| LIFE-NET NEWS |
| by Ret Z. |
| Covering Poverty Widely in a Net of Many Voices |
| December 6, 2006 | No Profit; No Proceeds |
| Volume 10 Number 10 | All-Volunteer |
| "Give a family a fish, and they'll eat a meal; give them a Net, and they'll have fish for Life." |
| Survivors of Sulfuric Acid Attacks |
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In a quiet suburb of Dhaka, Bangladesh, two young women walk through a dirt lane to work. But this is no ordinary place of employment. Behind the gates lies a world of torment. The building is the headquarters of the Acid Survivors Foundation.
Each year hundreds of people are being horribly disfigured in Bangladesh through attacks with sulfuric acid. The attacks are motivated by revenge or by intentions to defend honor.
Many cases, especially in rural areas, go unreported. The victims are left scarred mentally and physically and are often shunned by their families and society. Hasina is 20 years old. Five years ago, when she was still a carefree high school pupil, one of her father's employees, who felt he had been slighted, threw sulfuric acid over her. The attack left her with terrible disfigurement to her face and chest. "When I first saw my face in the mirror I said, 'God why did you keep me alive? It would be better that I died.' "But now I want to survive and live in society." Each year hundreds are horribly disfigured in this way. The number could be higher but in rural areas attacks are rarely reported for cultural reasons. The Acid Survivors Foundation helps rebuild lives and physical features as much as possible. But it is an expensive business in one of the world's poorest countries. Mostly it is women who are attacked -- but not always. A little boy's aunt fed him sulfuric acid, when he was just over a month old, to try and kill him in a dispute over inheritance. It burnt away his tongue, his lips, destroyed most of his mouth, and welded his chin to his chest. For five months he had the most basic of treatment -- it was a miracle he survived. Today they call him Durjoy, meaning Invincible. "His mouth is completely destroyed -- he can’t talk," said ASF director Monira Rahman. "He just can make some sounds. He’s trying to say something but he cannot express that and through his eyes he’s expressing. His eyes are so strong, so strong. He’s saying everything through his eyes -- it’s amazing, amazing." The ASF flew him to Hong Kong, where on Nov 22 he underwent the first of a series of life-saving operations. "With the treatment, I think Durjoy’s life expectancy is going to be normal," said Professor Andrew Burd, chief of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Prince of Wales hospital, Hong Kong. "Without the treatment, the situation is far more serious, and potentially he may get into a stage where he is having repeated infections, problems with his breathing, and his life expectancy may be seriously limited." Source: Al-Jazeera More: Acid Survivors Foundation |
| Teen Birthrate Drops to Record Low |
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The birth rate among US teens, which has been falling since its peak in 1991, dropped to an all-time low in 2005, according to preliminary data released on Nov 21 by the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Overall, the preliminary 2005 rate for females ages 15-19 was 40.4 births per 1,000, down from 41.1 in 2004 and 61.8 in 1991. The Hispanic rate for teens 15-19 was 81.5, down from 82.6 in 2004 and 104.6 in 1991.
Abstinence and contraceptive use "are still driving factors" behind the declining teen birthrate, says demographer Stephanie Ventura, co-author of the report. Fear of contracting a sexually transmitted disease has helped spur teens to use condoms or delay having sex, says Bill Albert, deputy director of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, a Washington-based nonprofit. "AIDS has a way of getting a guy's attention in a way pregnancy did not." Some highly effective contraceptives weren't available in 1991, Albert notes. One, Depo-Provera, requires one shot every three months. Still, Albert says, citing the Hispanic teen birthrate, "there are some hints here that the impressive progress that the nation has made may be slowing down." Language and cultural differences may partly explain why the gap between the Hispanic teen birthrate and the overall teen birthrate is as wide as ever, he says. The proportion of births to unmarried women rose to 36.8% -- or more than 1.5 million babies -- in 2005, up from 35.8% in 2004. "It's not a teenage issue," Ventura notes, "which was the case 20, 30, 40 years ago." Source: USA Today |
| Boycott Makes Palestinian Poverty Far Worse |
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More than 1 million Palestinians, or one in four inhabitants of the occupied territories, are now mired in deep poverty as living standards deteriorate dramatically following the economic boycott of the Palestinian Authority this year, according to a UN report released on Nov 24. The report, from the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), found that the number of people living in "deep poverty" -- defined as an
inability to meet basic human consumption needs -- rose 64% during the first half of 2006.
An average of 1,069,200 Palestinians now live in deep poverty, up from 650,800 in the second half of last year. Consumption has therefore slumped as well, with purchases of food down by 8% and of non-food products down by 13%. UNRWA spokesman Matthias Burchard told a press conference in Geneva that the fiscal crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is having a disproportionately negative effect on refugees, who are less likely to find work and more dependent on public sector jobs. Burchard described the results as worrying and said the morality of the sanctions against the Palestinian Authority had to be questioned. Source: United Nations |
| Camden Police Executive Outlines Strategy |
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Camden's new police executive Arturo Venegas appeared at an antiviolence news conference on Nov 21 at 8th Street and Carl Miller Boulevard. He was joined by Mayor Gwendolyn Faison, City Council President Angel Fuentes, and a brace of ministers and police officers.
In celebrating Camden's fall from the number one spot on Morgan Quitno's "Most Dangerous Cities" list, Venegas predicted Camden would soon drop out of the top ten. At the conference he said he was trying to get a grip on the soaring crime, which again threatens to engulf the city's fragile efforts to rebuild. Venegas challenged schools, churches, businesses and residents to help. He announced so-called Neighborhood Accountability Boards similar to what Philadelphia has done to "help adjudicate cases" of juvenile delinquents. Bypassing the courts would keep courts from being clogged by truants and other violators, he said. He said juveniles often weren't impressed with probation or other lenient court sentences. To remedy that, he said, the accountability boards, composed of neighborhood residents, would assign the youths supervised tasks in the neighborhood, like cleaning trash or erasing graffiti. "I challenge the schools to rethink policies of allowing kids to go home if they're a half an hour late." Venegas said he also had organized a community chaplain program to mobilize ministers. "I challenge the churches through neighborhood chaplaincy to knock on doors to go out and make Camden a safe place." He also called on the city to fix neighborhood street lights. He said he had walked blocks and blocks with residents of a town watch in the Cooper Plaza area of the city the week before the conference and was appalled by the number of broken street lights and the large number of vacant houses -- both useful to drug dealers and addicts. Sheila Roberts, a town watch leader who walked with Venegas, observed that Camden was being victimized by recently recruited members of the Bloods gang getting out of jail. The gangsters, she said, are trying to take corners back from the "young boys" who were running them. Even so, Venegas said he was confident of success. "We own the community and we will be taking it back," he said. "Block by block. Street by street." Source: Philadelphia Inquirer |
| Bush On World AIDS Day |
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The President: Laura and I welcome our guests -- this [Dec 1] is World AIDS Day. It's a day for the world to recognize the fact that there are 39 million people living
with HIV/AIDS, and a day to remember the fact that 25 million people have died of AIDS. It's a day, as well, for the United States to remember that we have a duty to do
something about this epidemic, this pandemic. ...
This country is committed -- we're committed in helping solve this problem by dedicating a lot of resources to the battle against HIV/AIDS. The American taxpayers have funded over $15 billion to help groups around this table save lives. Before the PEPFAR program -- that's the name of the program that we -- that's what we call the program that we dedicate money to, to help save lives -- before it became into being, there was about 50,000 people receiving lifesaving drugs. Today there are over 800,000 people receiving lifesaving drugs, and we thank those who are on the ground in the countries around the world who are using taxpayers' money to save lives. We believe that it's one thing to spend money, we also believe it's another thing to say that we expect there to be results. And the American people need to know we're getting good results with your money, and we'll continue to spend it wisely. We also -- as we think about people affected with HIV/AIDS in countries around the world, we remember those who have got HIV/AIDS here at home. And it's very important for the American people to understand we're spending over $18 billion to help save lives here at home. And I call upon the Congress to reauthorize the Ryan White Act. ... Source: White House |
| Outgoing Camden Czar Writes About Wrong Moves |
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Camden should continue to have an all-powerful, state-appointed chief operating officer for another five years, Governor Jon Corzine announced on Nov 22. City chief operating officer Randy Primas had resigned.
Camden's $175 million recovery effort focused too much on buildings and not enough on people, Primas conceded in a lame-duck report. He said the issues of public safety, job training, affordable housing, and civic engagement were shortchanged during his four years of presiding over the city, according to excerpts of the draft report. And he wants the state to give more money for civic engagement projects, as well as services, such as housing counseling or job training, for residents who are displaced by redevelopment projects. Many of Primas' observations on his tenure seem to mirror the very criticisms that he so doggedly battled over the years. But he also says the city was stymied by litigation over development projects, the failures of the School Construction Corp to build new schools in Camden, the ineffective effort to consider issues from a regional standpoint, and a lack of resources to buy up necessary land. Not to mention pressure to produce results quickly. "It's inconceivable that you can improve the city without investing in the people," Primas said after a monthly meeting of the board formed to run the city's recovery efforts. "But it's also the more difficult and expensive part of redevelopment. Folks were looking for the quickest results. It's easier to see something built up than it is to see the rehabilitation of people." In 2002, then-Governor Jim McGreevey signed the recovery act that gave $175 million in state bond proceeds to rehabilitate the city and created Primas' job. Most of that money was already allocated toward bricks-and-mortar projects such as an expansion of the waterfront aquarium and projects at hospitals and universities. It did not support civic engagement projects that could get out information about development projects or new initiatives. This made it difficult to "engage citizens who have a history of disenfranchisement and who are discouraged and disenchanted with past failings," and who do not fully understand the redevelopment process, resulting in combative community opposition, Primas wrote. The fact that most of the region's affordable housing is in Camden is also a powerful obstacle, reinforcing "the status of the city as a center of low-income residency" and limiting "opportunities for mixed-income development and increased tax ratables," Primas wrote. And a regional impact council designed to consider such issues in a wider perspective met infrequently and provided no direction, he wrote. Primas does count several successes: raised property values, increased private investment and tax-collection rates, neighborhood and redevelopment plans completed or in progress for most of the city, and improved water and sewer systems. Source: Courier-Post Source: Philadelphia Inquirer |
| Sports Stars Play Offence Against Hunger |
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In the latest collaboration between UN agencies and world sports, Spain’s national soccer team captain Raúl Gónzales is shooting to combat hunger across all of Africa, the continent most seriously affected by poverty and under-nutrition. As part of an effort to raise awareness and funding, Gónzales visited the Senegalese capital, Dakar, late last month as a UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Goodwill Ambassador to tour several agency projects working to increase food production in some of the city’s poorest areas.
"I want to send a message to young people throughout the world: Our generation now has a chance to do away with hunger, once and for all. We have to mobilize now to make that happen," he said. "People must have the chance to secure a dignified existence for themselves and their families in their own land, and should not be forced to emigrate in search of a better life abroad, often at great cost to themselves." (Boatloads of Africans have often tried to make the perilous journey to the Spanish Canary Islands.) "Enjoying the support of charismatic and well-known celebrities like Raúl," said FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf, "is a priceless help in raising public awareness of our goal to eradicate hunger. "Africa is wracked by armed conflicts, AIDS and malaria, as well as by drought, pests, animal diseases and a lack of rural infrastructure. This situation is leading to the exodus of thousands of young Africans to industrialized countries. Spain, by dint of its proximity to Africa, is all too familiar with the grim end of so many of these voyages of desperation." He noted that the FAO Goodwill Ambassadors Program aimed to draw the attention of the public and the mass media to the plight of the 854 million people worldwide who continue to go hungry each day. A number of distinguished personalities have taken up the cause, such as Italian football star Roberto Baggio, singers Gilberto Gil, Youssou N'Dour, and Noa and the rock group Maná. Other UN agencies have also joined with athletes and sports organizations to get their message across and raise funds. Very recently, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) teamed up with the European Swimming League in "a race against time" to prevent deaths from unclean water. The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization teamed up with the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, the governing body of women’s tennis, recently, to promote gender equality. The UN World Food Program (WFP) launched the "Cricket Against Hunger" partnership with the England and Wales cricket team to draw attention to the plight of the 400 million chronically hungry children around the world. WFP has similar fund- and awareness-raising arrangements with the International Rugby Board as well as with individual stars from the worlds of soccer, American football, marathon running, and Formula One auto racing. Source: United Nations |
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| Life-Net News Extras |
| Camden County Gets Thumbs-Up for Its Youth Detention Reforms |
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New Jersey, and Camden County in particular, received praise in a national study that looked at the damage incarceration can do to young offenders. The study was released on Nov 21 by the Justice Policy Institute of Washington DC and stated that incarcerating young people increases their chances of facing other problems, including unemployment, depression and further criminal behavior leading to subsequent incarceration.
While the report states dangerous youths should be in a secure detention center, too many nonviolent offenders are getting locked up around the country. The study found that 70% of the youths in detention are held for nonviolent charges. Those jailed are getting worse, not better, as a result of their time behind bars. "I think there's been more an abatement of the lock 'em up and throw away the key philosophy," said Paul DeMuro, a consultant with the Annie E Casey Foundation who has worked with New Jersey to bring alternative approaches in. The report comes as a vindication for New Jersey, which received in 2004 a $600,000, three-year grant from the Casey Foundation to implement the foundation's Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative. Camden, Essex, Monmouth, Atlantic and Hudson counties were selected to test the system. Camden in particular was chosen because of heavy overcrowding at the time: The county's youth detention facility designed to hold 37 was home to 90 to 100 juveniles, officials said. "It's proof that when the community decides to come together and sit at the table and discuss the issues, we're a success," said Camden County Administrator Ross Angilella said. The JDAI program looks for alternatives to incarceration for youths. This can mean speeding up the court system so youths spend less time waiting for hearings; it can mean assigning nonviolent offenders electronic monitoring or placement in group or foster homes, officials said. In the Lakeland complex, Camden County is constructing a youth detention facility about twice the size of the current one. But officials don't want more rooms to mean more residents. The size of the new youth center will allow Camden County to place youths within the center more intelligently, Angilella said. New Jersey is expanding the JDAI system with the hope it will eventually be used in all of the state's 17 youth detention centers, said Howard Beyer, executive director of the state's Juvenile Justice Commission. The JDAI program expanded to Mercer and Union counties this year. Burlington County, along with Ocean and Bergen, will begin using the JDAI system in 2007, officials said. Source: Courier-Post |
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| Bolivia Passes Sweeping Land Redistribution Bill |
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Bolivia's senate met in a surprise session late on Nov 28 and quickly passed a controversial land redistribution bill after opposition unity collapsed in the face of weeks of marches by thousands of landless Indians in support of the measure. The bill had been passed by the chamber of deputies two weeks prior.
The senate vote came after conservative legislators ended their week-long boycott of the 25-member upper house, as three opposition members established the necessary quorum for voting along with the ruling party's 12 senators. The Senate about-face came amid political tensions between leftist Bolivian president Evo Morales and the opposition. Civil society leaders in eight of nine provinces called for a general strike on Dec 1. Government officials said that large landowners from the eastern region of Santa Cruz, the country's agricultural heartland and a bastion of the conservative opposition, had been behind the Senate protest. Morales told the protesting landless Indians in the beginning of the week of the senate vote that he would issue a presidential decree to redistribute idle land to poor peasants if the boycott continued. Morales' "land reform", a key campaign promise, aims to redistribute some 48 million acres, or almost a fifth of Bolivia's territory, within five years. The plan, which calls for redistribution of idle land to poor peasants, enjoys widespread support. But estate owners in Santa Cruz, where vast cattle ranches and soy plantations abound, are fearful their land might be confiscated. Morales has ruled out mass expropriations, saying only unproductive or illegally owned land will be targeted. But, analysts say, some of his plans are fuelling economic and racial tensions between the European-descended minority of the eastern regions and the indigenous majority that populate the Andean highlands. In the few days before the senate vote, thousands protested in the city against against the measure. The protesters also called for more autonomy from the central government. Dozens of indigenous activists attended the senate session and celebrated outside the legislative palace when the bill was passed. Morales' drive to nationalize the energy industry has enjoyed widespread political support, but his plan to redistribute what he calls idle land to the poor, indigenous majority that forms his power base had been blocked by opposition senators. "We are not afraid to issue a decree to put an end to large estates," Morales told supporters shortly after returning to Bolivia from a two-day visit to the Netherlands, and before heading to Nigeria for a summit of African and Latin American leaders. Morales is the country's first indigenous president. He gained prominence as a protest leader and head of a nationwide coca leaf growers' group. Source: Al Jazeera |
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