March 2018 – Page 3 – Bridge Agents

Urgent action is needed to enforce zero tolerance of sexual exploitation by aid workers

March 23, 2018 Bridge Agents

(Conversation) – A Syrian woman is waiting in line for an aid package, distributed by an international aid worker from the UN. War has left her without access to food, water or clothing, and she needs this aid package to survive until next week. The aid worker tells her she will get her package – in exchange for certain favours. This is an imagined scenario, but the issue of sexual exploitation for aid is real. It is known as “survival sex”. My research shows victims are not currently protected by…

Tribes, hit hardest by opioid crisis, have least access to federal help

March 22, 2018 Bridge Agents

Washington DC, United States (Cronkite) – The opioid crisis has hit rural Native Americans significantly harder than any group in the nation, and the problem may be even worse because of racial misclassification on death certificates, federal data show. A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said rural areas as a whole saw a 325 percent increase in overdose deaths between 1999 and 2015, but the death rate for Native Americans living in rural areas jumped 519 percent over the same period. The disparity held true in urban…

Women bear the brunt of Africa’s urban disasters, such as the collapse of landfills

March 21, 2018 Bridge Agents

Africa (Conversation) – The last 12 months have been bracketed by two catastrophic, and predictable, events: the collapse of the Koshe Garbage landfill on March 11, 2017, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and the collapse of the Hulene Garbage landfill on February 19, 2018, in Maputo, Mozambique. 115 people were killed in the Koshe disaster; 16 were killed in Hulene. In both instances, the reports focused on the conditions of the individuals and families who lived either on the surface of the respective mountains of garbage, or in the shadows of…

Kurdish troops fight for freedom — and women’s equality — on battlegrounds across Middle East

March 20, 2018 Bridge Agents

Middle East (Conversation) – For years, Kurdish fighters have been partners to the U.S. in the Middle East. From 2003 to 2017, they helped overthrow the regime of Saddam Hussein, battled al-Qaida and pushed the Islamic State out of northern Iraq and Syria. In recent weeks, some of these same fierce fighters have been violently clashing with Turkish troops in the Syrian Kurdish enclave of Afrin. In January, Turkish president Recep Erdoğan launched an aggressive bombing campaign called “Operation Olive Branch,” intended to clear Kurds from the city. Reports of…

US Senators Urge EPA to Keep Protecting Kids from Pesticides

March 20, 2018 Bridge Agents

(HRW) – Yesterday, while the world watched as US President Donald Trump fired his Secretary of State and reshuffled people in two top posts, 28 US senators made an important move that might not make headlines: They protested US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposals to weaken pesticide protections for children. The lawmakers wrote to Scott Pruitt, the EPA administrator, after the EPA announced it was considering rolling back two Obama-era safeguards that prohibit children under 18 from handling pesticides on farms and in other workplaces. The Senators, led by Tom…

When Indigenous Girls are Raped and Assaulted in Bangladesh, a Queen Rises Up in Solidarity

March 19, 2018 Bridge Agents

(GV) – On January 22, 2018, two sisters aged 19 and 14 from the indigenous Marma community were allegedly raped by members of security forces in the Rangamati district within the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) region in southeast Bangladesh. Reportedly, a joint security team consisting of the Bangladesh Army and Bangladesh Ansar (paramilitary auxiliary force) personnel were raiding the indigenous Marma village of Orachari in Rangamati District’s Belaichari Upazila on January 22. During the raid, two stray members of the team entered a Marma home early in the morning and…

Mental illness and gun laws: What you may not know about the complexities

March 19, 2018 Bridge Agents

United States (Conversation) – Every time the country is shaken by a tragic mass shooting and the loss of innocent lives, the same debates are repeated. Besides sending thoughts and prayers for the victims, a common theme – especially when the shooter is not a Muslim – is discussing warning signs of mental illness, and its role in the actions of the murderer. Mental illness is often scapegoated to deflect public outrage about access to assault rifles that can kill tens of people in a matter of minutes. During these…

Medical Backpacks

March 18, 2018 Bridge Agents

Things To Consider When Choosing a Medical Backpack Stomp Supreme bag by Doom and Bloom For anyone to do their job properly, they’ll need the right equipment. Imagine a carpenter having to use a steak knife as a saw, or a hunter using a catapult instead of a rifle. The same goes for the medic. The successful survival caregiver has spent a lot of time and energy (and some money) on accumulating a stockpile of medical supplies. The more the better, since you don’t know how long you might have…

Very Few Women Oversee US Companies. Here’s How to Change That

March 18, 2018 Bridge Agents

United States (Conversation) – Women’s participation in the labor force has soared over the past 50 years, rising from 32 percent in 1948 to 56.7 percent as of January. Yet those gains have not translated into the U.S. corporate boardroom, where women held just 16.6 percent of seats in 2015, according to a Credit Suisse analysis of the world’s largest 3,400 or so companies. That’s up a little from the 12.7 percent five years earlier but still disappointingly low. As scholars of corporate governance, we felt the answer to this…

For Jordanian Women, a Year of Hard-Won Progress and Continuing Challenges

March 17, 2018 Bridge Agents

Jordan (GV) – In the month that commemorates Women’s Day, it is important to highlight what Jordanian women have achieved in the fight for their rights throughout 2017. Just one year ago, women were not in the same condition as they are now. It is just as important, however, to note that obstacles still exist. Despite a successful campaign to repeal a legal loophole allowing rapists to marry their victims, numerous challenges still lie ahead toward achieving gender equality in Jordan, including child marriage, barriers to joining the job market, and…