Harassment in the LGBT community of Uganda

This is becoming a big issue. As much as sexual minorities are persecuted in countries that believe in diversity, it is all the more difficult in countries that are much less accepting.

There is a bunch of information in all of these links, but this is good to get an overview. This is the website of the group called SMUG, supporting various groups seeking respect as sexual minorities of Uganda: http://www.sexualminoritiesuganda.org/

This article paints the picture, but is much more optimistic than personal accounts: http://www.thedailymaverick.co.za/article/2011-01-04-rolling-stone-ruling-finally-a-ray-of-hope-for-gay-activists-in-uganda

Here is a related blog from Ugandans: http://gayuganda.blogspot.com/2011/01/shock-in-system-david-kato-kisule.html#comments

This is an article about the director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission: http://clatl.com/atlanta/cary-alan-johnson-fights-for-global-lgbt-rights/Content?oid=2194839

Please comment here - feel free to share your opinion, ask a question to spark discussion, or even show us something else related.

Haiti one year later

There's a lot going on: lots we can do and a lot to learn!

This radio broadcast from WHYY reports on Haiti, one year after the devastating earthquake: http://whyy.org/cms/radiotimes/2011/01/24/haiti-a-year-after-the-earthquake/

Along with the many kinds of treatment for displaced and traumatized people, cultural issues arise, such as the tension and difference between what we think of as standard Western medicine and herbs or local religious-oriented therapies. Partners in Health is an organization working on such health issues in Haiti and in other places around the world that need it. Their website, which includes other information on this topic, is: http://www.pih.org/

Remember Chad Bissonnette, our keynote speaker from the 2010 conference? Here is a great article about him and the work of his organization, Roots of Development, in Haiti. It addresses some of the questions posed here, and feel free to add your own ideas or comment on those shared in the article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chad-w-bissonnette/a-new-mandate-for-develop_b_815706.html The Roots of Development website is http://www.rootsofdevelopment.org/

Sexual violence is a big problem of increasing urgency, in Haiti. This article talks about a Haitian woman's return to her home in Haiti and what she saw: http://worldpulse.com/magazine/columns/visionary-leaders/bearing-witness-girls-and-women-in-haiti-s-camps

If you are interested in photographs of Haiti and particularly the girls growing up in such chaos, here you go: http://www.worldpulse.com/magazine/articles/photo-essay-documenting-the-lives-of-girls-in-haiti (and http://nadiatodres.com/)

There is also political unrest. Read these to learn more: http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20110116/CB.Haiti.Ex.Dictator.Returns/?attr=article_news_general_CB.Haiti.Ex.Dictator.Returns&cid=NET_SZHeadlineRSSLinks and http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/americas/02/01/haiti.duvalier/index.html?eref=rss_latest&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_latest+%28RSS%3A+Most+Recent%29

What do you think? What else can international aid workers do? Is there something new that we should be doing?

Fighting Poverty with Logic

http://blog.ted.com/2010/05/social_experime.php

This video is about 15 minutes long and very important. The ideas of sustainable development are changing as we learn more about poverty and our abilities as outsiders.

PLEASE watch the video, consider Esther Duflo's questions, research, opinions, and suggestions. Take it to heart and always look at areas of your life to try to help others. Let's get a good discussion going here about what we think of these revolutionary ideas and what we can do that's effective.


Thanks to Josh Brikman for sharing!!

Welcome to our new blog!

We hope that this blog will be a source of regular discussion and debate about any and all human rights issues. To begin, we invite you to comment on our school's Human Rights club and give suggestions of topics to post on this blog.

Please feel free to also comment on our website. How can we improve it? Are the resources helpful? Are we missing anything?