Human Rights and Humanitarianism

In October 2010, we invited Bede Sheppard to talk about his powerful work as a human rights researcher in the children's rights division of Human Rights Watch. Bede's local school visit to talk with students and teachers about targeted attacks on the schools he regularly visits in conflict-affected regions in south Asia, was alarming. 

We consider attacks on education as a war tactic an issue of the greatest priority, and for us,  a 'forgotten' but imperative issue for the American public to become educated about.

A2Ethics.org has an abiding interest in the ethics of education across the globe. So what does this mean? It means we are interested in featuring and discussing a broad range of issues that universally impact the ethical prospects and well-being of students, teachers and the schools where they learn, wherever they live.

We are all familiar with the Red Cross and Red Crescent symbols which serve to warn off and prohibit armed groups and military forces from attacking places identified as medical facilities.

The second A2Ethics.org Ethics Without Borders on global education issues featured Bede Sheppard, the senior researcher in the children's rights division of Human Rights Watch. Bede's keynote speech on the disturbing and growing problem of schools considered as battlegrounds in conflict-affected regions left us with much to think about and with much more to do to help publicize the work of Bede and his colleagues.

An elderly relative is marrying a (by all appearances) lovely woman, and we are invited to attend. I'm thrilled for their happiness. My problem is with their church, which was founded on anti-gay sentiment, and has joined with a governing body which ( in the country where the church is based) is promoting legislation which institues the death penalty for homosexual practices, among other civil rights horrors.

I want to support the victims of the Haitian earthquake. But I'm not sure how. I am leery of charitable organizations; they take a percentage of your donation, and we never find out where our money goes. We all want to help, but we're not sure how. How much do you give? And how often?

Actress Salma Hayek breastfeeding a hungry African child. This practical and symbolic act was designed to dissuade rumors among men in Sierra Leone that breastfeeding women cannot be sexually active. This widely held misconception is causing many women to stop nursing their young children. Watch Salma Hayek in this surprising and very moving video. A parallel to our recent look at The Grapes of Wrath Then & Now.

Originally submitted by: barcode 2x

Originally submitted by: barcode 2x