Week 7 - Are We the World?
It is strange to think that this journey is winding down. In less than a month, I will be back in New Jersey, prepping for next year’s summer associate interviews. Yes, interviewing for a summer job the summer before – law school is so much fun!
This week, my boss was in Myanmar, holding a training seminar with our office there. Myanmar is a hotbed of development at the moment. After almost fifty years of a military dictatorship and civil strife, the shackles of oppression have slowly come undone. In 2011, a referendum was passed to create a “discipline-flourishing democracy” and move past military rule. A strange term, some take it to mean that the military still holds much influence from the shadows, regulating morality and conduct. However, pro-democracy political parties and leaders were now allowed to participate in government, and Myanmar held its first free election in over twenty-five years. As a result, the country is now more aware of its shortcomings in trade and human rights, and is working to enter the global community.
As mentioned before, the European Union has taken a position in building criminal justice reform, enacting sound policies in the country, and increasing citizens’ access to justice. With their aid, IBJ has opened five defense resource centers in the country and is continuing to build the foundation for equality in the land. The sentiment may be laudable, but in practice, there is still a lot of strife and bloodshed.
Many of you may know about the Rohingya persecution that has been taking place in Myanmar, and still carries on through the installation of this new, progressive government. The Rohingya are an ethnic group that exist somewhere in the space between the subcontinent and Southeast Asia. They are majority Muslim and have lived in western part of Myanmar for centuries. However, the Rohingya people are stateless, due to a 1982 nationality law that prevented them from gaining Burmese citizenship. Due to the law, the people have limited rights, and are constantly under scrutiny from the militaristic government. In an attempt to further discredit their claim to citizenship, the government is classifying the Rohingya as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, calling them “Bengalis” instead. Since 2015, almost 1 million Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh and other neighboring Muslim countries.
The UN Commission for Human Rights has declared the military operations against these people are tantamount to genocide or ethnic cleansing. This goes back to the initial criticism of Myanmar’s transition to a democratic government – the military still has great control over political operations. The government has vehemently denied all claims that there is any evidence of genocide, calling the attacks a response to rebel activity and civil unrest. It is also disconcerting that the country’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has remained mostly silent on the issue, passively allowing the persecution to continue. She herself has been the victim of incessant persecution and vitriol. Suu Kyi was under house arrest for almost twenty years, becoming one of the most renowned political prisoners and dissidents. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, it is astonishing now that such a person can turn a blind eye to the plights of people in her own country after being subject to the banality of the military rule. \
I think the award should be rescinded. But then, diplomacy requires small movement to create change. Myanmar is still a place of great economic growth and development – I have a friend currently working at an NGO focused on agricultural technology and development. He seems to be having a great time there, and he is passionate about the work. That being said, there needs to be a way to continue to push against the forces of oppression while pulling the weight of progress forward. There is still much work to do to achieve justice around the world. That is why it is important for countries to continue to communicate and educate each other – there is always something to learn from our neighbors.
Balance and long-term vision is key in solving the problem. On Wednesday, I attended a seminar on behalf of IBJ regarding the UN’s Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs). This is a global initiative set out by the UN to target social and economic development issues plaguing the world. The resolution was agreed upon by all member nations, trying to achieve “The Future We Want.” There are seventeen goals, which are somewhat independent, and seem unlikely to truly be achieved by the 2030 deadline. However, they help build a framework by which countries can make noticeable progress in changing their approach to the biggest issues the world faces today.
IBJ is committed to the mission of SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions. The goal calls to “Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.”
The seminar I attended was by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), one of our original partners in the country. Their report focuses on data mapping, ways to quantify and diagram progress in this SDG. Reducing violent crime, sex trafficking, forced labor, and child abuse are clear global goals under this SDG. The International Community values peace and justice and calls for stronger judicial systems that will enforce laws and work toward a more peaceful and just society.
By 2017, the UN could report progress on detecting victims of trafficking. In 2004, 84 percent of victims were females and by 2014 that number had dropped to 71 percent. Sexual exploitation numbers have declined, but forced labor has increased. One target is to see the end to sex trafficking, forced labor, and all forms of violence against and torture of children. However, reliance on the indicator of "crimes reported" makes monitoring and achieving this goal challenging. 84 percent of countries have no or insufficient data on violent punishment of children.
CHRI noted the interdependent nature of the SDGs, and focused on the relations between goals 5, 10, and 16. Goal 5: Gender Equality, and Goal 10: Reducing Income Inequality are directly in the purview of IBJ’s work in India currently. Most of our resources go towards low-income victims and prisoners, and towards women who have been abandoned by their families. Without the numbers to truly understand the issue, we cannot focus our efforts and target the problem efficiently. Instead, we are left to fend for ourselves, and hope that the government has the wherewithal to catch up.
The conference room was packed. It was reassuring to see the commitment people carry to pursuing these lofty goals, even with the knowledge that they may reach terribly short of the finish line. If the world cannot get this done by 2030, there should at least be the foundation to achieve the future we want not too far from then. It is on us to shoulder the load. We have to be more than our town, state, religion, political party, or country: we have to be the world. That is how we save it, and ourselves.