Corruption Scandals

A scene from The Simpsons episode "Blame it on Lisa." The family travels to Brazil and Homer gets kidnapped from an illegal taxi operation.  Photo from: http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/simpsons/images/8/83/Kidnap-simpsons.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20131216210348

               Corruption is nothing new in Brazil.  Almost every time you see Brazil in the news, it is either an update on a corruption scandal, or they just discovered a brand new corruption scandal.

The corruption is bad enough, it actually was featured in two episodes of The Simpsons. (https://www.simpsonsworld.com/video/301665347899 and https://www.simpsonsworld.com/video/304489539783). Now The Simpsons is a fictional show, but it is based on events that actually do happen.

In 2014, Brazil actually passed a new law called the Clean Company Act (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_in_Brazil). This act holds companies responsible for their employee’s actions. But still, corruption is a major problem in Brazil.

In my most recent post, I shine the spotlight on the Brazillian Red Cross. (http://globalatmusa.blogspot.com/2015/10/another-scandal-in-brazil.html). Private auditors found this charity in the midst of $10 million embezzlement scandal.

In my first post, I talk about the economic situation in Brazil. (http://globalatmusa.blogspot.com/2015/09/brazil-is-officially-in-recession.html) One of the major contributors to the recession is the corruption scandal of their largest company, Petrobras, which is Latin America’s largest oil company.

Corruption is a real problem affecting real people. (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/09/business/international/effects-of-petrobras-scandal-leave-brazilians-lamenting-a-lost-dream.html) The investigation of Petrobras is hauling operations leaving Brazilian’s without work during a recession. Meanwhile, the executives are rolling in the dough with more money than they possibly know how to spend, other than to bribe officials. This obviously angers citizens nationwide, so they are out on the streets protesting. Then, whenever one of their big shots is arrested, they hold major celebrations.

Corruption is a major cause of the current recession they are facing. It is having real effects on the economy. Their economic ratings have been plummeting due to the recent scandals. (http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/08/17/brazils-corruption-scandal-economy-drive-rousseffs-ratings-to-record-low/)

Another scandal that hit the headlines was over the FIFA World cup. Soccer (as they call it Football) is probably as big is American Football is in the United States. Con artists were all over this event bribing officials this rigging the games. (http://www.espnfc.us/blog/espn-fc-united-blog/68/post/2486642/world-cup-a-year-on-going-back-to-brazil) That second episode of The Simpsons I mentioned makes fun of that situation. The thing is, that is a real situation, and it is no laughing matter.

Brazil has a horrible reputation when it comes to corruption.  People are rapidly losing trust in Brazil. People should be very careful when doing any business in Brazil, because there is likely a scam artist trying to interfere with the action. People in Brazil need to work with their government to improve transparency, create and fairly enforce new laws to clean their act up. Before anything can get better in Brazil, officials need to clean up their act.

Brandon Fredman

Another Scandal in Brazil

     

Source: http://www.thelogofactory.com/logo_blog/wp-content/uploads/2005/09/red-cross-islamic-crescent-red-diamond.png

       

              One of the biggest multi-national Non-Government organization in the world is the Red Cross. When we think Red cross, we think disaster relief.  But they do more than that. 

               In addition to disaster relief, the Red Cross is tries to educate the community, and help people who live in the slums. The Brazilian Red Cross has helped provide clean water to people who don’t have access to it. They educate the community about drugs. The provide first aid courses to the homeless.  They even have courses that deal with police brutality.  This is all according to their website (https://www.ifrc.org/en/what-we-do/where-we-work/americas/brazilian-red-cross/).

               What the Brazilian red cross does, and what they are supposed to do are two separate things. The last time the news showed the Red cross doing something good was in 2011. For the past year, all of the news about the red cross has been about a corruption scandal. (http://www.trust.org/item/20140728192008-s2yc1)

               An audit in 2014 found that about $10 million dollars (local currency) has been illegally diverted from the Red Cross between 2010 and 2012. Most of the people who have been involved in the scandal have been caught in July 2014 (http://curitibainenglish.com.br/government/improvements/corruption-officials-caught/).

               We have a responsibility to make sure NGO’s keep their promises. NGO’s are a bureaucracy. Just to operate these cost money. There is the matter of paying the executives who run the NGO. I’m sure they make more than their share of money.  Then there are the overhead costs. Running these organizations cost a lot of money. When you donate to them not all your money is going to the cause, but a lot of that money is going to the organization.

               NGO’s are regulated, but the regulations are not necessarily complete. Besides, they vary from country to country, or even city to city. With a lack of regulation, these types of scandals can easily happen.

               Don’t get me wrong, I do think the Red Cross is a good organization, but when we donate, we need to do our homework. After all, it is these NGO’s who are the ones providing the help to thsose in need when it is otherwise not available.

The Many Faces of Humanitarian Aid

    In Crisis Caravan, Polman's has a few main points concerning pitfalls of humanitarian aid programs. First and foremost is the militarization of the aid process. While those involved may think they are doing a good deed, they are oftentimes interfering with political affairs in the countries they are trying to help. An article by The National elaborates on what is meant by this:  "...she claims that warlords have learned how to control and exploit humanitarian aid flows, using supplies to keep their followers happy - or under control - while ensuring their opponents remain cut off." 

The intermingling of military and "neutral" NGOs/humanitarian aid programs can stir up political problems in the destination country, which can pose potential safety issues for all parties involved. 

    In addition, she stresses the inefficient usage of donor dollars, and some of the frivolous things these organizations supply rather than basic essentials.

    Lastly, she discusses the relative inexperience of those recruited to work for these orgs. Most fields require specific degrees and/or rigorous training in order to get a job, but the NGO industry is generally needy for help, and hires a lot of under-qualified workers.
 
    "Aid organizations are businesses dressed up like Mother Teresa." This statement - which in particular, is very tongue-in-cheek in nature - implies that there are multiple sides (often with sinister, alternative motives) to these types of aid organizations. This is contrary to the "benevolence-focused" image projected by many organizations via their marketing, as well as the media. In reality, however, aid organizations are largely business (some might argue, "revenue," more specifically) -driven. An recent extreme case is the Red Cross scandal concerning misallocated funds that occurred earlier this year.

This online flyer urged the public to donate to help humanitarian efforts in Haiti earlier this year. At the end of the campaign, $500M was raised; however, only six houses were built in Haiti with this money.

    Humanitarian aid programs/organizations were founded with great intentions in mind. However, it is easy to lose track of the primary agendas, and become inefficient with managing the funds flowing in. Watchdog journalism, including professionals as well as ordinary citizens versus social media, has ensured that, more than ever, organizations doing public work are being kept accountable more than ever, which is a great thing.

    Also a product of increased technology in the media, is the accessibility of a wealth of information on these organizations. Citizens wanting to contribute to these causes are able to research the legitimacy of the company they are considering donating to.

    As governments supply the majority of international humanitarian and relief aid, their biggest responsibility is to ensure that the money apportioned for these causes is justly and appropriately distributed.

    

The Dark Side of Humanitarian Aid

In Crisis Caravan, Linda Polman talks about the problems that come with aid organizations when they flood into war zones or areas in crisis. 

She starts by saying that most humanitarians in Sierra Leone providing aid were White Westerners, in sections that were nicer than any part of the country they were suppose to be helping. And that wherever aid workers go, prostitution soars

Humantarian aid community sees no problem in as she says "looking like an international jet set on holiday" (50) in countries ravaged by war and poverty. 

The rise of MONGO's or my own NGO's that are not necessarily better than established NGO's but create different problems. For example, they often send donations that are not needed or wanted to crisis zones. Tsunami victims are given things like winter coats or stiletto heels. She goes into a lot of detail about MONGO mistakes and them sending unwanted or inappropriate items to disaster areas. It is also difficult to gauge their impact because they don't do studies. 

Sometimes the public can do more harm than good. She talks about a flood in 1953 where the Red Cross asked for donations and were soon so overwhelmed with stuff that they didn't know what to do with all of it. 

She also talked about medical aid workers who come to Africa without any real training or understanding of the situation or what local diseases their are. They come in and often do more harm than good with no concern for aftercare and no checks on what they are doing because there is no medical review board in a war torn country. 

Aid often goes to the wrong people or the wrong items are donated and have no use in war torn countries. 

She says "you'd think victims in a war zone had a right of protection from aid workers who arrive unannounced and set about their work without the most basic qualifications" (62). 

Failures of MONGO's go unreported apparently because it reflects badly on international aid. But countries are often no organized enough to get them to leave. An exception was in 1995 in Rwanda when the country expelled over 50 MONGOs because they couldn't explain what they were doing. 

She starts off the "Aid as a Weapon of War" chapter by talking about how humanitarians gain access to war zones. Access to these zones is impossible to get without some sort of payment. Warlords especially try to get as much aid supplies as they can so they can get cash from it. But often it is not just the victims that need aid but also the soldiers. The UN estimates that over one third of food aid went to the Taliban in 2006. 

INGOs, MONGOs and journalists are free to make any deal with any sort of leader to gain access to war zones. But it is often difficult to negotiate when so many wannabe leaders exist. 

In some places the cost of doing aid work means paying gangs or terrorist groups. She gives the example of Caritas helping to rebuild Sri Lanka and therefore financed the Tamil Tigers because there was no other way to get the work done than to work with them and pay them off. She states quite clearly "once inside a war zone, it's essential to have a blind spot for matters of ethics" 

The Tamil Tigers are a guerrilla organization in Sri Lanka that have been labeled terrorist by many nations. 

Countries take advantage of the wealth of aid workers with humanitarian territory prices being way more than anywhere else in the country. And local leaders suddenly start driving expensive cars and building large homes. Aid organizations ultimately keep quiet about the amount of money that countries in war have extorted or stolen from them so it is hard to know how much money really goes to the wrong people. 

But those who abuse the aid system go unpunished and the value of aid keeps going up, inevitably ending up in the wrong hands and potentially funding the opposition's war. 

While she provides all this criticism she does also delve into possible solutions. Each solution, however, is different for each country and each situation. She notes that in response to negative commentary people often say that they should do nothing at all then. While this may be an option, it is probably not the best option. 

She suggests there be consequences for humanitarian mistakes. That their work be helpful and also ethical because without balance, what good are they really doing? So many aid organizations are becoming what she calls "involuntary collaborators" by funding rebel leaders and dictators in the name of "aid". 

There are no agreed upon rules or definitions in the humanitarian community let alone any system to measure how much good they are doing. Bottom line is that the aid industry needs to be controlled by another body and not themselves or nothing will change. 

She also points out that journalists are also responsible for this system. We rarely question aid organizations and automatically approve of their actions without debate or question. Journalists fail to probe into what's behind aid organizations which is why she says they are business dressed up as Mother Teresa. Since they have such "noble intent", journalists don't see the need to dig into their inner dealings. She also says that journalists often don't specialize in reporting on aid so they don't even know what to look for or what to ask. 

She ultimately recommends asking a lot of questions. Ask the aid workers where the money is going, who it is helping and whether the money is going to those who need it or people who want to extort it.  

The Controversy with Humanitarian Aid

In the book, The Crisis Caravan, Linda Polman brings concerns about humanitarian aid to light for people to become aware of the things that humanitarian organizations commit. The principle concerns the author raises in her book creates the reader to really question if the tactics that aid organizations use truly helps globally or if the aid is more of a hindrance to the communities that they travel into. Linda mentions that when “humanitarian aid community travels to war-torn, crisis ridden countries feels no embarrassment about looking like an international jet set on holiday” (50). The appearance of these organizations reflects more about the amount of money in their pocket instead of the compassion to help the hurting people. In addition, what’s problematic for the organizations is that places they travel too require them to pay in order to enter the area. These organizations agree to the people that want the money to collect a proportion of the worth of the aid supplies that NGOs bring in to help victims in the area. The controversial part is that when aid organizations travel to a country or region to help victims, they in turn support the very group, warlords, governments, guerrilla groups, etc., that has made people in that area into victims that need the aid from the organizations that come in. This topic wouldn’t be as controversial if aid organizations would be more open to this fact that they have to pay in order to enter many areas but since there are “no rules, no limits, and no requirement to have any understanding of the local balance of power, or to coordinate with other parties involved…” (97) these aid organizations choose not to tell any details to fellow organizations. This causes a lack of accountability to other aid organizations and to the world. In reality, groups that abuse people and create problems escape punishment and many aid organizations keep entering the region to help through various forms of aid only creates a cycle that cultivates the need for each other.

Humanitarian Work in Haiti

In the book, Linda Polman indicates that “Aid organizations are businesses dressed like Mother Teresa.” She mentions this fact because she believes that NGOs appears to be an organization that tries to accomplish good for society but underneath the charity appearance lays an organization that’s purpose is to make money just like a business. I believe this metaphor reveals hard truth of aid organizations but partially exaggerated at the same time. All aid organizations are businesses because their main objective is to earn money, majority, through donations and then choose in what ways that they will spend the money. In addition, politics largely gets involved with these organizations just like in businesses and hinders opportunities for success. Majority of aid organizations do abuse making money through the Mother Teresa appearance; doing well for the people and community around. There are a small portion of aid organizations that truly does good for the people by spending the money donated to them for the purpose to help victims through the correct way.

Just like the saying goes, “It takes a village to raise a child”, it takes a community to make sure humanitarian aid goes to the right people.  Sectors that especially have a large role to contribute to make sure humanitarian aid is successful are journalists, the public, and governments. The public and governments should take a deeper look before giving money to organizations. These two sectors can contribute accountability during the early stages of keeping aid organizations responsible. The public and governments should give based on that these aid organizations are successful in getting aid to the people that needs them and after giving, they should demand the purpose and reasoning behind traveling to the places the aid organization choose to visit.Journalists have the responsibility to treat aid organizations like businesses. This sector has a large responsibility to keep aid organizations accountability after money is given and when these organizations are doing humanitarian work around the world. When interviewing the organizations, the journalists should ask the hard questions about money donations such as what is done with the money and how much money goes for profit. Making sure humanitarian aid goes to the correct places will be difficult and takes many people to make this possible but it’s still possible. 

Repairing Gaps in Corrupt Policies - Chile

Chile has come a long way in the human rights sector in the past half decade. In the mid-1970s during the apex of international conflict during the Cold War, evil dictator Pinochet came to power in Chile, and the Popular Unity form of government was overthrown. It wasn't until the late 80s that Pinochet was finally forcibly removed from power. The crimes (mostly torture and abuse by military members) committed under his rule are still being brought to justice in court to this very day. 

Pinochet, in the prime of his cruel dictatorship in Chile (http://a57.foxnews.com/global.fncstatic.com/static/managed/img/fn-latino/news/0/0/Pinochet-art.jpg)

Climate change and human and environmental rights are intrinsically intertwined. Respect for the environment, and efforts to preserve its resources, mean that there are more resources available to humans - aligning with the United Nation's 25th article in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:  1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

Today, things have dramatically improved under the administration of President Sebastián Piñera. According to the 2014 Chile World Report, "The administration of President Sebastián Piñera has taken several important steps to strengthen human rights. Since September 2010, it has ended the jurisdiction of military courts over civilians, reformed some of the most objectionable parts of counterterrorism legislation, and promulgated a law to provide redress for LGBT individuals who suffer discrimination." 

However, the Chilean military still isn't following as strict of ethics codes as they should be; military courts are still allowed to have jurisdiction over the abuse cases, especially by police; which often end up being corrupt and unfair hearings. 

During a session in the military-controlled judiciary system in Chile (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrFkVLS2V82AMN0sQCRIK5iT4Jck0ludqoryVxKPm_YkdO_JHmperNoTSCtqvrTXWEQaS2CDN2KVL-4pb5CP-CrGrCEE0BZ0Z8hyphenhyphenzY-2RZdtTdwf2MSM2yCGND405dB0U6ZehohePo_JHF/s1600/Chilean+Supreme+Court.jpg) 

In "Beyond Eurocentrism," Farish Noor's definition of eurocentrism is "the emerging perception within the European cultural, historical experience of European identity as good and all other forms as 'less good' or 'less advanced.'" By "going beyond Eurocentrism," Noor means to try to stop viewing Europe as the standard or norm; that it shouldn't always be the primary unit of comparison. There are many different cultures and values across the globe; therefore there should not be one singular standard. The notion that Europe is the basis for everything and the center of everything will only continue to hinder each other's understanding of one another.

Peru: Climate Change Meets Human Rights

Peru, like many other regions, has environmental issues.  Because of recent climate challenges in the region is having has brought new issues to surface.  Some issues such as oil erosion, deforestation, and water pollution.  These issues are a combination of climate changes and human influence. 

Map of Peru

Deforestation is a human influence factor.  Due to oil and gas exploration the Amazon has decreased in size.  The deforestation has affected the general environmental make up and the indigenous groups to the Amazon.  The displacement of these groups of people has involved fights and uproar between groups. 

           Water pollutants in Peru are a result of the excessive mining.  According to Anywhere Peru, “Copper, silver, gold, mercury, and zinc are all mined in Peru, and have polluted water supplies in central Peru and the Cordillera Huayhuash. As of 2009, three big gold mines in Madre de Dios, in southern Peru, had claimed some 38,300 acres (15,500 ha) of forest”.   Peru has been dealing with these environemntal issues and the correspondence with human rights through many organizations that involve their youth.  The youth of Peru have formed groups such as, Power Shift Peru.   The direction of change is seen through the energy and passion of the youth in Peru and around the world.

Power Shift Peru Group Picture

            Climate change corresponds with human rights through quality of life.  According to the United Nations Environement Programme, “More than 2 million annual deaths and billions of cases of diseases are attributed to pollution. All over the world, people experience the negative effects of environmental degradation ecosystems decline, including water shortage, fisheries depletion, natural disasters due to deforestation and unsafe management and disposal of toxic and dangerous wastes and products”.  Elizabeth Lindsey’s stance on climate changes relation to human rights is seen through her poetic speech about her past experiences.  She makes the point that indigenous groups and the wisdom they impart is extremely vital.  With the conservation of the environment and culture create a society that has the opportunity to explore and learn lessons from those before them.  With less pollutants people live longer and with less worry and more happiness. 

                                      

             Shifting to Noor's "Beyond Eurocentrism" and his view, speaks to the idea of seeing the world without the existence of Europe, or at least not centered around Europe.  She defines eurocentrism as “the emerging perception within the European cultural, historical experience of European identity as good and all other forms as less good or less advanced”.  Noor sends the message that in order to lean more about the impact each region has on another, we must take a new view.