NYU Gallatin Global Fellowship in Human Rights Blog

Brave New Voices, Part 1

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Grace Larkin
English PEN
London, England

A few weeks ago, English PEN hosted an event to celebrate Brave New Voices, a program celebrating multilingualism, translation, and creativity. Every year, PEN runs eight writing workshops for young refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants living in Greater London. English PEN then publishes an anthology of writing by the participants who range in age from around 12 to 26.

The program not only fosters a love of poetry and reading but also helps these students work with the English language (which many participants are only in the first stages of learning) to produce incredibly beautiful and profound work, even from the youngest kids. This was a really inspiring thing to see.

Joseph Harris, one of the workshop facilitators, said in his introduction to this year’s anthology that every session reminds him of why he became an English teacher and that he’ll never forget one young woman moving a room to tears with a poem about her grandmother.

 
Program booklets for Brave New Voices

At the event, the participants read poems they had written during the program. Some were about looking for a safer life in London and trying to find their place here. Many praised the beauty of their home and native language, for example: “My mother’s tongue/My first language/My red rose/The calm to my storm/Albanian, the language/To which I’m bonded” [1].

Some wrote descriptions of their countries—the food, the culture, and the traditions in everyday life: “My name is poetry/It is my father calling over and over/ When my father sits outside he listens to the sound of rain and the Quran” [2].

Many also talked about family they had left behind and uncertain futures: “No one knows what life will bring for us/And for a little girl who has left all her belongings in her house/With family and friends/Will she cuddle her lovely mum again?” [3].

There were many poems about the struggle of moving away from home or getting refugee status or feeling lost: “We are our own father/Finding a lawyer on arrival/And providing a video/To be accepted/We are our own mother, coping with the same clothes every day/Patiently waiting for the decision to be welcome/Meanwhile afraid to be rejected, and at risk to be detained/No hope, no dignity left in our bodies and souls/We lost the courage/We can no longer carry on, we fall back, starting from zero” [4].

[1] from the poem, “My Language,” by Anisa Shrika

[2] from “My Father in the Name” by Aliya Salat

[3] from “Smile” by Pegah Kermani

[4] from “A Word” by Sandra Mbala

Gold Mining in the Spotlight

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Liza Martinez
Environment and Human Rights Research Group, Universidad del Rosario
Bogotá, Colombia

In Colombia, there is a saying that goes, “money is an illusion,” but is it? Gold is a natural resource in Colombia, and deposits are widely dispersed throughout the territory. Gold extraction was practiced in the country long before Spanish colonization in the fifteenth century. Indigenous people such as the Muiscas used gold to make pendants and ornaments for the tribe’s cacique (leader). Traditional gold mining is still practiced in many small communities. It is part of the culture but it is also a source of income. Yet, the government has made few  efforts to organize the gold industry for these communities’ economic and social development.

The coffee industry, on the other hand, became organized in the early twentieth century. It brought development to those regions with governmental support, but the government kept gold mining in the “informal” sector. Miners did not receive training on better practices, nor did the industry receive investments for technification or improvement. This meant that artisanal and small-scale gold miners remained low-income, living in less developed towns.

 Gold mining managed to survive even as the main economic activities, even today, have centered on agriculture and cattle rearing. But starting in 2003, the price of gold increased exponentially on the international market. In 2003, one ounce of gold cost $400. The cost for the same amount in 2017 is around $1200. This changed many things in the gold mining industry in small towns.

Santander de Quilichao, the small village I visited last month, is one such community. In Santander, as the locals call it, I met some of the community council leaders of African descent. They told me how many farmers and low-income people living in rural areas of the town have sold their land to people from other regions.

These people arrived specifically to practice gold mining. Many of them came from areas where people exist at the margins of the law, such as where paramilitary and guerilla groups are still present. Paramilitary and guerilla groups, I was told, have shifted from the illegal drug market to the legal gold market in the past decade to finance their activities.

small muddy river
The river bank in Santander. Notice the muddy water.

In this complicated landscape, the use of mercury in the gold amalgamation process becomes a health threat not only for miners and the local villagers, but even for those at the margins of the law. The water gets contaminated with mercury, then the contaminated water is ingested by fish, and then the fish is ingested by the communities. We visited one of the river banks where there are illegal mines and saw how the water, once clear (according to the community leader), now looks muddy with a dark brown tint.

The community leaders said that a few weeks before our visit, many fish were found dead there, but the local villagers took the fish home and cooked it, even though they knew it very likely died from mercury “overdose.”

As I approach the end of my fellowship, I have learned a lot about gold mining, mercury’s effects on human health, the national health system, and the approaches the national government has taken in regards to the right to health in Colombia. I have also learned how the efforts made within academia really make a difference and are necessary for the protection and fulfillment of human rights.

This study project has given me a better understanding of the many layers to this issue and has sparked my willingness to work towards finding lasting  solutions for those communities.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my entries, and I invite you to learn more about the difficulties that artisanal and small-scale gold miners are facing in Colombia. And please, I ask you to advocate for the right to health!

Getting to Work: Part 1

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Katie Mulkowsky
INTA International Urban Development Association
France 

Greetings from my creaky office chair at INTA, the organization under which I’ve been working for a little over a month now. I have been assigned to help with the research, organization and scheduling of the City Development Policy for Inclusion, a 2-day seminar on the integration of migrant and refugee populations throughout European cities. Held in Malmö, Sweden, at the end of August, INTA’s event is bringing in private and public initiatives along with individual scholars and research groups to address three broad categories of integration: time, people, and space.

My human rights interests have manifested most apparently in the “people” dimension, allowing me to raise questions for our panelists surrounding issues such as how their programs facilitate access to language lessons and resources helping new workers understand their rights, along with practical logistics like the recognition/transfer of their foreign credentials. While settling into my life here, it’s been really fantastic to intern for an organization broadly engaged with these facets of integration, since my specific research on the banlieue surrounds many of these concerns, even though a lot of today’s residents in social housing cités are French-born descendants of migrants.

Graffiti on wall reading "HLM"
Graffiti in the city center. HLM, or Habitation à Loyer Modéré, are the banlieue’s subsidized social housing projects.

Generally, I come into INTA’s Paris office for a 10-6 shift three days each week and spend the other two to four days doing fieldwork for my independent project—conducting interviews, meeting with other scholars, and sometimes just sitting in maisons de quartier (neighborhood houses, or community centers) on market day, observing the different languages spoken, types of dress worn, and concerns voiced among banlieue residents, both political and personal. I’ve concentrated my research on the specific fringe city of La Courneuve, a commune in Seine-Saint-Denis. Loïc Waquant, the researcher whose work I mentioned in my last post, concentrated his study here as well.

One interviewee I spoke with provided my favorite description thus far of the district’s vibrancy and charm (resisting, of course, media portrayals of a dirty violent breeding ground for terrorism). “A wedding will always spill out from somewhere,” she said, going on to note the mixing of cultures that is always apparent: “There’s Algerian fabric, Senegalese song.” Likewise, a Hindu temple can be found right off the 7 train to La Courneuve.

NYU Paris Director Beth Epstein is actually the one who told me about this mix. Her research has focused upon the French banlieue as well, and in assessing its complex multiculturalism, she said to me, “The question then becomes, who are we all together? This new thing that we’re constantly reforming and rebuilding. Because that is what France is.”

(to be continued)

The Closing of Elpida and Moving to Athens

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Michael Leonetti
Zaatar
Athens, Greece

Hello! In this blog post, I will detail the circumstances that led to the closing of the Elpida Home for Refugees in Thessaloniki and introduce the NGO that I have been volunteering/interning with for the past few weeks.

First, a disclaimer: the Greek government is tight-lipped about its refugee-related policies and as such it is impossible to isolate a 100% verifiable reason for the closing of refugee camps in the north of the country. Below are some theories that have been floated in Greek government statements, news publications, and in volunteer circles.

The government is beginning an effort to move documented asylum seekers (i.e., those with refugee status, and to a lesser extent, those registered in the asylum process) into private residences such as apartments or government-controlled housing units. Those who lack documentation or who are in the earlier stages of the asylum process will remain in large refugee camps. In Thessaloniki, the government is shrinking the number down to two (Lagadikia and Diavatar) in order to centralize the refugee housing project.

This plan seems to be (primarily) financially motivated. It is no secret that the inefficiency of the Greek response to the refugee crisis has long frustrated officials at the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), who bankroll much of said response. Adding to the stress between ECHO and the government is the fact that NGO operations remain better-funded and more ubiquitous than those of the government, which has decentralized the response around the country. For a comprehensive look into how the Greek response became the latest example of humanitarian waste, check out this article from News Deeply.

As an attempted course-correction, ECHO will redirect funds that were going to NGOs directly to the government, starting August 1st. This redirection comes with some strings attached; many believe that the new plan to house refugees in apartments and centralize the camps is a condition of ECHO’s new cash flow to the government. A Medium article about the closing of the Elpida Home contains this view.

This is the most plausible explanation for the closing of Elpida and the imminent closing of many operations like it. We were an autonomous privately funded residential project filled with documented asylum seekers, exactly the kind of site that the government has set its targets on. At the end of June, all of the Elpida residents were moved into apartments around Thessaloniki. They will remain there while awaiting resettlement or family reunification. It remains to be seen whether the government can adequately provide services such as medical care and legal aid. At Elpida, we had all of these services and more on site. Providing them to families living around the city will be more complicated.

After we shut the doors in Thessaloniki, I began to look for a similar initiative in other cities around the country. After a week of searching, I ended up moving to Athens to work with Zaatar, an organization with a number of projects in the city. Currently, I hold a volunteer position and an internship.

As a volunteer, I assist with the day-to-day operations of the Orange House, a small residence and community center. The upper level of the OH contains a series of private housing units that shelters a total capacity of twenty-five women and children. The residence is overseen by a long-time resident and asylum seeker. In her role as head resident, she assists in the interview process during the potential intake of a new occupant, making the OH almost exclusively resident-run. Volunteers and visitors are forbidden from entering the residence except in emergency situations. Since we are located in an anarchist neighborhood with no police presence, government authorities rarely (if ever) enter the OH.

As an intern, I have been working with ATLAS (Aid to LGBTQ Asylum Seekers), a new Zaatar project geared specifically towards addressing the needs of LGBTQI+ refugees and asylum seekers. We are primarily a referral service: every day, we are contacted by persons from around Greece (in addition to Turkey, Egypt, Nigeria, and a dozen other countries) looking for LGBTQI+-friendly legal services, shelter, medical care, and other services. We are also working to make partnerships with NGOs, embassies, government agencies, camps, and other actors around Greece to ensure that these especially vulnerable asylum seekers can get all the necessary information and help they need.

If you are interested in current refugee-related events in and around Greece, the Are You Syrious Facebook page is a great way to stay informed. Thank you for reading this post!

Stronger Together: Community Organizing at SoCO, Hong Kong

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Rachel Law
SoCO (Society for Community Organization 香港社區組織協會)
Hong Kong, China

Community engagement and organizing are major aspects of human rights advocacy and important parts of my work here at SoCO. As part of my research project on improving the prison internal complaints system, I made several outdoor visits to clients collecting relevant research materials, including interviews with an ex-inmate and a current detainee at the Lai Chi Kok reception center (a center housing detainees awaiting transition to their assigned prisons).

Lai Chi Kok Reception Center, grey building with modern architecture
Lai Chi Kok Reception Center (Source: http-//www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2009861/breaking-point-hong-kongs-largest-prison-begins)

Through these interactions, Tracy (my project teammate!) and I got to hear from an insider’s perspective and analyze case documents provided by the clients, which include complaint correspondences with the Correctional Services Department (CSD), testimonies from and transcripts of prison internal disciplinary hearings, complaints investigation reports, and more. These materials are critical to deepening our understanding of the practicalities of the prison complaints system and providing our research with hard evidence.

More importantly, the engagement of stakeholders and community members means including their input and recommendations—which are often developed through their personal experiences with the prison system—as an integral part of our research. For instance, a client shared a distressing experience of failing to request the use of CCTV recordings as evidence in a complaint investigation. His statement seems to conflict with the CSD’s claim that their investigations are fully compliant with standard practices, which led us to focus on the gap between policies and execution in our study.

Interestingly, conversations with our clients revealed not only loopholes in the current system but also a shared vision of what the ideal system should look like. We coincidentally identified the main solution: creating an independent committee to oversee complaints handling and investigation as well as to act as the point committee for everything equity-related in prisons.

This idea, for me, is one reflected in the recent appointment of the chief diversity officer at NYU. It is fascinating to see how my experience abroad has shaped not only the way I perceive the prison system but also how the yearning for justice and fairness transcends geographical boundaries.

three women on a panel
Press conference, petition to the chief executive (Source)

Community input is essential, and the fight for justice cannot be fought alone. Through assisting some of our clients with filing complaints related to procedural unfairness with different departments, such as with the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, and through organizing press conferences to make a petition to the chief executive, I had the chance to help organize members of the community by encouraging them to speak up and be more open about their issues.

Next time, I will share more about our collaboration with not only members of communities that we are serving, but also with other human rights advocates and the society at large. Stay posted!

The VAM Unit at the WFP: Using Technology and Data to Combat Food Insecurity

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Victoria Berg
World Food Programme
Nairobi, Kenya

Hujambo from the United Nations Compound in Nairobi.  I am about halfway through my 11 weeks here at the World Food Programme’s Vulnerability and Mapping (VAM) Unit at the Regional Bureau for East Africa. It is a busy time at the WFP here, as the region is dealing with two countries where the populations are at risk of famine.

Walkway with tall flags from around the world
United Nations Compound in Nairobi

In Somalia, approximately 3 million people require urgent humanitarian assistance, and an additional 3.5 million people are food insecure (WFP, 2017).  Furthermore, UNICEF estimates that “the projected number of children who are, or will be, acutely malnourished has increased by 50% since the beginning of the year to 1.4 million, including over 275,000 who have or will suffer life-threatening severe acute malnutrition in 2017”  (UNICEF, 2017).

Women walking with the food ration on top of their heads
Beneficiaries with food rations, which recently arrived via airdrop, at a WFP distribution in Ganyiel, South Sudan. Women receive rations of supercereal plus, a nutritious food supplement that helps prevent malnutrition in children. They say it is very useful for their children. WFP/Sabine Starke

In South Sudan, the famine situation has decreased but the food situation is still dire, as 6 million people face food insecurity (WFP, 2017). David Beasley, WFP’s new executive director, stated, “It’s a disgrace upon the people of the Earth, and it’s heartbreaking. It’s just not right in the 21st century to be facing all this brokenness, with all the technology and wealth that’s available in the world today” (Devex, 2017).

Beasley and Graziano da Silver next to women carrying food on their heads
WFP Executive Director David Beasley (right) and FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva at a WFP food distribution during their trip to Ganyiel. WFP/George Fominyen

Beasley visited the WFP here in Nairobi on my first week. He has been very vocal in calling for more humanitarian aid to fight the Four Famines.  During his address to staff, he commented on the need for building peace in regions in order for aid efforts to succeed.  He praised the WFP staff for their innovative approaches to some of the world’s greatest challenges.

So how does the VAM unit help tackle the overwhelming challenge of increasing food security and resilience in East Africa? It provides technical support to country offices through assessments and food security monitoring.  This generates information and factual basis for program design using more traditional assessment methods and advanced and emerging technologies to provide a clear picture and timely data of the situation on the ground.

Examples of VAM data sources include the following:

  • Surveys and census data
  • mVAM, which uses “mobile technology to track food security trends in real-time, providing high-frequency data that supports humanitarian decision-making” (VAM, 2017)
  • GIS
  • Climate data
  • Market Data
  • Partners in government departments/ministries, climate institutions, mapping agencies, agricultural and livestock sector institutions, humanitarian and development institutions
    Older model phone held in women's hand
    A woman from the Mugunga III refugee camp replies to a phone survey from WFP. The operator asks her questions about what she and her children have been eating over the last seven days and how they have been coping if short on food.
    WFP/Lucia Casarin

The VAM unit and WFP also work with partners to create reports on food security trends.  For example, the Integrated Phase Classifications are compiled by Action Against Hunger, CARE, CLISS, FAO, FEWS NET, FSC, IGAD, European Commission, OXFAM, Save the Children, SICA, UNICEF, & WFP.

Map of phase classification for food security in regions of South Sudan.
Integrated Phase Classification for South Sudan. (Source)

In my personal opinion, famine and food insecurity bring about a host of human rights issues.  There are the obvious—not having enough food to sustain one’s family—but there are also the not-so-obvious, that are intricately linked such as those stemming from displacement and the loss of potential.  For example, if a person has been displaced due to drought or conflict and is now in a refugee camp, how does he or she vote?  Or if a person experiences stunted development as a child and now has a loss of cognitive ability and cannot get a job, what are his or her rights? *

VAMs work on food security through highly technical reports and substantive analysis helps reduce the migration and untimely death while contributing information that helps strengthen the nutrition status of communities and to families livelihoods if acted upon.

There is no mass protesting, no petitions being signed, no courts; instead, talented individuals have dedicated their lives to making sure people can access food in order to live a healthy and fulfilling life.

Plane air dropping supplies
For the first time, WFP South Sudan used the “sky pack” system to airdrop high-energy biscuits, ready-to-use supplementary foods (RUSF), as well as water, blankets, and medical kits. The sky pack system is a box without a parachute, containing a small envelope with the items. It allows WFP to reach beneficiaries on the move without having a presence on the ground. The test drops of 768 kilograms of humanitarian assistance was 100% successful in Ganyiel.
WFP/Sabine Starke

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*Please note that these are my personal opinions and that I am not a UN employee.  These views in no way represent those of the WFP.

Recording accounts of expectant belonging

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Mehreen Arif
FSB Nepal and HealthRight International
Kathmandu, Nepal

In order to interview young Tibetans, Rinchen and I had to go to the Tibetan settlement in Jorpati. All of them finished their +2 (high school) and bachelors degrees and were working in offices at a prominent Tibetan carpet factory in the Tibetan settlement. Because of their jobs they could not travel to FSB clinic so we requested permission to interview them at the factory.

the author with Rinchen
Rinchen and I behind the Boudhanath Stupa, crossing through shops, on our way to the Tibetan carpet factory.
the author walking down a street
Walking to the settlement.

The settlement was a very tranquil place with buildings and prayer flags hung throughout the community. It was tucked behind the main Boudha-Jorpati road on an uphill incline. The dirt, construction and ceaseless traffic of the main road presented a stark contrast to this area.

On our walk there we crossed many magnificent monasteries and Tibetan clothes and souvenir shops.

Overall, the young Tibetans reciprocated much of the apprehension Ms. P and Mr. R voiced (refer to my previous blog post). I also met participants who are half-Nepalese, half-Tibetan who brought to light an issue that I was not even aware of.

gateway of a monastery
Entrance to a monastery on the way to the Tibetan settlement.

One participant exclaimed, “My grandparents moved from Tibet in 1960. My father was born in Nepal. My mother is Nepali. Technically, I should get Nepali citizenship but it is difficult to get it through the mother. Once, I applied and I got rejected. They never disclosed the reason for rejection. I think they needed some extra money or some sort of a bribe. So it’s very difficult to get Nepali citizen even if you are half-Nepali and half-Tibetan.”

I also encountered Tibetans born in India who were able to obtain Indian refugee status and Indian RC (refugee cards). One such participant said, “In Nepal, there are lesser opportunities. India is much better for jobs and education. In Nepal, there is not enough freedom as a Tibetan. My family and I have Indian refugee cards, so I can compare living in India to living in Nepal. We are now settled in Nepal because our business is based here. And business is better here now. I have been working at factory since the past three years. I work in the order processing unit and I make contacts with clients and provide information.

“Attaining refugee status in India is also very hard. In Nepal, it’s a whole separate issue because it is completely banned. But to get a refugee card in India, both of the individuals’ parents need to have refugee status first. Also, people who come straight to India can also get a refugee card by registering themselves as new Tibetan refugees at Tibetan administration and refugee offices in India. In the future, I see myself moving to Bangalore, India. I have some relatives in India as well.”

Another participant shared, “In Nepal, getting a job as Tibetan is very hard. In India, you just have to make a bankcard and show it to you employer as proof of residency. In Nepal, there is nothing to show here. We don’t even have citizenship or residency despite being born here. In order to be eligible for any good or higher ranking jobs, we need ID documents.”

I met one Tibetan who was very lucky to actually have obtained Nepalese citizenship. He shared, “The area over there [pointing to houses in the distance] is the Tibetan settlement that you can see with prayer flags. Years ago, that settlement was given to Tibetan refugees by the Nepalese royal family’s king. With that, he also granted the refugees Nepalese citizenship.

“My father was one of the lucky ones to have obtained Nepali citizenship, so to be honest, I also have Nepalese citizenship. When an individual turns 16 and the father has Nepalese citizenship, the individual can apply to citizenship as well. My siblings and the whole family have acquired citizenship naturally.”

Talking in particular about mental health, another participant shared, “I have not received mental health services because I really don’t know where to go, and for a country like Nepal, no one really talks about mental health services. There is no awareness about this issue. Like, I don’t know whom to talk to or reach out about therapy or counseling.”

Linking Climate Change and Variability with Food Security in the Horn of Africa: The “Greater Horn of Africa Climate Change and Food Security Atlas”

by

Victoria Berg
World Food Programme, East and Central Africa Regional Bureau
Nairobi, Kenya

This summer I have been working with the Vulnerability and Assessment Mapping (VAM) Unit at the World Food Programme (WFP) to edit and publish the Greater Horn of Africa Climate Change and Food Security Atlas. The document is rather large—over 300 pages on A3-sized paper—so I have been working with the VAM team to draft a technical summary of the document in addition to style edits.

Papers and laptop on a desk in the WFP
View of my desk at the WFP in Nairobi.

The atlas is the first of its kind in the region.  It was created to improve on the Intergovernmental Authority and Development’s (IGAD) Regional Hazard Maps and Atlas by including how the region’s hazard trends—floods, droughts, disease, conflict—link to vulnerability and its impact on livelihood, crop production, and other socioeconomic activities in the region.

The new atlas will be published by the IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre, the WFP Regional Bureau for Eastern and Central  Africa, and other partners.  It is published through the Climate Adaptation, Management and Innovation Initiative (C-ADAPT) project and funded by the Swedish Government’s fast-track climate finance.

The atlas will be useful for both technical program-planning and for policy making, as it maps past climate trends, identifies geographic patterns of vulnerability, and aligns with trends in food security, all of which can create a strategic tool to shape adaption planning, program design, and policy making in the Horn of Africa (IGAD, 2017).

As I have stated in prior blog posts, the Greater Horn of Africa is one of the region’s most vulnerable when it comes to climate-related risks.  Climate risk, in addition to protracted political conflict and violence, is a major driver of food insecurity in the region. The communities in the region that are most vulnerable to these impacts are the poorer ones (IGAD 2017). The climate atlas states that resilience-building and poverty-reduction programs are needed to address the climate change impacts and achieve food security and nutrition goals for the region (IGAD 2017).

A women and her child in Somalia surrounded by hundreds of tents
Dolow, Somalia, May 24, 2017: a camp for newly arrived internally displaced people (IDPs).
There are some 6.7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance across Somalia. Since January, WFP has been scaling up operations through a combination of in-kind food distribution and cash-based transfers. They have targeted areas with a large percentage of people in IPC Phases 3 and 4 (crisis and emergency), as well as areas receiving an influx of people displaced from the worst drought-affected locations.
WFP/Karel Prinsloo

I am in the process of writing my master’s thesis, entitled, “Food Security and Human Rights in The Face of Climate Change: The Possibility of ‘Progressive Realization’ in East Africa with Support of Developed Nations.”  My thesis will explore food security as a human rights issue and extrapolate how the International Covenant on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) can best be fulfilled in East Africa.

The ICESCR mandates that nation-states have the obligation to make forward progress to the best of their ability, using available resources in the realization of economic, social, and cultural (ESC) rights “recognized in the present Covenant by all appropriate means, including particularly the adoption of legislative measures” (1966). I believe that food security and the progressive realization of ESC rights cannot be addressed without planning for climate change and variability.*

The Greater Horn of Africa Climate Change and Food Security Atlas is not only a valuable tool for programmatic planners and policy makers; it is also a great tool for me, personally, in my thesis research, as it provides timely and substantive in-depth analysis of the region’s climate changes, the risks, and the impact on food security trends.

*Please note that these are my personal opinions and I am not a UN employee. These views in no way represent those of the WFP.

A Cathartic Journey: My first experience interviewing Tibetan refugees.

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Mehreen Arif
FSB Nepal and HealthRight International
Kathmandu, Nepal

A lot has happened since my last blog post. I started my research project and finally began interviewing Tibetan refugees! A Tibetan community healthcare worker, Ms. Recho Dolma brought in patients from the Tibetan settlement in Jorpati and FSB doctors and nurses also identified Tibetan patients during consultations.
Mr. Sanjaya Basnyat, the Executive director of FSB, kindly requested the director at the Tibetan settlement camp office, Mr. Kalsang Dhundup, to instruct Ms. Recho Dolma and some other Tibetan nurses to bring Tibetan patients to FSB clinic for interviewing. The patients who agreed to be interviewed and take part in the research were thus brought in.

I interviewed 5 patients on the first day! I was so excited. Although it was a very time consuming process because despite anticipating that translation would take time I did not anticipate that it would take almost 50 to 55 minutes per patient. My research protocol says that interviews would take less than an hour and I thought I would be able to conduct one interview in about 30 to 40 minutes. However, when I actually interviewed the patients I realized that most patients needed the answer choices repeated to them at least twice per question. In the beginning the patients who came in were in their 60s and 70s, and hence required extra attention to detail and repetition.

I still remember feeling quite nervous during my first interview because I knew that the term “mental health” in South Asia carries a lot of stigma and seemingly denotes that someone is mentally unfit or has psychiatric issues.

But I made it a point to educate each participant and inform them that mental health services like therapy, talking to a psychologist/psychiatrist or receiving one-on-one/group counseling is not just for patients with severe mental disorders. Every person goes through a stressful experience in life or possesses some feelings of sadness or depression at some point during their lifetime. Therefore, seeking mental health services or help should not be frowned upon because it is as crucial and important as seeking help during an accident or when someone has a fever or is in need of any other physical health relief.

And slowly but surely as the interviews progressed I realized that overall the participants were very honest and open about their feelings while being interviewed and by the end of the interview almost all of them stated that they would definitely want to receive mental health services in the future.

Interviewing Tibetans in Kathmandu has been a cathartic journey for myself personally as well. I have interacted with so many different and beautiful people – each with their own story to tell and their own struggles but one thing that always binds and defines all of the participants I have interviewed is their status as a Tibetan refugee in Nepal.

Two patients left a mark on me and reminded me of the value of this fellowship and project. My interaction with them heightened my faith in pursuing global public health at NYU and being a human rights advocate. They were both very warm and friendly and had suffered a lot in their lives. The lady was 76 years old and the gentleman was 75 years old.
Interviewing them was almost bittersweet because while they were remorseful of the conditions of Tibetans in Tibet and Nepal they both respectively acknowledged that they have lived their lives and now were not pessimistic but had some hope that the future generations of Tibetans will get educated and fight for the rights of Tibetan refugees.
I will refrain from using their names for privacy issues but I want to share some of their quotes. I will address the lady as Ms. P and the gentleman as Mr. R.

Ms. P was very proud of Rinchen for getting an education, becoming a nurse and being able to interpret for her. After the interview was over she turned to Rinchen and said, “I am very proud of you. You got a good education because of which you can communicate with others and speak whatever you want to say. Unlike me… because I have a lot to say but I cant communicate due to the language barrier. So you are lucky.”

She turned to me and said, “I thank you for your concern for Tibetans. Tibetans are suffering because we do not have our country, we are happy that other people are helping us. And you are helping document our struggles.” She further added, “Due to the greatness of the Dalai Lama, Tibetans are getting educated. I am hoping that future generations (of Tibetans) will improve because of His Holiness and His Blessings.”

Mr. R was a retired army veteran. On one instance he exclaimed, “My parents were captured by Chinese forces. I don’t know what happened to them and that disturbs me all the time, till this very day. I remember it like yesterday. When the war started we (my siblings and I) ran out of our house in Kham, Tibet but my parents stayed inside and were taken away by the Chinese.”

He further revealed, “After a lot of miserable times I eventually moved to Nepal. Here I served in the Tibetan army for 14 years, at the border of Nepal and Tibet. Although I was in Nepal I represented Tibet and lived in difficult circumstances in tents near mountains. I feel I have done so much but now what more can I do…

“I feel so dejected because conditions in Nepal are very complicated and expensive for Tibetans. It is difficult to generate money and jobs.”

Mr. R spoke quite passionately about Tibet and was hopeful like Ms. P that future generations of educated Tibetans in Nepal could be the harbinger of peace and justice that all Tibetans anxiously await.

Another elderly participant exclaimed, “Thank you for this interview… if this research helps the Tibetan community it would be great so sacrificing one day to come here is not a problem at all. What you are doing is very admirable.”

In my next blog post I will share my experience about interviewing young Tibetans and their thoughts on mental health and their status as Tibetan refugee in Nepal. Stay tuned!

Liu Xiaobo, 1955-2017

by

Grace Larkin
English PEN
London, England

The writer, literary critic, Nobel laureate, and human rights activist, Liu Xiaobo, has died at the age of 61. Liu contracted cancer and was diagnosed while serving an 11-year prison sentence. He died on July 13, 2017, while still in Chinese custody.

China refused to allow him to travel overseas for adequate medical care. They instead moved him to a hospital in northeastern China, where he was reportedly treated in an isolated ward under armed guard, and held him incommunicado during his last days. Despite allowing two Western doctors in to assess Liu Xiaobo’s condition, the Chinese government insisted he was too weak to leave even after the doctors determined he was fit enough to travel for treatment. Berit Reiss-Andersenthe, the chairwoman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee said that the Chinese government “bears a heavy responsibility for his premature death.”

The outpouring of grief for Liu Xiaobo, support for his wife Liu Xia, as well as widespread criticism of the Chinese government has been largely censored.

People standing in semi-circle holding signs for Liu Xiaobo
At a vigil for Liu Xiaobo oustide the Chinese Embassy on July 14.

Liu was intelligent and fearless. He dedicated his life to making China the country he hoped it could be: a place where human rights are respected. He is gone too soon.

Liu played a central role in the Tiananmen Square protests and then saved many lives by negotiating a safe retreat for students as the soldiers advanced on the square. He was jailed for almost two years for his role, but the experience made him become a lifelong activist and champion of democracy.

He later wrote about the protests: “That bloody dawn in 1989 […] showed me how shallow and self-centered I still was, taught me to recognize the warmth and the inner strength of love, and gave me new appreciation of what is most important in life. I knew from that time on I would forever be living with the guilt of a survivor and in awe of the souls of the dead” (from “Using Truth to Undermine a System of Lies,” 2003, translation by Eva S. Chou, in “No Enemies, No Hatred”).

Liu Xiaobo was an intellectual and activist. Although he was arrested a few more times, amounting to having spent almost a quarter of his life behind bars, he continued to fight bravely for human rights in China. He wrote several essays and gave interviews about China’s authoritarian regime.

In 2008, he was arrested for “inciting subversion of state power” for co-authoring a pro-democracy manifesto called “Charter 08,” which called for protection of human rights in China and an end to one-party rule.

protesters standing around the speaker reading poems
Sections of Liu Xiaobo’s Nobel Prize speech and a few of his poems were read out at the vigil.

In 2010, Liu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his career of non-violent human rights work in China. He was represented at the award ceremony by an empty chair. Directly after, his wife, poet and artist Liu Xia, was placed under house arrest where she remains today, despite never having been charged with or convicted of a crime. She has been under constant surveillance for the last few years, living in almost total isolation.

Liu Xiaobo prepared a statement for his 2009 trial, and it was read out at the Nobel ceremony. He writes about refusing hatred, his hopes for the future of China, and his unending love for his wife.

“Even if I were crushed into powder, I would still use my ashes to embrace you.”

Here are more of the beautiful words of Liu Xiaobo. Please read them: “I Have No Enemies: My Final Statement.”