I loved Professor Jung Ha-Brookshire’s talk because she
shared her story so intelligibly. She drew me in by telling us of her childhood,
and then tying in her experience with the global fashion industry. I was
inspired by her dedication to her craft, and actually recommended her as a
guest instructor in another course I’m involved in. I also loved Professor Mary
Stegmaier’s talk on North Macedonia. It was a situation I was not even aware
of, and I enjoyed learning about the impact statehood has been having on the economy
and politics. As a Strat Comm major, I was fascinated by the wording of the
ballot and the campaign to stop people from going to vote. I’m intrigued by
what the strategy behind that campaign was, and how it became so effective. Professor
Stegmaier’s talk brought up many questions that I’m eager to explore beyond the
classroom.
While doing learning about the Democratic Republic of the Congo
this semester, I was saddened that my research confirmed many of the things I
had heard about the current situation. I had chosen the Congo because my family
is close friends with our Congolese immigrant neighbors, and they had talked
about the reasons they were seeking refugee status—political turmoil and lack
of economic advancement. When I learned just how long the country has been in
political uproar and uncertainty because of unfair elections and unending presidential
terms, I realized just how much we take for granted in America that the presidency
will change every four years. I also didn’t understand the abundance of natural
resources the Congo has, and what little access the average Congolese person
has to that wealth. Much of the development finances are tied up in foreign investment,
which means that even though the Congo is rich in resources, most people still
live under the poverty line and face persecution. The reality of life in the Congo
seems to be in line with the general impression most Westerners have of Africa,
but I learned during my research never to be okay with that single story. The Congolese
people are resilient, and they continue to fight for greater human, economic, political
rights for their countrymen.
Hi and welcome to the last blog post! This week we’ll discuss a few of the talks I found really interesting!
The first lecturer I really enjoyed was Peter Mueser. I had heard a bit about the economic theory he had presented before in my economics course, but it was good to have a refresher on it and put it in the context of globalization. This material was and is pretty challenging for me to think about and use to shape my own ideas with. First, it is always challenging/refreshing to think about people who do manual labor and tasks that make the extremely inexpensive (to us) products sold in the first world. I like knowing about the lives of other people. Of course, this makes me want to eliminate bad working conditions and low pay, so Mueser’s argument is quite counterintuitive. I did enjoy watching the videos about the factory that provided education for their employees and that also employed disabled workers—I think this could combine Mueser’s argument but also give some support to the workers. Jung Ha-Brookshire’s story also played in well with this theme. For the reason’s that this talk was challenging, it was also informative: I will use his ideas to think more critically about how I vote.
It is hard to chose between these speakers; I enjoyed listening to all of them. Mary Stegmaier’s talk was informative because I had never heard of Macedonia or knew about how elections were monitored! Peter Motavalli’s talk was very informative especially concerning the fact that the number of people in the world that are hungry is increasing. I am not sure if he said this or prompted me to do further research, but the statistic on the amount of energy that is transferred to humans in meat vs through plants is breathtaking. I have since changed my eating habits and am working to eat less and less meat. Scott Christiansen’s talk was really good too! I think he did a good job of describing the way social media and technology affects us. I have always been aware of this, but I think his talk was a good reminder and he presented the information in a good way! As a result of that talk, I have logged into my social media accounts much less often, and I believe I have benefited from that. Of course, it is a bit challenging to do so. In addition, his information regarding the amount of metadata that twitter stores about your tweet and the banning of political ads on the site was quite interesting and I had never thought about either topic before. I think it is really easy for people to see the bad effects of AI and things, but many don’t know how it works, know the different types, and know the benefits of it. Eventually, maybe everyone will leave college with a better idea of how AI works.
During this class, I learned a lot about Nigeria too! I didn’t
know it was such a diverse place—I think about 1/3 of the remaining languages
of the world are spoken there. I also did not know about the cultural tensions
going on between the north and south there. It is interesting to see a “third
world” country begin to modernize in the era of globalization, and I think Nigeria
is quite a good example of this. Of course, there are a lot of problems with
its modernization and industrialization, namely industrial and economic, but its
mistakes can hopefully guide the rest of sub-Saharan Africa towards a better
future. More than anything, doing this blog makes it feel like less of a scary,
far away place, and more of a country with problems just like we do, but with
good people who deserve a shot in the globalizing world.
Artificial Intelligence is a field of study that is expanding rapidly because it has started to affect every element of life in developed countries. In Wired’s story on Feifei Li, she mentioned that even in her advanced lab and Stanford, there’s still a need for more women and minorities. While blatant affirmative action might be effective in recruiting, AI scientists also need to be highly qualified and for that, we need a fundamental change in the way society sees engineering professions. STEM has been portrayed as a traditionally masculine discipline, and there need to be a concentrated effort to find seek out and share the stories of minority and female engineers. The industry lobbying channel for STEM (if there is one) needs to run a targeted marketing campaign that teaches people of all races, genders and classes that they can have a future in STEM. We also need to prepare our middle and high school students well by emphasizing science and math curriculum and providing tutors so that students can understand the concepts they are learning without feeling frustrated by their studies. Li’s camps for girls to come and design AI projects is a great start, but there needs to be more efforts like that to tangibly demonstrate what an exciting field AI is, and to mentor students throughout their entire education career so that come job placement, they feel adequately prepared for their future.
Hi
everyone and welcome to blog post number seven!
This
week we will be talking about human and sex trafficking into and out of Nigeria
along with a few comments about AI and diversity.
While
Nigeria is certainly not the worst country for human trafficking in the
world [1], it is certainly an issue. Nigeria ranks number 32 out of 167 of the
countries with the highest number of slaves, over 1 million. While this is not
a direct correlation to the number of people trafficked in Nigeria, it gives a
general idea of the problem. Many of the countries, including the Central
African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, and Congo, that are at the top of the list
are near to Nigeria, might traffic to Nigeria, or are areas where Nigerians are
trafficked to.
Human
trafficking in Nigeria can occur within a state, between states, or completely
out of the country. For reference, Nigeria has 36 states with the mean size
being 9,907 square miles (approximately the size of Massachusetts). Nigerian
government organizations cite that in 2016, 75% of trafficking victims are
trafficked across Nigerian states, 23% within states, and 2% outside the
country.
Human
trafficking can be driven by aspects of globalization we have discussed in
class including climate change, economic instability, discrimination, and
violence. Many people trafficked outside the country are escaping, “dire
economic situations…, violent conflicts driven in part by climate change and a
scramble over scarce resources, some have suffered exclusion and discrimination
that has left them unable to fend for themselves, while others are vulnerable
to exploitation as they seek to escape abusive families” [3].
Unlike other
countries, Nigeria has been listed as a country with a large number of
trafficking victims overseas, specifically Europe, by the US State Department
Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. In 2017, the International
Organization for Migration (IOM) reported a 600 percent increase in potential
sex trafficking victims arriving in Italy by sea, most of them from Nigeria [4].
Typical path of trafficking victim
Nigeria
has ratified most international agreements against human trafficking and established
the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) to
help improve prosecution and investigation in trafficking cases. In addition, a
number of NGOs have helped establish shelters and provide reintegration services;
reintegration is especially important as many women and girls struggle with mental
and physical health issues if and when they return. In addition, social
pressures from a family disappointed in the person’s failure to return without
money can worsen the suffering.
The Sustainable
Development Goals are the next set of goals the put forth by the UN after the Millennium
Development Goals (2000-2015). While the goals include the promotion of gender
equality (goal 3) and improvement of maternal health (goal 5), they do not
directly address the issue of human and sex trafficking [5]. The Outcome
Document for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) suggested for ending
trafficking of women and girls (goal 5) in its proposal for the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs). In addition, its proposed goal 8 is to, “Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable
economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.” [6]
Another goal with potential effects on human trafficking is number 16 aimed at
providing access to justice for all and building effective, accountable and
inclusive instructions. Patterning with transportation agencies and providing
education to help identify potential victims is another method mentioned to eradicate
human trafficking.
The
current Sustainable Development Goals do not reflect the suggestions of the
outcome document of the MDGs. Goals addressing gender equality, decent work,
and poverty will all have an impact on human trafficking but it is a bit disappointing
that none of the major goals (some of the subgoals may address this) address human
trafficking.
Switching
gears to AI, the gist of the problem here is that there are not many women and
people of color in computer science: the NSF reports the percent of women
earning bachelor’s degrees in computer science decreasing from 28 percent in 2000
to 18 percent in 2015 [7]. This is a problem because although neural networks do
learn independently, they require a large amount of training data and learning
supervised by its creator—as many creators of AI are white males, small biases
they hold have the capacity to be expressed in resulting neural networks and
machine learning techniques, which will have an increasing use in our world.
Having a scientific and technological community that is welcoming to women and
people of color is vital to keep bias from being expressed in AI.
When Zakaria refers to “politically correct but historically
incorrect,” he is discussing the current cultural discourse that says
non-Western countries were economically comparable to Western countries up until
the 1800s. There is now an idea floating that suggests the past 200 years of Western
dominance were just a fluke in the system, and that this current balance is
just a return to normalcy. The evidence he gives for this include a detailing
of Zheng He’s expeditions that were stopped by the government and a misrepresentation
of China and India’s GDPs due to population size. Eastern countries were far ahead
of Western countries for many centuries before GDP was calculated, discovering
algebra, printing literature, practicing medicine and redefining warfare
through the technology they were inventing. I agree with Zakaria because the
evidence indicates the Eastern world was more powerfully and inventive than the
Western world until about the 15th century. I understand Eastern
countries wanting to rewrite the narrative so that they can point their recent
political and economic stability as a result of a returning to the balanced
order of the world, but they are losing out on a key piece of their dominant
history by suggesting they’ve been equals for longer than they have. In an
increasing globalized world, I think there is going to be less competition between
Eastern and Western societies, and as such this debate will dissipate. Governments
will no longer care if their country was previously dominant, and will instead
look to future growth.
Zakaria digs into this idea from Huang on “output without
development,” (72) which intrigues me. It offers an explanation for not just
why China and other Eastern countries’ societies did not last long, but also
ancient civilizations. We think about Latin American indigenous peoples such as
the Aztec, Incas and Mayas and view their architectural marvels and governing
systems as unreachable feats, technological and political accomplishments
without compare. The same is said of the examples Zakaria brings up—the Great
Wall of China, the Forbidden City, the Taj Mahal. Yet because those societies
had been increasing production through manpower and not through developing more
efficient ways to do things, they began to lag behind whenever the man power
was unavailable. Huang’s concept explains why ancient civilizations collapse,
and offers word of concern for current societies. If the increase in production
is not accompanied with developments in technology that allow for greater efficiency,
then the society is creating a collapsing bubble of prosperity that will not last.
In this globalizing world, “output without development” is a topic to consider
when vying for world dominance.
Hi everybody! This week we will be taking a break from Nigeria!
In chapter 3 of A Non-Western World, Zakaria describes an explorer named Zheng doing similar things to Columbus, yet eighty-seven years earlier. Zakaria also mentions that the ships of Zheng’s fleet were bigger and better constructed than any European’s. While Columbus had only 4 ships, Zheng had 317, and the largest one of them over twice as large as the biggest Spanish ship. He also describes Chinese ships to be extremely advanced for their time, with waterproofing and adjustable keels. The port of Nanjing, China was the world’s “most advanced” shipbuilding port. Starting in the 1430s, a series of consecutively more conservative emperors came into power, eventually decreeing that ships with more than two masts, necessary for ocean-faring, were outlawed. Eventually, the Qing dynasty burned a 700-mile section of China’s southern coast in 1644.
The reason for the U-turn in exploration
was a combination of many factors, interestingly enough, some of which the Europeans
also experienced. For one, seafaring wasn’t the most economically advantageous
task. While explorers did bring back many foreign people, animals, and ideas, none
of these things were going to pay the bills. Also, the civilizations they did
discover were probably not capable of engaging in mutually beneficial trade
with China. On top of that, at this time, the Mongols had begun to become a
threat to China, so the society and its leaders did not see it pertinent to go
find more giraffes and the like by exploring.
Zakaria also mentions that Europe’s
naval exploration that allowed it to, “energize itself and spread its power and
influence across the globe.” One then thinks that he is arguing that China is
the superior power, but then he says that China’s seemingly sudden decision to
stop exploring was actually indicative of the civilization’s “stagnation”. After
all, it was not one decision that removed the state’s boats from the water, but
actually many over a period of one-hundred years. What the reader concludes
from this is that the west, Europe and the United States, has been “ahead” in
terms of modernization for slightly over half of a millennia. Although China
and India, useful proxies for the non-western world, are commonly thought to
have been “dominant” or superior to the west up until ~1800, this story shows
that in fact, the west has been more advanced ever since the backpedaling of
the Chinese navy in the 1430s.
Zakaria mentions (65) that the view
that the Chinese and Indians being “as rich as the West up until the 1800s” and
that the west rising in relatively recent times was simply an accident, is politically
correct but historically inaccurate. Of course, it seems politically correct to
claim that China and India were doing just fine until recently—it would be
obtuse and snotty to continue to say that the west has long dominated the world.
In addition, Zakaria points out that due to sheer population size (not indicative
of wealth), China and India have actually outranked Europe in GDP for a long
time, even in 1913. If you instead measure economic growth or GDP per capita,
it tells a different story. Zakaria also mentions that many technological
innovations came out of the west in 1700 and 1800, making the view that the
west only recently gained steam “historically inaccurate”. He also mentions that
Archaeological records from 1700 show Asians much shorter than Europeans
indicating poorer nutrition and lower incomes. I am not so sure how that
conclusion was drawn, but he does not go into this any more.
I agree and disagree with Zakaria here, and I think it really has to do with what you define as “advanced”. Zakaria defines it as exploration and later the development of inventions. I do agree with him on this, yet I think this portrays the history in the wrong way. China and the non-west did have the capacity to do just what the west did, but for many reasons they did not have the same drive to industrialize as the west. Thus, if you define advanced as, albeit convoluted, the capacity for advancement, then I disagree. I think the best thing to do in this situation is to just know the history and why things happened the way they did.
Climate change and human rights form an interesting intersection that not many consider. Environmental issues such as extreme weather patterns and decreasing biodiversity can cause problems for countries such as displacement, infrastructure destruction and famine. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the following environmental problems are rampant, according to a 2008 Swedish policy analysis: “land degradation, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, water pollution, and in Kinshasa air pollution.” Water and air pollution are some of the biggest environmental threats to human rights because of the potential for disease. The UN Declaration of Human Rights lists “the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself”as one of its main tenants, and not having access to clean water and air makes it impossible for this standard to be attained. The DRC is also rich in natural resources, and environmental issues related to mining has led to a degradation of the rights of workers to proper conditions. Many of the mines have been in violation of such international standards, including during the privatization of mining in recent years as workers are laid off. The government, while it regulates many of these connected issues, is not in a place of political stability to be able to address the violated rights properly.
In the Congo, there are four main indigenous tribes: the Mbuti, the Baka, the east Batwa and the west Batwa. They make up between 1-3 percent of the population, depending on the estimate. All four are nomadic peoples who utilize the forest as a home and livelihood—hunting, fishing and gathering. However, due to deforestation and logging, the tribes have had to adapt to a lifestyle of landsquatting; many now live on former tribal lands in extreme poverty. They have also had to contend with conservation efforts—more land is being conglomerated and protected under national parks law, but the tribes are losing that land to the government too. Wade Davis, the TED speaker, discusses endangered cultures as those that are losing their language, land and way of being to “progress.” While the tribes of the Congo still make up a significant part of the population, they are worse off than other Congolese in terms of access to healthcare, education and quality standards of living. There is currently no Congolese law that protects indigenous people, though legislators have been working to secure their rights. The government acknowledges all four of the tribes as distinct people groups, which is an important step. One quote from Davis sticks out, because the annihilation of culture as they know it is happening to the tribes of the the DRC: “Well, the truth is the 20th century, 300 years from now, is not going to be remembered for its wars or its technological innovations, but rather as the era in which we stood by and either actively endorsed or passively accepted the massive destruction of both biological and cultural diversity on the planet.”
Farish Noor defines eurocentrism as “the emerging perception within the European cultural, historical experience of European identity as good and all other forms as less good or less advanced.” This stems from a Western perspective that we are all better than them, and has resulted in the genocide of different “ways of being” around the world. In order to go beyond eurocentrism, Noor argues, we must be willing to take a multicultural, universal look at human rights and consider things from not just a Western perspective. For the Congolese, this means coming to understand the European influence of colonization and then rising beyond it to celebrate Congolese culture. This includes in areas of environmental and human rights: if the government could look to the time-honored way of living of the indigenous people, it might find solutions to deforestation and famine that are not violent or politically unstable.
Hi there and welcome to blog post #5 everyone! In this post,
we’ll discuss some human rights issues in Nigeria and how they intersect with
previous topics.
This post pulls on themes we have talked about in all of the
other posts, a true testament to how globalization is not simply an economic,
political, technological, or cultural phenomenon. In the first week we
mentioned how Nigeria was split about 50/50 between Islam in the north and
Christianity in the south. In addition, there is a similar, equal, split between
citizens in rural and urban living centers. Week Two discussed the incredible
variety of languages spoken in Nigeria and its influences on Nigerian
nationalism. Week Three talked about environmental issues in Nigeria and
efforts to stop pollution. Finally, Week Four was focused on international
organizations—UN, IMF, and WTO—and their influences on the Nigerian Economy.
What I hope you will take away from this post is that human rights, be it
though the issues themselves or solutions to them, are connected with all of these other posts.
Human rights legislation in Nigeria since independence have
been dynamic. From 1960 to 1998, the country had 7 coups d’etat. Rights then
were not plentiful, but in 1984 a general in power repealed a law prohibiting
publication of any material that could be considered against the interest of
the government [1]. However, the regime shortly began jailing critics and
banned more newspapers than any other government. Regimes have repeatedly infringed
on the right to free speech, closing newspapers and media outlets.
Currently, the Nigerian government does not immediately
accept international treaties it signs as law. For an agreement to actually
influence Nigerian policy, it must not only be ratified by the country but also
be specifically written into the code of law. Thus, it can sign treaties, such
as the African Charter [2], but not be bound to them in any way. Nigerian
courts often will look to the Constitution instead of any international
charter, so expansion of human rights from any treaty is limited.
Infringements often involve corruption of government
officials, Human Rights Watch says, “Countless ordinary Nigerians…are accosted
on a daily basis by armed police officers who demand bribes and commit human
rights abuses against them as a means of extorting money.” The cause of this
could be a combination of (1) local officers not receiving enough pay and (2)
local officers are willing to extort citizens because those citizens may not
belong to the same ethnic, linguistic, or religious group as they do–this problem
is an economic and cultural issue. As discussed in Post One, corruption and
embezzlement is a serious problem in Nigeria, with an estimated $400 billion
taken from the government in 1960-2012. In addition, there are many opportunities
for boundaries to be drawn and prejudices to be taken towards another group in Nigeria.
Violence aimed towards specific groups is not uncommon in Nigeria: just in
2015, the military killed 300 Shia Muslims, accusing them of trying to assassinate
an army general. Upon further investigation, Human Rights Watch Africa said, “At
best it was a brutal overreaction and at worst it was a planned attack on the
minority Shia group” [4].
Nigeria is lacking in rights for the LGBTQ community. This
is an interesting case because it is not due to an error in political process—the
2007 Pew Global Attitudes Project found that 97 percent of Nigerians believe
homosexuality is unacceptable—it is simply an opinion of the country. A later survey
claimed the number to decrease to 94% in 2015. In Farish Noor’s chapter of Beyond Eurocentrism, he makes the point
that cultures that Europeans view as backwards, including many native religions
and Islam, actually do have many human rights attitudes included in them; thus,
incorporating western methods of attaining these rights is a harmful approach.
He highlights this with Islam in Malaysia. This is an excellent example of
where an established culture does not cater to the rights of others even in the
absence of Western input. A discussion as to how Nigerians feel about the LGBTQ
community fits with his argument in Beyond
Eurocentrism would certainly be interesting. One could argue that the
history of colonialism in Nigeria may have, and currently does, put Eurocentric
pressures on the country.
Globalization also has an effect on Nigeria’s languages. As
mentioned in Post Two, Nigeria is a hotbed for diversity, languages and
cultures. But organization, industrialization and westernization will cause the
variety of languages to decrease. 27 of Nigeria’s languages are close to
extinction [5]. Dr. Lindsey’s [6] and Wade Davis’s [7] talks about vanishing
cultures and languages highlight how this could be a human rights issue.
Different peoples see the world in different ways, certain cultures do not
distinguish between blue and green because of their religious views about the
sky and the tree canopy they live under. Western views on government and rights
might not work well in practice in such a diverse country (Although I am still
curious about the LGBTQ problem).
Nigeria currently sits on the UN Human Rights Council and, “abstained
from voting on a resolution on the human rights situation in Syria, Venezuela,
Yemen, and Burundi; and another resolution urging states to respect and protect
basic human rights and civil society space.” [3] This would be worth more research.
Just as youth and women were at the center of creating a less
polluted environment for Nigeria (see Post Three), they are also at the center
of human rights activist groups. The Youths for Human Rights Protection and
Transparency Initiative (YARPTI) has denounced candidates that they claim are corrupt
[8]. Women in Nigeria (WIN) is an organization which educates women about their
rights and provides loans. Women suffer from human rights violations frequently
too, with female genital mutilation practiced the most in Nigeria out of the
world [9].
Traditional cultural values may sometimes be backwards, for
example the Nigerian opinion on LGBTQ rights and practice of female genital
mutilation, but if the author of Beyond
Eurocentrism and speakers from Ancient
Wisdom for a Modern World and Dreams
from endangered cultures are correct, there is often wisdom and even ideas
of human rights found within cultures where westerners might not see it. This
does not condone any Nigerian human rights violations, but just serves as a
reminder that change and globalization should be a narrow line to walk between
preservation of culture and exchange of ideas. Change may not always be good.
“You all have watches, but you have no time”
Sources:
[1] Shepherd, George W, Eileen McCarthy-Arnolds, David
Penna, and Debra J. C. Sobrepeña. Africa, Human Rights, and the Global System:
The Political Economy of Human Rights in a Changing World. Westport, Conn:
Greenwood Press, 1994. Print.
[9] Okeke, Tc et al. “An overview of female
genital mutilation in Nigeria.” Annals of medical and health sciences research vol. 2,1 (2012): 70-3. doi:10.4103/2141-9248.96942
Hi
there everybody and welcome to blog post #4! This week we’ll talk about Nigeria
in a more global context.
Nigeria joined the United
Nations (UN) in 1960, just a week after it gained independence. At that time,
as it is today, states in Africa were struggling to find their way in an
increasingly global world. In his speech to the UN general assembly on October
7th, 1960, Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa really hits the
nail on the head referring to problems in Africa by saying, “political
independence is totally inadequate itself if it is not accompanied by stability
and economic security…” [1]. Remember that this speech was given during the
Cold War and the US and Soviet Union were interested in backing countries if
they followed their political agenda. The Prime Minister had seen how those
competing powers had interfered with proxy wars, the neighboring Congo being
one of them [2], and said, “The best way for [superpowers] to assist us in
reaching maturity is not by ideological propaganda, in whatever form it may be
disguised, but by helping us genuinely, with really good will, to develop our
resources and to educate our human material up to those standards which are
necessary for proper development.” Again, Balewa had some wisdom and sees that
a proxy war will not benefit his country—he knew what was going on. As a side
note, Balewa was knighted in 1960 by Queen Elizabeth II and also awarded
honorary doctorates from the University of Sheffield and New York University.
He later lost for re-election and was assassinated in a 1966 coup. Despite its
political turmoil, Nigeria was placed on the UN Security Council in 1966 and
has been on the committee a total of five times, most recently in 2014-2015 [3].
Nigeria has been a major
contributor to UN policing and peace operations. The country contributed the
most peacekeepers to the UN in 2013 but currently contributes only 327 troops
[4]. As of 2016, Nigeria was the 14th largest troop contributor and
provided a majority of the troops for the UN Liberia mission (UNMIL) [5]. Nigerian
UN troops were among the first to arrive in Liberia and the last to leave.
Nigeria also made an effort to include more women in their peacekeeping efforts
there, fielding 1,500 women out of their 20,000 total. The Guardian says, “UNMIL
was established in September 2003 to monitor a ceasefire agreement in Liberia
following the resignation of President Charles Taylor and the conclusion of the
Second Liberian Civil War.” [6] The mission ended last year. As another side
note, although superpowers like the United States and China do not provide many
troops for UN peacekeeping, they do provide a majority of the budget [7].
In 2011, a suicide bomber attacked the UN Offices in
Abuja, the capital of Nigeria. Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the
attack. Before this attack, Boko Haram had only focused on domestic targets.
The attack killed 15 UN personnel [8].
Nigeria is also a member of the International
Monetary Fund (IMF), gaining membership in 1961. In August 2000, the country
requested IMF financial support and the organization has provided Nigeria with
advice and resources. The 2000 program was aimed at reducing inflation and
increasing transparency in the use of public resources. The program did not
work, but Nigeria decided to keep the IMF around and let it monitor its
countries economy. Nigeria’s problems lie in that a large portion of its
economy is based on oil. IMF representative in Nigeria, Gary G. Moser, cites
that, “when oil prices are high, the government-like any household that
receives a windfall-should save for a rainy day.” [9] However, Nigeria has many
needs to attend to, causing it to spend much of its money immediately. Hence,
it is hit hard by oil price declines. A recent IMF checkup suggests that
diversifying the government’s revenue base is “critical” as oil accounts for
40% of the government’s revenue. The chart measures the revenue governments
generate from GDP overall and from non-oil sources. Saudi Arabia does not have
such a heavy reliance on their oil as Nigeria. In this article, the IMF
suggests that Nigeria needs tax reform to collect more taxes. It cites that in
only 6 percent of registered corporate taxpayers are active and payment
compliance in value added tax ranges between 15-40 percent [10]. If reform
happens, the government will be able to provide more public programs for its
underserved populous and be less susceptible to changes in oil prices.
Onto
our last organization, Nigeria has been a member of the World Trade
Organization (WTO) since 1995. A summary of Nigeria’s imports and exports again
shows that Nigeria relies very heavily on its oil industry, 91.2% [11]. The
country has also signed many regional trade agreements with a majority of south
America, countries in northern Africa and central Asia [12]. The country ranks
29th in terms of World GDP, and 142nd in terms of GDP per
capita. Nigeria ranks 24th in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP)
and 137th in terms of PPP per capita [13]. Nigeria’s GINI
coefficient is 43, slightly higher than the US’s (US) and in the same ballpark
as Argentina’s (44.5) [14].
To
wrap things up, I’ll summarize an article focusing on Nigeria and South Africa
relations. Recent riots in Pretoria and Johannesburg, South Africa erupted
aimed at foreign-owned businesses. The riots killed at least 12 people and
targeted 1,000 businesses. This has happened before in South Africa, but this
time a private airline, Air Peace, has volunteered free flights for Nigerian’s
back to their home country. Last Wednesday, 189 Nigerians landed in Lagos with,
“some of those onboard punching the air and singing the national anthem while
waving pictures of burnt shops.” [15,16]The South African president and police
of course do not condone these attacks in any way, and despite outcry from the
Nigerian public for retribution, the current president of Nigeria is flying to
South Africa this week to discuss a solution to this problem. As with many
riots, the violence and disarray seems to be amplified by looting [17].
According to the CIA Factbook on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the DRC is part of the following organizations: “ACP, AfDB, AU, CEMAC, CEPGL, COMESA, EITI (compliant country), FAO, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC (NGOs), ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), MIGA, NAM, OIF, OPCW, PCA, SADC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU (NGOs), WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO.” While I am not sure what all of the letters stand for, some notable ones include the World Health Organization, the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund. The DRC is also part of the United Nations and the International Criminal Court. The Congo has faced numerous global health crises and human rights violations by organized militia groups in the region, so membership in both the WHO and ICC is important. The DRC joined the UN in 1960, which was the year it gained independence from Belgium.
The GINI coefficient for the Congo is 42.1, which is a drop of about .1 in the past decade. It’s ranked 53rd on the world list, behind China, Saudi Arabia, Mexico and other nearby African countries. This tells us that the Congolese economic situation is relatively equal, despite most of its people living in poverty (80 percent in extreme poverty according to the Borgen Project.) The GDP adjusted by PPP is $827, which means is significantly lower than nearby African countries. Due to the continued political and military instability in the Congo, people have been in cyclical poverty—the highest GDP per PPP was $1386 in 1990, while the lowest was $545 in 2002. Compare this with the US’ GDP per PPP of $55681 in 2018 and the disparity is remarkable.
This week, the DRC is primarily concerned with a measles outbreak that has killed 3,500 people so far this year. In a country that has inconsistent access to healthcare, officials are currently running a campaign to vaccinate 825,000 children in the next week to prevent further deaths. The Congolese government is partnering with the WHO; the target of the campaign is children because a majority of the deaths have been children who missed routine vaccinations. Measles has killed more people in the Congo than Ebola this year, and the government continues to fight a misinformed ideology among those who are suspicious of the vaccinations. Having a global partner organization is extremely helpful in times like these, as the Congolese government is not stable enough to carry out such a campaign by itself.
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA 
