GPHC 2018-2019

Currently, the country of Venezuela is suffering from both a humanitarian crisis and political warfare. It can be inferred that the human rights abuses citizens of Venezuela face are a direct result of the political power struggle between Nicolas Maduro and Juan Guaido. It’s worth mentioning, that Venezuela technically has two presidents. Aside from Maduro, Juan Guiado is also the president of Venezuela, however, self declared. Different from Maduro, Guaido is backed by the people, so perhaps he is the country’s true president or at least the people’s president. Under the rule of the country’s current President and de-facto dictator, Nicolas Maduro, who came to power in 2013, the once great democratic country is now on the brink of collapsing. Presently, Venezuela is in the mist of an economic crisis, one of the worst economic crises in the country's history. As a result, citizens of Venezuela are living without access to basic human necessities. As of 2018, 80% of households in...

       South Sudan is there world’s youngest nation, having gained independence in 2011, effectively cutting what was the old Sudan in half. The country has been involved in conflict every year of its existence, likely correlated to conflict in Darfur, in southwestern Sudan, although also likely brought upon on its own. The United Nations has reported that multiple human rights abuses are being committed upon its people by numerous groups who are using the instability of the nation as an advantage. These include but are not limited to sexual mutilation, gang rape, and the burning of villages. Despite attempts at peace building on a governmental level, the problems remain rampant. According to UNICEF, a quarter of sexual attacks reported in the country are being committed on children. Many more are committed on the pregnant and the elderly, and sexual crimes against men and boys exist too; these are often never reported due to the stigma attached to them. Now, governm...

By: Jadyn Cleary Child Dies at US-Mexico Border    In April of 2018, President Trump enacted a policy that calls for the separation of families and detainment of children at the US-Mexico border. This resulted in lots of outrage from US citizens concerning the ethics of the policy. Along with the fact that young children were being separated from their parents, many people were horrified by the way the care of the detained children was handled. One of the most egregious instances of this was when an eight-year-old Guatemalan boy died while in custody of the US border agency in December of 2018. The boy died of the flu and was given medical attention beforehand, however, they were not able to properly diagnose him until an autopsy revealed the cause of death. This sparked outrage from many people, including President Trump, about the poor conditions the children were in, as well as the lack of sufficient care. He blamed the incident on Democrats who refused to pay fo...

Cole Barger Mr. Roddy GPHC 24 February 2019 Human Rights in Brazil Brazil inaugurated its new president, Jair Bolsonaro, on January 1, 2019. One of the very first things he did was abolish the human rights ministry in Brazil, and replace it with a new ministry that will look after women, human and family rights. The person in charge of this is an evangelical preacher who is against abortion and thinks that women were born to be mothers. She is also in favor of the government being led by the church. This decision was immediately criticized by many people, claiming that it would be a downgrade from the original one. It is not surprising that President Bolsonaro chose to do this given what he believes and has said in the past, specifically about indigenous people and the LGBT community. Tempers are rising and people are no longer afraid to physically express their opinions due to the election of President Bolsonaro. Brazil is a very dangerous place to be if you are apart of the L...

Juan Guaidó, the leader of the National Assembly of Venezuela as of January 2019, declared Maduro's leadership "illegitimate" and claimed the presidency. He was recognized as Venezuela's interim president by the U.S., most European countries, and several Latin American countries. Just a few months before, the UN had released a statement on the situation of Venezuela. The statement said that the number of people that have left the country due to the crisis exceeds three million, and that widespread shortage of food and medicine is becoming a serious problem. Guaido's actions brought attention to the social and economic crisis Venezuela has been experiencing for the past few years, and emphazised the need for humanitarian aid. However, Maduro denies the accusations of human rights violations under his leadership, and refuses to allow aid into the country. The Venezuelan Army, which supports Maduro's leadership, blocked the Colombian border with oil tanks to prev...

Human Rights: Dakota Pipelines Diminish Native American Tribal Sovereignty     Tribal Sovereignty has been toyed with for many years and to top that, it will continue to be thrown around as long as President Trump is in office. Yes, it is true American Indians are in trouble with trump in office and their sovereignty is threatened due to decisions made by Trump. Mr.Trump, on January 21, 2017, signed off for two oil pipelines to be constructed. These pipelines going through Native American land, and diminishing their sovereignty. -"Mr. Trump, any comment to the Standing Rock community and the protesters out there?" a reporter in the Oval Office asked after the president finished signing five executive orders. Trump put his head down, pursed his lips and looked in the opposite direction. He then responded to a question about when he expected to make a Supreme Court nomination.”       Standing Rock Sioux and other tribe all have t...

Emily Routbort Mr. Roddy GPHC R 23 February 2019 Ethiopia Lets in Human Rights Watch for the First Time in 8 Years      Its taken 2 years of protests for power to change in Ethiopia.  Last April, after 8 years, the new Prime Minister of Ethiopia took action to get rid of the reputation the country holds.  Abiy Ahmed, the new Prime Minister is working to abolish the reputation of being a country who tortures, detainees and spies on its people.  Ethiopia has released thousands of political prisoners and let abusive security force officers go. Furthermore, the conflict with Eritrea came to a halt after a whole decade. The country who was involved with gang violence, displacement of people from their homes,  and many more, has began to improve. Although there were over 2 million people displaced in Ethiopia and we are worried that the government may be forcing people back into their homes before it is safe, the new power change in Ethiopia has...