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Skim to choose a human rights issue of focus for your padlet paragraph:
https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/
To go into greater depth:
https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23871&LangID=E

Make sure you title your padlet with the issue.  Talk about violations you have read or learned about, witnessed or experienced. Together, write a compelling 1 paragraph case for its protection.

BE SURE YOUR NAMES ARE ON THE PADLET ENTRY

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Article 26:  Afghanistan's Taliban prohibits girls from attending Secondary School

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Article 26:  Afghanistan's Taliban prohibits girls from attending Secondary School

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Article 26 gives individuals the right to education. This allows people of any age to see and benefit from education and literacy. However, in Afghanistan, this right is violated by the Taliban. The Taliban is preventing these young girls from obtaining their right to education. This right needs to be protected to help the girls go to school where they can gain more knowledge and become educated for the future. Education also allows the girls to know they have a place in society where they can be safe and accepted. Education has other benefits such as preventing child marriage, reduced vulnerability to STDs, more educated mothers, and lowers domestic violence.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/afghanistans-taliban-prohibit-girls-from-attending-secondary-school-as-boys-return-to-classrooms-11631951310

By: Deisy and Nikki

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Sune Engel Rasmussen and Jalal Nazari | Photographs by Sandra Calligaro for The Wall Street Journal 

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Afghanistan's Taliban Prohibit Girls From Attending Secondary School

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Taliban officials said girls may return to school once security concerns allow, echoing their de facto ban on girls' education in the 1990s.

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We have read about many violations of the right too education in this class. As seen with a girl in Vietnam who has to sell lottery tickets to go to school, we can see that poverty is a large barrier in terms of access to education. Also in India, many girls have to become to become prostitutes to make money, which means they are not able to get an education. The right to education should be protected because education for girls can improve the lives of many. In Half the Sky, we read about a girl in China whose parents were going to stop her from getting an education, and then her village received a donation from a bank to fund scholarships and building a school. because of this, girls in the village were able to leave, get jobs, and send money back to their village, raising many families out of poverty and causing a road to be built through their village making transportation easier.
Charlotte Martin and Olivia Adolph

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With the release of the COVID-19 vaccines, we have witnessed great disparities between the distribution and availability in different countries. For instance, in the United States, many vaccines were disposed of because people were unwilling to receive it. However in other countries, like India, individuals who want to receive the vaccine cannot due to lack of supply. All people should have equal access to basic health supplies like vaccines.
Jeanie and Liora

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Vinny, Thomas, Kosta: The right of Privacy

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Vinny, Thomas, Kosta: The right of Privacy

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The right to privacy is a controversial topic in an era where information is increasingly easy to access without a person's knowledge. Every person deserves a basic right to refrain from providing certain information to the public, and this information should not be accessed without the party's consent. An example of this type of breach is in the case of Henrietta Lacks, whose privacy was breached by scientists using her cancer cells in research without her consent. This is an invasive action on both her and her family by using her genetic information in their research. While complete privacy is not a guarantee, the right to choose when to give up privacy to some degree is a human right.

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Education is fundamental to the developing mind. However, many children around the world, especially girls, are illiterate. It has been mandated that free education in the core stages of life is required, yet there are still 750 million illiterate adults around the world. We have seen in lectures and in HTS that in many places, girls specifically are prevented by social and cultural barriers to education. Education is something that everyone should have access too, as literacy is something important to have. Education can decrease the risk of diseases and allows people to pass on literacy to their children. Education for all should be something to strive for.

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Many girls in low-income countries are unable to receive an education due to poverty, cultural pressures, the view of women in society in these countries, as well as geographical differences. However, for example, in Sudan, uneducated girls are more likely to be involved in child marriage, have a higher risk of contracting HIV/AIDS, and have poorer health outcomes as well as limited opportunities. The education of a woman can impact her entire family, and affect her children's health as well, and this can continue on for generations. Therefore, it's important to uphold the right to education, especially for girls, in order to ensure health for women and their families.
Nikki T., Isabel T., Leana K.

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Lauren Monnig and Olivia Marx

Everyone should have the right to asylum in other countries away from any type of persecution. You should be allowed to leave your own country. There have been examples throughout history of this article being violated such as when during the holocaust Jewish people were not allowed to leave Germany and were not safe in their own country, this led to the death of millions of people. We have also seen this recently because there are many countries that are not allowing people to seek asylum in their country even though the article says you should be able to enter other countries. When people need to leave their homes because of climate change and the housing becoming inhabitable, it becomes very hard for those people to seek refuge because they are not seen as “refugees”. We need to protect this article because it allows people to seek other safe habitable places when their own home becomes uninhabitable due to persecution or other reasons.

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Access to Education (Emily Zhu and Madison Nepert)

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Access to Education (Emily Zhu and Madison Nepert)

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Many countries around the world do not have equal access to education due to various inherent biases. For instance, more traditional countries believe that women should take care of the household and children rather than get an education. Males are expected to get an education and provide for their families. This leaves women in a bad position to leave an abusive or toxic marriage. Not only are women affected, but children in underdeveloped countries are expected to leave school in order to help provide for their families. This leaves children in a bad position for social mobility and it limits their opportunities in the future. Everyone has the right to free education and it should be a positive and safe experience. Educating more of the population will not only improve individual lives but economies as well.

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The Human Rights issue that we chose was the right to life, this right illustrates all individuals' right to enjoy a fulfilling and long life that contains opportunities and education. Although many honor this right for not only themselves but others as well, many may violate this right. People’s right to life is violated when they are killed by another human being. This could be a homicide, the death penalty, suicide, and genocide. The people who are being killed do not have a choice and their right to life is taken away from them. The right to life should be protected because everyone deserves the right to live and enjoy their life to the fullest.

By: Delaney Walsh and Lauren Hudson

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Article 26: Right to Health Education (Samantha Miller and Ella Mccloskey)

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Article 26: Right to Health Education (Samantha Miller and Ella Mccloskey)

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Article 26 states the universal right to education. From this, we believe that everyone should have access to health literacy knowledge. In Henrietta Lacks, she was afraid to go to the doctor which prevented her from being diagnosed in an early stage which could have led to a possibility of more successful treatment. Due to fear and lack of knowledge, she was unable to identify potential signs of her condition that many others would have recognized and acted upon. The inequities in health literacy and delayed diagnoses lead to preventable deaths which could be reduced through universal education.

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Rights of persons under detainment or imprisonment 

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Rights of persons under detainment or imprisonment 

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During COVID, this Human Rights Issue became a prominent issue in prisons as there was questions on how to regulate the spread of the disease and it revealed the lack of human rights in prison. The Journal of American Medical Association said in July of 2020 "Incarcerated people were more infected by the COVID virus at a rate more than five times higher than the nation's overall rate" showing how prisons have a lack of resource and a lack of voices speaking up for them making it difficult to improve these conditions.

-Chloe & Jhennifer

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People who are incarcerated are at great risk of sickness and death as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and more must be done to release people who are imprisoned and are not a threat to public safety or are elderly or infirm. The inability to quarantine or practice social distancing, together with overcrowding, imperils the lives of many people incarcerated in jails and prisons.

Incarcerated people are infected by the coronavirus at a rate more than five times higher than the nation's overall rate, according to research reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association in July 2020. The death rate of inmates (39 deaths per 100,000) is also higher than the national rate (29 deaths per 100,000).

As of April 16, 2021, more than 661,000 incarcerated people and staff have been infected with coronavirus and at least 2,990 have died, according to The New York Times. The number of infections and deaths is likely even higher than the reported number because jails and prisons are conducting limited testing on incarcerated people. Many facilities won't test incarcerated people who die after showing symptoms of Covid-19.

Prisons, jails, and detention centers in the U.S. "have been among the nation's most dangerous places when it comes to infections from the coronavirus," The New York Times reported on April 10, 2021. "Over the past year, more than 1,400 new inmate infections and seven deaths, on average, have been reported inside those facilities each day."

One in three people incarcerated in state prisons are known to have had Covid-19, the Times reported. At least 39% of people held in federal facilities are known to have been infected, according to the Times.

The pandemic has exposed serious problems with American incarceration that need to be addressed.

Overcrowding

At year-end 2018, the prison custody population in 25 states and the federal Bureau of Prisons had a total number of prisoners in custody that met or exceeded their minimum number of beds.

Because prisons have more people incarcerated than they were designed to hold, incarcerated people are crammed into dorms and warehoused in rooms with bunks sometimes three beds high and only inches apart.

Social distancing is not an option under these conditions. At many prisons, it's impossible to quarantine large numbers of infected prisoners. As a result, the risk of infection for imprisoned people and correctional staff is extremely high.

Vulnerable Populations

After decades of extreme sentencing, older adults today make up a larger share of the state prison population than people age 18 to 24. Older people are at a higher risk of serious complications from Covid-19. Older people in prison are more likely to be in poor health and have limited access to quality medical services, which increases the risk of death in a public health crisis.

"Tough on crime" policies including three-strikes laws and truth-in-sentencing schemes have dramatically increased sentences for people convicted of felonies and significantly reduced eligibility for parole. Accordingly, the percentage of people in state prisons who are 55 and older more than tripled between 2000 and 2016-to nearly 150,000 older people incarcerated in state correctional facilities in 2016.

Generally, people in prison-where a lot of time is spent sitting around and food is typically poor quality-tend to be in worse health than those outside prison, The Lancet reports. Lack of access to quality medical care means that older people in prison suffer more often from chronic health conditions like hypertension, asthma, and diabetes that increase the risk of serious complications from the coronavirus.

Violence and Abuse

The Covid-19 crisis has reduced the number of correctional staff, and in many places states are unable to provide adequate security, which leads to more violence and abuse within jails and prisons.

In Alabama, which has the highest rate of prison homicide in the nation, two incarcerated men died violently in two different prisons in less than one week in March 2020, and a third was killed in April 2020. In June 2020, 67-year-old Moses Knight became the 15th person murdered in an Alabama prison since the U.S. Department of Justice informed Alabama officials that the state's prison system "routinely violates the constitutional rights of prisoners" by failing to protect them from rampant violence and sexual abuse.

Jails

Jails are filled with people who have not been convicted of a crime, many of whom need medical care and social services that jails consistently fail to provide. Even without a public health crisis, too many people in jail are denied adequate medical care.

Some of the nation's largest coronavirus outbreaks have occurred in county jails, according to The New York Times. Canceled trials and hearings left many people who could not post bail waiting in jails for extended periods.

Cook County Jail in Chicago, one of the nation's largest jails, reported a rate of coronavirus infection in April 2020 that was higher than almost anywhere else in the country. More than 2,600 incarcerated people and guards at the jail have been infected with Covid-19 and 14 have died, according to the Times.

Early Release for At-Risk Populations

Advocates, family members, and prosecutors called for jails and prisons to release the most vulnerable people, especially the elderly and infirm, who are at the greatest risk from Covid-19.

But as the pandemic spiked over the summer, 71% of the 668 jails tracked by the Prison Policy Initiative saw population increases from May 1 to July 22, and 84 jails had more people incarcerated on July 22 than they did in March.

Most state prison systems saw only moderate population drops in 2020, and these were the result of fewer admissions, not increased releases. Most parole boards granted fewer paroles last year than the year before, the Prison Policy Initiative reports.

Over the past year, "[l]awmakers failed to reduce prison and jail populations enough to slow down the spread of the coronavirus," the Prison Policy Initiative found, "causing incarcerated people to get sick and die at a rate unparalleled in the general public."

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People who are incarcerated are at great risk of sickness and death as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and more must be done to release people who are imprisoned and are not a threat to public safety or are elderly or infirm.

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Slavery is institutionalized in all countries, no matter the income or social status. It is still prevalent today amongst many countries today even if it isn't advertised. Article 4 elaborates on the basic and fundamental right that any persons -- no matter sexual orientation, gender, race, ethnicity, age, etc. -- should not be enslaved. Slavery further contributes to other violations to human rights: the right to education, elimination of violence against women, sexual and reproductive rights, rights of migrant workers and families, and in general the right to health. Although Article 4 is a basic human right it is consistently violated and not prioritized through different forms besides race, such as sex trafficking which is a very common form of slavery especially in India as intergenerational prostitution persists. Eliminating this will evidently contribute to a better quality of life for marginalized populations. For this reason, this right should heavily be protected.

Anna Smull, Leya Sanchez, Yvonne Tolbert

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Article 26: Right to Education - Reid Bark and Logan Bledsoe

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Article 26: Right to Education - Reid Bark and Logan Bledsoe

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The UDHR requires primary education for all, indicating it that it is a fundamental right of children. While this is the case, secondary and tertiary forms of education continue to be denied to marginalized groups. Although this is the case, women are disadvantaged and have less access to education as well. This issue is prominent in low-income countries, as seen in Half the Sky, with women ultimately resulting prostitution in an attempt to provide education for their children. It is important to protect the right of education for marginalized groups, especially women because it can have an enormous impact on society, particularly on health and economic development.

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Article 25: Right to Adequate Standard of Living 

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Article 25: Right to Adequate Standard of Living 

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Article 25 everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for health and well-being. This includes access to medical care, social services, and security. Mothers and children are also entitled to care and assistance. A violation of this article can be seen in today's world as there is extreme inequality in vaccine distribution in low-income countries.
By: Eunice Ok, Meiling Gao, and Salma Tagnaouti

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Developed countries are far more likely to vaccinate their citizens, which risks prolonging the pandemic, and widening global inequality. Ahead of a dialogue at the UN on Monday between senior United Nations officials UN News explains the importance of vaccine equity.
What is vaccine equity?

Quite simply, it means that all people, wherever they are in the world, should have equal access to a vaccine which offers protection against the COVID-19 infection.

WHO has set a global target of 70 per cent of the population of all countries to be vaccinated by mid-2022, but to reach this goal a more equitable access to vaccines will be needed.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) said vaccine equity was "not rocket science, nor charity. It is smart public health and in everyone's best interest."

Why is it so important?

Apart from the ethical argument that no country or citizen is more deserving of another, no matter how rich or poor, an infectious disease like COVID-19 will remain a threat globally, as long as it exists anywhere in the world.

Inequitable vaccine distribution is not only leaving millions or billions of people vulnerable to the deadly virus, it is also allowing even more deadly variants to emerge and spread across the globe.

Moreover, an unequal distribution of vaccines will deepen inequality and exaggerate the gap between rich and poor and will reverse decades of hard-won progress on human development.

According to the UN, vaccine inequity will have a lasting impact on socio-economic recovery in low and lower-middle income countries and set back progress on the Sustainable Development Goals ( SDGs). According to the UNDP, eight out of ten people pushed into poverty directly by the pandemic are projected to live in the world's poorest countries in 2030.

Estimates also suggest that the economic impacts of COVID-19 may last until 2024 in low-income countries, while high-income countries could reach pre-COVID-19 per capita GDP growth rates by the end of this year.

Is it working?

Not according to Dr Tedros, who said in April this year that "vaccine equity is the challenge of our time...and we are failing".

Research suggests that enough vaccines will be produced in 2021 to cover 70 per cent of the global population of 7.8 billion. However, most vaccines are being reserved for wealthy countries, while other vaccine-producing countries are restricting the export of doses so they can ensure that their own citizens get vaccinated first, an approach which has been dubbed "vaccine nationalism". The decision by some nations to give already inoculated citizens a booster vaccine, rather than prioritizing doses for unvaccinated people in poorer countries has been highlighted as one example of this trend.

Still, the good news, according to WHO data, is that as of September 15, more than 5.5 billion doses have been administered worldwide, although given that most of the available vaccines require two shots, the number of people who are protected is much lower.

Which countries are getting the vaccines right now?

Put simply, the rich countries are getting the majority of vaccines, with many poorer countries struggling to vaccinate even a small number of citizens.

According to the Global Dashboard for Vaccine Equity (established by UNDP, WHO and Oxford University) as of September 15, just 3.07 per cent of people in low-income countries have been vaccinated with at least one dose, compared to 60.18 per cent in high-income countries.

The vaccination rate in the UK of people who have received at least one vaccine dose is around 70.92 per cent while the US is currently at 65.2 per cent. Other high-income and middle-income countries are not doing so well; New Zealand has vaccinated just 31.97 per cent of its relatively small population of around five million, although Brazil, is now at 63.31 per cent.

However, the stats in some of the poorest countries in the world make for grim reading. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo just 0.09 per cent of the population have received one dose; in Papua New Guinea and Venezuela, the rate is 1.15 per cent and 20.45 per cent respectively.

Find more country specific data here.

What's the cost of a vaccine?

Data from UNICEF show that the average cost of a COVID-19 vaccine is $2 to $37 (there are 24 vaccines which have been approved by at least one national regulatory authority) and the estimated distribution cost per person is $3.70. This represents a significant financial burden for low-income countries, where, according to UNDP, the average annual per capita health expenditure amounts to $41.

The vaccine equity dashboard shows that, without immediate global financial support, low-income countries would have to increase their healthcare spending by between 30 and 60 per cent to meet the target of vaccinating 70 per cent of their citizens.

What has the UN been doing to promote a more equitable access to vaccines?

WHO and UNICEF have worked with other organizations to establish and manage the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility, known as COVAX. Launched in April 2020, WHO called it a "ground-breaking global collaboration to accelerate the development, production, and equitable access to COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines".

Its aim is to guarantee fair and equitable access for every country in the world based on need and not purchasing power.

Currently, COVAX numbers 141 participants according to the UN-supported Gavi alliance, but it's not the only way that countries can access vaccines as they can also make bilateral deals with manufacturers.

Will equal access to vaccines bring an end to the pandemic?

It's a crucial step, obviously, and in many richer countries, life is getting back to some sort of normality for many people, even if some pandemic protocols are still in place. The situation in less developed countries is more challenging. While the delivery of vaccines, provided under the COVAX Facility, is being welcomed across the world, weak health systems, including shortages of health workers are contributing to mounting access and distribution challenges on the ground.

And equity issues don't disappear once vaccines are physically delivered in country; in some nations, both rich and poor, inequities in distribution may still persist.

It's also worth remembering that the imperative of providing equal access to health care is, of course, not a new issue, but central to the Sustainable Development Goals and more precisely, SDG 3 on good health and well-being, which calls for achieving universal health coverage and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all.

SDG Moment
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Achim Steiner, the Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP, and Vera Songwe, who runs the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) will take part in a conversation on vaccine equity as part of the SDG Moment. Watch here on UN Web TV.

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COVID vaccines: Widening inequality and millions vulnerable

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Health leaders agree that a world without COVID-19 will not be possible until everyone has equal access to vaccines. More than 4.6 million people have died from the virus since it swept across the globe from the beginning of 2020, but it's expected that the rate of people dying will slow if more people are vaccinated.

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The right to asylum protects individuals from persecution, by allowing them to flee to another country. Not long after the UD of Human Rights was established, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees was created as well. This helped millions of Europeans who were fleeing from their damaged countries to enjoy freedom elsewhere. When you seek asylum, it is usually granted, especially if the country is being thrown by the government or harming citizens. Many people have died trying to seek asylum due to the lack of resources in that country. This right is important because it protects the lives of the innocent.

Julian H, Nana G-K.

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The rights of persons with disabilities- Lys Escarne & Sam Whitlock 

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The rights of persons with disabilities- Lys Escarne & Sam Whitlock 

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https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23858&LangID=E

We think that this article is the most important in protecting the rights of persons with disabilities because it protects them from being discriminated against in the work place, education and opportunities. When making the law these people affected should have a voice to express their concerns without inheritor being discriminated against by having separate laws for the same principles.

Why we should protect it
People with disabilities are still as valued as people without disabilities. They should have more opportunities in the work place and the laws should continue to protect the rights of people with disabilities so they can have the same opportunities.

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 Article 2: Freedom from Discrimination 

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 Article 2: Freedom from Discrimination 

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Brenda and Dilini: Akhilesh Godi has faced discrimination regarding his sexual orientation. He fears speaking out or seeking help in fear of being labeled as a criminal under India's law. India's law prohibits homosexuality and gay sex. Other individuals living in India have faced discrimination and blackmail due to this law. Facing India's Supreme Court, Akhilesh ended this law and allowed for all homosexual Indians to be protected under the law. Discrimination is not lawful and all individuals of any race, culture, and sexual orientation should be protected under the law.

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Article 4- In India 95% of humans who are victims of human trafficking are forced into prostitution 

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Article 4- In India 95% of humans who are victims of human trafficking are forced into prostitution 

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https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/humanrights/2021/02/11/human-trafficking-in-india-how-the-colonial-legacy-of-the-anti-human-trafficking-regime-undermines-migrant-and-worker-agency/

India residents are benign heavily forced into man trafficking and prostitution. Everyone deserves the basic right of not being forced into slavery or slave trade. This is violating article for of “No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms”. This article needs to be enforced due to causing multiple health issues, boosts crime activity, violating human rights, poor access to health care or education, and more.

Bella Emanuele, Patricia Alday

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Since the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic, concerns about migrant workers' rights and conditions in India have been very much in the news and have been escalated, yet the response from the Indian government is feeble (Janwalkar, 2020; Rukmini, 2020; Francis and Uniyal, 2021). Subir Sinha recently notes that Covid-19 has deepened existing inequalities, which blur the lines between waged, coerced and trafficked labour in India (Sinha, 2020). There are also reports showing a rise in trafficking cases in India because of this current pandemic situation ( News18 Networks, 2020). In response to these concerns, the Women Safety Division of the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs issued an advisory, since July 2020, advising all states and Union Territories (UTs) for the urgent establishment of new Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs), and/or upgrade infrastructure in existing ones (Janyala, 2021). AHTUs in India are special police units, devoted to tackle human trafficking. Following MHA advisory, a recent report of 16 states and UTs suggest that 225 AHTUs existed only on paper, and only 27 percent of the AHTUs were operational (Janyala, 2021). While the MHA advisory has triggered more attention among anti-trafficking activists, increasing demands for quickly setting up AHTUs in all districts (Janyala, 2021), yet the highlighted claim of the report (that shows incompetence of AHTUs) indicates that MHA advisory, and demand for establishing AHTUs, is not enough. The proposed intervention is distorted by its failure to account for the colonial legacy and present contestations in policies that conflates the conception of human trafficking with the social control of consenting adult sex work and migration (e.g. see Bhattacherya, 2018; Giammarinaro and Boola, 2018). Successive attempts to reform the legal definition of human trafficking and interventions have resulted in the application of excessive and arbitrary state power and bureaucratic control (Tandon, 2015). These efforts reflect a misplaced focus on law enforcement rather than holistic human-rights based solutions that promote the agency of workers and migrants.

Current policies regarding human trafficking in India carries colonial legacy and resulting harms. For instance, being a colonial construct, established by British Raj that aimed to serve their military, racial and colonial interests (Chang, 2007; Tambe, 2009), the conception of human trafficking was defined by colonial regimes as the act of abduction and transport of women for prostitution (Irwin, 1996). This definition conflates human trafficking with prostitution, dispossessing consenting adult sex worker's concerns and rights (Tambe, 2009). Besides conflation with consenting adult sex work, the colonial prostitution governance created a regulatory system that vested unimpeded authorities to the institutions like Police or its regime, resulting criminalization and incarcerations of sex workers. For instance, Indian Contagious Disease Act of 1868 provided for compulsory registration of sex workers, and entailed being forced to stay back (without work) for an indefinite period, and subjected to incarceration (Banerjee, 2000; Tambe, 2009). The focus of human trafficking interventions on criminalisation of sex work continued and also got support from Indian nationalists, who later favoured laws reflecting a similar conflation of human trafficking and sex work and/or related professions in legislation such as the Madras Hindu Religious Endowments (Amendment) Act of 1929 (Sreenivas, 2011) and/or The Suppression of Immoral Traffic Acts (SITA) during the 1920s and 1930s (Legg, 2014). SITA was reintroduced after India's independence, and later replaced by the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1986 (ITPA). ITPA carries a parallel colonial legacy and design of SITA, conflating consenting adult sex work with trafficking, except for some minor changes (Cunha, 1987). Along with ITPA, India has also got additional provisions regarding human trafficking, with an amendment in section 370 of Indian Penal Code, which defines human trafficking as:

Whoever, for the purpose of exploitation, recruits, transports, harbors, transfers, or receives, a person or persons, by using threats, or using force, or any other form of coercion, or by abduction, or by practising fraud, or deception, or by abuse of power, or by inducement, including the giving or receiving of payments or benefits, in order to achieve the consent of any person having control over the person recruited, transported, harbored, transferred or received, commits the offence of trafficking. The expression "exploitation" shall include any act of physical exploitation or any form of sexual exploitation, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude. The consent of the victim is immaterial in determination of the offence of trafficking" (Govt. of India, 2013: 5).

This definition in section 370 not only continues conflation of human trafficking with sex work, but introduces its own difficulties: the broad definition captures many persons displaced by forced migration, denies targeted person's agency, and gives unrestricted power to the state and bureaucratic regime and its institutions, including police. It also encourages a criminalisation approach to tackle trafficking. Indian Government's National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) collects data and present number of trafficking cases on the basis of this definition of 370. According to data, 95% of trafficked persons in India are forced into prostitution (Divya, 2020). The recent NCRB lists a total of 6,616 human trafficking cases as registered in India, out of which trafficking for the sex trade are highest in numbers (Munshi, 2020). Since these number of cases get registered as per the definition of trafficking in section 370 that conflates with sex work, the reliability of these number thus remains contested. It is because these numbers could include cases of adult sex workers who consented but their consent got denied during anti-trafficking interventions as both ITPA and section 370 allows it. But these figures and legislations do bring workers in sex trade into a situation of selective targeting from anti-trafficking actors and interventions (see GAATW, 2007; The Telegraph, 2017; Chandra, 2018).

The amendment in section 370 made modest but insufficient changes to the definition of trafficking as a response to the recommendation of Verma Committee (Khan, 2015). These changes were also precipitated by India's commitment to the international actors, after India ratified United Nations' Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (UN Protocol) in 2011 (UNODC, 2004). Once again, akin to colonial policies, despite resulting in some improvements in India's human trafficking or workers' harsh labour conditions, these changes produced more harm than help. For instance, documented narratives (Sangram, 2018), experiences (Walters, 2018) of the targeted groups, and research (GAATW, 2007; Pai, Seshu and Murthy, 2018; Sangram, 2018; Walters and Ramachandran, 2018) even now showed (re)production of violence and harms in targeted person's lives because of these contemporary anti-trafficking interventions, of which AHTUs mainly acts central implementing agency.

The intention of settling AHTUs appears to maintain a law enforcement anti-crime structure, as the definitions in ITPA and Section 370 understand trafficking through a criminalisation approach. However, practically, narratives of targeted persons at the local level indicates that this intervention does not promote the goal of human rights and protection of targeted persons.

Narratives from my current ethnographic research that gives epistemic priority to those adult migrant workers who experienced anti-trafficking interventions or are seen as trafficked 'victims' in the law (see Najar, 2020, 2021), in construction and sex sector of India, shows that the officials of anti-trafficking units were viewed by such workers as being corrupt and partial to the interests of the perpetrators. For instance, sitting inside her brothel room, Priya (name changed), a migrant cis female adult sexworker, said that "[...] Police is culprit here". She shared an incidence of previous day that two policemen were harassing a customer and then the customer gave 1000 Indian Rupees to these Policemen. The police then allowed these customers to enter the brothel. She said the Police is a party in the business in that red light area. She also shared that usually work should be upto midnight or 1:00 am. But since the Police take rounds till midnight, there are very few customers who come before that midnight, due to the fear of harrashment from Police. Priya said that here the system is reverse as the market opens after 12, once the police gather their money and leave the place (D4:FW3). This narrative reflects how a system that gives more power and authority to institutions like police could be appropriated and misused, resulting more harm to the livelihood and rights of workers like Priya, rather ensuring and protecting their human rights.

Furthermore, state officials were viewed as holding unchecked authority over the targeted person's decision, choices and trajectory. For example, Reshma, a non-brothel based adult migrant sex worker in Kolkata, who introduced herself as 'flying sex worker' while sharing her experiences in my research said that "[...] who knows when they (Police) will start harassing you. Sometime, they stop their vehicle in front of me, ask if I carry Ganja (Marijuana), daaru (alcohol) and talk with me a little and go ahead. But all power is in their hand. If they want, they can take me to the jail by saying that I am 15 years old or I am Bangladeshi (undocumented migrant). No one will come to help me then. They (Police) have the powers. So it's better to not mess up with them and pay or do the work that they want". (DW 12: FW11). This narrative indicates the fear and consequences among marginalized migrant workers, because of extra and unaccountable institutionalized authority to agents like police and conflation of policies with consenting adult sex work in India.

Total dependence on AHTUs hence has potential to reproduce situation of harms, resulting in diminished relief to the targeted person (see Sangram, 2018; Walters, 2018; Sen, 2021). Also, authority to and dependence on AHTUs may encourage further corruption, surveillance and control by police, reproducing problematic raid-rescue models and targeting of suspected migrants, especially sex workers, undocumented/informal workers, etc ( for example, see Sen, 2021 that highlights a very recent incident and explains how Police Raid to Rescue interventions Criminalised an Entire Neighbourhood). This situation is possible because the law conflates trafficking with sex work and forced migration, and has disproportionate focus on law enforcement strategies.

The disproportionate focus on law enforcement strategies prevents more structural efforts to grapple with these intersecting issues in a way that recognises the agency of targeted persons. The United Nations special rapporteur on trafficking in persons amplified in her report for a shift in focus away from law enforcement and towards human rights and the protection of victims (Okyere, 2020). United Nations special rapporteur on trafficking in persons in her report also pointed that a new international instrument may be required, because the current international instruments like Palermo protocol may not be sufficient or effective when it comes to considering such human rights goals. Analysing the Special Rapporteur's argument, Sam Okyere argues " the Palermo protocol is irredeemably compromised and must be dismantled, rather than reformed. We instead need to strengthen existing international instruments focusing upon workers' and migrants' rights and protections. Any new instrument which is developed needs to avoid the trap of making crime fighting a primary goal " (Okyere, 2020). It thus reflects that current demand to tackle human trafficking and protect migrant's rights signifies a shift from law enforcement focused intervention to human rights and protection of worker's rights.

Given the colonial legacy and the continuing concerns arising from successive attempts at law reform, it appears that the current intervention to tackle human trafficking in India by only establishing AHTUs is not enough. India's strategy to tackle human trafficking and migrant workers' crisis should not completely and only depends on law enforcement institutions like AHTUs, instead, it also requires a rights based reform that dismantles the colonial legacy of the law which conflates human trafficking and sex work and migration. If Modi government in India fails to reform the policies, and simply promotes an intervention by only setting up law enforcement structures like AHTUs, it would mere be a token response to tackle trafficking and protect migrant worker's rights, rather than a genuine effort.
References
Banerjee, S. (2000) Under the Raj: Prostitution in Colonial Bengal. New York: Monthly Review Press.

Chang, S. (2007) A Colonial Haunting : Prostitution and the Politics of Sex Trafficking in by British India, 1917-1939.

Cunha, J. D. (1987) 'Prostitution in a Patriarchal Society-A Critical Review of the SIT Act', Economic and Political Weekly, 22(45), pp. 7-8. Available at: https://www.epw.in/journal/1987/45/special-articles/prostitution-patriarchal-society-critical-review-sit-act.html (Accessed: 16 October 2018).

GAATW (2007) 'Collateral Damage. The Impact of Anti-Trafficking Measures on Human Rights Around the World'. Bangkok: Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women, p. 277. doi: 10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004.

Govt. of India (2013) The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013. New Delhi: PRS India. Available at: http://www.prsindia.org/uploads/media/Criminal Law, 2013/Criminal Law Amendment Bill as passed by LS.pdf (Accessed: 18 January 2019).

Khan, S. A. (2015) 'Human Trafficking, Justice Verma Committee Report and Legal Reform: A Unaccomplish Agenda', Ssrn, 9(1). doi: 10.2139/ssrn.2614393.

Legg, S. (2014) Prostitution and the ends of empire : scale, governmentalities, and interwar India. Durham: Duke University Press.

Najar, J. L. (2021) (Jaffer) JL Najar | Erasmus University Rotterdam. Available at: https://www.eur.nl/en/people/j-l-najar (Accessed: 27 January 2021).

News18 Networks (2020) 'Covid-19 Pandemic Has Created a Second Crisis in India - the Rise of Child Trafficking'. Available at: https://www.news18.com/news/india/covid-19-pandemic-has-created-a-second-crisis-in-india-the-rise-of-child-trafficking-3004136.htm l (Accessed: 27 January 2021).

Pai, A., Seshu, M. and Murthy, L. (2018) 'In Its Haste to Rescue Sex Workers, "Anti-Trafficking" Is Increasing Their Vulnerability', Economic & Political Weekly, 53(28). Available at: https://www.epw.in/engage/article/raid-and-rescue-how-anti-trafficking-strategies-increase-sex-workers-vulnerability-to-exploitative-practices (Accessed: 12 September 2020).

Rukmini, S. (2020) Why India's 'migrants' walked back home, Mint. Available at: https://www.livemint.com/news/india/why-india-migrants-walked-back-home-11590564390171.html (Accessed: 27 January 2021).

Sangram (2018) Raided: How Anti-Trafficking Strategies Increase Sex Workers' Vulnerability to Exploitative Practices. Available at: http://sangram.org/resources/RAIDED-E-Book.pdf (Accessed: 9 February 2019).

Sreenivas, M. (2011) 'Creating Conjugal Subjects : Devadasis and the Politics of Marriage in Colonial Madras Presidency', Feminist Studies, 37(1), pp. 63-92.

Tambe, A. (2009) Codes of Misconduct Regulating Prostitution in Late Colonial Bombay, Society. london: University of Minnesota.

Tandon, T. (2015) 'India's Trafficking Bill 2018 is Neither Clear Nor Comprehensive', Economic and Political Weekly, 50(23), pp. 7-8. Available at: https://www.epw.in/engage/article/trafficking-of-persons-prevention-protection-and-rehabilitation-bill-2018-is-neither-clear-nor-comprehensive (Accessed: 18 January 2019).

UNODC (2004) UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION AGAINST TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME AND THE PROTOCOLS THERETO UNITED NATIONS. Available at: www.unodc.org (Accessed: 2 September 2018).

About the author

Posted In: Empire and Racism | Law

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Human Trafficking in India: How the Colonial Legacy of the Anti-Human Trafficking Regime Undermines Migrant and Worker Agency

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Since the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic, concerns about migrant workers' rights and conditions in India have been very much in the news and have been escalated, yet the response from the Indian government is feeble (Janwalkar, 2020; Rukmini, 2020; Francis and Uniyal, 2021).

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The freedom to movement is very important, especially considering there are many conflicts throughout the world that people may need to escape for their own safety. If they are unable to enter a new, safer country, then they are stuck in a dangerous situation. In my experience, I have been very lucky and lived in many different places, but I have never had any trouble with being allowed to enter these places. It is almost hypocritical when countries allow people from America to freely enter their borders to live and work there when it is not a necessity, but sometimes refugees and other people are not allotted the same rights. The freedom of movement is so important because everyone deserves a safe place to reside, even if it is inside new, unfamiliar borders.
Caitlin Czlonka

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Article 19: Freedom of Opinion and Expression

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Article 19: Freedom of Opinion and Expression

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Article 19, talks about the freedom of speech saying that everyone is entitled to their own opinions. Expressing their ideas without interference. For instance, Democrats and Republicans on media outlets clash during election season and interviews. However, this clash allows for unfiltered opinions and proper discussion to take place for both parties. An example of this being violated can be journalists that have been murdered or assaulted for doing their job. Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist, was assassinated by the Saudi government in Turkey when investigating information related to his article.
By: Nicole and Sanjana

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Mac's Experience with Violation of Freedom of Religion or Belief: The majority of people  from my hometown are some sort of Christian denomination. I, on the other hand, am not religious. In the public school I attended, I was forced to participate in prayer led by administration before school assemblies and banquets, and I was also forced to participate in team prayer before soccer games, with the coach threatening to not play me if I did not participate.
Salma's Experience: I come from a Muslim family, while many of the people I grew up with in the United States were misinformed about my faith. I was called a terrorist and looked down upon constantly, and even left out of group events. More importantly, my father was taken out of friend groups and work projects solely because of his religious stance. On the other hand, many dictatorships in the middle east force women to wear a scarf on their head, discrediting their faith and forcing one certain religion on them.

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Article 5 prevents people from being subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. This article was written in response to Nazi experimentation on prisoners in the concentration camps. The Tuskegee syphilis experiment was a violation of article 5 as it subjected unknowing black men to the dangerous symptoms of syphilis.
By: Jonah and Hania

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The Tuskegee experiment began in 1932, at a time when there was no known cure for syphilis, a contagious venereal disease. After being recruited by the promise of free medical care, 600 African American men in Macon County, Alabama were enrolled in the project, which aimed to study the full progression of the disease.

The participants were primarily sharecroppers, and many had never before visited a doctor. Doctors from the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS), which was running the study, informed the participants-399 men with latent syphilis and a control group of 201 others who were free of the disease-they were being treated for bad blood, a term commonly used in the area at the time to refer to a variety of ailments.

The men were monitored by health workers but only given placebos such as aspirin and mineral supplements, despite the fact that penicillin became the recommended treatment for syphilis in 1947, some 15 years into the study. PHS researchers convinced local physicians in Macon County not to treat the participants, and instead, research was done at the Tuskegee Institute. (Now called Tuskegee University, the school was founded in 1881 with Booker T. Washington as its first teacher.)

In order to track the disease's full progression, researchers provided no effective care as the men died, went blind or insane or experienced other severe health problems due to their untreated syphilis.

In the mid-1960s, a PHS venereal disease investigator in San Francisco named Peter Buxton found out about the Tuskegee study and expressed his concerns to his superiors that it was unethical. In response, PHS officials formed a committee to review the study but ultimately opted to continue it-with the goal of tracking the participants until all had died, autopsies were performed and the project data could be analyzed.

Buxton then leaked the story to a reporter friend, who passed it on to a fellow reporter, Jean Heller of the Associated Press. Heller broke the story in July 1972, prompting public outrage and forcing the study to finally shut down.

By that time, 28 participants had perished from syphilis, 100 more had passed away from related complications, at least 40 spouses had been diagnosed with it and the disease had been passed to 19 children at birth.

In 1973, Congress held hearings on the Tuskegee experiments, and the following year the study's surviving participants, along with the heirs of those who died, received a $10 million out-of-court settlement. Additionally, new guidelines were issued to protect human subjects in U.S. government-funded research projects.

As a result of the Tuskegee experiment, many African Americans developed a lingering, deep mistrust of public health officials and vaccines. In part to foster racial healing, President Bill Clinton issued a 1997 apology, stating, "The United States government did something that was wrong-deeply, profoundly, morally wrong... It is not only in remembering that shameful past that we can make amends and repair our nation, but it is in remembering that past that we can build a better present and a better future."

During his apology, Clinton announced plans for the establishment of Tuskegee University's National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care.

The final study participant passed away in 2004.

Tuskegee wasn't the first unethical syphilis study. In 2010, then- President Barack Obama and other federal officials apologized for another U.S.-sponsored experiment, conducted decades earlier in Guatemala. In that study, from 1946 to 1948, nearly 700 men and women-prisoners, soldiers and mental patients-were intentionally infected with syphilis (hundreds more people were exposed to other sexually transmitted diseases as part of the study) without their knowledge or consent.

The purpose of the study was to determine whether penicillin could prevent, not just cure, syphilis infection. Some of those who became infected never received medical treatment. The results of the study, which took place with the cooperation of Guatemalan government officials, were never published. The American public health researcher in charge of the project, Dr. John Cutler, went on to become a lead researcher in the Tuskegee experiments.

Following Cutler's death in 2003, historian Susan Reverby uncovered the records of the Guatemala experiments while doing research related to the Tuskegee study. She shared her findings with U.S. government officials in 2010. Soon afterward, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius issued an apology for the STD study and President Obama called the Guatemalan president to apologize for the experiments.

Fact Check

We strive for accuracy and fairness. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate.

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Tuskegee Experiment: The Infamous Syphilis Study | HISTORY

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In order to track the disease's full progression, researchers provided no effective care as the study's African American participants experienced severe health problems including blindness, mental impairment-or death.

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Article 19: Freedom of Opinion and Expression (Jared and Hasan)

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Article 19: Freedom of Opinion and Expression (Jared and Hasan)

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According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression, where  opinions should not lead to persecution. An example of a violation of freedom of opinion/expression is in Rwanda - a minority tribe, the Tutsi, revolted against the majority tribe, the Hutu, for years of unrelenting oppression. Lack of protection for the minority tribe's expression meant that they were brutally killed and further oppressed. This genocide, which happened in 1994, resulted in around 800,000 people being killed for voicing their concerns. This unfortunate example, though grave, continues throughout the world. It is important to protect the right of freedom and expression, as people will otherwise live in fear, never sharing their ideas for the fear of violence. Expression of opinion is important in the advancement of society, and making amends to allow a diversity of ideas will result in a more cooperative society. People are more powerful when united, and choosing to protect a variety of opinions mean that they will have greater ability to be themselves. Freedom of expression is a crucial human right!

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Article 14: Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.

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Article 14: Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.

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Article 14 of the Declaration of Human Rights specifies the right to seek asylum in another country from persecution. In Central America, thousands of people attempt to flee to the United States for safety and from fear of persecution each year. However they are prohibited and declined their human rights in attempt to do so. In the U.S, thousands of children at the southern border are constantly separated from their families and held in detention facilities where they undergo dangerous conditions. Thousands of abuse allegations are reported yearly as well as reports on dangerous conditions that children often endure. These children hold a right to seek asylum but are met with mistreatment and cruelty. The best solution would be to investigate their previous living conditions and then give them the asylum needed for their protection.
https://disasterphilanthropy.org/disaster/southern-border-humanitarian-crisis/
Manuel and Shyazana

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Overview

In 2014, the United States government declared a crisis at the border to address the rapid increase in the number of unaccompanied children and, to a lesser extent, women, migrating through border checkpoints and/or unguarded entry points, especially into Texas. Seven years later, this continues to be a crisis. Refugee advocates are hoping that the Biden administration will bring significant changes. However, the Biden administration is steering clear of calling children coming to the border a crisis, instead emphasizing that the crisis is based in the origin countries in Central America.

The southern border of the U.S. has long been a crossing point for people coming from Mexico, or through Mexico from other countries, into the U.S. While asylum-seeking and border crossing is often identified as a problem with Mexican immigrants, from 2000 to 2016 unlawful Mexican immigration dropped off by almost 90 percent.

In fiscal year 2021, however, the largest source of migration was Mexico, with the border patrol arresting more than 608,000 Mexican nationals. The next largest category was "other" - anyone not from Mexico or Central America" and includes Cubans, Haitians, Brazilians, Venezuelans, Ecuadorans - which accounted for 367,000 arrests. Central American migrant arrests included Honduras (309,000), Guatemala (279,000) and El Salvador (96,000).

Asylum seekers - a legal term meaning people whose request to find sanctuary in another place has not been processed - come to the United States, often passing through other countries on the way. In September 2019, the Supreme Court upheld a government decision that any asylum seeker who entered the United States after July 16, 2019, would automatically be denied asylum if they had not tried to seek refuge in a country they had traveled through on their way to the border. Although most migrants are from Central America, this rule also impacted Cubans, Indians, Africans and Venezuelans who may travel through several countries before reaching the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Supreme Court recently refused to block a ruling from a Texas judge that required Biden to reinstate Trump's "Remain in Mexico"/Migrant Protection Protocols program. This case will likely head to appeals court and may come back to the Supreme Court.

Asylum seeking is different than an apprehension at the border for the misdemeanor act of illegal entry. In these cases, a system of expedited removal allows them to be transferred within 72 hours to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and then deported once an order is signed. This cannot happen with children or family unit migration, or if the individual declares they are seeking political asylum.

Contrary to many media reports, migrants do not have to present themselves at a legal port of entry to claim asylum; they only need to assert that claim to the first ICE or Customs and Border Protection (CBP) official they encounter or submit an application to apply for asylum within one year of arrival. Asylum seekers can apply for employment authorization after 150 days of waiting for their asylum hearing. Under the previous administration's policies, those who applied most recently were granted their hearing first, meaning some people have lived and worked in the U.S. for years while waiting for their hearings.

The current crisis is based in the needs of the large number of people trying to cross the border, the needs of those who have crossed and are seeking asylum claims, and the root cause issues leading people to flee their home countries. The crisis of unaccompanied minors is of particular importance.

Impact

In the most recent fiscal year (Oct. 1, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021) more than 1.7 migrants were apprehended by Customs and Border Protection (CBP). This represents the highest number of crossings ever recorded.

The U.S. has expelled many people who have tried to cross, with the exception of unaccompanied, minor children, using a controversial piece of public health legislation - Section 265 of U.S. Code Title 42. This legislation prohibits entry into the U.S. by any person who may be in danger of bringing a communicable disease with them and has been implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. While usually not seen to include refugee or asylum speakers who have already entered U.S. soil, the legislation was expanded to include all land and coastal ports of entry. From March to November 2020, this legislation included unaccompanied children but that was struck down by a federal judge on Nov. 18, 2020. The rest are usually deported under Title 8 which pertains to aliens and nationality. In fiscal year 2021, 61% of migrants were processed for expulsion under Title 42.

The Council on Foreign Relations defines "unaccompanied minors" as: "Under U.S. law, unaccompanied alien children (UAC) are defined as migrants under eighteen years old with no lawful status in the United States and who have no parent or legal guardian available to care for them. Despite the term's connotation, these children do not necessarily enter the country alone. Some arrive with family members and are separated at the border; others are abandoned by smugglers or fellow migrants near the border."

The government tries to quickly move apprehended children from detainment camps to health and human service facilities (including shelters or group homes), relocate them into foster homes or reunite them with a relative. About 85% of unaccompanied minors have a relative in the U.S. As of Sept. 2, there were 14,851 children in Health and Human Services care.

Additionally, the U.S. and Mexican governments have collaborated to disperse rejected asylum seekers away from the U.S. southern border. "The US government is also flying thousands of migrants from other countries to southern Mexico, where Mexican authorities drive them to remote locations on its border with Guatemala and drop them off. The idea is to reduce returns by making it more difficult for migrants to reach the US again. Mexico is similarly moving migrants detained in the north to its southern border, said Dana Graber Ladek, Mexico chief for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), a part of the United Nations system."

Since 1998, it is believed that more than 7,000 people have died while trying to make it to the border or while crossing. One method of measuring the death toll is to count the number of human remains that have been found near the border. In Arizona, 43 remains of migrants were found in June and 127 people over the first six months of 2021. In Texas, there were 50 migrant deaths in the first six months, as reported by the Brooks County Sheriff's department. And in Big Bend that number was 32. In California, from Oct. 1, 2020 to the end of Sept. 2021 (the fiscal year) there were 31 border crosser deaths.

As of Oct. 19, 2021, the Southern Border Communities Coalition reports that 150 people have died since 2010 due to interaction with U.S. border agents, including several who died while in CBP custody. In 2021, 36 people have died including deaths by suicide, medical emergencies, vehicle accidents, drownings and "use of force" fatal shootings.

Reports on abuse allegations were received by Human Rights Watch at the end of September through Freedom of Information Act requests. "The internal reports include testimony and descriptions of testimony regarding over 160 cases of misconduct and abuse of asylum applicants at the hands of officers within several DHS components, particularly CBP officers and Border Patrol agents. The records, though heavily redacted, demonstrate that asylum officers within US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), another component of DHS, have repeatedly provided internal reports on allegations of assault, sexual abuse, due process violations, denial of medical care, harsh detention conditions, and dehumanizing treatment at the border."

Critical Needs

Reducing the crisis at the border is going to take a combination of political advocacy, policy changes and humanitarian aid. Support is needed on both sides of the border to support emergency conditions in the U.S. and Mexico.

Humanitarian Support - There are a number of groups providing support to refugees and asylum seekers at the border including legal services, education, health care, housing support, etc. the Center for Disaster Philanthropy and National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (National VOAD) can support funders looking to find responding nonprofits on the U.S. side of the border.

Advocacy - Invest in groups working to support border advocacy and community organizing and/or support their advocacy work with your own voices.

Security Aid - It has been proven that providing financial aid to originating countries toward decreasing violence and increasing security and protection of citizens will reduce emigration. While philanthropy can support some small programs to that end, it is going to take substantial investment from the U.S. and other UN nations to really address the crisis.

Disinvestment - Foundations can look internally to see where their investments lie. There is a growing disinvestment movement - similar to the South African Apartheid disinvestment - focused on the Immigration Industrial complex. Similarly, the current Prison Industrial Complex disinvestment movement is focusing on immigration camps and detention centers.

Support Indigenous Peoples - The focus has been on Latinx migrants but have ignored the plight of Indigenous Peoples. This means many of the services provided for migrants and asylum seekers are Spanish-language-based. The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy puts forth three suggestions for supporting Indigenous migrants:

"Fund Indigenous-led migrant organizations.

Build the capacity of Indigenous-led groups.

Fund interpretation language justice initiatives for and by Indigenous people."

How to Help

Donate to CDP's Disaster Recovery Fund to help assist our domestic work. CDP also has a Global Recovery Fund that provides an opportunity for donors to meet the ongoing and ever-expanding challenges presented by global crises.

CDP webinar: Funding for Immigrant Communities Post-Disaster includes information on how private philanthropy can ensure funded organizations are addressing the identified needs of immigrants and their communities.

Philanthropic Strategies to Support Refugees and Asylum Seekers, a report from Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees (GCIR) examined the actions of 10 different philanthropies and puts forward several suggestions for action to address critical needs.

"Encourage innovation and adaptation in volatile times. Think systemically and creatively.

Explore the benefits of collective grantmaking.

Take a holistic approach to addressing the needs of newcomer populations.

Enhance existing support to grantees by reevaluating grant requirements.

Leverage foundations' bully pulpit, stature, and convening power."

Contact

If you are a responding NGO or a donor, please send updates on how you are working in this crisis to tanya.gulliver-garcia@disasterphilanthropy.org.

If you are a donor looking for recommendations on how to help in this crisis, please email regine.webster@disasterphilanthropy.org.

Learn More

Here is a glossary to help with understanding some of the terms used in the profile.

- Asylum seeker describes someone who has applied for protection as a refugee and is awaiting the determination of his or her status... Asylum seekers can become refugees if the local immigration or refugee authority deems them as fitting the international definition of refugee."

- Immigrants are persons born abroad who have come to settle in the United States, regardless of their legal immigration status or whether they have become U.S. citizens.

- Migrant is an umbrella term, not defined under international law, reflecting the common lay understanding of a person who moves away from his or her place of usual residence, whether within a country or across an international border, temporarily or permanently, and for a variety of reasons. The term includes a number of well-defined legal categories of people, such as migrant workers; persons whose particular types of movements are legally-defined, such as smuggled migrants; as well as those whose status or means of movement are not specifically defined under international law, such as international students.

- A refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war or violence. A refugee has a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group.

- An unaccompanied child is a person who is under the age of eighteen, unless, under the law applicable to the child, majority is, attained earlier and who is "separated from both parents and is not being cared for by an adult who by law or custom has responsibility to do so.

- Unauthorized immigrants, also called undocumented immigrants, are persons residing in the United States without legal immigration status, including individuals who entered without lawful status or who entered with a legal visa that is no longer valid.
We welcome republication of our content. Please credit the Center for Disaster Philanthropy.

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Southern Border Humanitarian Crisis - Center for Disaster Philanthropy

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Overview In 2014, the United States government declared a crisis at the border to address the rapid increase in the number of unaccompanied children and, to a lesser extent, women, migrating through border checkpoints and/or unguarded entry points, especially into Texas. Seven years later, this continues to be a crisis.

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Article 16: Right to Marry and to Found a Family (Demilade & Contessa)

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Article 16: Right to Marry and to Found a Family (Demilade & Contessa)

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Article 16 dicusses that any man or women that are of age, regardless of race, nationality or religion are entitled to the right to marriage as well as its dissolution. Violations that we observed from what we read is that in 2018, the government of the Kyrgyz Republic failed to protect women and girls from forced marriages which violated their rights under article 16 to a fully consensual marriage. Something that we witnessed was the forced marriage between my grandmother and my grandfather. My grandmother, at age 16, was married to my grandfather, age 34, due to economic gain for her family. The marriage was not fully consensual.

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Article 20: Trump's response to BLM protests

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Article 20: Trump's response to BLM protests

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During the 2020 BLM protests, former President Trump reacted in ways that violate the protesters' right to assembly. During one one of the protests in Lafayette Square, he had police throw teargas at the protesters to clear his way towards a photoshoot in a church. This violated the protesters' right to be able to gather safely and peacefully, because it punished them for exercising their rights. Right to assembly must be protected because it allows a democracy where the people have a say in how to be governed, since the government works for the people

by Lillia S and Camille D

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Caitlin Price, Olivia Rullo, Sophie Pilon

Privacy is is a human right that is essential to the development of personality and protection of dignity. Privacy allows us to protect ourselves from unwanted interactions and allows us to set boundaries with the outside world. Having the right to establish boundaries is important for healthy relationships and careers. Finally, on top of this, privacy protects the rights of freedom and speech. Without privacy, relationships and personalities will be negatively affected. Examples of violations include companies selling data without the consumer agreeing to it.

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Article 10 ensures that all individuals are guaranteed a fair trial in court. It entails that an individual is present for his or hers trial, gets a speedy public trail, the right to a lawyer of one’s choice, and the idea that all are innocent until proven guilty. Without these fundamental rights, justice would not be served and individuals committing crimes can get away with them. Along with this, innocent individuals are being punished for crimes they didn’t commit. In 1984, a man who matched a police sketch of a murderer and rapist was convicted and sentenced to the death penalty despite contradicting evidence. After 9 years of being in prison, he was freed with the use of DNA evidence. There are many other cases, some of which don’t end with the innocent being set free. Article 10 is necessary in order to prevent the innocent from being wrongfully prosecuted and provide them with the basic rights of a fair trial.
Rohan Jaggi

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Article 16: Right to Marry and to Found a Family

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Article 16: Right to Marry and to Found a Family

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Article 16 states that all men and women of full consenting age have the right to willingly marry and have the right to have a family in whatever methods they choose. A violation of this right is the prevalence of child marriages. Article 16 is a right made to ban child and forced marriages since children are not able to give consent without a guardian. Child marriages are still a problem now in areas where many people are living in poverty since they are sold for a bride price. Children are forced into a life of restriction to pay off the family debt. All people should have the right to choose who they want to marry and when to marry them freely.

- Jessica Le and Heeyon Park

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Article 18: Freedom of Religion or Belief (Zemare Yared & Ruth Taye)

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Article 18: Freedom of Religion or Belief (Zemare Yared & Ruth Taye)

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The article states that everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. In the case of Asia Bibi a Christian Pakistani women she had been accused on Blasphemy charges by the Pakistan Supreme Court. But it was overturned after it was found that she had been falsely accused by Muslim women. This was due to the fact that the Muslim Women did not want her to drink out of the same cup as them; because of her religion. This shows that blasphemy laws can be used for personal vendettas which is discriminatory and an abuse of freedom. People should be able to live without fear harm just because of their religion and who they choose to worship or not worship.

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Freedom of religion is important to the functioning of society. Everyone regardless of their religion should be able to express their beliefs as long as it does not directly endanger others. Religion also has a very important contribution to culture. Violations to Article 18 include Uyghurs being prosecuted in China due to their beliefs. The Uyghurs are an ethnic minority group in China There is evidence that suggests that the Uyghurs are being tortured and sterilized in concentration camps. In addition to this, many people who believe in Islam are being prosecuted across America and in other countries. Protecting freedom to express their religion can help educate others about the religion and spread it. When you remove somebody’s right to believe, you take away part of their identity.

Emioluwa Odunaiya and Tishanique Johnson

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Article 4 speaks about the ongoing slavery that lurks around in our communities, and how big of a problem it really is without many noticing. Slavery never ended when the Transatlantic slave trade ended, in fact, the article mentioned that in the past five years about 89 million people experienced some form of modern slavery. In the present day, there are people held on fishing boats in Thailand against their will. Domestic workers are enslaved in sub-Saharan Africa. Their enslavement is not known as so, but rather "debt bondage". ISIS is taking women captive and selling them for sex trafficking, all because they may not be of the same religion. There are many more examples of slavery happening around the world and this should not be the case because a human should never be seen as capital. Viewing a human as merely a statistic in your pocket is dehumanizing in so many repulsive ways. Article 4 should be protected because when we get to a place where one can openly own another human again, we have crossed a line. A line that I am pretty sure if we cross again, there is no going back from.
By: Zoey Broderick-Aryee