Today, the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) released The State of World Population 2008. The UNFPA held a discussion on how to use culturally sensitive approaches that are essential to understanding legal, political, economic and social power relations instrumental to development.

According to a UNFPA press release, the report suggests that partnerships—for example between UNFPA and local non-governmental organizations (NGOs)—can create effective strategies to promote human rights, such as women’s empowerment and gender equality, and end human rights abuses like female genital mutilation or cutting. The press release said power relations mold gender dynamics and underlie practices such as child marriage (a leading cause of obstetric fistula and maternal death) and female genital mutilation or cutting.

Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) said “UNFPA will be funded. The president doesn’t have to do anything. He just has to let the will of congress go through.” Maloney was a very strong supporter of this new report that believes by “embracing cultural realities, you can reveal the most effective ways to challenge harmful cultural practices and strengthen beneficial ones.”

Azza Karam, Ph.D., Senior Culture Adviser at UNFPA, brought up an example of this cultural development integration in Ethiopia. International aid organizations spend thousands to millions of dollars on medical clinics in Ethiopia, especially for safeguarding childbirth methods. Yet many NGOs find that the clinics are rarely used. By using what UNFPA calls a “cultural lens,” an NGO would find that many women are choosing to perform home births instead because “they believe it’s a part of their culture.” If the NGO uses UNFPA’s cultural lens method, they could work with a religious leader who performs the teen-marriages that lead to young pregnancy to prevent the marriages from happening in the first place. This is a way of what Pauline Muchina, Ph.D., Senior Partnership Adviser at UNAIDS, called using culture as the fundamental groundwork for development.

Azza Karam, Ph.D., Senior Culture Adviser at the United Nations Population Fund, explains how culture can aid in development as opposed to standing in the way. (00:52)

 

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Colonel Steven M. Kleinman describes how interrogation changed from being a means to gather information to a form of punishment for those who refused to cooperate (0:13).

 

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Colonel Steven M. Kleinman describes an abusive interrogation in Iraq to House Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) (0:46)

 

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Co-Founder and Executive Director of EarthRights International Ka Hsaw Wa says the way workers in Burma are treated by the military are unbearable. He also says that American companies in Burma don’t do anything about it. (1:18)

 

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Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) thinks the burden of preventing human rights violations sometimes falls on private companies that choose to work abroad. (0:57)

 

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Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said the U.S. must assume a role in business to fight violations of human rights. He added that this issue is very complicated, “not a black and white issue.” Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said that there is no excuse for companies, both national and international, to fail at protecting human rights. The Senate Judiciary Committee met to discuss international violations of human rights and the response from the United States.

In 2003, fatalities in the Niger Delta were “comparable to Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Executive Director of Environmental Rights Action Nnimmo Bassey. Bassey said that the abundance of oil in the Niger Delta has made things worse. Oil has contributed to “50 years of dashed hope,” continued Bassey. Senior Vice President for Social Research and Policy for Calvert Bennett Freeman called the Niger Delta “one of the most dangerous places to work in the world.

Co-Founder and Executive Director of EarthRights International Ka Hsaw Wa spoke about the conditions in Burma. He said that companies, such as Chevron, that work in Burma along the Yadana Pipeline are allowing human rights violations, including murder and torture, to happen without confrontation. These companies are “representatives of the United States,” said Wa. He urged the U.S. government to hold these companies accountable.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of the State Department Jeffrey Krilla said the government has established an organization called Voluntary Principles (VP) to thwart human rights violations abroad. Currently, VP has four member nations; the U.S., the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Norway. He said the goal of VP was to work with international governments to find ways of enforcing human rights laws committed by private corporations. While VP has helped dialogue on human rights abroad, it is “not a cure-all,” said Krilla.

Adam Segal, co-author of a an article published in the Foreign Affairs Journal, says that the installation of microphones in taxi cabs in China is not a form of repression, but rather a way to monitor for protests (:32).

 

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Elizabeth Economy, who recently co-wrote an article on the 2008 Beijing Olympics for the Foreign Affairs Journal, says that the Games were meant to be China’s chance to come out to the world, but has now been transformed due to its serious shortfalls that have drawn criticism from around the world. These shortcomings include environmental concerns, internet access and broadening of human rights (1:06).

 

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Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill of the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs says that North Korea’s human rights record is abysmal, and every day that it continues is an unacceptable day of oppression. He also says that he has seen satellite images of North Korea’s extensive prison camp system, and has also seen reports of torture, forced abortion and even execution. He concludes by saying that the US remains committed to combating these injustices (:52).

 

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