Health, human rights and intervention case studies Flashcards
How does life expectancy vary between ATSI peoples and non-indigenous Australians?
- ATSI peoples’ is around 10 year less than non-indigenous people
Why do ATSI peoples have lower life expectancy?
- High rates of chronic disease and injury
- High rates of smoking, drug taking and alcohol abuse
Lower levels of education and employment
- High rates of smoking, drug taking and alcohol abuse
How does the government spend money in France?
Healthcare spending
○ Predominantly state funded (4th highest of the G20 nations).
○ French residents pay a ‘top-up’ of around £150 per month (per family).
○ Spend 11.5% of GDP on healthcare - one of the highest in the G20.
Welfare and education spending
○ State pension is considerable – approximately double the UK average pension.
○ Education spending is high in France (approx. £8500 per student per year).
○ Schooling is typically up to the age of 16 for girls and boys.
Service provision
○ Drinking water provision reaches 100% of the population and 98% have adequate sanitation.
○ Service provision for citizens is generally seen as high on a global, as well as inter-European level.
How does the government spend money in Saudi Arabia?
Healthcare spending
○ Largely state funded (80%), with high quality, state healthcare.
Welfare and education spending
○ Unemployment pay is low (around £400 per month), and payable for only 12 months.
○ Pensions are low by international standards – around £30 per month.
○ Education spending is lower than France, with a focus on religious teaching rather than scientific and technical skills.
○ Schooling is typically up to the age of 15 for girls and 17 for boys.
○ There is disparity in the opportunities for females within the country.
Service provision
○ Drinking water provision reaches 97% of the population and 100% have adequate sanitation.
Has Bangladesh achieved its sustainable development goals?
- Eradicate poverty target 1.2% - achieved 1.74%
- Reduce child mortality target 32/1000 live births - achieved 38/1000
Improve maternal health target 143/100000 - achieved 170/100000
- Reduce child mortality target 32/1000 live births - achieved 38/1000
What human rights abuses occur in Saudi Arabia?
- Women and religious minorities face extensive discrimination in law and in practice. A woman’s testimony is generally given half the weight of a man’s testimony. Shiites, who make up 10 to 15 percent of the population, face socioeconomic disadvantages, discrimination in employment, and underrepresentation in government positions and the security forces.
- Islam is the official religion, and all Saudis are required by law to be Muslims. A 2014 royal decree punishes atheism with up to 20 years in prison. The government prohibits the public practice of any religion other than Islam and restricts the religious practices of Shiites and of those who practice Sufism.
- Courts resorted extensively to the death penalty and people were executed for a wide range of crimes.
What human rights abuses occur in South Sudan?
- Haven’t had election since 2010
- Committed serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, including the indiscriminate and targeted killing of civilians, the recruitment and use of children, acts of sexual violence and destruction of property.
- At least 52 people, including children, were extrajudicially executed.
What is the issue regarding ATSI peoples?
- Have long been subjected to lower living standards, discrimination and poorer quality of life than Australia’s non indigenous population.
- They have an average life expectancy that is 10 years shorter than that of non indigenous Australians - 70 years instead of 80
- They have Australia’s highest levels of drug and alcohol abuse, as well as homelessness
- Are seeing their traditions and culture disappearing
How were ATSI peoples treated before the 1967 referendum?
- Could not vote, gain political representation, or participate in shaping the country
- Were often forced to live on ‘reserves’
- Often had their children forcibly removed by the authorities to be raised in ‘civilised’ white-run institutions. The legacy of this policy is known as the ‘stolen generations’ and the practice didn’t finally end until 1970
What is Australia’s 2009 closing the gap initiative?
- The 2009 ‘Closing the Gap’ initiative is part of the Australian government’s commitment to improve the health and quality of life of all ATSI peoples. It aims to halve the gap in child mortality by 2018, narrow the divide in reading and numeracy levels, and increase the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander students competing high school
How was aid used in Nepal?
- In Nepal between the 1950s and 1970s foreign aid financed about 95% of the government expenditure.
- Total aid has declined to approximately 7% of government expenditure, yet in 2014 it still totalled $222 million.
Aid in Haiti
- It suffers from widespread corruption, large scale emigration, resources exploitation , civil rights violations, poor healthcare, lethal contagious disease outbreaks, and a high level of aid dependency
- Between 1990 and 2009, it received aid amounting to over $5 billion, mostly from the USA, Canada and the EU, but little has resulted from this.
- 5 years after the quake, only half the promised aid had been received. 500,000 victims were still living in temporary shelters without electricity, plumbing or sewerage. A cholera outbreak also resulted from failure to provide proper sanitation.
- Many aid pledges were never fulfilled
Aid was unequally distributed, being too focussed on emergency camps, and the ‘safe’ parts of Port-au-Prince. Rural areas were largely ignored.
Aid helping Malaria
- Due to international aid programmes, the global rate of new infections fell by 37% between 2000 and 2015, and mortality rates also fell by 60%
- In 2000, donor nations increased their funding to provide -
○ Free insecticide treated mosquito nets so that over half of the population of sub Saharan Africa had access to an ITN by 2014, compared to just 2% in 2000
○ Free access to new medicines
○ Better and more widely available diagnosis - The UN estimates that 6.2 million deaths have been prevented since 2000
- In 2000, donor nations increased their funding to provide -
Corruption
- In 2009, Zambia’s former president Frederick Chiluba, was charged with embezzling US$12 million of aid money
- In 2015, the UK donated £128 million to Somalia despite the latter’s ranking as the world’s most corrupt country.
Colombian drug trade
- Columbia has been one of the largest recipients of American military aid for over a decade. However, it has a poor record of human rights abuses.
- ‘Widespread and systematic’ torture is used by the country’s military and paramilitary forces
- The USA argues that its military aid helps Columbia to maintain peace, tackle illegal armed groups and fight criminal organisations involved in illegal people or drug trafficking.
- The US government argues that it has imposed human rights conditions on aid payments, such as by requiring the suspension of military personnel accused of committing human rights abuses.
