Derechos para todos los días

By Thatyana Ernani (Brazil). Translations: English, Portuguese.
Traducido al castellano por Hsiu-Lin Ausón (Ecuador).

Hoy, cuando pensé en escribir sobre derechos humanos, lo primero que se me vino a la mente fue decir cómo ellos están presentes en mi vida diaria. Como estudiante de un curso PBL (Aprendizaje por resolución de problemas), tengo más libertad de discutir y cuestionar lo que quiero con mis amigos en los casos de estudio que recibimos.

Ahora, al final del año, ha habido muchas discusiones sobre derechos humanos y salud. En un caso de estudio, fuimos guiados a verificar si había alguna ley en Brasil que proteja a los trabajadores juveniles. Leímos el Estatuto de los niños y adolescentes, y vimos cuáles son las leyes especiales y derechos que ellos tienen.

En otro caso, más polémico, estudiamos las interrogantes éticas y legales con respecto al aborto. En Brasil, el aborto legal ocurre en dos situaciones: 1) cuando la vida de la embarazada corre peligro y 2) cuando la embarazada ha sido violada. Luego surgió una pregunta: de acuerdo a nuestro código médico de ética, un doctor no puede ser forzado a realizar un procedimiento con el que no está de acuerdo. Por otro lado, nuestra constitución especifica que un doctor no puede negar tratamiento a un paciente. Qué pasa entonces? Cuál documento tiene mayor importancia?

Otra pregunta que siguió fue qué es la vida. Si todos tienen derecho a la vida; desde qué punto de partida, o a qué edad es válida esta afirmación? Y la píldora del día después, ya que éstas evitan la formación de la vida, va su utilización en contra de los derechos humanos? Y de quién, si ni siquiera se ha formado un embrión?

Mis colegas y yo hemos enfrentado muchas preguntas similares. Es por ello que no puedo estar de acuerdo cuando alguien dice que sólo las personas de las áreas sociales deben ocuparse de los derechos humanos y leyes. NO ES ASÍ!!!! Todos tenemos el deber de conocer y reclamar sobre derechos humanos –no sólo los nuestros- sino los de los demás. Están ahí para protegernos! Como estudiante de medicina, este es el instrumento más poderoso que podemos usar para ayudar a mejorar la calidad de vida y salud.

Esta es también la razón por la que la educación en derechos humanos es tan importante. Empieza por ti mismo/a. Conoces la Declaración Universal de los Derechos Humanos? NO? Corre hacia lo correcto – infórmate.

Human Rights Issues in Mexico

By Carlos Gómez (Mexico).

Hello everyone, im gonna post an old article i write a few months ago and send it to the yahoogroups, is about some human rights issues happening in Mexico, is a little old so i didnt mention Oaxaca, but that's the theme for another article.

HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES IN MEXICO

Mexico has more than one hundred million habitants, it’s a country with a rich culture of thousands of years, we try to move on a globalizated world, with new technology, new discovers, a whole new way of thinking.

We are trying, but there is something that cannot let us move forward. A man can evolve only if he knows how to interact with others human beings. The intolerance, the discrimination don’t let us become a better country,

Honestly I don’t know where to start, every issue is important. The intrafamiliar violence is an issue that has been there like forever, this kind of violence is refer to all ways or situations of abuse or battered of any member of a family to another. The risk sectors of the family are the women, the children and the elderly people. There is a lot of causes, but the common cause may be the called “machismo”, ill explain the typical example of abuse, the father thinks he is the owner of the children and the wife, and so he believes he has the right to mistreat them. This is a vicious circle, the husband mistreat (in many possible ways) the wife, this can contain serious problems like alcoholism, then the wife tire of being abuse, discharge all her courage on the children, the children grows up thinking that is how life is, so he gets married and has children, and it goes on…

The education is the solution to this terrible problem, make stronger bonds between the members of the family. Actually the members of the families that suffer this problem can go the special agency of the government to solve the problem. A well know agency is the DIF (Sistema Nacional para el Desarrollo Integral de la Familia - National System for the Integral Development of the Family), this agency gives social attendance to this people.

Also NGO’s gives this kind of attention, like the CNDH (Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos – National Commission of the Human Rights), who cares about all Human Rights, from Children Rights to Prisoners Rights.

Another issue in Mexico is the migration, the immigrants rights, both mexicans going to USA and other people coming to Mexico. These immigrants most of them illegal suffer a lot of injustice during their way to USA. People who gives “rides” to the north border abuse of these people stealing their money. And also the police who catch them steal and abuse them.

There is the INAMI (Instituto Nacional de Migración – National Institute of Migration) cares about the dignity and the rights of the immigrants.

A big issue is about the murders of women in Ciudad Juarez (in the north border with el Paso, Texas). It has been more than 10 years when in 1993 the police found a woman that was reported as “dissappear”, dead in a place near Ciudad Juarez. More than 400 women has been murder and more than 600 has dissappear. No one can tell who kills these women, and why, there has been people arrested but even then the murders dont stop. A civil association called “Nuestras hijas de regreso a casa A.C” (Our daughters returning home) was created by the mothers of all those girls that has been killed or kidnapped.

The violation of the human rights by the public security forces (police) is a common topic. Recent events like the one in the community called “San Salvador Atenco”, when more than 4000 cops made a violent operation to evacuate landlords in order to evacuate them to build an airport in the lands.

The problem of who is the owner of the lands, the people from the community or the government is very complex. More than 200 people were arrested.

After these people were liberated, they denounce acts of sexual agressions againts the women, and torture against the men by the police.

These are the main issues in Mexico that has been on the news for several months and years, but there are some more hidden, and i think is our duty to find them and denounce them.

Bibliography:

www.cndh.org.mx - National Comission of Human Rights
www.inami.gob.mx - National Institute of Migration
www.dif.gob.mx - Integral Development of the Family
www.mujeresdejuarez.org
www.violenciaintrafamiliar.org

The IFMSA Statement on Universal Children's Day

By Yelena Petrosyan (Armenia).

20 NOVEMBER 2006 FERNEY-VOLTAIRE

On the occasion of Universal Children's Day, the International Federation of Medical Students' Associations (IFMSA) calls on the world to keep its commitment and act to reduce the mortality rate among children under five, by two thirds, as per the Millennium Development Goal number four. The IFMSA Standing Committee on Reproductive health including AIDS (SCORA) is dedicating the November issue of its newsletter to the prevention of child labor, child prostitution and the right to reproductive health education. In addition, many active members of IFMSA Standing Committee on Human Rights and Peace (SCORP) are organizing child art exhibitions, which include refugee and local children’s paintings.

Every year, almost 10.5 million children die before their fifth birthday - that's 30,000 children each day. Most of these children live in developing countries and die from a disease or multiple illnesses that could be treated or prevented easily. Malnutrition contributes to over half of these deaths. Since the beginning of time children had not only been the symbol of prosperous future of mankind, but also the most vulnerable step in generation change. Even in modern society where human rights are well protected, we can still see many examples of children’s rights abuse.

Over the past few years, IFMSA has extensively focused on projects and activities regarding children, with special emphasis on refugees and illegal migrants. These projects have ranged from Christmas parties in refugee camps to basic health care, children’s art exhibitions and even god parenting. A large number of projects have been set up to raise awareness amongst school children regarding important issues such as conflict prevention, refugees and asylum seekers, and reproductive health. Being the voice of medical students worldwide, IFMSA and its members have always felt their responsibility in improving the life of the younger generation, regardless of their social status and country of origin.

IFMSA is one of the biggest student organizations in the world with over one million members in 92 countries worldwide. In official relations with the WHO since 1969, IFMSA is recognized as the international voice of medical students. Its activities include 7,000 medical student exchanges a year and a wealth of student-led projects which fall into four main fields of interest: medical education, public health, human rights and peace, and reproductive health including HIV/AIDS. All IFMSA activities have the ultimate motive of and preventing conflicts through friendship and increased global understanding.

On Behalf IFMSA Team of Officials 2006 – 2007

Rights for all days

By Thatyana Ernani (Brazil). Translations: Portuguese, Spanish. 

Today, when I thought of writing about human rights, what came first to my mind was to say how they’re present in my everyday life. As a student from a PBL course, I have more freedom to discuss and question what I want with my friends in the case studies that we receive.

Now, at the end of the year, there’s been a lot of discussions on human rights and health. In a case study, we were led to verify if there was any law in Brazil to protect juvenile workers. We read the Children and Adolescent Statute, and saw which are the special laws and rights they have.

In other case, a more polemic one, we studied ethical and legal questions concerning abortion. In Brazil, legal abortion occurs in two situations: 1) when the pregnant’s life is in risk, and 2) when the pregnant has been raped. A question then popped up: according to our Medical Code of Ethics, a doctor can’t be forced to make a procedure he doesn’t agree with. On the other hand, our Constitution specifies that a doctor cannot deny treatment to a patient. What happens now? Which document has more importance?

Another question that followed was what is life. If everyone has the right to life, then starting from what point, or at what age, this counts? And the day-after pills, since they avoid the formation of life, does their use go against human rights? From whom, if not even an embryo has been formed?

My colleagues and I have faced many questions like these. This is why I can’t agree when someone says only people from the social areas should care about human rights and laws. IT’S NOT LIKE THIS! We all have the duty to know and to demand human rights – not only ours, but also for others. They’re there to protect us! As medical students, this is one more powerful instrument we can use to help improve life and health quality.

This is also why human rights education is so important. Start by yourself. Do you know the Universal Declaration of Human Rights? NO?! So run after what’s right – get informed.

Direitos para todos os dias

By Thatyana Ernani (Brazil). Translations: English, Spanish.

Hoje, quando pensei em escrever sobre direitos humanos, o que logo me veio à cabeça foi como eles estão presentes no meu dia-a-dia. Como aluna duma faculdade cujo método é o PBL, em que não temos aulas e professores, somos mais livres para discutir e questionar o que quisermos dos casos clínicos que recebemos.

Agora no fim do ano, tem surgido várias discussões sobre direitos humanos e saúde. Num caso clínico, fomos instigados a verificar se havia lei no Brasil para proteger os trabalhadores infantis. Lemos o Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente e vimos leis e direitos trabalhistas especiais que eles têm.

Já num outro caso, mais polêmico, estudamos as questões éticas e legais acerca do aborto. No Brasil, o aborto legal, sem necessidade de julgamento prévio, é feito em dois casos: 1) quando a gestante corre risco de vida e 2) quando a gestante tiver sido estuprada. Nesses casos, então, surgiu uma dúvida: de acordo com o Código de Ética Médica, o médico não é obrigado a realizar um procedimento, caso discorde dele. Por outro lado, a Constituição estabelece que o médico não pode se negar a realizar um procedimento. E agora? Qual destes documentos tem mais peso?

Além da questão do médico, ainda discutimos o que é a vida. Se todos temos direito à vida, a partir de quando, de que idade isto é válido? E a pílula do dia seguinte, por evitar a formação duma vida, fere os direitos humanos? Os direitos humanos de quem, se um embrião ainda não foi formado?

Meus colegas de tutoria e eu temos nos deparado com questões deste tipo. É por isso que me indigno quando dizem que só o pessoal da área de humanas deve se interessar por direitos humanos e leis. NÃO É ASSIM! Todos temos o dever de saber e exigir nossos direitos e também o dos outros. Eles estão aí para nos proteger! Como alunos de medicina, este é mais um instrumento para ajudarmos a melhorar a qualidade de vida de nossos pacientes.

Por isso que divulgar direitos humanos básicos é tão importante. Comece por você mesmo! Você já conhece a Declaração Universal dos Direitos Humanos? NÃO?! Então corra atrás do que é direito e informe-se!

Understanding causes of death

By Bruno Abarca (Spain).

"What is the commonest cause of death in a child with diabetes? The answer - from a global perspective - is lack of access to insulin"

Seen today in The Lancet.

In a world where effective medicines are not available to those who need them, we DO need to understand health from a global perspective...

Child soldiers

by Bruno Abarca (Spain) Translations: Español.

“They give you a gun and you have to kill the best friend you have. They do it to see if they can trust you. If you don’t kill him, your friend will be ordered to kill you. I had to do it because otherwise I would have been killed. That’s why I got out. I couldn’t stand any longer.” 17-year-old boy, joined paramilitary group in Colombia aged 7. Colombia. (Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, 2002)

According to the UNICEF Cape Town Principles (1997), ‘child soldier’ makes not only reference to a child who is carrying arms, but to “any person under 18 years of age who is part of any kind of regular or irregular armed force or armed groups in any capacity, including but not limited to cooks, porters, messengers and anyone accompanying such groups, other than family members. The definition includes girls recruited for sexual purposes and for forced marriage.”

Their health problems are not limited to injuries, as they may face violence, malnutrition, poor health care, physical abuse, sexual exploitation, and deprivation.

The Universal Children's Day (November 20) is approaching. Do we listen to their voices?

Niños soldado

por Bruno Abarca (Spain) Translations: English.

“Te dan un arma, y tienes que matar a tu mejor amigo. Lo hacen para ver si pueden confiar en ti. Si tú no lo matas, pedirán a tu amigo que te mate a ti. Tuve que hacerlo porque si no me habrían matado. Por eso lo dejé y me salí. Ya no podía aguantar más.” Chico de 17 años, que se unión a un grupo paramilitar en Colombia a los 7 años. (Coalición para acabar con la utilización de niñas y niños soldado, 2002)

De acuerdo con los Principios de Ciudad del Cabo de UNICEF, el término "niño soldado" no sólo hace referencia a un niño que porta armas, sino también a “cualquier persona menor de 18 años que forma parte de cualquier tipo de grupo armado regular o irregular desempeñando cualquier tarea, incluyendo cocineros, porteadores, mensajeros, y cualquiera acompañando dichos grupos, sin ser familiares. La definición incluye niñas reclutadas para el abuso sexual y el matrimonio forzoso.”

Sus problemas de salud no se limitan a sus heridas, ya que también pueden tener que afrontar la violencia, la malnutrición, ausencia de atención sanitaria, abuso físico, explotación sexual, etc.

El Día Mundial de los Derechos del Niño (20 de Noviembre) se acerca. ¿Estamos escuchando sus voces?

Dignity and stereotypes

by Bruno Abarca (Spain).

Last week I read something rather interesting. An article titled 'How (not) to write about Africa', published in 'Developments' (Did you know you can have a free subscription of this quarterly magazine?). It is a magazine published by the Department for International Development of the United Kingdom.

It was interesting to recognize some of the traditional cliches many authors employ to describe Africa and Africans. I think that the way information is written and described also affects the way people understand society, culture, and even conflicts or development processes. How often do we see (or read) marketing campaigns, articles, TV programs, trying to show an image of Africa and African people that: 1) does not respect the dignity of people, 2) is not truly real, 3) forgets to show other aspects of the same issue, maybe less "comercial" or "culturally acceptable" here, in "the north".

How do you feel about it?

Participate!

Are you interested in getting involved in this project? We are, too. :D

You can contribute in different ways:

You can write articles!

The SCORP Blog gives you the opportunity to publish your ideas, opinions and thoughts on different topics. You can also link interesting information you found in the internet and make reference to a book or article you liked. Of course, if you are working in SCORP projects and activities, you can share information about them, show photos, and even suggest initiatives that could be developed somewhere else. This blog will be what you write.

You can translate articles!

Not everybody reads english, and what's even more important, not everybody can write in english. It would be interesting to have articles translated to as many languages as possible. If you feel capable of translating an article from one language to another, it would be a great contribution.

You can link us!

In internet, it is very important to be linked from related sites. If you own a website or a blog, please, feel free to place a link to our main page.

You can comment on articles!

One of the main characteristics a blog has is the possibility to leave comments in every article. In this way, the contents of this website won't be just those written by "authors", but also by you. A comment provides feedback, ideas, discussion, debate, support, and even motivation for the person who wrote the original post. Everybody can leave a comment in an article.

If you want to contribute to this project in any of these ways, please, contact us at bruno.granada [AT] gmail.com, explaining who you are, where are you from, what your experience in the IFMSA is, and how would you like to participate.

We have been waiting for you!

Just beginning

We are just beginning...

The aim of this first blog is not to remain isolated, but to become a starting point in the creation and development of a bigger platform of medical students and global health weblogs.

This blog only treats human right (and peace) issues, but there are still many topics that should be treated from different working groups, like SCORA (Standing Committee on Reproductive Health and AIDS), SCOPH (Standing Committee on Public Health) or SCOME (Standing Committee on Medical Education), as well as concrete projects like the Think Global Initiative Project or even medical students learning Global Health at International Health Centres and Universities.

Let's see if it works:

- Let's start with this blog. Contributions are needed! ¿Do you want to write an article?

- It is not easy to make it work. Articles may need to be translated to different languages, and people will have to learn how to use a blog. This will require people volunteering for different tasks.

- As soon as contributions arrive, it will become necessary to set up some basic guidelines about how to write, our policy on 'freedom of speech', and develop our first marketing campaign to promote it.

- If it works, other blogs could be created for the rest of Standing Committees of the IFMSA and other working groups.

- What about putting all these small projects together in a bigger platform of "Medical Students blogging for Global Health"?

Step by step. We are just beginning...

Partners

IFMSA works together with many organisations, some of which (can) collaborate with us:

- Financing our own server and marketing campaigns.
- Writing articles about topics they use to work in.
- Linking our website from theirs.
- Support us with information and trainings about Human Rights, Conflicts, Refugees, and other SCORP issues.
- Contributing to the development of contents of this blog with articles written by medical students members of those organisations and research centres.

Bloggers

Bruno Abarca is a 24 years old medical student from Spain. Bruno has been involved in the IFMSA since 2003 as Local Officer on Human Rights, National Public Health Officer, and now as NORP (National Officer on Human Rights and Peace). Articles by Bruno Abarca

Carlos Gómez studies Medicine in Mexico. He has participated actively in his IFMSA Local Committee (Puebla) with the Professional Exchanges Program and, now, the Standing Committee on Human Rights and Peace. Articles by Carlos Gómez.

Claude Bajada, the Maltese NORP, is a 2nd year medical student, very passionate about SCORP and Human Rights issues. Articles by Claude Bajada.

Jonathan P. Mamo is a medical students involved in SCORP from Malta.

Thatyana Ernani studies medicine in Brazil. She is the National Officer on Human Rights and Peace for IFLMS-Brazil, and also works for the Standing Committee on Public Health at her Local Committee. Articles by Thatyana Ernani

Yelena Petrosyan writes from Armenia. She is a 20 years old medical student, and the current IFMSA SCORP Director for 2006-07. Articles by Yelena Petrosyan.

Who are we?

Hi! Welcome to the SCORP blog!

We're just medical students. But HUNDREDS and THOUSANDS of medical students. :) And this is one of our projects.

Our Vision? A world where information is exchanged dynamically and effectively in order to share ideas and promote cooperation to develop critical thinking on human rights issues, as the starting point to make a difference.

Our Mission? Setting up a collaborative community of weblog writers and readers, as a platform for improving active international communication on issues such as human rights, refugees, conflicts and disasters, etc.

Of course, we have some objectives for this project:

- To give everyone an opportunity to express their opinions. What if YOU have something to say? We'll be here to hear you.

- Make SCORP’s response faster. In some ocasions, when an emergency occurs (as an example) fast communications are a cornerstone of our work. Communications (inside and outside of the IFMSA) must flow easily, and sometimes it needs at least a minimum infrastructure like this.

- To give a voice to SCORPions in the situation. Many medical students participate in SCORP activities and projects, and it would be really good if they could write about their impressions and experiences for all of us to read them.

- To motivate SCORPions to act, stimulating and sharing ideas. Medical students need to know about what other medical students are doing for Human Rights and Peace in order to start up their own projects. Information is the key!

- To create a dynamic flow of information with other organisations. Through this blog, SCORP and the IFMSA can stablish dynamic relationships with other organisations and networks which also work online.

- Give a voice to external contributors, IFMSA alumni and youth doctors who also want to tell us about their understanding of Human Rights issues.

If you want more information about our organisation, please visit the official website of the IFMSA, and our activities on SCORP.

Thanks!