FOREWORD
We at the Emory Globe are proud to present The Human Rights Issue, a collection of this year’s best undergraduate international affairs articles submitted to our website, emoryglobe.com. 2016 has unfortunately been a year of violence and extremism which has shaken every region of the world. In our world today, we face serious ethical questions regarding democratic development, migration, conflict, security, nationalism, and the rise of ideological extremism. Thank you, reader, for picking up this journal. It is our hope that these articles represent a multi-dimensional approach to the many human rights issues that exist today. Emily Lim, Publications Editor
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Europe's Challenge: Migration, Jobs, and Union
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Nationalism in Context: Hindutva and India's Ideological Shift to the Right
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The Problem with Brazil's Democracy
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Global Health Investments Are Advancing Dialogue in the Middle East
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DAVID HERVEY
NAMRATA VERGHESE
ELI GERSHON
AMAYA PHILLIPS
Myanmar's Shaky Path To Democracy 9 EMILY LIM
Lebanon Straining Under Pressure of Syrian Refugees
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GABI YAMOUT
Norwegian Teens "Play Refugees" for a Day AMAYA PHILLIPS
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Young Romanians Will Determine the Fate 13 of the European Union ANDREW TEODORESCU
About the Writers 15 Afterword 16 Works Cited
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THE GLOBE | 2
EUROPE'S CHALLENGE: JOBS, MIGRATION, AND UNION
DAVID HERVEY, Assistant Digital Editor
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f political parties skeptical of continued European integration—called “Eurosceptic” parties—continue to make gains across the European Union as they have in recent years, one of the largest causes will certainly be the ongoing influx of refugees. Last year, about 1.3 million refugees came to the European Union1. To put this in perspective, the United States admitted only about 70,000 refugees in 20152. Most of the new arrivals to Europe are coming from war-torn countries in the Middle East— about a third are Syrian. Migration is a crisis of the European Union rather than of individual countries because the Schengen Zone, which facilitates free movement of people across borders without passports or visas also facilitates the passage of refugees. This movement has led to Eurosceptic calls to close borders. These calls have been heeded by governments of several member states, and made headlines worldwide as a key part of the platform of Brexit, the successful British campaign to leave the EU, despite the fact the Britain is not a member of the Schengen Zone. The question, then, is what EU countries can do to minimize the public backlash to immigration and to ease the burden of large numbers of migrants on their societies. The EU is taking some steps toward managing its migration crisis in a deal reached several months ago with Turkey, but if this agreement is anything like previous attempts to deal with the challenges posed by the crisis3, migration will continue unabated. The current deal is more far-reaching than previous ones, but the only thing everyone involved agrees upon is that it is far from perfect. The current plan is to resettle most asylum seekers in Turkey until their applications for EU residency can be processed, and then to admit those into Europe who are accepted, and to deport those who are denied. In principle, this is a good beginning, but there are significant challenges to any implementation of such a plan. Firstly, the plan does not specify how the EU will decide which country individual migrants are sent to. By far, the most obvious solution to this problem would be some form of a quota system. However, the current quota sys-
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tem is hugely controversial—so much so that more than 98 percent of Hungarian voters voted against it in a recent referendum. While the turnout in the referendum was too low to make it binding, it is a strong indication that other voters in the EU will be against the quota system, especially given recent Eurosceptic gains across the continent. Secondly, one of the biggest concessions made to Turkey in exchange for its cooperation is visa-free travel within the EU and further progress toward its goal of becoming an EU member state. With Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan becoming more repressive —especially since the recent failed coup there—Turkey fits the profile of an EU member state less now than it did before progress on its accession to the union stalled several years ago. Furthermore, Turkey is still in a long-running conflict with Cyprus, an EU member state, which has been strongly opposed to Turkey’s potential entry to the EU. Visa-free travel will also be contentious given that many European voters, given the recent attacks by the Islamic State in Istanbul and Ankara, may be reasonably concerned that terrorists currently in Turkey will take advantage of visa-free travel to come to European countries and carry out attacks like those in Paris and Brussels. Of course, there are very few people among the refugees who may be terrorists, but there are certainly terrorists in Turkey, judging from the numerous recent attacks by both Kurdish separatists and IS, and it would be foolish to assume that terrorists would not take advantage of easier travel when planning attacks. Additionally, a recent failed ISIS-connected attack in Germany having been attempted by a Syrian refugee4 will easily reinforce the anti-immigrant narrative. If the migration deal has provisions to prevent terrorists from using visa-free travel or entering with refugees, they have not been well publicized. Eurosceptics will pontificate about the risk of terrorism as a result of the migrant deal. Of course, most asylum seekers are not radicals or terrorists, which makes it of paramount importance to keep them from becoming radicalized. To accomplish this, it is important to find them jobs, both to integrate them into
European societies and to allow them to support themselves without government assistance -- the latter being all the more important because it will decrease the cost of migrations to European taxpayers. Some of this cost is already offset by the fact that refugees, like any other group of people, are consumers and need to buy things, potentially helping existing businesses in Europe. Furthermore, immigrants are more likely to start their own businesses, and becoming job creators themselves. At the moment, asylum seekers are not allowed to work until after their applications have been fully processed, keeping them out of work possibly for years. Advocating legal changes and new programs to help refugees enter the workforce is not new5. On the other hand, these proposals overlook the problem that in many EU member states, there were not enough jobs to go around before the arrival of thousands of migrants, let alone afterward. Many EU countries have restrictive regulations regarding hiring new employees and firing old ones which discourage new employment. This has led to massive unemployment among the young, and presumably would do the same for refugees. In Hungary, which receives the most asylum applications per capita, the unemployment rate for people from ages 1529 is 13.9 percent6. For Sweden, which receives the second most, this number is 14.7 percent. Interestingly, in Germany, the youth unemployment rate is 6.6 percent, and the German economy’s ability to create jobs for its younger, less established workers may have been a factor
in German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to take in large numbers of refugees in 2015, as well as in the decisions of many migrants to travel all the way to Germany instead of staying in places closer to their point of arrival. Creating jobs for workers who have only recently entered the European workforce is of the utmost importance, not only to help the economic situations of Europeans themselves but to prevent new arrivals from becoming radicalised. As an important corollary, this will help the economies of nations like Greece and Spain, which are still in turmoil from the sovereign-debt crisis and decrease the likelihood of the need for future bailouts, another sore issue for Eurosceptics. Furthermore, adequate safeguards against terrorists using visa-free travel or hiding among refugees are more important now than ever. It is important not only for these policies to be implemented but for mainstream, non-Eurosceptic parties to advocate them. During periods of large-scale migration and in the wake of terrorist attacks, support for nativist or xenophobic radicals often increases, as evidenced by the growth of the Dutch Party for Freedom, the French National Front, or the UK Independence Party. Mainstream parties do their best to make a good case for acceptance of immigrants, which makes it all the more important to implement policies which make migration more acceptable to the average European, thereby making the EU more sustainable over time through keeping power out of the hands of Eurosceptics. next few years alone.
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NATIONALISM IN CONTEXT: HINDUTVA AND INDIA'S IDEOLOGICAL SHIFT TO THE RIGHT
NAMRATA VERGHESE, Staff Writer
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n India, on September 28, 20151, a 50-year-old man named Mohammed Akhlaq was preparing to go to bed when his night—and India’s political scene— was turned upside down by a feverish mob bursting into his house. People Akhlaq considered his friends and neighbors proceeded to drag him outside his home and beat both him and his 22-year-old son, Danish, brutally, with stones and bricks. By the time the police arrived on scene an hour later, Akhlaq was dead. Akhlaq’s “crime,” and the reason for this bloody lynching? Eating beef. Akhlaq, a Muslim, had allegedly been seen with a bag containing meat rumored to be from a missing calf. Hindus, the religious majority in India, do not eat beef, and have long frowned upon cow slaughter. Acts of vigilante justice in reaction to beef consumption have been occurring for years; however, in Akhlaq’s case, the lynching was more than an act of religious prejudice. It was backed and justified by the evolving nationalist policies of India. In May 2014, the year of Narendra Modi’s election as Prime Minister of India, his political party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won a landslide victory in the Parliament. The world’s largest political party in terms of primary membership, the BJP is a right-wing party with intimate ideological ties to social conservatism and Hindu nationalist principles. It adopted “Hindutva,” an extreme, predominant form of Hindu nationalism that many have condemned as fascist in its adherence to cultural hegemony, as its official ideology in 1989. Since coming to power, the BJP imposed an almost draconian ban of beef consumption2 in many states in Northern India, including Uttar Pradesh, the place Akhlaq called home, and the cosmopolitan Maharashtra, which encompasses India’s most urban city, Mumbai. This intolerance towards dietary staples of other religions has
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been perceived as one of the many manifestations of Hindutva’s pervasive, destructive influence in India. The concept of “Hindutva” has its roots in the 20th century, when activist Vinayak Damodar Sarvarkar coined the term3 and its three core tenets: a common nation, a common race, and a common culture of Hinduism. This movement gained traction as a reaction against the two-state partition that claimed Pakistan as a land for Muslims, implicitly creating a religious dichotomy that blatantly defied India’s history as a secular, pluralistic democracy. Since then, the ideology has been associated with acts of religious extremism, violence, and persecution, most infamously including Hindu revivalist Nathuram Godse’s assassination of India’s founding father, Mahatma Gandhi4. Akhlaq’s case highlights the underlying rift that Hindutva has created in India, and urges Indians to face the violence against minorities spawned by increasing nationalistic tendencies supported by the BJP. While liberal Indians, including many scholars and opposition politicians, rallied behind Akhlaq’s family and denounced
https://upload.wikimedia. org/wikipedia/commons/f/ f1/Narendra_Modi_in_ white_shirt.jpg
the crime, the BJP and conservative Hindus sided with the murderous mob. BJP leader Nawab Singh Nagar dismissed the outcry against the lynching, and justified the murder by saying, “If anybody was consuming cow meat, then that is wrong.”5 The police case drags on, as officials note that they have yet to find any credible evidence of cow slaughter, and the eighteen mob instigators accused of murder have yet to be charged6. The public uproar about Akhlaq’s death kindled a nation-wide debate on the inherent intolerance of Hindutva, and brought to light new evidence about the danger associated with it; for example, the National Crime Records Bureau revealed that, within the last five years, India has witnessed over 3,400 violent incidents resulting in deaths and injuries that can be traced back to the Hindutva movement7. Modi ran for Prime Minister on promises8 of making India “the” world power, and pushing a development agenda that falsely swore to bring back black money from abroad and deposit 15 lakhs into every Indian’s bank account. Amidst the glamor of his campaign, it was easy to forget his nationalist past—he has reiterat-
ed, time and time again, that India should be a “Hindu Rashtra,”9 or a nation composed solely of Hindus—and its implications for India’s future; however, this benign negligence has yielded to the militant, chauvinistic, violent Hindutva movement that Modi overtly advocates. The recent uptick of nationalistic violence bodes ill for India’s future as a secular state, and Modi’s tendency to push his supporters’ fundamentalist leanings can no longer be discounted. Right-wing populism is rapidly spreading across the globe—we see its effects in the swift popularity Trump’s campaign has gained, as well as in the divisive aftermath of Brexit—and India is no exception to this trend. The continental shift to the right, a reactionary response to the era of globalization, can be seen in international efforts to close borders, promote nationalism, and reify myths of national exceptionalism. This political relic of the 20th century thrives on fear, and unless India’s leaders take firm steps towards reversing the damage Hindutva has inflicted on minorities, Gandhi’s India will inevitably devolve into Godse’s India.
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THE PROBLEM WITH BRAZIL'S DEMOCRACY ELI GERSHON, Staff Writer
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n September of 2015, 8 in 10 Brazilians were in favor of impeaching the Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff, the “Socialist Iron Lady.” Her approval rating was at a historically low eight percent, and the economy was in the dumps. By September 2016, Rousseff had been impeached and the country could possibly be headed into the turmoil she predicted would occur long before impeachment trials even began. Leaders in the fight to impeach Rousseff on grounds of corruption and economic mismanagement are themselves now subject to investigations on those same charges. As a young woman, Rousseff was arrested and tortured in prison by the anti-communist dictatorship of the time. After being released, she worked her way up the governmental totem pole from low-level positions to the State Secretary of Energy, to the Minister of Energy before she was elected President of Brazil in 2011. Later, Rousseff was reelected to her second, fouryear term as President in 2014, but her margin of victory, at only three percentage points, was the smallest in Brazil’s modern electoral history 1 . In May 2016, the Senate voted to suspend Rousseff and send her to an impeachment trial. After hours of debates and impassioned speeches, the Senate voted 55-22 to suspend and send Rousseff to trial. In a speech, Rousseff denied committing any crime and accused her opponents of attempting to mount a coup. She defended herself, saying: “I may have committed errors but I never committed crimes . . . It’s the most brutal of things that can happen to a human being to be condemned for a crime you didn’t commit. There is no more devastating injustice.” 2 Jonathan Watts, The Guardian’s Latin America correspondent, says her impeachment was far more political than practical, stating that similar economic transgressions have occurred under previous presidents, none of whom have been punished 3 . Though seventy percent of Brazilians favored holding new elections, then-Vice President (now President) Michel Temer made clear that he would be succeeding Rousseff. The Huffington Post has reported that his cabinet will be “entirely male and overwhelmingly white.” 4 One of the more worrying aspects of the impeachment proceedings is the fact that 33 of Bra-
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zil’s 81 Senators have been charged, or are under investigation for corruption, fraud, and various other crimes. The third in line to the presidency was suspended by the Brazilian Supreme Court earlier in 2016 for the obstruction of justice. The fourth in line to the presidency currently is the subject of eleven criminal investigations. This man, Renan Calheiros, is the leader of the Senate, which is the body that oversaw the impeachment hearings, which finished on August 31st, 2016. The main problem, which is perhaps the hardest to combat, is that fact that corruption and criminal investigations run rampant in Brazilian politics. Citizens elect corrupt politicians who impeach other corrupt politicians, resulting in the destabilization of a young democracy. One possible way to combat this destabilization is to take away political rights of those who are impeached. Rousseff and many others who have been removed from office in recent times have not had their political rights taken away from them5. This means that they can run for any office again whenever they feel like it. By not stripping impeached officials of their political rights, Brazil creates an atmosphere of relaxation among politicians. If they are removed, they can simply run again in subsequent elections. However, this could be a flawed solution. How would the system root out corrupt politicians while keeping honest politicians in political play? It is currently far too easy for corrupt politicians to band together to remove their honest counterparts from office for political reasons. That said, Brazil needs to hold free and fair elections quite frequently in order to give the Brazilian people a chance to weed out corrupt politicians and send righteous people to Brasilia.
GLOBAL HEALTH INVESTMENTS ARE ADVANCING DIALOGUE IN THE MIDDLE EAST
AMAYA PHILLIPS, Staff Writer
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OLON, Israel- An Israeli based organization, founded by Dr. Ami Cohen, is spreading modern technology and medical opportunities to underdeveloped areas of the world in efforts to promote peace in the Middle East. The organization Save a Child’s Heart (SACH), founded in 1995, has one mission: to save children’s lives. Since 1995, SACH has conducted over three thousand heart surgeries on children who were diagnosed with congenital and acquired heart defects1. While an average heart surgery today costs $10,000, the families of children served by this organization are asked to pay nothing. More than half of the children, about one hundred a year, are from the West Bank and Gaza. Although Israeli and Middle Eastern tensions remain uneasy, this program has quickly received world recognition for its ability to overlook individual differences in its efforts to save a child.2 The organization first started with only three members and extremely low funding, which enabled them to operate occasionally on children from surrounding regions. Yet, SACH has been able to globalize quickly through donations from wealthy supporters and developed governments. The organization reports that they conduct a free heart surgery every 29 hours within the year3, with the surgical budget amassing to roughly $3,022,4134. The Save a Child’s Heart organization has quickly gained international recognition as it has received a massive amount of support from renowned organizations and world superpowers. In hopes of further promoting peaceful interactions in the Middle East, world superpowers such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and France have made substantial donations to the organization. In 2010 and 2011, the UK government donated €10,302 to SACH for Israeli and Palestinian political advocacy. The USA has granted SACH one million dollars to train Palestinian doctors from the West Bank (2013-2016).France similarly sponsors yearly treatment for 50 Palestinian children, as well as the training of Palestinian doctors in pediatric cardiology5.
The United Nations has also publicly declared their support of SACH with “recognition for special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council” (ECOSOC). In addition, the United Nations aired a documentary titled “Palestine and Israel Mending Hearts.” The documentary follows the story of Mohie; a Palestinian baby born with a congenital heart defect. The documentary covers the family’s journey from crossing the border, interacting with Israeli doctors, and completing a life threatening heart surgery. Although the cultural differences remain evident amongst the two parties, both willingly put them aside in efforts to care for Mohie6:
Israeli Cardiologist: “I have good news to share with you this morning, the surgery is complete. [God willing].” Abuhal: “Will his heart be ok?” Israeli Cardiologist: “Yes he is ok now.” Abuhal: “You have saved my son’s life, I just want to kiss you. Thank you and [happy hanukkah].” The capacity of the differing parties to cease hostilities and to punctuate the good news through an exchange of opposite languages, demonstrates a small step in the overarching conflict between Israel and Palestine. The SACH organization is working towards fostering a compassionate understanding between the two groups. The loss of a child is a universal sentiment that all can relate to. Through the globalization of SACH, the organization has been able to overcome political, social, and economic barriers that separate the human race, in efforts to give the gift of life to humans. Through provisions of global aid, the organization is mending not only a baby’s heart, but also the hearts of Israeli and Palestinian communities.
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MYANMAR'S SHAKY PATH TO DEMOCRACY EMILY LIM, Publications Editor
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fter more than a century of British colonial rule and a half-century under military dictatorship, Myanmar held its first nationwide, multiparty elections in November 2015 four years after the establishment of a civilian government. Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide victory1, winning over 80 percent of the popular vote. Myanmar’s parliament, the Hluttaw, is a bicameral legislature with 664 seats. While 25 percent of seats are reserved for unelected military representatives2, the NLD crossed the threshold of 329 seats needed for a majority in both houses by a large margin, winning 390 seats. The military-backed Union Solidarity Development Party (USDP), the successor party to the Union Solidarity and Development Association, an organization formed by Myanmar’s ruling military junta fared poorly, winning just 41 seats. However, Myanmar’s path towards becoming a parliamentary democracy remains shaky. A clause of the military-dictated constitution, written specifically to contain Aung San Suu Kyi, disqualifies anyone with “legitimate children…[who] owes allegiance to a foreign power” from presidency. Suu Kyi’s two sons are British. Instead, her aide Htin Kyaw was made president while she continues to wield considerable political influence behind the scenes. Although the military has pledged a peaceful transfer of power3, the fact still remains that 25 percent of seats are reserved for unelected army representatives. The presidential nomination
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process in Myanmar divides the Hluttaw into three categories: the elected members of the upper house; the elected members of the lower house; and the unelected army representatives. Each group nominatesapresidentialcandidate,andfollowingavotethewinner becomes president while the other two become vice-presidents4. This means that a military-backed presidential candidate will still have a strong presence in Myanmar’s politics, since the office of the vice president is considered the second-highest ranking post in Myanmar. In mid-March 2016, the military nominated Myint Swe, the current minister of the Yangon region, to be vice president. Swe is known for being a hardliner5 in the military and was formerly criticized for ordering a civilian militia to violently repress student protesters in Yangon in 2015. The military has long dominated Myanmar’s political scene. Although initially established as a parliamentary democracy following its liberation from British colonial rule in 1948, a 1962 military coup led by General Ne Win established a ruling council of army representatives in place of the civilian government. Following food shortages and growing corruption within the government, students led a revolt against the military dictatorship in 1988. Suu Kyi, who had returned to Myanmar to visit her ailing mother and who was known for being the daughter of independence hero General Aung San, quickly rose within the ranks of the revolt to become the leader of the opposition. In a brutal military coup, 3,000 were killed6 and an even more repressive military junta, known as the State Peace and Devel-
opment Council, took control of the situation in September. Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest in 1989, and although in the last free elections of 1990 the NLD won 52.5 percent of the national vote7, the military junta ignored the result. Suu Kyi was kept under house arrest intermittently until 2010. For her advocacy of nonviolence in order to achieve peaceful democratic reform and free elections, Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize while under house arrest in 1991. In 1989, the new military regime changed the country’s name from the Union of Burma to the Union of Myanmar, a name change which remains controversial to this day. While U.S. policy up until 2011 had been to refer to the country as Burma so as not to legitimize its military government, President Obama stirred controversy8 when he referred to it as Myanmar during a visit in 2012. In the late 2000s, the State Peace and Development Council of Myanmar faced increasing external and internal pressures for reform. Following massive fuel price increases due to the government’s removal of fuel subsidies9, protests grew across the country in what became known as the 2007 Saffron Revolution. The movement was joined by monks, who lent moral authority to the protests10 in a country which has a strongly Buddhist majority. When in 2008 Cyclone Nargis left 140,000 dead11, NGOs and Western governments called for international humanitarian intervention. Following the pressure for reform, in May 2008 a referendum was held on a new constitution and multiparty elections were held. However, in a result largely regarded as
fraudulent, the military-backed USDP won by a wide margin of votes in the 2010 elections. Suu Kyi and the NLD boycotted the elections, for which her party was disbanded12. In 2011, a civilian government was introduced. However, the president, two vice presidents, and speakers of the lower and upper houses of the Hluttaw were all former military officers, leading to concern about the military’s reach into Myanmar’s politics13. While the peaceful transition of power to a civilian government is a reason to rejoice, Myanmar still faces an uncertain future. Suu Kyi, unable to amend the constitution because the army representatives in the Hluttaw have veto power, will pull the strings behind the scenes of the new president. Furthermore, the question of the country’s ethnic minority, the Rohingya Muslims, remains. The 140,000 Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar are not given citizenship or voting rights, and have often been faced with violence from Myanmar’s Buddhist majority. For example, in 2012 riots left 125,000 Rohingya and other Muslims displaced when a Buddhist woman was raped in Northern Myanmar14. Suu Kyi has been criticized15 by the international community for not speaking out about the plight of the Rohingya in Myanmar. Although Myanmar has democratically elected its first president, much lies ahead in terms of attaining democratic rule of law: the question of the military’s reach into politics, whether power will continue to be peacefully alternated, and the 140,000 disenfranchised Rohingya Muslims.
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LEBANON STRAINING UNDER PRESSURE OF SYRIAN REFUGEES GABI YAMOUT, Staff Writer
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oats filled to the brim with desperate families escaping a war-torn nation and crowded, dusty camps in the outskirts of cities: these are the images of the Syrian refugee crisis painted in the Western mind. Better yet, add a clip of an American politician discussing the possible security threats associated with the crisis. This depiction of the mass migration of Syrians is all too familiar, and in large part misrepresents the experiences of many refugees. Driven by the harsh conditions of the Syrian civil war, families have been leaving the country for surrounding nations in search of better lives. 13.5 million Syrians1 are in need of humanitarian aid as of October 2016. Although media coverage largely centers on the pressure the refugee crisis has placed on European Union states such as Germany and France, countries that border Syria, such as Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey have faced the most significant impact. Pressure has been building In Lebanon, where over one million2 Syrian refugees currently reside. In a country where the net population is around 4.7 million3, nearly one in every four people in Lebanon is a Syrian refugee. Although initially Lebanon maintained its traditional open door policy for refugees, soon the migration became too much of a strain. The state was forced to implement stricter border policies4, including visa-like requirements and minimum cash balances. Because Lebanon already houses hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees, the state does not provide refugee camps for Syrians. Instead, Syrian refugees stay in host communities, mostly in the poor areas of Bekaa and north Lebanon, and are given cash allowances5 for life expenses. There is a stark difference between refugees’ lived experiences and the media’s reports. The impacts of the refugee crisis in Lebanon are varied and wide reaching. First, Lebanon’s already struggling economy has been put under great strain. Because it is against the law to hire a Syrian refugee, an illegal labor market6 for cheap labor has arisen, putting many small Lebanese businesses in the red. Furthermore, the lack of refugee camps has forced Syrians to spend their life savings on shelter, outspending poor Lebanese citizens7 and expelling them from their homes. The poorest areas are suffering the most. Already unstable neighborhoods have had to cope with
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huge population and housing price increases. To make matters worse, tourism rates have dropped, along with Syrian exports.8 Of course, things aren’t easy for the refugees either. Education for Syrian children9 is severely lacking. Before the crisis, Lebanon’s public school system was already suffering, with only 30 percent of school-age children attending public schools. Now, less than half of the school-aged Syrian children are enrolled in school, risking a lost generation for children’s education. Despite measures taken to try to accommodate refugees, including waived fees, increased hours for teachers, and overlooking the lack of legal residency, the system can’t cope with the increased burden without implementing greater reform or external aid. The standard of health care10 is also deteriorating for both the Syrian refugees and the Lebanese. Because most refugees are in poor areas where sanitation and access to clean water already isn’t guaranteed, public services have been quickly slipping out of reach for many. Access to basic health care services isn’t secure for refugees either. Those injured in the conflict or in their flight from Syria, as well as those with a pre-existing condition are at great risk. Trash is left uncollected in the streets because public utilities can’t keep up, only decreasing already low sanitation standards. This confluence of factors has made conditions worsen in Lebanon. Some programs exist to take small amounts of refugees from Lebanon and transition them to European countries such as Italy11, but only a few hundred individuals are able to navigate through the system and be accepted to transfer to a different state. Underfunded and under-supported, Lebanon is buckling under the strain of the migration crisis. Instead of only giving 62.8 percent12 of the funding for the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan, more international aid should be directed to the country. If there’s any hope of improving the situation, Lebanon will need more money and more media attention. The dramatics of security risks in Europe and sea crossings to Greece don’t shed light on the great pressure put on countries bordering Syria. We should reconsider the way we perceive the refugee crisis, and give thought to the impact it has internationally, rather than just through a Western lens.
NORWEGIAN TEENS "PLAY REFUGEES" FOR A DAY AMAYA PHILLIPS, Staff Writer
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eenagers from all over Norway are traveling to the icy forests of Trandum Camp, also known as “Camp Refugee” 1 in hopes of experiencing a day in the life of a refugee. The camp was originally founded by the organization, Refugee Norway, in an effort to address the overwhelming intolerance exhibited towards foreigners and to challenge Norwegian teenagers to connect with refugees on a more humane level. Norway, one of the richest countries in the world, remains a predominantly homogenous society that has yielded little consolation for incoming refugees. Involvement with Camp Refugee is thus considered to be a civil coming-ofage ceremony amongst many teenagers, as the program seeks to expand Norwegians’ perspectives and ability to relate to those who are less fortunate than them. The teenagers learn about such hardships by acting as refugees for the duration of 24 hours. The journey begins with the confiscation of luxury accessories such as watches, purses, and cell phones; and subsequently the formation of twenty member refugee families. The teenagers are tasked with the “mission” of escaping fictitious civil unrest in efforts to cross an imaginary border into the safe haven, Norway. Over the 24 hours, the teenagers must confront subzero temperatures, limited food servings, violent border guards, and a constant fear of deportation 2. Although the Camp mission is to “give the participants an opportunity to establish connections through play, fun and joint adventure” 3 the teenagers quick-
ly learn that the life of a refugee is far from “fun.” Although some teenagers spent their time dreaming of “Netflix in the bath” or “Netflix AND kebab in the bath”, the overarching sentiment, as stated by one teen, was that “the experience is horribly tough… obviously much worse for real refugees, but the hunger, the fatigue, all of it… It’s exhausting.” 4 Upon completion of the camp, Kenneth Johansen, founder of the program Refugee Norway, challenges the teenagers to reflect on their experience: "Never forget this night you spent outdoors, crossing borders with your backpacks and all the yelling. That's what 60 million real refugees are living through everyday…For you, it was a game. For them, it’s hell on Earth everyday.” 5 Although the simulation does not evince the severity of the current refugee crisis, it ultimately seeks to raise societal awareness in hopes of sending teenagers home with more compassion and "a little extra soul." 6 Apart from this role-playing experience, Norwegian teenagers receive little exposure to the refugee crisis occurring throughout the world due to their government’s strict ‘No Visa, No Entry’ asylum policies. In December 2015, the Norwegian government passed a new set of immigration laws aimed towards stopping refugees from entering their country. Unlike many of their European counterparts, Norway has generated inhospitable immigration policies that repress refugees from entering their country and claiming asylum. Although the Human Development Index voted Norway as one of the best countries to live in, the country appears to be seemingly unattractive to refugees and migrants. 7 Ebeltoft, a Norwegian refugee activist, states,“It is impossible now to seek asylum in Norway unless you swim here from the Middle East.”8 Out of the 31,145 refugees who sought asylum in Norway last year, 805 withdrew their application and thousands have been “returned” to the Russian border. Although the Norwegian government remains in the international spotlight for controversial immigration policies, the refugee camps such as Trandum Camps aspire to foster an increased level of compassion amongst Norway’s younger generations.
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YOUNG ROMANIANS WILL DETERMINE THE FATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
ANDREW TEODORESCU, Staff Writer
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housands of Romanians took to the streets of the nation’s capital, Bucharest, on Sept. 22 2016 to protest against the Senate’s opaque decision to prematurely terminate an investigation into a former high-profile government officer 1. Many protesters speculate that the decision was birthed out of corrupt measures in order to hold the political aristocracy above the democratic law—a plausible allegation considering that Romania faces the highest corruption level in the European Union (EU) 2. Corruption has plagued Romania’s political system since the fall of the Soviet bloc in 1989, but anti-government protests in the 1990s and 2000s never had enough momentum to bring significant change to the system. Members of Generations Y and Z, those born into democracy, have played a crucial role in the past four years by leading protests of considerable magnitude that have led to real reform efforts 3. While the passive culture that allows corruption to exist still pervades Romanian society, it is quickly being replaced with the activist concerns of these new generations. Due to the increasing wariness of western EU members in the political and economic activity of eastern members, the degree to which activism is expressed by young Romanians in coming years will decide the future participation of western states in the EU. The corrupt culture that is widely accepted in Romania’s upper-level government causes political turmoil both nationally and supranationally. In recent years, high-profile Romanian political officers have been convicted on graft, bribery, embezzlement, conflict of interest, fraud, and tax evasion charges 4. Such continued abuses of power cost the EU billions of euros annually 5 and drive investors away 6, ultimately perpetuating a deal in which Romania uses billions more in EU funds than it contributes. Since joining the EU in 2007, Romania
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has ranked among the lowest of all EU members in contributions to the supranational authority 7. Even worse, Romania had the lowest absorption rate 8 for EU Structural Funds, or the ability to which a member state uses the funds effectively, in 2012. Romania is not alone in its efforts to reform a corruption-ridden government and to increase its absorption rate; other eastern European states— particularly Poland, Bulgaria, and Hungary 9 —share similar aspirations. As its eastern members continue to use the Structural Funds poorly and sometimes corruptly, the EU’s western members show declining enthusiasm for membership. The majority of EU citizens support the membership of their respective country, but that majority is only a 5147 10 majority , and its support is largely dependent on the perceived domestic benefit of participation. Western members of the EU are willing to support the growth of democracy and capitalism in the eastern members that were formerly communist,
and in fact 82 percent of the Structural Funds budget between 2007 and 2013 was allocated to the poorest countries and regions, most of which are in formerly communist countries. However, this willing support is diminishing as reform measures to slow corruption in these eastern European governments fail to produce desired results year after year. As a new wave of conservatism brushes over western Europe, many western Europeans are tired of the political stagnation in eastern European states. Such failures of government have led to economic stagnation, thereby stalling foreign investment, deepening wealth inequalities, and spurring emigration to western states. In June 2016, Great Britain’s vote to exit the EU confirmed the trend towards isolationism in western Europe. British voters expressed their discontent with the cost-to-benefit ratio of participation in the EU and their equal discomfort with subjection to international laws. If this new wave of conservatism continues to manifest in national legislation, and if the eastern
states do not accelerate their democratic and economic expansions at acceptable rates, France, Spain, and Germany may follow suit in leaving the EU in years to come 11. Without the economic strength brought by western European participation, powerful investors like George Soros predict that the EU would quickly dissolve 12. Out of all the eastern European members of the EU, Romania has seen the most success in anti-corruption measures 13, leading the President of the European Commission to praise the work of the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA), Romania’s anti-corruption agency. The implementation of both national and supranational transparency offices have proved effective, but not efficient in holding political actors accountable for corruption scandals. By measure of prosecution for corruption-related charges, the Romanian political system is empirically increasing in transparency. Still, the culture within the government is stubborn. Politicians often try to introduce legislation that weakens the scope of political transparency offices13, and sometimes do so successfully 14. External and internal transparency offices must continue to serve the greater purpose of exposing and advocating for the persecution of political corruption in Romania, but these operations alone are not enough. A domestic lack of political interest has allowed corruption to breed and thrive in the political system , largely because the members of the Baby Boomer Generation and of Generation X are used to the blatant corruption that accompanied the communist regime and their inability to protest it. By leading protests that directly challenge the authority of corrupt government officials, the members of the newer generations are able to hold political officers accountable for impeachment and prosecution wherever necessary. If protests continue to succeed in Romania, its citizens will find themselves on the brink of ideological reform. In the face of corrupt pressures, candid republicanism can only be achieved when the citizenship believes that protest is an effective form of holding the government accountable for its action. Widespread protest has the capacity to show the EU that Romanian citizens are willing to fight for a transparent political system and to incite protests in Poland, Bulgaria, and Hungary. The 51-47 majority of EU citizens in favor of their respective country’s membership in the EU is tenuous, and even more so now with Great Britain’s recent exit from the Union. Without a growing sense amongst the western states that the eastern states are experiencing declining political corruption and accelerating economic participation, the dismemberment of the EU is inevitable. Young Romanians have both the reason and right to protest the ills of their government, and, for the sake of maintaining the EU, now is a better time than ever to take to the streets.
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ABOUT THE WRITERS ELI GERSHON is a senior double majoring in Political Science and Sociology with an interest in refugee rights and the study of government transition.
DAVID HERVEY is a junior, studying Political Science and Economics. He is from San Diego and his research interests include maritime issues, low-intensity conflict, and Latin American Politics.
AMAYA PHILLIPS is a junior double majoring in International Studies and Spanish, with concentrations in conflict resolution and Latin American studies. Her interest in international relations lays at the intersection of politics, culture, and society. She is specifically interested in the role of ethics in policy formulation and conflict resolution and the way in which policy, violence, and terrorism, affects societies on a humanitarian level.
ANDREW TEODORESCU is a first-year student from Johns Creek, Georgia who plans to major in the Quantitative Sciences. Andrew’s father and great-grandfather have collectively authored several books about the communist genocide in Romania, and he shares their interests and seeks to continue their research in eastern European politics.
NAMRATA VERGHESE is a sophomore double majoring in English/Creative Writing and Quantitative Sciences with a concentration on Psychology. She is from Sugar Land, Texas, but has lived in India, England, and all over the U.S. Due to her travels, she's fostered a deep-seated passion for international cultures and languages, and specific interests in women's rights, education access, and human rights on a global scale.
GABI YAMOUT is a Woodruff Scholar in the Emory College Class of 2020 double majoring in political science and history. She came to Emory from San Diego, California, and is particularly interested in Middle Eastern and Caribbean policy.
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AFTERWORD
Dear Readers, The members of the Emory Globe are thrilled to present our Fall 2016 print journal. The Emory Globe is Emory University’s premiere undergraduate periodical and journal of international and foreign affairs. The Globe features a team of staff writers covering topics all across the globe and producing a monthly collection of research-based articles regarding foreign affairs for publication on our website blog. This journal is a compilation of some of the best recent blog posts by staff writers, with a focus on human rights issues— in particular, the refugee crisis. At The Globe, we hold that it is crucial to recognize and address issues of international human rights. In order to become a truly united global society, we cannot ignore those who are persecuted, regardless of their literal or idealogical distance from ourselves. Media can work to bridge this distance and bring the international community together in empathy and understanding, working for freedom and equality for all peoples. Although opinions and methods of defining and addressing human rights violations differ, the effort to end abuse and persecution worldwide is one that can serve to unite peoples around the world. The Emory Globe focuses on human rights in this issue in an attempt to do its part to highlight and analyze potential human rights violations in an effort to further freedom, justice, and peace worldwide. We hope that you enjoyed reading our Fall 2016 print journal and will continue to follow our future publications. Thank you for your support. Kaitlyn Posa, Editor-in-Chief
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WORKS CITED EUROPE'S CHALLENGE: MIGRATION, JOBS, AND UNION
Image 1: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/LE_Eithne_Operation_Triton.jpg 1 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34131911 2 http://www.state.gov/j/prm/releases/statistics/251285.htm 3http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21656332-modest-agreement-resettling-migrants-europe-sound-and-fury?zid=309&ah=80dcf288b8561b012f603b9fd9577f0e 4 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37606947 5http://www.economist.com/news/business/21679791-businesses-could-benefit-and-refugees-integrate-faster-if-newcomers-europe-were-able 6 http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do
GLOBAL HEALTH INVESTMENTS ARE ADVANCING DIALOGUE IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Image I: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Children_at_Save_a_Child's_Heart_in_Israel,_stand_together_for_ the_Right_to_Health_(15423360367).jpg Z 1 http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/national/israel-saving-lives-one-child-time 2 http://www.saveachildsheart.com/israel/ 3 Ibid. 4 Ibid. 5 Ibid. 6 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02neSLQ4JUw
LEBANON UNDER PRESSURE OF SYRIAN REFUGEES
Image 1: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Children_filling_water_in_Al-Zaatari_Camp.jpg 1 http://syrianrefugees.eu/ 2 http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/country.php?id=122 3 http://www.tradingeconomics.com/lebanon/population 4 https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/syrian-refugees-become-less-welcome-in-lebanon-as-new-entry-rules-take-effect/2015/01/05/7e412f59-b357-4af4-95a4-5edf3df7af06_story.html 5 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/13/opinion/for-refugees-in-lebanon-cash-instead-of-camps.html 6 http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/11/19/lebanon-beirut-refugees-syria/73475896/ 7 Ibid. 8 Ibid. 9 https://www.hrw.org/report/2016/07/19/growing-without-education/barriers-education-syrian-refugee-children-lebanon 10 https://conflictandhealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13031-016-0079-4 11 http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/how-lebanon-is-coping-with-more-than-a-million-syrian-refugees/ 12 Ibid.
MYANMAR'S SHAKY PATH TO DEMOCRACY
Image 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saffron_Revolution#/media/File:2007_Myanmar_protests_11.jpg Image 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aung_San_Suu_Kyi#/media/File:Suu-kyi-gives-speech-in-khawmu.jpg 1 http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/10/aung-san-suu-kyi-nominates-htin-kyaw-myanmar-president 2 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33547036 3 http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/11/suu-kyi-party-wins-election-majority-myanmar-polls-151113053433507.html 4 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33547036 5 http://www.wsj.com/articles/myanmar-parliament-confirms-nld-lineup-for-presidential-vote-1457676652 6 http://www.cfr.org/human-rights/understanding-myanmar/p14385 7 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-11685977 8 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2012/11/19/why-its-such-a-big-deal-that-obama-said-myanmar-rather-thanburma/ 9 http://www.cfr.org/human-rights/understanding-myanmar/p14385 10 Ibid. 11 Ibid. 12 http://www.voanews.com/content/burma-swears-in-civilian-president-ending-overt-military-rule-118904049/137262.html 13 Ibid. 14 http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2015/2/myanmars-buddhist-terrorism-problem.html 15 http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/19/why-is-aung-san-suu-kyi-silent-on-the-plight-of-the-rohingya-people
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NATIONALISM IN CONTEXT: HINDUTVA AND INDIA'S IDEOLOGICAL SHIFT OT THE RIGHT
Image 1: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Kerala_Raksha_Yatra_-_BJP_-_2011.jpg Image 2: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Swami_Vivekananda_at_Parliament_of_Religions.jpg Image 3: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/Narendra_Modi_in_white_shirt.jpg 1 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-34409354 2http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/decoded-what-the-bombay-hc-verdict-on-beef-ban-means-2788254/ 3 https://archive.org/details/hindutva-vinayak-damodar-savarkar-pdf 4 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aparna-pande/secular-india-v-hindu-nat_b_6397778.html 5http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/Controversial-Statements-by-BJP-Leaders-on-Dadri-Lynching-Incident/2015/10/03/article3061034.ece 6http://www.firstpost.com/india/dadri-lynching-one-year-on-what-has-changed-after-mohammad-akhlaq-was-beaten-todeath-3023850.html 7 http://www.firstpost.com/india/heres-what-the-intolerance-debate-in-india-in-2015-was-all-about-2561550.html 8http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-citizens-want-rs-15-lakh-in-their-account-promised-after-recovering-black-money-shiv-senato-bjp-2229032 9 http://www.dawn.com/news/1215502
NORWEGIAN TEENS "PLAY REFUGEES" FOR A DAY
Image 1: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Diversity_of_youth_in_Oslo_Norway.jpg 1 http://www.inquisitr.com/2879190/refugee-norway-teenagers-brave-life-as-a-refugee-for-a-day-at-camp-refugee/ 2 http://news.yahoo.com/norwegian-teens-play-refugees-day-045933584.html 3 http://www.refugee.no/?i=1/6/0 4 http://tribune.com.pk/story/1063816/norwegian-teens-play-refugees-for-a-day/ 5 Ibid. 6 http://www.thelocal.no/20160311/hell-on-earth-norwegian-teens-play-refugees-for-a-day 7 http://sputniknews.com/europe/20151230/1032516821/norway-refugee-crisis-tough-visa-asylum-policy.html 8 http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/19/norway-criticised-over-deportation-of-asylum-seekers-to-russia
THE PROBLEM WITH BRAZIL'S DEMOCRACY
Image 1: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Dilma_Rousseff_e_Michel_Temer_em_24_de_novembro_de_2015.jpg 1 http://www.economist.com/news/americas/21635056-appointment-capable-economic-team-good-brazil-signals-its-presidents 2 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/12/dilma-rousseff-brazil-president-impeached-senate-vote 3 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/12/dilma-rousseff-brazil-president-impeached-senate-vote 4 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/12/dilma-rousseff-br 5 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/raphael-tsavkko-garcia/dilma-rousseff-is-gone_b_11891114.html
YOUNG ROMANIANS WILL DETERMINE THE FATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION Image 1: https://www.flickr.com/photos/128539140@N03/albums/72157658634522683 1 http://www.reuters.com/article/us-romania-protests-idUSKCN11S2CH 2 http://www.rand.org/news/press/2016/03/22.html 3 http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2012/01/protests-romania 4 http://www.reuters.com/article/us-romania-corruption-factbox-idUSKBN0MZ0BK20150408 5 http://www.politico.eu/article/corruption-costs-eu-990-billion-year-rand-study-fraud-funding/ 6 http://www.dw.com/en/romania-business-more-challenging-than-elsewhere-in-eu/a-18060350 7 http://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/countries/member-countries/romania_en 8 http://www.europarl.europa.eu/eplibrary/The-low-absorption-of-EU-Structural-Funds.pdf 9 https://www.stratfor.com/analysis/why-west-wants-romania-be-less-corrupt 10 http://www.businessinsider.com/pew-research-finds-eu-enthusiasm-declining-across-europe-2016-6 11 Ibid. 12 http://www.bbc.com/news/business-36630468 13 http://www.politico.eu/article/the-dna-of-romanias-anti-corruption-success-eu-transparency-international/ 14 https://www.transparency.org.ro/files/File/NIS REPORT_final.pdf
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