HHRI case studies

Uganda

69% have an improved water source.

99% start school, 26% finish secondary so statistics do not represent educated population.

Corrupt but politically stable.

Life expectancy: 65 - HIV still prevalent.

2.6% of forest are cut down annually for fuel/agriculture.

Wood and charcoal in place of electricity.

Deaths due to infectious diseases are treatable with vaccines and basic drugs.

Costa Rica

Abolished its army and spent money on health, protecting rainforests, and renewables.

High taxes for fossil fuels.

Norway

Free education/healthcare, pensions.

Good employee conditions/hours with strong sense of community.

However, there is a terrible carbon footprint.

Bolivia

45% increase in social spending under Evo Morales after 2006 halved poverty rates and infant mortality as well as achieving the highest GDP in 2008.

Nationalised or imposed high taxes on the hydrocarbon industry - environmental polarisation.

Now lacking in FDI due to fears of nationalisation.

Defined Mother Earth as an entity - $8.7m to reforest.

US health system

$5000 more per capita on healthcare than any other country.

Excess profits in the health industry of $65bn.

8% of spending on administration.

17% of GDP.

28 million are not poor enough for medicaid or old enough for medicare but cannot afford health insurance.

64% of bankruptcies due to health debts.

US health situation

28% of Americans have multiple chronic health problems and young Americans are shorter than the French.

70/100,000 die from obesity; 70% are overweight.

Smoking, obesity, homicides, opioid overdoses, suicide, roadaccidents, infant deaths.

Deeper poverty and lacking health insurance.

Europeans spend 5 times more relative to GDP on unemployment insurance.

Life expectancy is 77 and dropping.

Health in Europe

Far more regulation in the Netherlands/Sweden; insurance provision in France; or all provision in Britain/Italy/Spain - all spend far less than the US but better health standards.

France: Pay 30% upfront which is claimed back depending on income - most have insurance to cover this from non-profit organisations.

Nordic model

Wage rates/terms of employment are decided by unions, government, and employers’ organisations (tripartism).

High taxes: 57% highest band in Sweden.

Japan health

Vegetable based diet, exercise culture.

Lower health expenditure, 3rd largest economy, life expectancy at 85.

UK life expectancy

Suicide rates and risk-taking are more prevalent in males.

Regional differences due to de-industrialisation and then following intergenerational trauma which leads to smoking and alcoholism - 37% of Easington smoke.

8 year difference between unskilled and professional.

Some cultures drink less, have strong family networks, and strict parents so often have higher life expectancies.

Native Americans

Poor foods provided by the government to replace damaged food sources led to ultra-processed foods as staples of diets.

Water diversion led to washing less, drinking cheaper fizzy drinks, or poor water quality.

Extraction leads to cancer levels and poisoned lands or displacement.

Destruction of way of life - alcohol/drugs.

Fear of the health system is justified due to past oppression.

Twice as likely to be victims of homicides and 40% are by other races - normally committed within races.

White men consistently oppress native women due to impunity from lack of the reach of the law of ignoring crimes committed in Indian Country.

Black Americans

5 year difference between white and black male life expectancy.

White: 5.2 infant deaths per 1000. Black: 11.5 per 1000 - born to younger, less-healthy/-wealthy/-educated, single mothers.

Overall MDG

1 in 8 remain in hunger and malnourishment.

1 in 6 are illiterate - ⅔ of which are women.

Climate change remains a huge threat.

Improved education and equality in Arab states.

IMF

Pakistan - Pakistan had to have multiple IMF bailouts, had to allow foreign ships to fish in their waters which completely destroyed the livelihoods of fishermen.

Greece - Bailouts maintained the European economy - collectively the largest in the world.

Ghana - 17 bailouts as foreign debts were taking up 44% of GDP which led to 30% inflation, maintains the global economy.

HIPC Scheme

It reduces the debt of countries meeting strict criteria.

To be eligible for the initiative, the country must: face unsustainable debt, have established a track record of reform and sound policies.

36 of the 39 countries are receiving debt relief.

Human rights in Venezuela

No independence of government institutions/judiciaires.

500 political prisoners, torturing to provide false information, prosecution by military courts.

2016-2019: 18000 dead for resistance to authority.

Raids of poor communities to ‘combat drug-trafficking’ but involve various abuses.

Severe shortage of food, medicine, medical supplies.

Armed gangs control prisons.

Human rights in China

High-tech surveillance state that is becoming accessible to other authoritarian states - ‘trustworthiness’.

The legitimacy of China’s system depends on economic success.

Network of cheerleader states support China when under scrutiny - even Muslim majority countries.

Centralised deployment of 16% of the world’s economy.

BRI: good will from 70 countries.

Aversion towards China is silenced in companies.

UDHR

1948 declaration on human rights that has impacted many international treaties, regional agreements, and national constitutions since.

Treaties influenced by this were ratified by many countries and is often referred to as customary ‘social’ law although not legally binding.

Human rights in Cuba

Detention and restriction of activists, political opponents, artists, and journalists.

No independent justice system and prisons are overcrowded and with many abuses committed inside.

Certain citizens are banned from leaving or returning.

LGBTQ+ rights are opposed by the public.

Human rights in Singapore

Massive economic growth since independence in 1965.

Compulsory voting but same party in power since independence.

Limited freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

One of the highest execution rates per capita.

Enforces corporal punishment - remains from British rule.

Government claims that a lack of human rights has allowed them to prosper.

President speaks out against LGBTQ.

Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar

1 million living without citizenship and viewed as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Rohingya Arsa militants attacked 30 police posts in 2017 which cause retaliation by the army and Buddhist mobs, at least 7,000 were killed and many more fled.

The government claims only 400 were killed and all were militants but the UN has labelled it with ‘genocidal intent’.

British administration brought Muslims to Burma (Myanmar) and put them in charge over Hindus leading to generational divides.

Women in Afghanistan

Banned from most public areas, can only travel with a male escort, must wear a hijab or burqa, girl’s secondary schools have been closed, no schools/work/fun.

These rules cut out significant income for businesses which causes economic downturn and no more investment will come to the country, further worsening the economic stagnation of the country.

Up to 2021, female literacy rate had increased from 15 to 30%.

Independence from Britain in 1921 but Britain supplied the Mujahideen (now the Taliban) with weapons to prevent Soviet expansion.

Dalits in India

3 year life expectancy difference between these and high-caste Hindus.

230 million face constant discrimination.

Reasons for health: open defecation among children, cervical cancer, alcohol consumption, suicide, interactions with schools/governemnt officials, healthcare/education, occupation.

7 in 10 million deaths have no registered cause and a further 3 million are unaccounted for.

Caste-based discrimination is now illegal and there are policies for positive discrimination which has led to a life expectancy increase of 6 years.

Women in Iran

Arrest, beating, and murder of 22-year-old in 2022 for wearing her hijab incorrectly by the morality police caused protests that then led to 1000s of arrests, 100s of ‘deaths’ in custody, rapes, and the death penalty.

Up to 1979 Iran had very good women’s rights until the Islamic Republic introduced very stringent rules and now Iran denies the right to religion, wearing what you want, and peaceful protest.

Over half of university students are women but only 19% of the workforces is female - those who do work earn 41% less for the same work.

Rwandan genocide

Belgian colonial rule put Tutsis in power over the Hutus due to physical appearance closer to Europeans and the Tutsis committed atrocities.

In 1994, Hutu extremists encouraged Hutus to kill Tutsis before the Tutsis killed them - via radio.

Almost 1 million Tutsis were murdered by people they knew.

Global Fund

Multilateral fund created in 2002 to combat HIV, TB, and malaria.

Patriarchal barriers had prevented contraception-use but there was a 70% drop in deaths due to HIV after investing = 50 million lives saved.

Deaths overall from all three have been halved.

Bolsa Familia

Direct hand-outs to poorest families in Brazil - had to send their children to school and get health check-ups.

Has reached 50 million people and 36 million less in extreme poverty.

Example of a top-down money with bottom-up impacts.

94% of funds reach the poorest 40%.

Has sparked similar adaptations in over 20 countries.

Aid to Afghanistan

US$65 bn since 2001: government was funded by this, gender parity in education improved, literacy rate doubled, life expectancy increased by 10 years, maternal mortality halved, HRI improved.

2004: women’s rights were enshrined in the constitution , 27% of seats in parliament were women, 40% of students were girls.

However: bribes were required for all infrastructure and contracts had to be given to companies owned by officials, foreign aid covered 70% of all rural infrastructure.

This made foreign aid be curtailed and the population thought the Taliban might be better to remove this endless corruption.

Aid to Rwanda

Receives US$1 bn per year, 120,000 households receive cash transfers, primary school completion rates have increased by 70%, adult literacy has doubled to 76% and youth literacy to 87%, poverty has halved, life expectancy has increased to 69.

Paul Kagame is the authoritarian leader that commits abuses but holds the country together so has the 3rd lowest levels of corruption in Africa - he wants FDI not aid.

Serbia

Serbia bombed by NATO so that they didn’t massacre the albanian kosovans - good example of intervention success only because it is small country with no allies - doesn’t get messy

Boliva sanction

US pull aid so that Bolivia stop child labour

US aid to Israel and Middle East

Very contriversial - Israel comitting war crimes - US funds Saudi Arabia military which is used against own people. 

US making money off this aid - gives money where they have to spend in the US 

Sanctions on Russia - gas and diamonds

Diamonds are worth 4bn a year to Russia's economy

The issue with the sanction is that the diamonds are cleaned in India and so aren't traceable to Russia

The UK and us have banned russian oil and gas

However Russia still exports 8.3 million barrels of oil a day with china and India buying significant amounts