Into the Real World

I have a passion for people.  And I have a strong belief in the equality of value of all people.  I realize the world is not fair, far from it, but I believe that part of humankind’s task is to make it as fair as possible.  I believe this will result in maximal benefit for all of us.  These views and interests are likely the source of my interest in human rights and my desire to become involved in the protection and promotion of these.  For the level at which I wish to become involved however, more than passion and interest are required.  Knowledge and understanding are also required.  But how to gain this knowledge and understanding?  Academic training is a good start.  It is useful to be able to think, to analyze, to be able to see a broader picture and note potential influencing factors, all of which higher level education purports to instill.  Basic background knowledge in areas such as history, human behaviour, political and legal structures, and so forth, is also important, serving as a framework for the actualities of our current existence and behaviours.  But this is not enough.  At least not for me.  I am a hands on type of individual, and I like to be involved in existence, not observing and commenting from afar.  I want to be able to have an effect - to change, to influence - and to be able to do this, whether it is on the ground with a grass roots organization or from further removed in a policy formation or research role, I need to have at least some awareness of the realities of situations as they are experienced by those of concern.  I need to have the capability to be able to conceptualize to some minimal capacity the difficulties faced by the individuals of concern as they struggle against or within their restrictions, by those who are trying to help them, and by those who are restricting them.  This requires some real life understanding  and can not be acquired through reading or academic learning.  I am therefore over the next few years embarking on a quest to broaden my applied understanding of various environments.  I anticipate this will be quite the adventure for me, I hope that I will be able to be as much benefit to those I am visiting as they will be to me.

My first excursion into this real life arena will be starting in just under seven weeks with a five month sojourn with my son first to Thailand and then to India.  Our first stop will be in Thai Mueang, Thailand, a small town along the Andaman Coast, where I will be working with Thai Mueang Volunteers, http://www.tmvolunteers.org/ .  My task there will be to teach English to primary school children, some of whom have never heard English before.  I am looking forward to the opportunity to experience living in this environment, as well as immersion in the culture, and, of course, teaching the children as this is something I truly enjoy doing!  This town is located quite close to some active tourist areas, from what I understand some facility in the English language greatly increases opportunities for individuals living in the area.  Generally the children would not have opportunity to be exposed to English language speakers so participation from English speaking volunteers is quite valuable.  It is wonderful that I have the skills and background to be able to contribute to this.      

After spending about a month in Thailand the intent was to head somewhere cooler to avoid the monsoons.  We didn’t quite succeed in this as our next stop is Jodhpur, India, where we will be located through the hot season, which is quite hot (for us!).  Here we will be working with Sambhali Trust, http://www.sambhali-trust.org/, an organization which seeks to empower lower caste women and girls so that they may improve their situation.  Sambhali Trust does a variety of work in pursuit of this goal and I am looking forward to contributing in whatever way I can.  I read an article, “The best places to be a woman – and the worst”, June 13, 2012, by Katrin Bennhold of IHT Rendezvous, http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/13/the-best-countries-to-be-a-woman-and-the-worst/?smid=fb-share,  reporting on the results of a survey by TrustLaw, a legal news service of Thomson Reuters Foundation, ranking the best places to be a woman within the world’s biggest economies.  According to this article Canada, which is where I reside, is ranked as the best place to be a woman, and India the worst.  I expect therefore that the women with whom I will be working will have experienced, and be experiencing, radically different circumstances and opportunities than I have.  Being directly exposed to their situation will be an enlightening experience I am sure.      

I expect that both of these sets of experiences will broaden my understanding of different living situations from the one to which I am accustomed, something that I anticipate will prove invaluable to me as I engage in the field of the protection and promotion of human rights.  Hopefully I will also be able to contribute in some meaningful way to those who are being generous enough to welcome me and my son into their communities and their lives.  I look forward to sharing my experiences on this blog, and hearing from others, in the hopes that my learning can enhance others’, and vice versa.

Canadian Human Rights

So... I am going to start out my international human rights blog with a posting that is not international.  But it is on a topic that is of frequent international concern and relates to a situation which has drawn international attention, including from such organizations as the United Nations and Human Rights Watch.  The topic is that of the treatment of marginalized groups, and the demographic in this case is that of Canadians of Aboriginal descent.  The specific situation of concern in this posting is that of the safety of Canadian Aboriginal women.  My motivation for posting on this situation at this time comes from two recent publications, one by the United Nations, "UN Human Rights Council: HRW's Submission for Canada's Universal Periodic Review", the other "AFN calls for investigation of murdered and missing women" by The Globe and Mail, a Canadian national newspaper.

The submission by Human Rights Watch brings forth the concern that Canada is not truly committed to addressing the issue of widespread violence against indigenous women and girls.  Actions that are highlighted include withdrawal of funding for monitoring of the status of violence against this demographic, selective mistreatment of the demographic by police forces, and a lack of investigation into disappearances and deaths among the demographic.  The article by the Globe and Mail highlights the struggle of the Assembly of First Nations (AFC) to have the federal government establish an independent commission to investigate the disappearances of aboriginal women, a process which according to the article is proving to be a struggle.

Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Universal Declaration of Human Rights) states that all have the right to life, liberty, and security of person.  If the information contained in the above two publications is accurate, through a lack of concern and investigation into disappearances and killings, Canadian aboriginal women are potentially being selectively deprived of the right to life and security of person.  Article 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that all are equal before the law and entitled withut any discrimination to equal protection of the law.  The above two articles outrightly state that this is not occurring.

In recent history Aboriginal Canadians of both genders have suffered from human rights abuses ranging from removal of their children to prohibition of cultural practices to restricted access to basic services such as health care.  Although progress is being made it is nonetheless distressing that basic human rights are still being selectively accorded to citizens in a country such as Canada, and that Aboriginal Canadians in particular continue to be singled out.  One can only hope that continued attention in this area will encourage those in positions to do so to ensure that progress continues to be made so that, soon, hopefully, the basic human rights espoused in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights will be accorded to all Canadians.