| LIFE-NET NEWS |
| by Ret Z. |
| Covering Poverty Widely in a Net of Many Voices |
| August 30, 2006 | No Profit; No Proceeds |
| Volume 10 Number 8 | All-Volunteer |
| "Give a family a fish, and they'll eat a meal; give them a Net, and they'll have fish for Life." |
| Amid America's Highest Incomes, A City with the Lowest |
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Twice designated the country's most dangerous city, Camden NJ now ranks as the poorest, according to new data from the US Census Bureau: Of the city's roughly 80,000 residents, the proportion living with incomes below the national poverty threshold -- which was set in 2005 at $19,971 for a family of four -- is 44%. That's the highest rate in the
nation.
The median household income in the city is $18,007. That is the lowest of all US communities with populations of more than 65,000, the data showed. "It's no surprise to me," said Colandus "Kelly" Francis, a longtime resident and president of the Camden County Branch of the NAACP. "There's no appreciable difference between being No. 1 and No. 2 and we've been No. 2 for a while." The poverty figure for the city, however, contrasts harshly with the situation elsewhere in the state. New Jersey again has the highest household income of any state and one of the lowest overall poverty rates, according to the Census Bureau data. Half the households make more than $61,672 per year -- putting the Garden State just ahead of Connecticut as the nation's richest. And the poverty rate of 8.7% is lower than every state except New Hampshire, Maryland, and Connecticut. Legal Services of New Jersey's Poverty Research Institute did an analysis that took into account the high cost of living. Institute director Serena Rice pointed out that federal poverty statistics are based on incomes that seem ludicrously low in a place where housing, child care, and other expenses are among the nation's highest. Rice said the institute's analysis yields a poverty threshold of $38,700 -- a more realistic gauge of struggle in this high-cost state. It found one in five New Jerseyans fall into that category. According to the new data and other census data released yesterday:
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| Rich Nations Rated on How Much They Help Poor Nations |
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Rich and poor countries are linked in many ways -- by
foreign aid, commerce, migration, the environment, and
military affairs. The Commitment to Development Index (CDI)
rates 21 rich countries on how much they help poor countries
build prosperity, good government, and security. Each rich
country gets scores in seven policy areas, which are
averaged for an overall index number.
The CDI presupposes that ... Rich-country policies matter: Much attention is usually given to what developing countries can do to foster poverty alleviation and growth at home. The Index highlights what rich countries do to help or hinder development abroad. Development is about more than aid: Aid is important, but trade, migration, investment, environmental, security, and technology policies influence development too. Aid is about more than money: How donor countries design their aid programs is as important as how much aid they give. Coherence matters: The Index penalizes countries that give with one hand (through aid or investment) but take away with the other (through trade barriers or pollution). Partnerships are powerful: The world confronts challenges that no nation can handle alone, so the Index rewards countries that deliver aid through multilateral arrangements, sign global environmental agreements, and participate in internationally sanctioned security operations. No one is perfect: Almost all countries score below average in at least one area. Most are below average in at least three. The countries listed in CDI order: Source: Center for Global Development |
| Muslim Charities Face Fear-Based Money Shortages |
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In a Detroit warehouse, boxes of diapers, water-purification tablets, lentils, rice, powdered milk, and cooking oil are stacked almost to the ceiling, destined for Lebanon. More packages, mostly from individual donors across the country, arrive every day. But nobody -- not even the charity that is collecting them -- is very happy about it.
"Obviously, it makes more sense for us to get financial contributions," said Mohammed Alomari, a spokesman for the charity, Life for Relief and Development. "Obviously, this is the most inefficient way to do humanitarian aid." Charities prefer that people send money rather than food, medicine or other goods. In-kind donations force the charities to pay for shipping, delay the arrival of the aid, and saddle relief workers with the task of sorting and distributing items that may not be needed. The problem, according to relief groups, is that many people who are inclined to write checks for emergency aid and reconstruction in Lebanon are afraid of ending up in some government database of suspected supporters of terrorism. According to Arab American leaders, a US crackdown on Muslim charities, aimed at cutting off illicit funding for terrorist groups, has complicated legitimate humanitarian relief efforts in Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank. United Jewish Communities, an umbrella organization for 155 Jewish charities across the US, announced this month that it will raise at least $300 million in emergency aid for Israel. By comparison, the flow of private US donations for humanitarian aid in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories is a mere trickle, estimated by relief groups at a few million dollars. Donors who fear giving to Muslim charities can contribute to the International Committee of the Red Cross or groups such as CARE and Mercy Corps -- large, international relief groups that are the major conduit of such aid. But some Muslim groups are intent on proving that they, too, can collect money and distribute it without problems. Ziad J Asali, head of American Task Force on Palestine, said his group consulted with the State Department then decided to pay bills that two hospitals, one in Nablus, one in Jerusalem, receive from their regular suppliers. "We specified the exact equipment they're going to buy and the exact providers, and we have given all that information, with all the details, both to the State Department and to the Israelis," he said. "We wanted to have our own channels, because we wanted the Palestinian people to know you can do this and be clean and be perceived as clean." Source: Washington Post List: OFAC Specially Designated Nationals List |
| Human Trafficking As Seen Up Close in Prague |
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Excerpted from a piece by Stephen Weeks:
While the group stood in a circle, Mark led some prayers -- that he and his friends were glad to be alive, and that their mission was to help those whose days had no gladness, only darkness: modern slaves, right here in kitschy-quaint, touristy Prague. If they were lucky, he said, they might just save one ... one more than God probably expected of them. Dark clouds prematurely darkened the twilight sky. I'd often wondered about the Salvation Army ... why the military ranks, the uniforms? Yet in Victorian London, there'd been similar human exploitation. Yes, then and now, a war. We headed off toward Národní, a popular street for the dark trade. "Our work is with the girls," Mark explained. "We pass them to another charity operating a safe house. They find them work, or tickets back home -- and do all the paperwork, get them new passports as their keepers have taken theirs. The house's location is a secret, even to me." Lingering by the entrance to the metro was a young woman Mark recognized. I was surprised she could still manage to smile. She had jet-black hair, big dark eyes, full lips -- quite a catch for her captors. Mark doesn't know Bulgarian, but the girl knows some English. "Father Simon, he's from Bulgaria," Mark said. "He can obviously communicate better. They trust him more, of course." Veneta, her real name, was wearing a skimpy dress revealing that she was very pregnant. Mark chatted until a stocky, greasy-haired man stepped out of a nearby taxi. He strode over and drew Veneta away. "He looks after four girls here," Mark said. I suddenly noticed them, in the shadows of the buildings by the Jungmann statue. "So who's the father?" I asked, still shocked she should be doing this while pregnant. "Some client. But they do use condoms, except for oral." Mark explained that her actual pimp, a Bulgarian, had been caught in a joint police operation and was now in a Sofia prison. So why was she on the streets? "Because now she sends her money to this guy in jail. She's one of these women who believe their pimp loves them. Perhaps ... they desperately hope someone cares for them." Father Simon, a charismatic Bulgarian pastor, delivers hot soup to the women in winter with Dr Lauren Bethell, another US church activist who transferred herself here from a big UN project rescuing Thai girls from brothels. The best patch, Simon said, is on the hot vents outside the big hotels. They have to wear their skimpy costumes even when it's below zero. "I've just run into Eva," Simon said; the small, shivering figure just inside an arcade leading into the square was pretty and was coughing into a handkerchief. "She's had oral sex with 20 or 30 men today already. Her mouth is sore. She wants to see a doctor, but they won't let her. I'll see what I can do. She knew nothing about AIDS or HIV when she was taken -- and still doesn't." Source: Prague Post |
| Organic Label Doesn't Mean Farmworkers Well-Treated |
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It appears that worker abuse in the organic industry is widespread. "There's a common conventional wisdom by a lot of consumers, especially at the higher-end stores, that just because it's organic the workers are treated better," said UFW spokesperson Mark Grossman. "And that's simply not true."
Farmworker advocates, food activists, and some farmers express increasing concern that as the organic sector replicates the abusive conditions of conventional agriculture, it is sacrificing the founding values of the sustainable-food movement. A new desire to take organic back to its roots is driving a slew of initiatives to develop labor standards for organic farms. When you go to the supermarket and buy produce or packaged goods that carry the organic label, you can feel confident that the food was grown under rigorous environmental standards. The USDA's organic seal, which debuted in 2002, is a guarantee that your fruits and vegetables were cultivated without petroleum-based fertilizers or (with rare exceptions) synthetic chemicals, and that they aren't genetically modified. But the seal says nothing about labor conditions. Although comprehensive studies of conditions on organic farms are hard to find, complaints are not uncommon. For example, Willamette River Organics, one of Oregon's largest organic operations, has been hit with several lawsuits charging violations of minimum-wage laws. A Human Rights Watch report on the exploitation of adolescent workers said the atmosphere at Arizona's organic Pavich Farms was "hostile, suspicious," with laborers apparently not permitted to speak to inspectors. Threemile Canyon, a large organic dairy and potato farm in Oregon, faces accusations of sexual discrimination in its hiring practices. According to a report published last year by researchers at UC-Davis, a majority of 188 California organic farms surveyed do not pay a living wage or provide medical or retirement plans. In fact, most organic workers earn the same as those in conventional fields -- less (adjusted for inflation) than they were making in the 1970s, when the famous UFW boycotts occurred. "The exploitative conditions that farmworkers face in the US are abysmal -- it's a human-rights crisis," said Richard Mandelbaum, policy analyst at the Farmworker Support Committee. "In terms of wages and labor rights, there's really no difference between organic and conventional." If that doesn't seem to fit the organic movement's hippie and homesteader origins, the incursion of big business may be partly to blame. Ultimately, paying workers more depends on paying farmers more, which appears unlikely in a country that has gotten used to cheap food. Another obstacle toward improving conditions is that, simply put, the treatment of farm laborers doesn't rate high on most people's list of concerns. A recent consumer study conducted at UC-Santa Cruz found that workers' rights ranked fifth on a list of food-related issues that interested respondents -- right behind the treatment of animals. Source: Grist |
| # LNN # Small # Hauls # |
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| Life-Net News Extras |
| Iraqi Oil Union Workers Fight Privatization |
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In Iraq, a new battle: On one side is the Iraqi Government, backed not only by occupation forces but also by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's secretive and deadly Badr Corps militia. On the other side stand 23,000 workers in Iraq's General Union of Oil Employees (GEOU). The stakes: one of the greatest prizes of natural resources on the planet.
The June appointment of the respected Dr Hussein Shahristani to the position of Oil Minister gave the union hope; but all signs now indicate he was brought in to give political cover to the signing of a new energy law that would effectively end Iraq's public control and ownership over the oil fields. On July 1, GEOU held an emergency strategy meeting with the Iraqi Freedom Congress. The union swore to stop the new law "no matter what the cost." The Government of Iraq can't take such things lightly. The union has proven before that it can stop the flow of oil, but it has never done so for more than a day or two. The indefinite strike now threatened promises to be the occupation's gravest political crisis since Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani's massive rallies demanding elections. The Iraqi Government has moved to neutralize the union's power by seizing its bank accounts. (The union is illegal after all; Saddam Hussein's Public Law 150, which banned public sector unions, was the one law Paul Bremmer, the former US Administrator of Iraq, didn't believe he had authority to override.) Although the actual content of the law has been withheld from the public, it is almost sure to authorize the use of production sharing agreements (PSAs) as proposed by the US State Department's pre-war "Future of Iraq Project." Under a PSA, an oil field is technically not privatized. Instead a corporation receives exclusive rights to the oil field and it gets complete control over the revenue up to the cost of its investment. After costs are covered, the revenue is split between the company and the government in some predetermined rate, most likely to be 50/50 in Iraq. Such agreements are popular in areas where oil is difficult to get to -- such as offshore or deep in a jungle -- and where the amount of oil is uncertain. Under a PSA in such conditions, the government avoids paying the risky cost of trying to develop the oil field. Compared to service contracts traditionally used in Iraq and the Middle East where the corporation receives a set fee for work done, a PSA promises windfall profits for the corporation should they happen to strike oil. Of course in Iraq, where oil can practically be found by stubbing your toe on the ground, a PSA represents one of the greatest giveaways in history. More importantly, should a future Iraqi government try to change the agreement, the company can sue for expropriation. According to the US State Department's pre-war planning, "the most important feature from the perspective of private oil companies is that the government take is defined in the terms of the [PSA] and the oil companies are therefore protected under a PSA from future adverse legislation." Not surprisingly, the US and British are pushing hard for these agreements to be signed while they have near total control over the Iraqi government. Greg Muttitt of the oil watchdog group PLATFORM, using conservative assumptions, estimates that a PSA program in Iraq means oil companies can expect "annual rates of return ranging from 42% to 62% for a small field, or 98% to 162% for a large field" and that this will "cost Iraq between $74 billion and $194 billion in lost revenue, compared to keeping oil development in public hands." Just how conservative is this estimate? Well, he was using the assumption that the cost of oil would stay at $40 a barrel over the next 40 years; just changing the assumption to the current price of roughly $75 a barrel almost doubles the estimates. The wealth of Iraqi oil can play a role in creating a future Iraq where the needs of the people are met, but only if the General Union of Oil Employees succeeds in keeping control of oil in Iraqi hands. Source: Center for Popular Economics |
| Adolescents Who Abort Have Higher Mental Health Risk |
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An assistant professor at Bowling Green State University says even in the event of an unintended teen pregnancy, giving birth is better for teenagers than abortion. A study conducted by BGSU research psychologist Priscilla Coleman determined that abortion can cause severe mental health problems in young women.
Coleman says she took data from a longitudinal survey of more than 1,000 women to find out the difference between teens who gave birth and teens who aborted an unexpected pregnancy. Her study, published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, evaluated adolescent girls with unintended pregnancies and found that those who aborted their babies were five times more likely to seek help for psychological and emotional problems afterward than those girls who carried their pregnancies to term. A teenage mother's bringing of a child into the world is undoubtedly an experience that will afford her some hardships, the researcher acknowledges. "But there are more psychological problems with abortions, even more than with delivering a baby," she asserts. "Specifically, we found that only one adolescent who delivered an unintended pregnancy, for every five adolescents who aborted, sought counseling for psychological problems." Also, extensive studies indicate that, as compared with every one adolescent with a birth experience, "just slightly under every four adolescents with an abortion reported frequent sleep disturbances," Coleman points out. "And then finally," she adds, "the study found that only one adolescent with a birth -- in excess of every six adolescents who aborted -- reported more frequent marijuana use." The scientific evidence is now both "strong and compelling," Coleman contends, that abortion "poses more risks to women than giving birth." She says these findings fly in the face of traditional pro-choice thinking by supporting the idea that, although having a child as a teen creates definite difficulties, a teen is likely to encounter far more mental health problems after an abortion. In her report, Coleman states that, for "women who feel forced into abortion by others or by life circumstances, negative post-abortion outcomes become more common." She goes on to note that adolescent girls, being generally far less prepared to assume the responsibilities of parenthood, are logically more vulnerable to being pressured to abort. Coleman's study is "part of a growing body of research which scientifically dispels the myth that abortion is better for a young woman than [is] carrying a pregnancy to full term," according to Brendan Malone, spokesman for the New Zealand pro-life group Family Life International. He says the US study confirms "findings released earlier this year by Professor Fergusson of the Christchurch School of Medicine," showing that abortions are harmful to the mental health of adolescent girls. Source: AgapePress |
| Senegal, Spain Agree to Joint Immigration Patrols |
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Senegal and Spain have agreed to jointly patrol Senegalese territorial waters to help stem the tide of illegal migration to Spain's Canary Islands some 1,500 km away. Illegal migration from Senegal to the archipelago has surged in recent months. Authorities say some 17,000 illegal migrants have turned up on the archipelago this year.
The accord, which was signed on August 24, provides for joint patrols to begin immediately between Spain's civil guard and Senegalese security forces for an initial period of nine weeks. The patrols will continue if necessary, Senegalese Interior Minister Ousmane Ngom told reporters. Spain is providing a helicopter, a plane, and a patrol boat to support the endeavor. Italy is furnishing an additional boat. Spain has already provided 20 pick-up trucks, 50 motorcycles, 50 computers, 50 infrared goggles, and 50 walkie-talkies to help Senegalese gendarmes, police and marines patrol the coast. "From the beginning we have measured the impact that emigration could have for the two countries," Ngom said. "With the means offered by Spain, the mixed security forces are going to have a force of sufficient, dissuasive strength to put an end to this scourge." Referring to human traffickers, Ngom said Senegal would arrest "these sellers of illusions who use the naiveté of would-be migrants to enrich themselves." Although Spain's civil guard will be able to detain migrants, Senegalese authorities are responsible for establishing identity and making arrests. With the agreement, Senegal effectively signed up to Frontex, which coordinates the activities of national border guards to ensure the security of the European Union's borders with non-member states. It became operational last year. Mauritania and Cape Verde are already parties to the agreement. Spain has no formal repatriation agreement with Senegal. As a result, Spanish authorities in the past were forced to release illegal Senegalese immigrants and others with no identity papers at all, on the Spanish mainland. Senegalese officials have proposed development projects to help would-be migrants set up businesses and participate in training courses for farming, tourism, fishing or crafts to keep them at home. "We want to give the youth reason to hope and convince them that the solution is here in Senegal, not abroad," said Ngom. Fishermen in the northern Senegalese coastal city of St Louis earlier this week staged a rally to raise local people's awareness of the dangers of illegal migration. Many migrants never make it to the Canary Islands and instead are lost at sea or washed ashore on the archipelago or the West African coast. Source: IRIN |
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