Buffalo Girls

Typically when we think of the human rights of children issues like child labor or abuse against children come to mind. These are the two main issues that have come up in our discussion about the film Buffalo Girls. While the issue seems to be very black and white, there are a few other things to consider before denouncing or supporting children participating in muay thai fighting. 
         
      We must first consider the cultural aspect of muay thai fighting in Thai culture. Article 30 of the “Convention of the Rights of the Child” it states “ Minority of indigenous children have the right to learn about and practise their own culture, language, and religion. The right to practise one’s own culture, language, and religion applies to everyone; the Convention highlights this right in instances where the practices are not shared by the majority of the people in the country” While muay thai fighting seems to be widely embraced in Thailand, it’s not something that is usually practised here in the west. Those of us living here in the west cannot expect others of a different culture living in a different country to raise their children in a fashion similar to ours. I’m sure things like child beauty pageants might seem bizarre and a potential human rights issue in other parts of the world. That’s not to say that there are plenty of cultures that practice things that are a clear violation of human rights and shouldn’t be allowed to continue, but does something like muay thai fighting fall into that category? 

         The biggest issue that most people seem to have with children participating in muay thai fighting is obviously the violence. Which is a valid concern, no child should be subject to abuse. Article 19 of the CRC states, “ Children have the right to be protected from being hurt and mistreated, physically or mentally. Governments should ensure that children are properly cared for and protect them from violence, abuse, and neglect by their parents, or anyone else who looks after them” The main difference between the children participating in muay thai fighting and what’s stated in the CRC is that in the CRC it seems to be discussing child abuse at the hands of a parent or guardian. It doesn’t necessarily address the issue of things like sports, which is what muay thai fighting is a sport. Muay thai fighting isn’t the only sport that children participate in that is considered violent, here in the US we have kids who are roughly the same age as the children in Thailand who participate in little league football. Football is notorious for it’s brutal tackles that leave players with concussions and potential neurological issues later in life, yet we allow American children to play. There are also little league rugby or hockey teams, two other notoriously “violent” sports, yet no one seems to object too much to kids here in the west of “global north” participating in these sports. As long as measures are taken to ensure the safety of the children participating in these sports, there should be no reason why they shouldn’t play them. Playing sports can lead to a whole new world of opportunities for many children living in poverty and can change their lives for the better significantly.

Little Bee Essay

Samantha Tamale
Hayes
5/19/14
Eng. 1A
Word Count: 1295
Little Bee
                    Little Bee by Christopher Cleave is a story that many of us here in the west or “global north” are unfamiliar with. We might hear stories similar to Little Bee’s on the evening news but haven’t seen or connected to a more personal side of it. Cleave does a great job of bringing those stories we hear in passing on the news to life in Little Bee. Caroline Elkins, a New York Times reviewer, says this of Little Bee: “Like Little Bee, Sarah is a survivor. But the lessons of the past are not enough to steer either woman to safety. Instead, in a world full of turpitude and injustice, it is their bold, impulsive choices that challenge the inevitability of despair, transforming a political novel into an affecting story of human triumph.” In this review, Elkins makes a great argument that both Little Bee and Sarah are survivors after overcoming various although different traumatic experiences and that the novel showcases great examples of “human triumph”. While I agree that the “human triumph” aspect of the novel is important, the political issues it addresses is more important to the story as a whole. It’s the moments in the book where the violations against human rights are described in detail that will stay with the reader long after. Little Bee addresses the human rights issues of refugee children,oil companies having more priority over the rights of citizens, and federal-local identity issues.            
          Being forced out of your home country and leaving everything you know  in order to escape war or persecution is a daunting enough experience for adults, let alone children who are sometimes forced to take that journey alone. That is why it is essential that refugee children are especially taken care of when seeking asylum in other countries. According to the “Convention on the Rights of the Child” the definition of a child is anyone under the age of 18, when Little Bee arrived in England she was fourteen years old, making her a child under British law and most importantly under the rights listed in the “Convention on the Rights of the Child”.  Article 22 of the CRC says,“ children have the right to special protection and help if they are refugees (if they have been forced to leave their home and live in another country), as well as all the rights in this Convention.” The CRC explicitly states that when a refugee child seeks asylum in another country, it is the host countries responsibility to not only provide asylum but to also ensure that the well being of the child is it’s top priority. Therefore, Little Bee’s rights were first violated when she was placed in an adult detention center, even though she lacked the proper identification the British government should have been more careful of her placement when she told them she was underage. By placing her in a adult detention center it not only caused her further distress, her fear of the adult men in the detention center, but it prevented her from having the rights afforded to her by the CRC as a child refugee. Little Bee should have been given a social worker to overlook her overall well being and to make sure that she is being represented fairly in the system. The British government caused further damage by sending her back to Nigeria where her life is in danger, thus completely violating her human rights and her rights as child refugee.
             In Little Bee the interests of the oil companies in Nigeria is more of a priority for the government than the rights of the villagers. The state or country is responsible for protecting the human rights of it’s citizens, not the profits of corporations. Neuwirth writes, “ Operating largely outside the scope of international law, corporations have their own code of conduct. Unlike governments--which are at least in theory based on popular will and purportedly representative of public interest---corporations don’t represent anyone other than themselves.” In this passage Neuwirth explains that corporations care only about their own interests mainly because they don’t have to answer to anyone for their actions. Operating mostly outside international law,  they don’t have to answer to anyone when they conduct themselves shamefully and commit unspeakable acts against human rights, especially the oil companies operating in the Niger Delta. Which means that it falls on the Nigerian government to hold the oil companies accountable for any human rights violations against it’s citizens. The only thing keeping the Nigerian government from protecting Nigerian citizens is not that they are unable to do so but that the Nigerian government itself profits a lot of money from the oil industry. Money that is hardly ever spent on bettering or protecting the lives of it’s citizens.
                  The issue of federal-local identity explains why the Nigerian government is unhelpful in protecting villages in the Niger Delta from the oil companies. In Country Watch: Country Overview Nigeria it says, “ This is an issue of federal-local identity. The government sees oil as the country’s most lucrative natural resource. Nigeria is currently the world’s sixth largest oil exporter. The oil profits, however are not funneled back to the people of the region by way of infrastructure development.” pg. 5 (Country Watch) In this passage it discusses the issue of how the Nigerian government fails to distribute the wealth it’s made from oil profits back to it’s citizens, creating an issue of federal-local identity. If the government used more funds from the money it’s made from oil profits towards things like law enforcement, there might be more protection for human rights that would keep villages like Little Bee’s from being attacked by the oil companies.
                Elkins and other readers argue that the importance of a novel like Little Bee is the emotional aspect of the story or as Elkins put it “an affecting story of human triumph” and that the political issues addressed in the novel aren’t central to the novels theme. While I agree that Cleave utilizes an emotional approach in Little Bee, it is the political issues in the book that Cleave writes about that make the book important. Throughout the story he repeatedly brings up issues that many refugee’s deal with in their host countries. Such as the loss of cultural identity in order to better assimilate into British society, prejudice from British citizens, and most importantly how many refugee’s fail to succeed in gaining asylum despite the fact that they have legitimate reasons for leaving their home countries. Cleave also addresses the human rights issues and violations that have forced refugees out of their home countries like the slaughter of Little Bee’s village at the demand of the oil companies and the murder of Yvette’s family in Jamaica for political reasons. These issues make the political aspect of Little Bee the overall central theme of the book. Which is important because novels like Little Bee bring much needed  awareness to the plight of refugees and to human rights violations as a whole.
                   While Little Bee may be a fictional novel, the issues it addresses are very real. There are countless people across the world in situations like Little Bee’s, some are living in even more dire circumstances. Unfortunately for those people is that there aren’t enough people like Sarah who are willing to sacrifice a finger let alone speak up to defend the human rights of their fellow human beings. Little Bee not only makes those of us living here in the west or the “global north” aware of the atrocities being done in other parts of the world but it also makes us think of what role we have in the human rights discussion.

Book Club Nomination

1.  Malala Yousafzai's I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban is a non fiction autobiography on education rights for girls in Pakistan.

2.  The education of women is a critical component in the discussion of human rights and most definitely in the international women’s movement.

3. It is 352 pages long.

4. I have not read this.

5. The text is challenging enough without being too difficult to read.

6. Avaiable for purchase through either Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble. Prices range from $12-$25. Used copies are also easy to find and purchase.

7. Available in english.

Nomination:
                       While I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban is an autobiography I feel that it is an important book to read in addition to our studies on human rights and the international women’s movement. The topic of the book, education rights for girls and women, was  a crucial part of Wudunn’s argument in her TEDGlobal talk and in the discussion of the rights of women in the “global south” overall. I feel that it should be considered despite being an autobiography because Malala’s story is one that many students might already be familiar with but also because it is a part of current events. Malala Yousafzai is an extraordinary young woman and her story is critical in understanding the fight for human rights today in 2014.

Word Count: 244