Stories about Humanitarian Response from July, 2009
Pakistan: Handling The Return Of Refugees
The Government of Pakistan has finally announced a schedule for the Swat refugees outlining their return to home. Pakistani bloggers feel that a lot more needs to be done to ensure their safety and for their rehabilitation.
China: Suspension of Electroshock for “Net Addiction”
The Chinese Ministry of Health recently announced that electroshock treatment for "internet addiction" should be suspended. The controversial electroshock therapies have recently been used by some Chinese clinics to cure symptoms of "addiction" to the internet in young people.
Russia: One Day in the Life of Doctor Liza
LJ user drugoi documents (text in Russian+photos, some of them graphic) one day in the life of Elizaveta Glinka (LJ user doctor_liza), who heads a volunteer effort to help Moscow's homeless, poor and drug addicts by providing them with food, clothing and medical aid, and who is also the founder...
Ethiopia: Live discussion of the film “The Market Maker”
Follow live discussion of the film “The Market Maker”: The Market Maker follows Eleni Gabre-Madhin, a charismatic Ethiopian economist who, in an effort to end hunger in her famine-plagued country, designs the country’s first commodities exchange.
Uganda: Government Quiet as Famine Takes Toll
As drought spreads throughout East Africa, more than three million Ugandans are at risk of starvation. Hunger has claimed the lives of more than 40 people, and bloggers fear more will die before the government takes notice.
China: Manufacturing abandon infants
Research-China.Org translated an article, Manufacturing abandon infants, from Southern Metropolis News that describes how the international adoption program provides incentive to local authorities in confiscating new born children from their natural born parents.
Colombia: The Hunt for Pablo Escobar's Hippo
There is controversy in Colombia after photos were shown of soldiers surrounding a dead hippopotamus, which had been hunted and killed after being labelled a health risk to local communities. The animal had escaped from the estate of former drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, who had brought its parents to Colombia to show them as "trophies and walking symbols of his power."
Palestine: Egypt and Israel and Humanitarian Aid
Writing on Arab-American joint blog Kabobfest, Will notes his disgust with Egypt's stalling of humanitarian aid entering Gaza. “Though we have seen Egypt’s role as essentially Israel’s sidekick before, the machinations around the Viva Palestine really exemplify how much it shares Israel’s sick agenda of collective punishment in Gaza,” he...
Palestine: Second Humanitarian Convoy Enters Gaza
Gazan blogger DR – LION reports on the second Viva Palestina humanitarian convoy to enter Gaza, accompanied by the British MP George Galloway [Ar].
China: When a gang rape scandal turns into state secrets…
Yesterday (July 16) in early morning, twitterer amoiist sent out a mobile message to twitter saying: “I have been arrested by Mawei police, SOS.” And the second message is: “Pls help me, I grasp the phone during police sleep”. Since then, there isn't any update in his twitter. Netizens arrested...
Egypt: The Egyptian Apostate
Egyptian progressive thinker, Dr. Sayed El Qemany was granted the State Award for Social Sciences. Egyptian liberals and seculars hailed the award while Wahabis and conservatives declared war on the “Egyptian Apostate”. Marwa Rakha reports from the Egyptian blogosphere.
Japan: Poor Japanese people
Lee from Tokyo Times brings into focus a 10 minutes documentary, Japan: A Story of Love and Hate, which touches upon poverty problem in Japan.
Taiwan: Call for Reduced Sentence of a Chinese Worker
TIWA starts a petition for reduced sentence of an injured Chinese worker Liu Hanghuang who stabbed to of his Taiwanese employers after he failed to commit suicide.
Bosnia-Herzegovina: Making people out of numbers
Srebrenica Genocide Blog posts a list of 534 people with birth dates killed during the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, recently identified by modern DNA-technique, restoring some dignity to the victims, and making people out of numbers.
Russia: Reactions to OSCE Hitler-Stalin resolution
LJ community Politika v Rossii posts [RUS] an online poll to find out blogger reactions to a recent OSCE resolution comparing the crimes of Hitler and Stalin, showing interesting results.
Bosnia-Serbia: Leak of secret Srebrenica documents
Srebrenica Genocide Blog reports that classified documents, implicating deeper involvement of Serbia-Montenegro in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia-Herzegovina, have been leaked from the Hague Tribunal.
Kyrgyzstan: UNESCO shields environment
Elena reports that Sulamain-Too, the Sacred Mountain, has become the Kyrgyzstan’s first site to be inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
Japan: Aokigahara and Suicide
Matt Holland at Feedbackward on Aokigahara, and Meaningful Suicide in Japan – “The ubiquitous and accessible nature of trains in Japan make them a logical and effective choice for those attempting suicide, but it is Aokigahara, the forest situated at the base of iconic Mount Fuji that hosts the most...
Sri Lanka: Eye-witness Account From An IDP Camp
Groundviews publishes an eye-witness account from an IDP camp in Sri Lanka describing the conditions of the refugees in a post-war situation. Separation of family members, no freedom of movement, corruption, bad hygiene conditions, diseases and epidemic are some of the problems cited in that report.
Israel: Gaza Humanitarian Ferry Intercepted
Tikun Olam‘s Richard Silverstein, who is based in the US, writes about the capture of a ferry carrying 23 human rights activists who were attempting to break the siege on Gaza by the IDF. “Israel had no right to intercept this ship, nor to impound it or detain its passengers....
