1b patterns of human rights violations are influenced by a range of factors

define forced labour and what does it involve

situations where people are coerced to work through the use or violence or intimidation, or by more subtle means i.e. accumulation of debt or retention of identity papers

• children who are denied education to work

• women and girls exploited as unpaid, abused domestic workers

global forced labour facts

• 21 million people are victims of forced labour - 11.4 million women and girls and 9.5 million men and boys (around 55% women)

• 22% are victims of forced sexual exploitation → 98% of this happens to women

• 2.2 million (10%) are in state-imposed forms of labour i.e. in prisons, or by the state military

• migrant workers and indigenous people are particularly vulnerable to forced labour

spatial distribution of forced labour

• southeast Asia has the highest overall incidence but no region is unaffected

• Asia-Pacific region is 56% of global forced labour

• Africa accounts for 18%

• Developed Economies and EU accounts for only 7%

• Low rates in North America - USA and Canada only 0.04%

factors that influence global variations of forced labour with example - economic

• poverty

• lack of economic opportunities + unemployment

• migration + seeking work

• low wages

• forced labour prevalent in economies that are dependent on cheap labour

e.g. Mauritania in Africa has 33% of its population living in poverty, people have few skills and little choice over the jobs in which they do → higher risk of forced labour. 4% of its population is enslaved

migrant workers are at higher risk because they have limited rights and may be dependent on their employers

Thailand: fishing industry depends on low-skilled workers from neighbouring countries i.e. Myanmar → trafficking. Thailand on Tier 2 watchlist for human trafficking. Work up to 20 hours a day. Casual use of violence, workers tortured and murdered

factors that influence global variations of forced labour with example - social

• gender inequality

• age

• women and children trafficking for sexual exploitation

• indigenous people

• descent-based slavery

e.g. descent based slavery found in Mali + Sudan → born into slavery due to ancestors

migrant workers may not speak the language + dependency on employers → higher risk

factors that influence global variations of forced labour - political

• political instability + corruption

• conflict

• state sponsorship of modern slavery e.g. cotton harvest in Uzbekistan

e.g. in Uzbekistan, the government makes use of forced labour to produce cotton on a large scale. Workers are forced to leave their jobs with the risk of losing it if they refuse to comply. profits from the cotton only benefits the privileged elite which is evidence of political corruption within society → leads to increased inequalities between different classes → detrimental because wealthier population have higher influence in the gov → increasing forced labour

define maternal mortality

the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management.

MMR facts

• In 2013, 289,000 women died during and following pregnancy and childbirth

• Most of these deaths occurred in developing countries - 99%

• young adolescents (under 15) face a higher risk of complications + death as a result of pregnancy

spatial patterns of MMR

• 99% of all maternal deaths occur in developing countries - over half of these in SS Africa and 1/3rd in South Asia (partially attributed to the fact that more babies are born in there regions than others)

• the worst affected countries were all in sub-Saharan Africa: Sierra Leone → 1100 per 100,000 live births, Chad → 980

• Lowest were in more developed countries in Europe: Belarus → 1 and Italy → 4

• also low in North America

factors that affect global variations in MMR

• access to treatments for pregnancy and birth complications (i.e. in rural areas)

• poor accessibility in rural areas i.e. roads and transportation

• quality of medical services inc. provision of skilled attendance at birth

• availability of information and education

• poverty

• social norms i.e. where there is prevalence of child marriage, MMR would be high (gender inequality)

• level of government investment

examples of factors

• In 2009, 1 in 8 women died during childbirth in Sierra Leone due to inadequacy of the healthcare system

• low gov investment → high rates of illegal abortion in Uganda

• in 2017, the gov of India doubled maternity leave available

• In Kenya pregnant women are often 100km from a health clinic

what is capital punishment

This is when the sentence given for crimes is the death penalty.

This contradicts the basic human right to life.

capital punishment facts

• According to Amnesty International there were over 600 executions globally in 2014

• over 1,000 people were executed in 23 countries in 2016

• Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Pakistan and China are the world’s top five in carrying out capital punishment

Factors influencing global variations of capital punishment

• it’s legality under national law → currently legal in 55 countries

• increase in no of countries in which it is being abolished → executions reduced by 37% from 2015 to 2016

• differences between countries in the range of crimes for which it is imposed → e.g. in China it is used for many serious and also arguably minor crimes such as robbery + arson. However, in other countries (Belize) there is a smaller range of crimes for which penalty is imposed

• political state of country → dictatorships (North Korea) could sentence death for people who use media not approved by gov

• social factors i.e. religion + culture → what is deemed appropriate in some cultures is not in others. e.g. homosexuality is punishable by death in countries such as Saudi Arabia. Apostacy is a capital crime in Afghanistan due to their strict rules on Islam