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Submitted By Nathan Kim

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Bumblebees like this species ( Bombus impatiens) are vital for their role as pollinators, but many species are imperiled by extreme heat and other factors.

Photograph by Clay Bolt, Minden Pictures

Loss of the vital pollinators, due in part to temperature extremes and fluctuations, could have dire consequences for ecosystems and agriculture.

Bumblebees, among the most important pollinators, are in trouble. Fuzzy and buzzy, they excel at spreading pollen and fertilizing many types of wild flora, as well as crucial agricultural crops like tomatoes, blueberries, and squash.

But their numbers are dropping. New research using a massive dataset found that the insects are far less common than they used to be; in North America, you are nearly 50 percent less likely to see a bumblebee in any given area than you were prior to 1974.

Moreover, several once-common species have disappeared from many areas they were once found, becoming locally extinct in those places. For example, the rusty patched bumblebee, which used to flourish in Ontario, is no longer found in all of Canada- in the U.S., it's endangered.

In a new paper published this week in the journal Science, researchers used a complex modeling process to suggest that their decline is driven in large part by climate change.

Specifically, the scientists found that in areas that have become hotter in the last generation, or have experienced more extreme temperature swings, bumblebees are less abundant. In Europe, they are 17 percent less plentiful than they were in the early 20th century. The scientists examined the abundance of 66 species across the two continents.

The approach suggests "climate chaos" is a primary driver of the drop in bumblebees, says study leader Peter Soroye, a doctoral student at the University of Ottawa.

"These declines are linked to species being pushed beyond temperatures they haven't previously had to tolerate," Soroye says. Their disappearance from a region means that they've either moved elsewhere or died.

Cool specialists

It has long been known that bumblebees are more suited to cold weather, with their fuzzy bodies and ability to generate heat while flying, which often allows them to be the first bees out in the spring. Exactly how vulnerable they are to heat waves and weather fluctuations still isn't clear for most species, though this study suggests there's a limit to their adaptability.

And it is indeed warming up. The last five years were the hottest ever recorded in the 139 years that the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has tracked global heat.

There are several mechanisms at play, says study co-author Jeremy Kerr. The insects can simply overheat, as lab experiments have shown, but there may also be indirect impacts on vegetation and flowers that could lead to the bees starving, he adds.

Bumblebees pollinate many wild plants, as well as important crops like tomatoes, squash, and many types of berries.

Photograph by Antoine Morin

Bumblebees only live one year at most, and queens often spend the winter in leaf litter or in the ground. Here, they are still vulnerable to shifts in temperature, and things like unusually early ice melts and re-freezes, Kerr says.

The decline is dangerous for the environment since bumblebees' pollination services are necessary for many flowering plants to reproduce, says Matthew Austin, a Ph.D. student and researcher at the University of Missouri in St. Louis who wasn't involved in the paper.

"As these plants are then used by myriad other organisms, the decline of bumblebees can have cascading ecological [effects] that may collectively cause biodiversity loss."

There could also be economic costs. By one measure, bees contribute more than $15 billion to the U.S. economy by pollinating crops.

Other drivers of decline

Climate change is not the only factor behind the insects' decline. They are also threatened by pesticides like neonicotinoids -which are extremely toxic to all bees-destruction of habitat by development and conversion of wildlands into agriculture, the spread of pathogens, and the release of non-native bees for commercial pollination.

"This study will be impactful in drawing scientists' attention more to the role climate may play in the declines of these bees," say Heather Hines, a researcher at Penn State University who wasn't involved in the research. "That said, their data shows that while climate can explain declines to a large degree, it is not the only factor involved in explaining the overall decline in species richness observed over time."

The authors agree, and note that the paper shows habitat loss was also a driver of local extinction. Kerr stresses that "we're not arguing against the role of habitat loss and pesticide misuse as [drivers] of decline... we think the case for those things is strong, but just different."

"What we're pointing out is that there's a strong climate change signal," he adds. "If you ignore the climate change signal, you can't understand extinction risk clearly." ( Read more: Why insect populations are plummeting-and why it matters.)

"While bees might be able to cope with one stressor alone, the combination of several stressors may bring a population over the tipping point," says Matthias Becher, an ecologist with Exeter University in the U.K.

Some researchers went further. Jamie Strange, chair of the entomology department at Ohio State University, says that focusing on climate change could be problematic, because it ignores the many other causes of decline.

"My concern is not that their science is wrong, but that this work will draw the focus from some of the issues that desperately need to be addressed to save bee populations," Strange says, which "are all equally or more pressing than climate change to impacting bee populations worldwide."

This male Andrena perplexa was caught in Maryland on May 16.

Photograph by Sam Droege, USGS

How to help

There is good news, however, Soroye adds.

Since the paper suggests that extreme temperatures can impact the bumblebees, creating more parks or planting trees and shrubs in urban environments-which are often cooler than surrounding built spaces-could give them places to shelter from the heat, he says.

There are also other things people can do to help the bees. ( Read how you can support bumblebees in your own backyard.)

Among the easiest are bee-friendly yard practices like planting native flowers that bumblebees can feed on, and avoiding the use of pesticides like neonicotinoids. Creating flower beds that are continuously in bloom can also help, Austin says, as well as waiting until spring to remove leaf litter, a prime denning spot for the insects.

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Bumblebees are going extinct in a time of 'climate chaos'

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Loss of the vital pollinators, due in part to temperature extremes and fluctuations, could have dire consequences for ecosystems and agriculture.

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Climate Change the Cause of Record Heat Waves

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Climate Change the Cause of Record Heat Waves

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A construction worker walks across a mirage created on a road following a heatweave in New Delhi [Manish Swarup/AP]

The devastating heatwave that has baked India and Pakistan in recent months was made more likely by climate change and is a glimpse of the region's future, says a study by international scientists.

The World Weather Attribution group analysed historical weather data that suggested early, long heatwaves that affect a massive geographical area are rare, once-a-century events.

But the current level of global warming, created by human-caused climate change, has made those heatwaves 30 times more likely, said the group's study released on Monday.

If global heating increases to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) more than pre-industrial levels, then heatwaves like this could occur twice in a century and up to once every five years, said Arpita Mondal, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai, who was part of the study.

"This is a sign of things to come," Mondal said.

For example, "in a 2C warmer world, what is a one in 100-year event now can be as frequent as a one in five-year event," Mondal told a news briefing.

To conduct their analysis, the scientists compared temperature data readings for the months of March and April dating back several decades with what conditions might have been without climate change, based on computer simulations.

"People in South Asia are used to some level of hot temperatures," said Roop Singh, climate risk adviser at the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre. "But when it gets to 45C or over, it becomes really difficult to carry out regular activities."

Record heat

In fact, the results of the World Weather Attribution group are conservative. An analysis published last week by the United Kingdom's Meteorological Office said the heatwave was probably made 100 times more likely by climate change, with such scorching temperatures likely to reoccur every three years.

The World Weather Attribution analysis is different as it is trying to calculate how specific aspects of the heatwave, such as the length and the region affected, were made more likely by global warming.

"The real result is probably somewhere between ours and the (UK) Met Office result for how much climate change increased this event," said Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at the Imperial College London, who was also a part of the study.

What is certain, though, is the devastation the heatwave has wreaked. India sweltered through the hottest March in the country since records began in 1901 and April was the warmest on record in Pakistan and parts of India.

The effects have been cascading and widespread: a glacier burst in Pakistan, sending floods downstream; the early heat scorched wheat crops in India, forcing it to ban exports to nations reeling from food shortages due to Russia's war in Ukraine; it also resulted in an early spike in electricity demand in India that depleted coal reserves, resulting in acute power shortages affecting millions.

Then there is the effect on human health. At least 90 people have died in the two nations, but the region's insufficient death registration means that this is likely an undercount.

South Asia is the most affected by heat stress, according to an analysis by The Associated Press of a dataset published by Columbia University's climate school.

India alone is home to more than a third of the world's population that lives in areas where extreme heat is rising.

Experts agree the heatwave underscores the need for the world to not just combat climate change by cutting down greenhouse gas emissions, but to also adapt to its harmful effects as quickly as possible.

Poor, children and elderly at risk

Children and the elderly are most at risk from heat stress, but its effect is also inordinately bigger for the poor who may not have access to cooling or water and often live in crowded slums that are hotter than leafier, wealthier neighbourhoods.

Climate risk adviser Singh said daily wage labourers, such as street vendors and construction workers, are also hard hit as they may not have a cool place to rest and recover. She said experts expect the heatwave's death toll to rise as more data is reported to officials.

Rahman Ali, 42, a ragpicker in an eastern suburb of the Indian capital New Delhi, earns less than $3 a day by collecting waste from people's homes and sorting it to salvage whatever can be sold. It is backbreaking work and his tin-roofed home in the crowded slum offers little respite from the heat.

"What can we do? If I don't work ... we won't eat," said the father of two.

Some Indian cities have tried to find solutions.

The western city of Ahmedabad was the first in South Asia to design a heatwave plan for its population of more than 8.4 million, all the way back in 2013. The plan includes an early warning system that tells health workers and residents to prepare for heatwaves, empowers administrations to keep parks open so that people can shade and provides information to schools so they are able to tweak their schedules.

The city has also been trying to "cool" roofs by experimenting with various materials that absorb heat differently. Their aim is to build roofs that will reflect the sun and bring down indoor temperatures by using white, reflective paint or cheaper materials like dried grass, said Dr Dileep Mavalankar, who heads the Indian Institute of Public Health in the western Indian city Gandhinagar and helped design the 2013 plan.

Most Indian cities are less prepared and India's federal government is now working with 130 cities in 23 heatwave-prone states for them to develop similar plans.

Earlier this month, the federal government also asked states to sensitise health workers on managing heat-related illnesses and ensure that ice packs, oral rehydration salts and cooling appliances in hospitals were available.

But Mavalankar, who was not part of the study, pointed to the lack of government warnings in newspapers or TV for most Indian cities and said that local administrations had just not "woken up to the heat".

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Climate crisis made South Asia heatwaves '30 times more likely'

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The devastating heatwave that has baked India and Pakistan in recent months was made more likely by climate change and is a glimpse of the region's future, says a study by international scientists. The World Weather Attribution group analysed historical weather data that suggested early, long heatwaves that affect a massive geographical area are rare, once-a-century events.