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2004 World Citizen Essay Contest
Thank you to the over 150 students who submitted essays and the 50 judges who spent the time reading them all. A special congratulations to the following students, our top finalists in each category. First place essays were featured at the 2004 World Citizen Award Banquet on December 2, 2004. Every guest received a copy of the Winning Essays (PDF).
Returning
the Lost Boys of the Sudan [map
jpg] Sudan is the largest country in Africa, but it is one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world. The civil wars that have been going on since the mid 1950's in Sudan have led to a tragic and violent country. There have been many political issues keeping the country divided. Sudan is home to many culturally diverse people. Two main groups are the Arab dominated northern group and the southern black African group. Sudan has experienced civil war between the government troops of the north and the Southern People's Liberation Army (SPLA). Both groups are fighting over power and freedom. The current fighting began in 1983 when the government declared Shariah law, which meant that throughout the country every citizen, regardless of their religion, had to follow the laws of Islam. This angered the non-Muslim people in the south and they started fighting once more. In Sudan this civil war has created a group of refugees called "The Lost Boys of the Sudan." Twenty-six thousand Sudanese boys were forced from their southern villages in the late 1980's. These were mostly boys between the ages of 7-17 who were separated from their families. After walking hundreds of miles for over four years in search of peace, they spent 9 years in a Kenyan refugee camp. Refugee camps in central and southern Sudan are filled with Sudanese people displaced by the war, as well as refugees from Chad, Uganda, and other African countries. Some of the "Lost Boys" are still in refugee camps and some were allowed into other countries to live permanently. The U.S. has taken in over 3,000 Lost Boys and has settled them in various cities around the country. Many of these Lost Boys are home sick and depressed, but can only go home if there is peace. "We just want to be able to speak our language, practice our religion, and be independent in Southern Sudan." This is a quote from James Major Magot, one of the Lost Boys currently living in the U.S. In order for the situation in Sudan to change, I feel that two things need to happen. First, we need to help establish peace in Sudan by dividing the north and the south into two separate countries. The best way for the country to be divided is for their Arab and African neighbors to help them make a plan and support the division. Since the country gained its independence from Britain in the early 1950’s there has been constant fighting which is hurting all the people of Sudan. The south has large reserves of oil, minerals and massive areas of land that could be irrigated to produce crops. Many foreign countries have been willing to invest in exploration and development projects, but the civil war has brought most projects to a standstill. Peace and the division of land would open these opportunities again. The second thing that should happen is that we should offer the over 3,000 Lost Boys here in the U.S. a free education and help getting back home, should they want to go. When these educated boys returned home, they could help build a better agricultural system and start their countries economic growth. Only 45% of men and 18% of women can read in Sudan. The government provides six years of free education from the age of 7-13, but most rural and displaced children have no schools to attend. By the age of 13,only 13% of children attend school, and only 2% are educated beyond the age of 18. Peace and education would give the many foreign countries that might be interested in helping a way to reinvest in Sudan. It all starts with Peace and a realistic way of getting there. Education will be the key to their rebuilding. A USCR report pointed out that Sudanese people have suffered more war related deaths during the past 16 years than any single population in the world. (Information from the World Refugee Survey 2000) The combination of war, famine, and disease has killed more than 2 million people and displaced another 4 million. This has got to change. Until both sides can live peacefully, the vast country of Sudan and its people will suffer the pain and hardship of war and famine.
Shahnaz:
An Afghanistan Internally-Displaced Person of Hope [map
jpg] Shahnaz is an internally displaced person whose family left Kabul, Afghanistan, because of war. She and her family currently live in Kamaz, an internally displaced person camp in northern Afghanistan. The camp is muddy, and everything is public and shared, including the toilets, the food and the clean water. Shahnaz had six sisters, but a bomb killed two of her sisters while they were going to the bathroom. Her mother is very sad and cries a lot. When Shahnaz gets stressed, she climbs on top of her mud hut and dreams of another place, a happy place. Shahnaz lives in a house made of mud, which only has one room for all seven of her family [members]. She and her sisters and mother all sleep under one blanket, and her father sleeps under one. Their house and camp are much different than their old house in Kabul, which had a well, a few rooms, a garden and a bathroom. So many things have gone wrong in Afghanistan. One problem is the Taliban took over and abolished educaiton for girls, and made them wear blankets over their entire bodies even though the temperature reaches over 130 degrees F. The September 11th incident came at the worst possible time ever. They were in a drought and couldn't grow their crops. This made Afghan refugees flee to camps in Pakistan, Iran, India, Europe, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The U.S. started bombing Afghanistan in retaliation of the World Trade Center attacks. Refugees have been sent back to Afghanistan, and the host countries are closing their borders to Afghanistan refugees because the Afghan war with the Soviet Union is over. These countries were also afraid of Afghanistan attacking them when the Taliban were in power. A lot of American cherity groups are helping internally displaced people and refugees from Afghanistan get food and shelter. They are donating money, clothing, and blankets to people in Afghanistan and the surrounding areas. This has kept many people alive, but it does not solve the problem of war and a ruined country. To stop these problems, the country of Afghanistan needs help to: Stop the war so that people in Afghanistan feel safe; set up a good government for Afghanistan, so that people are not scared to build homes and work at jobs; start more companies or get companies from other countries to move there to provide good jobs for the people who want to work; and start communities with schools, stores, and other everyday things needed to live a normal life. First the war needs to be stopped. It has been going on for over ten years. To do this, they will need an army that is headed by people who can be trusted to do what is best for the country. Once the war is stopped, the people in Afghanistan need to start a government that the people trust. This government must be headed by a president who is willing to do things fairly, so that people trust the government and its workers. To get the government working, they must hire firemen, policemen, and administrators. They must build and organize hospitals, banks, and schools. They need to print money so that they have currency for trade. The people fo Afghanistan need commerce
and trade so that they can find jobs to make money. They also
need people from other countries to buy things from Afghanistan
and sell things to Afghanistan. To do this, people need to start
companies that sell products for a fair price. Afghanistan needs
to find some unique product to sell to other countries, like the
wool rugs they made and sold before the wars. The United States
needs to send people to help do that.
Since 1948 Israel has been forcing the Palestinian people into refuge, and I don't think it will stop soon. I hope that by the time you finish reading this, you will understand the reason why. The Palestinian refugees are made of three primary groups, those who were made into refugees outside the state of Israel, those internally displaced people who remained on the land that became Israel, and those displaced in 1967 from the West Bank and Gaza strip. Today there are more than 5 million Palestinian refugees. Most of the refugees live within 100 miles of the border of Israel; more than half live in Jordan. The majority of the rest are spread out between the West Bank, the Gaza strip, Syria, and Lebanon. About 260,000 internally displaced people live in Israel. This is just a fraction of the Palestinian refugees. Palestinian people had been expelled from their homes and land or had fled. The majority (more than 65%) of the Palestinian Arabs had actually been dispossessed of their lands in the months leading up to the 1948 war. The 1967 war resulted in a second wave of Palestinians [that] had to leave, estimated at half a million people. The current conflict between Palestine and Israel goes all the way back to 1923. That was the year Britain took away almost all of the Palestinians' power. In 1930 about 5,000 Jews flooded into this small country. In 1935 about 62,000 Jews came. Three years later the British had become fed up with the constant squabbling between the Jews and the Arabs, so they divided Palestine into an Arab state and a Jewish state. In 1939 the British decided to back out a little so they said there would be a ten year period where there would be a Jewish and Arab government. That very same year, World War II broke out and the British backed out even more. They turned the whole matter over to the UN when around 100,000 more Jews came to Palestine. The different cultures were doing anything but getting along. In 1948 the British were done with the whole thing, so they completely withdrew. The Jewish folk living in Palestine decided to take the liberty of creating Israel. The Arabs who didn't at all agree with what the Jews were doing attacked Israel on all sides because the Israelis were taking the Arab's country. The Israelis took over 78% of Palestine, making about 750,000 Palestinians flee to other countries. One year later the U.S. tried to get involved. Our president tried to establish a peace treaty between Israel and Palestine so that the Israelis could determine their boarders. The Israelis found boundaries that seemed reasonable to them but not to the Palestinians. In 1967 Israel took the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza strip, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights in the 6-day war. Israel's borders had extended even farther and were still slowly growing. For a while no one did anything about it, until 11 years later, President Carter got together with the Egyptian President and with the Israeli Prime Minister. They then negotiated the return of the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt from Israel. And from then until now the Israelis and Palestinians have been fighting. Nobody has been able to negotiate a peace treaty between them, and now the Israelis have plans to make a wall to keep the Palestinians out. If nothing is done soon, who knows what will happen. I propose that the Israelis let the Palestinians back onto the land and that they re-divide into two states. I propose that they have a law that if there is a decision made by one side of the government, both states have to agree on it even if it only affects one of them. I also think that the Israelis should have to rebuild the Palestinian economy to the point at which it was before the ongoing war began. They should have to provide jobs for the Palestinians and enough financial help to put each family at the level in society where it war before the Israelis invaded. The war between Palestine and Israel has gone on for years, and my solution probably won't solve it, but sometime someone's definately will. And until that day we've got to keep proposing answers because one of them will succeed.
Citizen
of the World [map
jpg] To be a citizen of the world is not just living somewhere on it. It is realizing that you are one with its astonishing world in which we live, with all its manifestations and forms, which are the manifestation of the greatest mystery we call life. My name is Atanas. I [was] born in Bulgaria, but I live in the U.S. with my parents as many other Bulgarian families do. My homeland is a small country— a mere fleck on the map of Europe, but it is very beautiful. It has an ancient history and culture, a rich and diverse nature. Endless folds of emerald-green mountains follow colorful fields, white cliffs illuminated by the sun, dark and cool valleys, and the sapphire-blue sea bordered by its golden sandy shores. There are four seasons, each with its own beauty. The people are very friendly and open. Why do so many people leave Bulgaria and go to different parts of the world? The answer lies not within its beauty, but within its standards of living, politics, economy, and laws. I wish to mark the border between two periods— before and after 1990. Until 1990, Bulgaria was under communist dictation [dictatorship]. The lack of human rights and freedom, repression, countless restrictions toward realizations of people's dreams, corruption of all levels in the society and country, poverty, lack of basic goods, and the low standard of life forced part of the population to seek asylum in more democratic western countries. Very few decided to leave the country and fewer succeeded. The government repressed their families. The emigrants could not return and visit their country because they would be tried for high treason. After 1990, a democratic republic replaced the communist regime. The borders opened up and many Bulgarians left for different parts of the world, mainly in western Europe, U.S., and South Africa. This is still going on today. The reasons are mostly economic. Even now, Bulgaria is still not a great place to live. The democrac resembles anarchy. People have more freedom but not more rights. The corruption level is high. There is a small upper class, where few have actually gained their wealth through work or are famous worldwide. Most of the rich people have acquired their ranking through crimes. They greatly influence the politics and the economy to satisfy their interests. Most of the population is very poor. There are still many people looking for food in the trashcans. In Bulgaria, the graduated professionals often cannot work at their occupation due to the lack of jobs as well as discrimination against their gender, age, and looks, especially women. Others manage to find a job, but the salaries are low. High-level specialists are the main group of people seeking a job in foreign countries. Sometimes, they can't practice their profession abroad, but at least, whatever they do there for a living allows them to lead a better life. The medium and small businesses in Bulgaria don't develop well. The reason is lack of lawmaking, preferences on one side, racket on the other, and the monopoly of large companies and criminal organizations. The agriculture and light industry — the main means of living in the country — are ruined. From a majoy exporter of agricultural products Bulgaria became an importer of such goods. The very few people selling agricultural goods recieve unjust prices. These people have to work like Middle Age peasants. They use a horse with a plow, plant their crops by hand, and use old farming tools. The leaders bankrupted the light and heavy industry and tourest facilities, so that they can buy them cheaply. Very few people manage to open restaurants and hotels, due to the lack of good infrastructure and to the high crime rate. The people are defenseless. The lack of laws has caused the crime rates to go up — from robberies and murders to heavy financial crimes. There are criminals in the judicial branch as well. The political parties transfer the power from one to another, promising to change for the better, but they do absolutely nothing. All of this makes Bulgarians look for better opportunities abroad. A preferred choice is the United States. Americans are tolerant and friendly to immigrants, even after the tragic 9/11. Here, millions of people from different nations and races can find a better place for education, creativity, work and life. Many of the immigrants are graduated specialists, but not many work at their specialized professions. Information Technology professionals best realize their potential because there are many job openings for them. The rest usually graduate again or work in different areas— administrative or service. Some are not happy because they cannot practice their profession or because they cannot adjust to the new way of life. They often miss their friends and relatives on the other side of the earth. Many of these people would return to Bulgaria if the situation changes and they could have more choices and a better life. They would return if Bulgaria becomes a truly democratic and lawful country. They would also return if intelligent people were recognized, and if Bulgaria gives them a chance for development and creativity. Wherever we live, we are citizens of the world, our planet Earth. Our job, as humans, is to make every day and moment in our lives better and the world in which we live more beautiful. Everyone has the potential to do that: from the baker who will bake the best bread, to the lawmaker who will legislate the best laws; from the shoemaker who will make the best shoes, to the scientist who will invent the most useful things; from the salesman, to the artist or composer; we are all citizens of the world. I don't know if I will return to Bulgaria or stay in the U.S. Wherever I go, I will remember that I made the choice to be a citizen of the world and make it a better place with everything I do.
Vietnamese
Refugees [map
jpg] Refugees are people who go through much trouble and distress to find a better life. They are people who seek safety, happiness, and freedom by fleeing their miserable, dangerous, and wretched homelands in order to find another country that can give them the things that they had always needed or wanted. Countries like the United States hold refugees from all around the world, including people from Sudan, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam, etc. These are some of the places where war had struck, communists took over, or the economics faltered. During the Vietnam War, many Vietnamese became refugees, having to go through the stress and pain throughout the horrible events that occurred. One very specific group of refugees from Vietnam consisted of my mom and some of her family members. They were a happy family who had been living lives of satisfaction in Southern Vietnam. The sudden action of the communist rule in the country and their decision to take her family's home away caused her to leave her parents behind and head for a life of freedom. The journey took her through much danger, after which life for her was never the same again, nor were the lives of countless amounts of other Vietnamese citizens. After the Vietnam War had ended in 1975, and the North communists had won, the whole country was under their power. They controlled everything from businesses and schools, so food and money. They had reeducation camps where former government workers learned the new system of government, while being treated like prisoners. The communists put them through labor, collecting wood, working in fields, etc. The people had no freedom at all. The communists took people's houses and belongings. They raided my grandparent's home, pricing each item, and then forcing the family out of the house, into the far countryside to live, while they seized their house. Life for my mom was miserable during the days of her travel. She was away from the people she loved with nothing in her possession, risking her life for once. After reaching America, things have been better than anyone could have hoped for, suddenly living in an environment where you are not afraid of danger, a place with generous people, much food, and a land where there is freedom. My mom and most Vietnamese refugees appreciate the fact that their lives have now changed for the better, here in America. Since the communist ruling, many Vietnamese fled the country in fear of harm being done to their family. People travelled by foot, in vehicles, and on boats. Most escaped with no idea of where to go. Some made it to safety. Others never did. After four years of living under communistic regime in 1979, my grandparents saw how there would be no future for their daughter, and decided to let mom leave the country, accompanied by her nine-year-old nephew and her friend's family. Her parents had to pay for mom's secret escape trip by gold. On a dark, moonless night, at the southernmost coastline of Vietnam, my mom and about 400 other people entered a boat about six by twenty feet, with two levels. My mom sat on the lower level, not being able to see the sun, sky, or sea for one week, and having to curl her legs up to fit. Her left foot became numb for one month after the trip. The boat reached Malaysia after the third day, but the Malaysian government rejected the boat's entry and it was sent back out to sea. On the fourth day, the boat unintentionally came across another boat belonging to Thai pirates. They chased the boat from six o'clock to midnight. My mom never forgot the deafening sound of praying and crying, and the fear that surrounded the boat. Luckily, they managed to escape at midnight. On the seventh day, a lighthouse was spotted from a distance. The men decided to approach the land, risking any damage taken to the boat because the water supply had run out. In the seven days, the only thing anyone had to live on was a limited supply of water, and now they finally reached a small Indonesian island, where a transition would be made to a third country. After one year of living there, all the people who had been o the boat trip moved to a country that would accept them as a refugee, hopefully finding their permanent settlement there. For 20 years, throughout Vietnam, people continued fleeing the country, leaving all behind, and heading for freedom. This situation in Vietnam is occurring because of the political structure of the country. In order for any group of refugees to return to Vietnam, help from other countries would be needed to repair the damage after the war. The communists must stop taking away people's freedom, rights, and privacy. They also had to realize for themselves that the actions they took could end up with serious consequences, and the causes could ruin the beauty and wonder of the country of the country of Vietnam forever. Being proud of one's country is mostly what drives a person to go back to their home. If laws based internationally were used by Vietnam, the government would have to treat everyone more fairly, and coming back or revisiting the country would be a much more enjoyable experience for my mom or any other refugee. Today, Vietnamese refugees live a settled life in their new home. The dangers that families have been through paid off tremendously in the end, giving the families the opportunity to regain their balance and have hope for the future, as with my mom's nephews, nieces, sisters, brothers and friends who all have been very thankful to have their freedom in America. There is always hope for refugees, and always will be those with the heart to feel compassion for them. The memories of what could have happened still haunt these refugees until this very day. They are perfect examples of braveness, the refugees of the world.
Breaking
the Cycle: A Commitment to Ending the War in Sudan [map
jpg] Gabriel, a shy ten-year-old boy from Sudan draws a blob in the sky, with smaller blobs leading in a squiggly line down to the bottom of the paper. An aid worker in the refugee camp in Kenya comes to his side, and asks him what it is. "This is the plane that tried to bomb my family. My dad and sister died, and now my mom and brothers are the only ones I have left...I dream about that every night." Gabriel left his town in 1984, when the militia burned his house and his family's farm. Gabriel and what remained of his family fled to a camp in Ethiopia. The nine-week trek was grueling, with friends dying every day from malnutrition, disease, lion attacks, bombing, and militia ambushes. Gabriel shared a refugee camp with 270,000 other refugees. Food in the camp was inconsistant and meager. Gabriel and those who were lucky enough to make it to the camp soon had to leave because of a change in the Ethiopian government. Gabriel and his family fled to another refugee camp in Kenya. Heavy rains caused the rivers to flood during the journey; while crossing one river, Gabriel's brother was swept away and drowned. Gabriel is one of the 4.5 million Sudanese refugees waiting in a refugee camp in one of Sudan's nine bordering countries until it is safe to return home. He sits in a Kenyan refugee camp, thankful for the minimal supplies offerred, but mostly for his life. He dreams of returning home with his mother and siblings and starting another life. Following is a brief history of the conflict in Sudan that has forced Gabriel and so many others to live that life of war. In 1972, Sudan's first civil war was ended by a peace agreement. Eleven years later, in 1983, (when the country was 27 years old) another civil war broke out in Southern Sudan between government forces and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), a rebel group led by John Garang. The war started because of religious and ethnic differences between the Arab-Muslims of the North, and Black Christians and Native tribes of the South. The South began to rebel against the government because President Ja'far Numayri introduced shari'ah (Islamic law). Two years later, in 1985, the President was removed from office because by a popular rebellion, leaving an elected Transitional Military Council (TMC) in control. While in power, the Council got rid of manditory Arab-law in the South, but non-Arabs in the North still had to obey the shari'ah. Famines triggered by the fighting and severe drought occurred in 1988, 1992, and 1998. Some aid workers were killed or scared away, and often the government diverted food or supplies intended for civilians. In some cases the roads were so bad that supplies never reached the people. Currently, 40% of all Sudanese children still suffer from malnutrition. In 1993, the TMC dissolved and Umar al-Bashir
was elected president. Six years later, Sudan began to export
oil, leading to more fighting over control of oil reserves and
profits. In 2000, the governor of the capital city banned women
from working in public places. This rekindled simmering conflicts
about Islamic law. The conflict (like so many others) sprouted from lack of tolerance and empathy for people of different racial, cultural, religious, and ethnic backgrounds. I propose a framework that is formed by representatives from the different parties to the conflict. This framework must address and be sensitive to the issues underlying the war and the damage caused by the conflict (two million lives lost, destruction of infrastructure, untold suffering, and wasted resources). Also, there needs to be a new commitment to upholding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which Sudan signed. Sudan needs international engagement, aid, and pressure for peace from the United Nations and individual countries. The international community should offer trade, debt relief, and reconstruction assistance. Once this agreement has been written and carried out, many Sudanese refugees will want to return home. Groups such as Operation Lifeline Sudan and the Red Cross can help transport families home and set them up with sustainable jobs and resources. Finally, like the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, led by Desmond Tutu, the solution must break the cycle of violence. While human rights violaters should be held accountable, retrubution cannot be the priority. The anger that could understandably lead to revenge must be channeled to peace. My goal is to help everyone help Gabriel draw a different picture. Maybe his first one will be the background, so that we remember the hate and suffering that has occurred in Sudan. As we remember and learn from it, hopefully we can prevent it from happening again so that no other child has to go through what Gabriel has. I'm reaching across the ocean to Sudan. I'm watching Gabriel draw a picture of his home and family, of enough food and education, of laughter and hope. I know that the picture will never be perfect. It won't be a white picket fence around a little house with a smiling sun in the sky. This dream is far from completed. Gabriel is stil waiting in that refugee camp, hoping for something better. An effective solution must break the cycle of violence. As Martin Luther King said, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that." We must drive out violence and revenge with peace, reconcilliation, and a commitment to moving forward. It is past time to drive out the darkness and hate in Sudan. Just ask Gabriel.
All We Want
Is a Meal: The Story of North Korean Refugees [map
jpg] They are of the same culture, language, and peninsula, but North Korea couldn’t be any more different from its neighbor, South Korea. North Korea faces poverty, famine, political oppression, and a highly centralized government that has little regard for human rights, leading many people to flee from their country and become refugees. Numbers show that there are about 100,000 to 300,000 North Korean refugees seeking asylum in China, and several thousand have escaped to South Korea. The iron-fist of the North Korean government is formidable in suppressing and ultimately controlling the lives of its people, but with careful negotiations between world powers like the United States, North Korea can become economically powerful enough so that the refugees can finally return home. North Korea’s economy is run by its government [and] dominated by the communist Korean Worker’s Party (KWP). Established in 1948 after Korea’s independence from the Japanese, the KWP had as its first premier Kim II Sung, who is credited as the founder of North Korea. Problems for North Korea arose as its ally, the Soviet Union, experiences increased tensions with the ally of South Korea, the United States. The U.S., fearful of the spread of communism, sought to protect those countries that were vulnerable to communist influences. Pressure from the Soviets eventually led North Korea to invade South Korea in 1950, causing the start of the Korean War. After three years of fighting, both sides were exhausted, their resources depleted. North Korea needed to rebuild itself, for which there were no possible means. Natural resources were limited, while its industrial economy had been held up by foreign aid and the Soviet Union. The collapse of the latter at the end of the Cold War and reluctance of the former because North Korea was communist proved almost fatal for the North Koreans. Today, industrial capital stock is poor from decades of underinvestment, and industrial and power output has declined, with chronic shortages of fertilizer and fuel. Job creation and private investment is difficult with the lack of capital. The currency has been devalued, resulting in high prices for the number one human need — food. Poor harvests, not enough arable lands, and the KWP’s policies of food distribution caused a famine in the mid 1990’s. Continuing into the present, it has killed two million North Koreans with hunger and famine-related diseases; half of the remaining population is suffering from malnutrition. Refugees flee, risking capture at the boarders for a chance to fill their empty stomachs. Stories from refugees in China tell of only having corn gruel to eat, and when corn is no longer available—blades of edible grass. The government is trying to solve the problem of famine, but to no avail. The current president, Kim Jong Il, distributes food according to one’s usefulness and loyalty to his regime, such as the government officials, soldiers and members of the upper class. In places where there are rebellions or political oppression, he has strategically cut off food sources. Money that Kim Jong Il could use in putting his people out of desperate hunger is used for the military; increasing the army and developing nuclear and biological weapons to 1) pressure the U.S. into negotiations that could result in the removal of U.S. troops from South Korea and/or 2)to not be labeled as a terrorist country and therefore become eligible for international financial support. One of the most repressive governments in the world, the KWP has little consideration for the human rights and implants its own ideas into society. There are around 100,000 internally displaced people (those who flee from one part of the country to another), most re-locating for government reasons. According to figures from non-governmental organizations, as many as 200,000 people (most of them sent back after fleeing and being caught in China) are put into high-security labor camps. In these camps, slave-like labor is present, along with forced abortions and public executions. To keep the population in check, the KWP uses police terror to scare and force people into compliance. Internal migration is limited, and any woman found outside her resident town without proper documents can be taken into prison. Those who give birth in prison have their babies killed, and if they cry, they are executed. The newspaper, radio, and television are controlled by the state, while religious groups are state sponsored. Refugees would like to return to their homeland to safely re-establish their cultural, familial, and national ties, and world powers could use their power as the basis to act. Negotiations between North Korea and powers like the U.S. could provide economic aid to North Korea, turning it into an Asian economic power; in return, North Korea could agree in granting human rights to its people. An example of the U.S.’ former aid was after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The U.S. had helped rebuild Japan’s economy by providing money, resources, and opening new markets. Today, Japan has the second-most technologically powerful economy and the third largest economy in the world. Overall, the Asian economy is expanding with increased production, output, market shares, and growth potential, and having North Korea as another player in the markets will not only benefit it, but everyone. North Korean refugee problems can be attributed to their government’s impoverished economy failing to supply enough food for its people, creating a famine that has killed millions and will likely cause more deaths. Violations of human rights and the fear of execution prevent refugees from returning to re-establish ties, but that can be changed if world powers lend a helping hand to the North Korean government to set up a new economy that could prove to be another power in international markets. With the cooperation, time, and responsibility of the North Korean government, refugees will be able to return, receiving a meal not in foreign lands, but in their place of unbreakable familial and cultural bonds — home in motherland North Korea.
In December of 2001, a boat carrying 137 Haitian refugees ran aground a few hundred feet away from the Miami coast. Twenty of them jumped overboard and eighteen swam to shore. Two reportedly drowned, while the Miami Coast Guard rescued the remaining 117. The refugees were detained and individually interviewed to determine if they had a credible fear of returning to Haiti, therefore qualifying for asylum. All but two passed the interviews. The refugees were told they would be released shortly, but received treatment from the Miami INS unique to Haitians. Earlier that month, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) issued a policy which stated that no Haitian could be released from detention without INS approval. This policy was meant to prevent an influx of Haitian migration and deter them from making the journey overseas to the U.S. Although the INS claimed the policy was meant to ensure the well being of Haitians and stabilize migration into the U.S., a closer look hints at a deeper, discriminatory factor. The vast majority of Haitians who travel by boat to the U.S. are intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard and returned to Haiti. Statistics show that those who enter the U.S. are denied asylum in larger numbers than any other nationality, despite the fact that they are escaping harsh conditions. There is also no credible proof of a mass migration. The U.S. Coast Guard reports that on average more Cubans arrive in the U.S. and a policy of detaining Haitians refugees would have no effect in deterring Haitians from immigrating to the U.S. since no one in Haiti is aware of it. The policy does seem to affect the likelihood Haitians have of being granted asylum. Detainment hinders access to legal services and representation. Those who are kept in detention are twice as likely to appear in court without attorneys and those with attorneys are up to six times as likely to be granted asylum. Unfortunately, most Haitians who seek refuge in the U.S. end their journeys in the same place they hoped to escape from. Once back in Haiti, many enter conditions worse than when they left. They are often unable to return to their homes or jobs as violence and no active police force or military to intervene continue to plague the country. Haiti is currently the poorest and most troubled nation in the western hemisphere. The island is home to nearly 8 million people, the vast majority being black, with white and mulatto minorities. Although French is the official language, the majority of Haitians solely speak Creole (historically the language of the peasants). Many even find standard French to be unintelligible. Literacy is just over fifty percent and only one out of four children attend school. Even if all children received an education, the teacher to student ratio would be 1:135. There is a broad divide between the ruling and working classes. The average yearly income is less than $300 and forty percent of Haitian families earn less than $20 a month. Only four percent of the population is employed. Two thirds of the work force depends on the agriculture industry, which has been damaged by droughts and desertification, which has left seventy percent of the land barren. Haiti today is another world compared to the prosperous nation it was in the 18th century. Ceded to France from Spain in 1697, Haiti (then known as St. Domingue) become on of France's most valuable assets. Through the exploitation of slave labor and importation of coffee and sugarcane, Haiti became the richest colony in the world, but years of abuse by French colonists provoked the revolts that would eventually end French rule. The first series of revolts led the French government to abolish slavery in 1793. Less than a decade later, the renowned Haitian revolutionary Toussaint L'Ouverture took control over the colony and proclaimed himself governor for life. Although the French army captured L'Ouverture and sent him into exile, he left able generals who led Haiti's struggle for freedom to its ultimate victory. In 1804, the French were driven off the island and Haiti became the world's first independent black republic. From the moment of its birth, Haiti found itself in an awkward situation. It had no relationship with the United States or Europe, and was not recognized by France. Haiti further isolated itself by supporting South American colonies to gain independence from Spain. Internally, the struggle for power within Haiti was vicious, as the tense relations between blacks and mulattos deteriorated. After a series of unproductive rulers, Haiti declared itself a republic in 1859. Nearly one hundred years later, Francis Duvalier (Papa Doc) was elected president in 1957 and became Haiti's most infamous leader. For thirty-six years the Duvalier regime deceived and abused the rights of Haitians and an estimated 30,000 people were killed. After his death in 1971, Duvalier's son Jean-Claude Duvalier (Baby Doc) took the presidency and subjected the Haitian people to the same mistreatment as did his father. Disenchanted with the long-standing abuse of the Duvalier family, the regime was overthrown in the mid-1980s and Duvalier was sent into exile. In the following years Haiti experienced as many as four military coups. An attempt to hold formal elections resulted in the death of hundreds of people and thousands more left the country. In 1991, a young priest named Jean Bertrand Aristide was elected to the presidency. In consistency with Haiti's history, Aristide was ousted just seven months later and fled to the U.S. Aristide spent the rest of the decade in the U.S. planning and gaining support for his reinstatement. Aristide was eventually reelected as president in 2000, but disillusionment with him was already building. There were accusations that the election was rigged, and Aristide disappointed many supporters when he did not pursue more ambitious attempts at change. There was an upheaval in political and rebel opposition groups, as disdain for Aristide and his government grew. Recently, rebel armies (which are mostly comprised of exiled soldiers of Haiti's disbanded military) have gained control of towns in the northern and eastern regions of Haiti. The majority of Haiti's population sits vulnerable and helpless within the conflict. Since September seventy people have been killed. Thousands more have been injured or displaced from their homes. Foreign nations including Australia, the U.K., and the U.S. have advised their citizens to leave Haiti immediately. For the Haitian people, who are the most at risk, this is not an option. It is likely that the crisis will worsen before it improves. At the moment it is difficult to say what would best serve Haiti. Both political opposition groups and rebel armies say they will accept nothing short of Aristide's resignation. Others argue that it would be useless for Aristide to step down, when there is no political force to take his place. Furthermore, rebel forces - called thugs and terrorists by both Aristide supporters and neutral Haitians - seem to lack any clear political ideology and are currently pushing Haiti to the brink of anarchy. Apart from this there are factors crucial to Haiti's advancement in which many people are in agreement. Unfortunately, many of the dynamics that are pillars of a stable society are lacking in Haiti. One suggestion is to give more voice to the people of Haiti, who for much of their history have gone unheard. In a country where less than four percent of the population controls eighty percent of the land and fifty percent of the wealth, taking into account the concerns of the majority is crucial in building a government that will work for them. Education is often seen as an entry to success, progress, and high quality of life. Currently less than twenty-five percent of all children attend school and violent conflicts have closed universities. It is also important that Haitians are provided opportunities for employment, which would, among other things, provide a steady source of income and help to bring many people out of [poverty]. Most importantly, Haiti is desperate for a leader that is not only democratically elected, but is aware of the people's concerns and sincere about improving the lives of Haitians and the nation as a whole. Ultimately, improvements like these would bring hope of peace and progress to the people of Haiti. Haitians also must understand that such major reforms take time to establish, especially when considering the devastation of Haiti's current state. Optimism and patience, along with the initiative to work for objectives that all Haitians have set for their country are the assets that will give Haitians the things they have always wanted and deserved. This is what would bring refugees home and enable Haiti to show what the world's first free black republic is capable of achieving.
My name is Mohamud. I am 17 years old. I am a senior at Cleveland High School. I myself was a refugee from Somalia. Somalia is located in East Africa. Back in my country of Somalia, life was pretty much normal until the civil war began. One day, my mom woke me up and made me breakfast as usual. After I finished eating breakfast, I got ready and went to school. While I was in school reading and studying my normal class lessons, all of a sudden, we heard big bombs dropping outside and machine guns firing. My teacher told us all to go home. Someone shouted, "War! War!" It was the scariest moment of my life. When I arrived home, I saw my brother laying on the ground outside the house. He had been shot in the leg and was bleeding very badly. I saw my mother crying, and my family was frightened. Quickly, my uncle who was a doctor, came to help. We brought my brother into the house and my uncle treated him. Thank God, he was alive and not too badly injured. With all of the chaos, my family didn't know what to do. We all stayed inside the house for safety because guns were firing and bombs were flying over us. We didn't know what was going on both within Somalia and in its government. My family was part of a minority group in Somalia. The fighting was mainly between the majority clans. Fighters were coming from the North and from the South, and in Mogadishu (where my family lived), we were in the middle of the fighting. A bomb dropped on top of our neighbors' house, and they all died. It was the scariest and saddest moment for me. Quickly, we packed. We took a small amount of food and some drinks and departed. We left everything behind — our house, our business. We got into the car and went to Kenya as refugees. The car ride was horrible. We were stopped by one of the majority clans. They took all of our valuable belongings. Still, in the refugee camps, there were small conflicts because all of the clans were forced to live together in the camps. The United Nations provided us with food, blankets, and a place to sleep. We were there for a few weeks. For the first couple of days, we slept on the ground outside. Then, we stayed in tents that served as out temporary homes. For years, my family would visit the United Nations office to see if we would be able to leave Kenya and come to the U.S. Finally, the U.S. accepted us. We had to go through some interviews and medical screenings. We arrived in the Unisted States in 1996. We had a transit in New York and so we got to see much of New York City. This was the first place we saw in the United States and it was beautiful. We used to see these buildings on TV, and now we couldn't believe we were actually here. Finally, we landed in Minnesota. I started going to school there. I was in middle school by this time. In my classes, none of the students liked me. I felt so isolated from all of the students in the classroom. I felt I was different from the students in my classes because they spoke English and I did not. They answered questions from the teacher that I didn't know how to answer. And they read, but I did not know how to read English. I knew how to read Arabic. The students in my class would laugh at my English words. My only friend was the teacher. It was horrible for me. I didn't know what to do, but I tried very hard to learn English. Minnesota had a very cold winter and it would snow up to 14 inches! This was the first time I had seen snow in my whole life. Today, in the United States, as a senior student in Cleveland High School, I feel much better. I have more friends. At school, I make many more A's now than when I first came here. I became a hardworking student. In the future, I want to finish college. I want to work as an electronic engineer or maybe as an international peacekeeper. There should be a project called "Returning Home." The purpose of the project would be to promote the return of refugees to Somalia. The situation in many parts of Somalia would seem to be unstable, after years of civil war, which has cost the lives of many and driven even more out of the country. The UN together with its other agencies should work in union with Somali people in Somalia from local agencies in advancing assistance to Somalis and from other parts of the world like the United States. The small agencies of Somalis and the United Nations should work together to bring peace and secutiry to Somalia. The general idea is that people who come from areas where stability, security, and recovery are should be able to return. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that more than half of those who have fled from their home districts have been able to return. The plan of this project is to help unite the refugees for return. This should be done through training people and the local communities in Somalia. The goal is that the person who returns will be [a] help to their home district. Somali refugees might go back to take part in rebuilding their homeland. |
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