Final Reflections

   The guest lecture I found most interesting was the one on sustainable agriculture, and how we're searching for ways to accommodate the world's rapid population increase. It gave me some food for thought (no pun intended) regarding the intricacies of some of these proposed solutions. I also felt it was very relevant, since GMOs is such a hotly debated topic right now. In fact, this presentation inspired the subject for my first research paper in this class. 

  I knew virtually nothing about Chile (or the politics and issues in South America at all, really) before this class. Researching for blog posts, I learned about the Pinochet Regime for the first time - which has affected all parts of South America - and how political issues are being handled right now in the region. Chile has a long way to go in terms of rebuilding their government, and coming to a compromise with some of the same laws (abortion, gay marriage, etc.) that we are dealing with right here in the US. All over the world, there are parallels between democratic countries and the types of things they are struggling with. Ultimately, my research brought to light the magnitude of government corruption and internal problems, not only in Chile, but many other countries in South America. 

Politics of the Veil

Source: http://press.princeton.edu/images/k8497.gif

In Politics of the Veil, it is argued that the veil should be banned because it is thought that the veil takes away sexual freedoms of women. Politics of the Veil also argues that banning veils would be good since it will force the museum population to look more like the rest of us so ‘they could fit in.’ Also, there is an assumption that the veil makes someone look like a terrorist. As someone who believes in human rights, that statement sends shivers down my spine.

 Earlier in the semester, we discussed in class about the United Nation’s declaration of Human Rights (http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/). Article 2 of the declaration grants people religious freedoms.  The United Nation declaration is not officially adapted by any nation. Despite that, the French constitution still does grant their citizens religious freedoms.

Politics of the Veil presented me with several arguments why the veil should be banned. None of them convinced me this was a good thing. Wearing a veil is an integral part of a Muslim woman’s belief. Each individual should have the right to express themselves in any way they want, as long as it is not a danger to others, and there should be nothing wrong with a women choosing to cover up more than the average citizen.

Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. Politics of the Veil talks about how it is growing in France. I would like to link this to my research to Brazil.

At one point in Brazil’s history, Roman Catholic was the official religion of Brazil. However, their new constitution eliminates Roman Catholic as an official religion, and Brazilians have religious freedom.  Because of the history, Roman Catholic is still the predominant religion in Brazil. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Brazil)

As mentioned in previous posts, Brazil has a bad reputation when it comes to slavery. Many slaves in Brazil were African Islamic. The 1% of today’s Brazil population that practices Islam comes from those families. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Brazil) Despite the fact that they only represent 1% of the population, they still have religious freedom. With all the craziness down there, I don’t hear of any stories of Brazil trying to ban the veil.

Religious freedom is a basic human right. Banning the veil, or any other religious clothing for that matter, is a direct violation of that right. People should be able to practice whatever religion they would like, and wear what they would like, just as long as they are doing it peacefully. 

Politics of the Veil: A Complex Issue

In Politics of the Veil, Janie Mossuz-Lavau argues that the veil should be banned in France because it showed that Muslim women has no sexual liberation that was her right. This is because Mossuz-Lavau viewed the veil as labeling women as sinners or whores and that she was prohibited from having sex with anyone but her husband or future husband. She concluded that this sexual liberation could only come from being taught modern ideas at school. Her research showed that women who had sexual freedom had high levels of education. She says that of the Muslim women she interviewed the ones who violated these supposed sexual norms of the veil had higher degrees. She states “these young women refused the dictate of virginity until marriage and it was no accident at all that all of them had… a higher education” (163.)

Overall, I think this argument brings up good points of conversation but ultimately oversimplifies the issue. I really don’t think that the ultimate indication of women’s equality and lack of oppression is her sexual freedom. While it may contribute to the overall conversation about women and it is one factor of gaining equality, I don’t think this is the only thing to be concerned about. I also don’t think that Mossuz-Lavau has a full understanding of why women wear the veil. While some women may be forced to wear it because of the reasons she brings up, many choose to wear it. There are many reasons that women wear a veil and her simplified argument about sexual liberation and how it labels women a sinner shows her lack of understanding of the complexities of the issue.

A poster from a protest against the veil ban

I remember a Muslim MU student talking to one of my classes about why she chooses to wear the veil. Among the many reasons, the one that stuck out to me most is that wearing the veil gives her the sense that others respect her. Instead of focusing on her physical features like her hair, the people she talks to are instead focused on her words. This along with countless other things are reasons that women wear veils. Her research about the topic seemed thinly argued seeing as she didn’t bother to ask women why they didn’t wear veils or perhaps dig into other reasons why women with veils don’t receive higher education. She completely glossed over the discrimination in France that women in veil receive which would ultimately make it harder to even get into institutions of higher education.

A Muslim woman protesting the French ban on veils

Based on this book in general, it seems as though the French don’t want to entertain the idea of the veil not for supposed feminist reasons like what Mossuz-Lavau brought up. Instead it is because there are anti-Muslim tones and overall racism towards “others” in the French culture. Mossuz-Lavau tries to argue a point that has validity but only within her limited view of Muslim culture and oversimplified perspective of why women wear headscarves.

Politics of the Veil

"Despite reservations about the headscarf, the political scientist Mossuz-Lavau argues against the law to ban headscarves. What is at the crux of her argument? Is it valid? (162)"

  Mossuz-Lavau's cardinal argument is that the ban on veils is primarily centered around sexual freedom ("sexual liberation" is the term she uses most). Traditionally, veils have symbolized the restrictive nature of Islam on women and their sexuality. One of the most common examples is the mandate to remain a virgin until marriage. Mossuz-Lavau seemed to weigh sexual freedom much more heavily than any other element while measuring the amount of "liberation" these women whom she was studying, had.

  Mozzuz-Lavau also believes that wearing veils goes hand-in-hand with education; the right to wear veils allows women to stay in school and obtain a higher degree of education than they would be able to otherwise. She also asserts that of the women she interviewed, those who went on to achieve higher degrees of education did so because they rejected conventions of veil wearing.

A Muslim woman protesting against the bans on Hijabs in France.

  However, there is more to liberation than just sexual freedom. One such example is cultural and religious freedom. I read an article not long ago called "Cover Your Face, Then Pay a Fine and Miss the Show" that told the story of a women and her husband who got kicked out of an opera because her niqab was "distracting" to those around her. They had to leave without receiving a refund, or getting to see the expensive show. To me, this is a classic example of infringement on one's right to freedom of religion and expression. The woman posed no threats and caused no disturbances in this instance, but was still ostracized because of her differences. These rights are also extremely important, and should definitely be included in Mossuz-Lavau's contemplations.

Another protestor in the streets of France.

  While I think the author had some good research and interesting insights, it seems that the route to her conclusions was a bit too linear and simplistic:

  The author implies that women's education was exclusively affected by whether or not women wore a veil. Although that is definitely a theme, it seems she needs to do more in-depth research to determine other possible causative factors.

  Also, the preponderance of her vindications were rooted solely in the measurement of sexual freedom. Although this is extremely important, especially regarding feminist advances in Islam, I believe that there are many more factors that should be considered when appraising the amount of "liberation" that someone has. "Liberation" is an all-encompassing term that can refer to many things; therefore, her research and argument should support a multi-faceted principle.

Combatting Human Trafficking in Chile

Each year, the US Department of State evaluates countries around the world in terms of how well they are responding to issues regarding human trafficking. As of last July, Chile has been recognized for its heightened efforts in this regard: "Chile now ranks in the top tier of 188 countries for its efforts to prevent or prosecute the crime of using human beings for forced labor or commercial sex, according to the “Trafficking in Persons Report 2014.”" (http://dialogo-americas.com/en_GB/articles/rmisa/features/regional_news/2014/07/16/chile-human-trafficking)

Compared to other countries in the region, Chile has not had as much of a problem with human trafficking; however, any amount human trafficking is a problem. 

Since the downfall of the Pinochet regime and return to a democratic government and more equality in the distribution of wealth, Chile's situation with human trafficking has improved drastically. In addition to governmental work, there are NGOs constantly at work around the world that are dedicated to ending human trafficking. One such example is "The Good Shepard Sisters," which is an initiative gradually spreading from country to country across the globe. Sadly, GSS does not yet have a presence in Chile. This would be a huge step in the right direction. 

A map of Good Shepard Sisters' involvement around the world (slideshare.net)

Born Free discussed 10 Sustainable Development Goals that will be implemented in 2016. Goal #5 is "to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls," and Goal #8 is "to promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all." The intermingling of these two doctrines is necessary to stop the occurrence of human trafficking. Ultimately what will eradicate human trafficking is a culture change from within; teaching that everybody should be treated as equals and that trafficking or oppression of any kind is unacceptable. 

Trafficking in Peru

            The issue of sex trafficking and sex slavery has been an underground horrific trend spreading across the world.  Trafficking and slavery is most commonly associated with impoverished areas, however it is present even in countries of a stable economy.  Peru, for example, began having matters concerning sex trafficking and slavery when their economy was on the upward turn. 

Saddened trafficking victims in Peru

            The make up of trafficking in Peru is described by The Guardian as, “[it] tends to involve a disproportionate number of indigenous girls and women – is concentrated in the south of the country in such areas as Cusco and Madre de Dios, which is home to thousand of illegal gold mines.”  Human trafficking in the U.S. is spoken about in a vague manner, where as from reading articles Peruvians are very aware of the different areas and people who are suffering from this tragedy.  With so much knowledge of what is going on it makes me wonder, is anyone doing anything to stop this?  Poor women and teenage girls are being used and traded like objects to satisfy power hungry people.  While it angers me to think that people speak about trafficking in calm terms, I know there are advocates everywhere.  The article stated that, “Although it’s a delicate subject, there are fortunately some ministries and other agencies who are working to combat it. [But] the government’s fund for fighting people trafficking is 0.00006% of the total budget allocation.”  With more government funding or proper documented changes trafficking of Peruvian women can have a better future.

Human trafficking routes in Peru

         

   The group that is advocating for an end to trafficking is the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals.  This group, working on the Outcome Document, is fighting for an end.  The document specifically addresses eliminating human trafficking in goals five, eight, and sixteen.  Goal five combats trafficking through, by focusing to, “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls” -- the drafters call for the end of trafficking of women and girls.”  Equality is step one when ratifying and legislation.  The acknowledgement of the equality and humanness of women in Peru, specifically, will help stop the objectification.  Goal eight speaks to ending trafficking by offering to, “Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all”.  The next step needed is to offer a means of survival.  Poverty can lead women and children to do whatever it takes to feed and clothe their families.  This goal added to the document offers a positive economic path.  Lastly, goal sixteen states to, “Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels”.  The final step to limit and end human trafficking is to create a welcoming society for all to live safely.

          

       All of the goals stated above will combat the end of human trafficking and, with high hopes, will give a promising future to Peruvian women and girls.  The ratification of human trafficking is an issue that all women and men should stand behind.  The promising future of many women lies in the hands of advocates and government officials.

Sex Trafficking in Brazil

               

Sex Trafficking in action. Source: http://www.neontommy.com/sites/default/files/users/user1031/BqJs7dZIIAAzUkT.jpg

Unfortunately, anywhere you go, sex trafficking, or prostitution is a problem. It is defiantly an issue here in the states. However, since the US is a fairly wealthy country, it is not as big as a problem as it is elsewhere in the world.

               People don’t become a prostitute because they want to.  It is because they have no they have no other choice.  Females often sell their body’s for sex, just so they can have money to afford basic essentials such as food and shelter.  Typically, it is not a source of disposable income.

               In Brazil, human trafficking is a huge problem. I briefly hinted at it in a previous post about human rights. (http://globalatmusa.blogspot.com/2015/10/a-right-to-clean-earth.html). Given Brazil’s reputation of corruption and other dirty habits, it should not come as any surprise that it is a problem.

               Part of the reason prostitution is an issue in Brazil is the fact it is actually legal! Now, it is only legal if you are over the age of 18.  However, most prostitutes begin their career as young as age 13! (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/12/world-cup-child-prostitution_n_5474716.html) Why do they start so young? They need the money.

               Sometimes, girls are forced onto the streets by their parents. Other times, girls sneak out on their own will, without permission or knowledge from their parents.

               There is also a black market industry called “Sex Tourism.” Basically this means that people from all over the world (especially from the states) travel to Brazil, just to have sex with a prostitute.

With the recent World Cup, and the upcoming Olympics, tourism will be on the rise in Brazil. With an increase in tourism, there will be an increase in sex tourism. Many girls are learning English, not necessary for the sake of bettering themselves, but so they can negotiate with English speaking tourists!

So what is the Brazilian government doing? Other than illegalizing the practice for minors, not much. (http://www.coha.org/forced-prostitution-and-modern-slavery-brazils-response/) First of all, there isn’t a clear definition of prostitution in Brazilian law. In fact, sex trafficking is barely mentioned in the law. It is not like the law explicably allows the practice, it is that it doesn’t now allow it.

Brazil is facing major corruption problems now. A lot of government officials are corrupt. It would not surprise me if government officials have sex with the prostitutes themselves.  Brazil does not have a good record of handling issues well, and I don’t picture them making a huge priority out of this. Until Brazil can get a honest, hardworking government, and better law enforcement, sex trafficking (and all other issues) will not be going away anytime soon.

Fighting against Human Trafficking

Human trafficking persists to remain a problem in the world today. Sadly, this problem will only increase over time if, us, humans sit idly by and don't participate in the solution. President Barack Obama has labeled the fight against human trafficking and stopping modern slavery as "one of the great human rights causes of our time." The article Born Free mentions about the Sustainability Development Goals for 2016 or known as the post-MDGs. Several goals included in this document addresses the issue of stopping trafficking. Goal 5 says, "Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls." Under this goal, its purpose is to create gender equality, which results in the end of trafficking of women and girls. Goal 8 mentions, "Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all." The purpose of goal 8 is to end child trafficking along with child soldiers by 2025. Lastly, goal 16 aims to "promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels." This goal proposes to end child trafficking all together. Sub-goals included in the Sustainability Development Goals appear to indirectly affect human trafficking. Three crucial examples are "provid[ing] legal identity for all including birth registration, promoting sustainable tourism and sustainable transport systems...with special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations, women, children, persons with disabilities.." People without legal identities along with women, children, and people with disabilities are more vulnerable to human trafficking in general. In addition, tourism generates money within sex trafficking, which only supports and encourages business to take place illegally. These sub-goals might not include human trafficking directly but hopefully will have a positive effect to combating 

These goals are a great starting point to fight human trafficking but 3 out of 17 goals aren't going to burn out the flame of human trafficking or even put out some of the problem. The only way to hope for some change is if the world starts making this human right issue a priority. So easily this issue falls out of the media, public or government importance when other major short lived stories come along. In addition, governments must create a larger fund to combat human trafficking. We must realize that making this issue a priority or contributing more money to this cause doesn't create an absolute promise of eradicating this issue but it does give hope and promise to preventing many people from getting involved or rescue victims out of this awful and illegal business. 

Routes in and out of Colombia

In the country of Colombia, human trafficking still exists. The country's guerrilla groups and other organized groups have encouraged the problem by forcing children into combat, prostitution, selling and transporting illegal narcotics. Sex trafficking is largely linked to tourism and industries that involves foreigners to travel to Colombia to work. 

According to the 2015 trafficking in persons report, the government of Colombia doesn't fully comply with the Trafficking Victims Protections Act standards but are "in the process of bringing themselves into obedience with those standards." The report recommends that the government should increase resources to help victims of human trafficking. In addition, Colombia have increased investigation but they need to continue to prosecute criminals for the crime. Law enforcement should be more organized and efficient in the way they treat human trafficking cases. The government of Colombia has drastically gotten better in the way they handle human trafficking over the past 5 years within the government. The hope for Colombia improving more is even stronger now than before. 

May the world today not stand in silence for this issue but stand to combat human trafficking. 

Argentina and Modern Day Slavery

Sex trafficking is a huge problem in Argentina and also within Latin America. Argentina and Brazil have contributed the most cases to the UNODC or the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime that creates the human trafficking database, which are also the only cases that are actually caught. The reality of sex trafficking in Argentina is that most traffickers are members of the mafia or drug cartel and have bought off the government. Because of this, few traffickers are ever prosecuted although the country is making a greater effort to crack down.

Raid of a sex trafficking ring in Argentina

In Argentina, more than 70 percent of sex trafficking casesare connected to drug trafficking. It is also the hub of prostitution and trafficking in the region because it is one of the wealthier nations in Latin America. And while they are making strides to help curb the problem, many point to corruption as a reason why more isn’t being done.

Not only is there an initial problem of sex trafficking and prostitution but there is also a problem of few resources for victims who escape. Before 2007, there were absolutely no resources of any kind for women who escaped the life of prostitution. Because of this a woman whose daughterwas kidnapped and put into a sex trafficking ring has started an organizationto help victims. Her program, Maria de los Angeles is a team of professionals including lawyers, psychologists and social workers who help these women rebuild their lives. The woman who started it, Susan Trimarco, was awarded the the US state department’s Woman of Courage in Latin America and she has prompted change on the subject Since then there has been a law put into place that makes trafficking a federal offense. Although Trimarco has done so much for so many Argentinean woman, she has never been able to find her own daughter.

Susan Trimarco holding the photo of her daughter Marita who was kidnapped and sold into sex slavery

In Born Free she talks about how one of the solutions for combating sex trafficking and sex slavery is to reduce the amount of organized crime and by doing so will have a major impact on prostitution. I think for Argentina this is key because multiple reports have included that the drug traffickers and mafia are often responsible for kidnapping women and selling them into prostitution. By fixing this overall problem, Argentina will make real strides towards ending human slavery.