Youth

There are important evidence-based studies that have shown, not least through the work of BRAC and Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, that by investing in and focusing on women as the centre of development interventions we achieve multi-layered levels of progress which rapidly spread from the household to the community and to the State level. These are also the interventions which have the most long lasting impact. When a woman is helped to recognize her own agency, and when her own justice seeking behavior increases, the behavior of the whole household changes.

Last Friday marked the second anniversary of Egypt’s January 25th revolution, which toppled former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Yet the weekend’s celebration has been marred by five straight days of clashes between opposition protesters and security forces.

It is difficult to drum up widespread, grassroots political support for the rule of law.  In the eyes of many people, the rule of law does not put food on the table.  Worse still, the law can be a source of oppression.  Governments and law-enforcement officials can and do commit crimes.  The role of law in our Apartheid history is an awful example. Understandably, not all South Africans hold the law in high regard.

‘The root of the problem is that instead of fighting for economic equality, women became satisfied by compliments on the effectiveness and vitality of the juggling act’.  Save the Children recently published its 13th report ranking the state of mothers worldwide. The report uses data from the United Nations and World Health Organization to rank the education, wages and health of women and mothers in different nations. Israel is ranked the 45th best country to raise children, out of 165 countries studied.

The press reports concerning the re-emergence of vigilantism in the form of Cape Flats kangaroo courts, some involving children too, suggest that it is time to consider some of the causes of vigilantism. It is worthwhile to reflect upon the conditions in society which give rise to the levels of frustration, and indeed anger, which permit vigilantism to flourish when ordinary folk take the law into their own hands.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have been successful on many levels. They could be understood by all. They could be implemented universally. They have become the development horizon for 140 governments in the South and the coherent cooperation agenda for another 50 governments of the North.

SoFEA stands for Social and Financial Empowerment of Adolescents. The word means ‘Wisdom’ in Persian. The project symbolizes its namesake by enhancing knowledge level of vulnerable adolescent girls in rural Bangladesh on issues that are crucial for them to understand, not just as adolescents, but as individuals partaking in a complex society.

I would like to explore a new rule of law with you. A funny one. One that could confront you in the future (but you won’t know that until that future is there).

Event Title: 2011 Global Report on Refugee Trends  Location: National Press Club Date: 20 June 2012 Organization: UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) Speakers: Khaled Hosseini, Author, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador