Showing posts with label International Issue. Show all posts
Showing posts with label International Issue. Show all posts

Human Rights as agreed in the United Nations and the CDHRI

6:41 AM / Comments (17) / by Unknown

I've been wanting to post this for quite some time, but I had work obligations to attend. Anyhow....

This post will focus on human rights, an issue that is yet to be understood fully by all Malaysians. With the issues that have been ongoing, I think it's more important that everyone establish a clear understanding of this necessity (yes, it is a necessity because the lack of it would only promote injustice).

According to United Nations, human rights is defined as "Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status. We are all equally entitled to our human rights without discrimination. These rights are all interrelated, interdependent and indivisible" (Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights). Simply said, any human that is born into this world have a series of rights that they inherit for their existence. For many years, no correction, for many millenniums the human rights issue has been debated and handled as such that hierarchy system was practiced in history (e.g. caste system in India, class system in the Middle Ages).

With the creation of United Nations, one of the key documents ever made through the institution is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDoHR). You have two choices: either read the full text from the official website (http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml#a1); or, just watch the video below.


The UDoHR is one of the components that makes up the International Bill of Human Rights; while the other components include: i) the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; and ii) the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It is a fact that Malaysia is just among the few nations that have not sign and ratify both treaties into the nation's legislation. One might assumed that as Malaysia is projecting toward "developed country" status, the government would accept the treaties into our everyday lives. However, this is not the case for the fact that Malaysia is predominantly an Islamic and Malay state, which seems to be in conflicting in accepting UDoHR which other Islamic nations share the same sentiment.

Among the criticisms set on UDoHR is that the Islamic World (particularly members of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference), the UDoHR is biased toward the Judeo-Christian cultures and not to Islam (Universal Human Rights & "Human Rights in Islam" by David G. Littman). Thus, in 1990, the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (CDHRI) was established, which can easily be viewed as the Islamic treaty on human rights in accordance to the Shari'ah law. Again, this only applies to the Islamic World and is more biased to Islam that there have been criticisms which states the CDHRI lacking respect towards human rights.

In my opinion, as Malaysia is a signatory to CDHRI and not to other treaties (i.e. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights), the racial mix in conjunct with cultural and religious elements may not be well saturated within our borders. In effect, this eventually led to misunderstandings (e.g especially the previously-known "the right to use the word Allah" issue). No matter the differences that each human being have in this world, it's a real pity that we cannot achieve utopia where we all can sing, "Why Can't We Be Friends?"

Post COP15.. Leading close to 2012

9:42 PM / Comments (0) / by Unknown

We are into 2010, and for some who have been actively monitoring the progress leading to post Kyoto Protocol forecast, this means that the world has only TWO years left until the mentioned nations in the treaty to achieving the 2012 carbon emission target. To read and view the context of the Kyoto Protocol, just click to the following link: http://unfccc.int/essential_background/kyoto_protocol/items/1678.php. One of the ways to monitor the progress of climate change efforts, is to hold annual meetings called "Conference of Parties (COP)", which is also the time when government agencies and NGOs discussed, with activism occurring outside the venue compound.

About a month ago, nations throughout the earth took part in the Conference of Parties 15 (COP 15) meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark which saw world leaders attending the meeting, including President Barack Obama. It was also due to his presence that many world leaders decided to show up for the meeting.

So exactly what came out of the COP 15? Simple, the answers are: i) Copenhagen Accord; and ii) more disappointments. First, let's have a look as to what have been hoped for during the time of the meeting with this video from Arnold Schwarzenegger, California's Governor (synonymously known as the Governator), who describes what everyone can do in combating climate change.




Such an inspiring speech, makes one feel hopeful and be passionate that the COP 15 will yield great success. Well, unlike all fairy tales, the speech isn't so realistic to reach the minds of the world leaders. This next video is from the Stupid Show, which shows the progess of events that occurred during the COP 15, and also from the same crew who gave you the film, "The Age of Stupid".



Knowing the truth, it's quite evident to see how such agreement (relating to the Copenhagen Accord) can be established without the full consensus (consensus means agreement in the judgment or opinion reached by a group as a whole) of every nations. Sadly, this is the reality of life that is felt despite the false hopes that are at times promised to the concerned individuals.

[It's Getting Hot In Here] Newsroom

12:42 AM / Comments (0) / by Unknown

Hi ya folks! How's the exam preparation going? I know the UMT's DEMI English Debate blog has been inactive for a very long time. So to keep up to date, I have attached the latest message posting by Khairun Nisa, a debate alumni of UiTM Shah Alam, who is very much active on debating and fighting on climate change issues. So again, to those who have not sign up for malaysian_debaters Yahoo! group, please do so now by clicking onto the box below.


Click to join malaysian_debaters

Click to join malaysian_debaters


From: Khairun Nisa
To: MyCJN09 ; COP15 Malaysia ; BYEE Alumni ; UiTM training Yahoogroups ; uitmdebaters@yahoogroups.com; malaysian_debaters@yahoogroups.com; australs@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2009 15:39:10
Subject: [malaysian_debaters] Channel your debating talents into changing the world!

Climate change and debating. My favourite passions!

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Shadia Fayne Wood <shadia.fayne@gmail.com>
To: unfccc_youth <unfccc_youth@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, 21 October, 2009 12:28:34
Subject: [UNFCCC youth] Fwd: [It's Getting Hot In Here] Newsroom

Hey All,

I received this email through the itsgettinghotinhere.org newsroom. I wanted to pass the opportunity along to those that it spoke to.

shadia

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: David Crane <dc@debatewise.com>
Date: 2009/10/14
Subject: [It's Getting Hot In Here] Newsroom
To: shadia.fayne@ gmail.com

Name: David Crane
Email: dc@debatewise.com
Website: http://www.debatewise.com

Dear sir or madam,

I am the founder and chief executive of Debatewise.com, a leading debating web site. I'm also on the board of the International Debate Education Association, one of the largest youth debating organisations in the world. I'm emailing to propose a way of engaging young people in a global debate on issues around the Copenhagen summit.

The idea arose from the World Online Debating Championship, an event which has just ended and was the first of its kind. We had entrants from 25 countries and five different continents and they told us they loved debating with young people from other cultures in a way that didn’t involve great travel expense or environmental cost.

We propose using our software, our experience and the extensive contacts we have in the global debating community, to get young people involved in a global debate around the specific issues arising from the summit.

We propose two specific elements to our event:
During the summit: We form a panel of 1,000 young people from various different countries around the world. Some members debate the issues or conclusions from the summit as they arise, others vote on these debates. This forms an up-to-the minute indication of what young people around the world think of what delegates are doing.

After the summit: Young people debate the impact of the agreements and commitments made during the summit on their own country. They discuss whether they will work, the consequences that may result and what else they would like to see happen. In this way, we take what happens during the summit into the lives of people and make it real for them. We get the opportunity to counter misconceptions and motivate people to continue the work started in Copenhagen.

We would be very grateful for any help you could give us recruiting people for our panel. We are looking for English speakers (not native, but they will need a high level of understanding of written English and the ability to write well in English). They should be under 25, be divided equally between men and women, live in all continents of the world and represent all major religions.

If this is of interest, we’d send you a short email which you could distribute to people as you see fit.

In return, we’d be happy to ask members of the panel to debate issues important to your campaign and to use them as a mechanism for discovering global youth opinion on environmental issues.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Regards,

David Crane

About us
Debatewise
Debatewise (www.debatewise. com) is a not for profit online debating site which aims to become the Wikipedia of debate. Anyone can start a debate on any subject they like and anyone can edit and strengthen that debate. This ensures that over time the strongest and most definitive arguments emerge and so provide a highly valuable resource for anyone looking to make up their mind. Debatewise was founded in 2008 and is based in the London internet hub of Hoxton, East London. Patrons include Michael Crick, Gabby Logan and Chris Heaton Harris

The International Debate Education Association:
The International Debate Education Association (www.idebate. org) was created in 1999 and acts as an independent membership organization of national debate clubs, associations, programs, and individuals who share a common purpose: to promote mutual understanding and democracy globally by supporting discussion and active citizenship locally.”

About the debaters
Our panel of debaters will include current and ex World Champions, chief adjudicators of world events and debaters from debating clubs and universities in all four corners of the globe. For more information about the World Online Debating Championship please see here: www.debatewise. com/wodc and here: www.debatewise. com/wodc- debates

--
www.debatewise. com
020 3393 7223 | 07956 292 567
www.twitter. com/debatewise

Time: Wednesday October 14, 2009 at 6:51 am
IP Address: 217.151.108. 18

Sent by an unverified visitor to your site.

--
Shadia Fayne Wood
Project Survival Media Coordinator
Organizer Visionary Photo Journalista
Berkeley, CA
Skype- ShadiaFayne
315-868-4946

http://www.projectsurvivalmedia.org/
itsgettinghotinhere .org
ejcc.org

"A noontide have you been in our twilight, and your youth has given us dreams to dream."
The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran

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Why are Jews so powerful?

1:30 AM / Comments (4) / by Unknown

Before you begin reading this post, my intention of having this included in the English DEMI blog is to show how mighty the Jews are. I can guarantee that almost every member of DEMI, past and present, have never encountered or work along with a Jew. Not that I am racist nor do I praise them, but the Jews are smart. They have control of the current world even before the Muslims could grab hold of such achievement. Take a look at the products we are told to boycott, notice just how much of global presence they have made. Now, enough said, please do read without any feeling of prejudice in your heart, and I hope you may accept the reality that the Jews are quite tactiful, and as Muslims, we have a lot to learn.


Why are the Jews so powerful?
By: Dr Farrukh Saleem (The writer is a Pakistani economist and analyst who is also a freelance columnist.)

There are only 14 million Jews in the world; seven million in the Americas , five million in Asia, two million in Europe and 100,000 in Africa . For every single Jew in the world there are 100 Muslims. Yet, Jews are more than a hundred times more powerful than all the Muslims put together. Ever wondered why ?

Jesus of Nazareth was Jewish. Albert Einstein, the most influential scientist of all time and TIME magazine’s ‘Person of the Century’ was a Jew; Sigmund Freud — id, ego, and super-ego, the father of psychoanalysis was a Jew; So were Karl Marx, Paul Samuelson and Milton Friedman.

Here are a few other Jews whose intellectual output has enriched the whole humanity:

Benjamin Rubin gave humanity the vaccinating needle.
Jonas Salk developed the first polio vaccine.
Alert Sab in developed the improved live polio vaccine.
Gertrude Elion gave us a leukaemia fighting drug.
Baruch Blumberg developed the vaccination for Hepatitis B.
Paul Ehrlich discovered a treatment for syphilis.
Elie Metchnikoff won a Nobel Prize in infectious diseases.
Bernard Katz won a Nobel Prize in neuromuscular transmission.
Andrew Schally won a Nobel in endocrinology (disorders of the endocrine system; diabetes, hyperthyroidism. Aaron Beck founded Cognitive Therapy (psychotherapy to treat mental disorders, depression and phobias).
Gregory Pincus developed the first oral contraceptive pill.
George Wald won a Nobel for furthering our understanding of the human eye.
StanleyCohen won a Nobel in embryology (study of embryos and their development) .
Willem Kolff came up with the kidney dialysis machine.
Over the past 105 years, 14 million Jews have won 15-dozen Nobel Prizes while only three Nobel Prizes have been won by 1.4 billion Muslims (other than Peace Prizes).

Stanley Mezor invented the first micro-processing chip. Leo Szilard developed the first nuclear chain reactor. Peter Schultz, optical fibre cable; Charles Adler, traffic lights; Benno Strauss, Stainless steel; Isador Kisee, sound movies; Emile Berliner, telephone microphone and Charles Ginsburg, videotape recorder.

Famous financiers in the business world who belong to Jewish faith include Ralph Lauren (Polo), Levis Strauss (Levi’s Jeans), Howard Schultz (Starbuck’s) , Sergey Brin (Google), Michael Dell (Dell Computers), Larry Ellison (Oracle), Donna Karan (DKNY), Irv Robbins (Baskin & Robbins) and Bill Rosenberg (Dunkin Donuts).

Richard Levin, President of Yale University, is a Jew. So are Henry Kissinger (American secretary of state), Alan Greenspan (fed chairman under Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Bush), Joseph Lieberman, Madeleine Albright (American secretary of state), Maxim Litvinov (USSR foreign Minister), David Marshal (Singapore’s first chief minister), Isaac Isaacs (governor-general of Australia), Benjamin Disraeli (British statesman and author), Yevgeny Primakov (Russian PM), Jorge Sampaio (president of Portugal), Herb Gray (Canadian deputy PM), Pierre Mendes (French PM), Michael Howard (British home secretary), Bruno Kreisky (chancellor of Austria) and Robert Rubin (former American secretary of treasury).

In the media, famous Jews include Wolf Blitzer (CNN), Barbara Walters (ABC News), Eugene Meyer (Washington Post), Henry Grunwald (editor-in-chief Time), Katherine Graham (publisher of The Washington Post), Joseph Lelyyeld (Executive editor, The New York Times), and Max Frankel (New York Times).

Can you name the most beneficent philanthropist in the history of the world ? The name is George Soros, a Jew, who has so far donated a colossal $4 billion most of which has gone as aid to scientists and universities around the world. Second to George Soros is Walter Annenberg, another Jew, who has built a hundred libraries by donating an estimated $2 billion.

At the Olympics, Mark Spitz set a record of sorts by winning seven gold medals. Lenny Krayzelburg is a three- time Olympic gold medallist. Spitz, Krayzelburg and Boris Becker are all Jewish.

Did you know that Harrison Ford, George Burns, Tony Curtis, Charles Bronson, Sandra Bullock, Billy Crystal, Woody Allen, Paul Newman, Peter Sellers, Dustin Hoffman, Michael Douglas, Ben Kingsley, Kirk Douglas, William Shatner, Jerry Lewis and Peter Falk are all Jewish?

As a matter of fact, Hollywood itself was founded by a Jew. Among directors and producers, Steven Spielberg, Mel Brooks, Oliver Stone, Aaron Spelling (Beverly Hills 90210), Neil Simon (The Odd Couple), Andrew Vaina (Rambo 1/2/3), Michael Man (Starsky and Hutch), Milos Forman (One flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest), Douglas Fairbanks (The thief of Baghdad) and Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters) are all Jewish.

To be certain, Washington is the capital that matters and in Washington the lobby that matters is The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC. Washington knows that if PM Ehud Olmert were to discover that the earth is flat, AIPAC will make the 109th Congress pass a resolution congratulating Olmert on his discovery.

William James Sidis, with an IQ of 250-300, is the brightest human who ever existed. Guess what faith did he belong to ?

So, why are Jews so powerful ?

Answer: Education.

Why are Muslims so powerless ?

There are an estimated 1,476,233,470 Muslims on the face of the planet: one billion in Asia, 400 million in Africa,44 million in Europe and six million in the Americas . Every fifth human being is a Muslim; for every single Hindu there are two Muslims, for every Buddhist there are two Muslims and for every Jew there are one hundred Muslims. Ever wondered why Muslims are so powerless ?

Here is why: There are 57 member-countries of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), and all of them put together have around 500 universities; one university for every three million Muslims. The United States has 5,758 universities and India has 8,407. In 2004, Shanghai Jiao Tong University compiled an ‘Academic Ranking of World Universities’ , and intriguingly, not one university from Muslim-majority states was in the top-500.

As per data collected by the UNDP, literacy in the Christian world stands at nearly 90 per cent and 15 Christian- majority states have a literacy rate of 100 per cent. A Muslim-majority state, as a sharp contrast, has an average literacy rate of around 40 per cent and there is no Muslim-majority state with a literacy rate of 100 per cent. Some 98 per cent of the ‘literates’ in the Christian world had completed primary school, while less than 50 per cent of the ‘literates’ in the Muslim world did the same.

Around 40 per cent of the ‘literates’ in the Christian world attended university while no more than two per cent of the ‘literate s’ in the Muslim world did the same.

Muslim-majority countries have 230 scientists per one million Muslims. The US has 4,000 scientists per million and Japan has 5,000 per million. In the entire Arab world, the total number of full-time researchers is 35,000 and there are only 50 technicians per one million Arabs (in the Christian world there are up to 1,000 technicians per one million). Furthermore, the Muslim world spends 0.2 per cent of its GDP on research and development, while the Christian world spends around five per cent of its GDP.

Conclusion: The Muslim world lacks the capacity to produce knowledge.

Daily newspapers per 1,000 people and number of book titles per million are two indicators of whether knowledge is being diffused in a society. In Pakistan , there are 23 daily newspapers per 1,000 Pakistanis while the same ratio in Singapore is 360. In the UK , the number of book titles per million stands at 2,000 while the same in Egypt is 20.

Conclusion: The Muslim world is failing to diffuse knowledge.

Exports of high technology products as a percentage of total exports are an important indicator of knowledge application. Pakistan ’s exports of high technology products as a percentage of total exports stands at one per cent. The same for Saudi Arabia is 0.3 per cent; Kuwait , Morocco , and Algeria are all at 0.3 per cent while Singapore is at 58 per cent.

Conclusion: The Muslim world is failing to apply knowledge.

Why are Muslims powerless? Because we aren’t producing knowledge.
Why are Muslims powerless? Because we aren’t diffusing knowledge.
Why are Muslims powerless? Because we aren’t applying knowledge.

And, the future belongs to knowledge-based societies.

Interestingly, the combined annual GDP of 57 OIC-countries is under $2 trillion. America , just by herself, produces goods and services worth $12 trillion; China $8 trillion, Japan $3.8 trillion and Germany $2.4 trillion (purchasing power parity basis).

Oil rich Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait and Qatar collectively produce goods and services (mostly oil) worth $500 billion; Spain alone produces goods and services worth over $1 trillion, Catholic Poland $489 billion and Buddhist Thailand $545 billion. (Muslim GDP as a percentage of world GDP is fast declining).

So, why are Muslims so powerless ?

Answer: Lack of Education ! All we do is shout to Allah whole day and blame everyone else for our multiple failures..!

Global Food Crisis.... What's There To Need To Know?

9:14 PM / Comments (0) / by Unknown

Previously the World Bank president, Robert Zoellick, mentioned in a press conference in Washington D.C. about the fod crisis issue. As a debater, we ought to know the current events, and this is just one of them. There are many web sites ya may refer to (Mother Jones, BBC, World Bank, Yahoo! News), but I've done the liberty to post this debate video that was organized by BBC. This debate was previously done in early April (6 days before the World Bank president held that press conference on 11th of April) and is about 46 minutes. The images may be blur, but the sound is still good enough to hear. Do take not and listen to the different views so that you all may understand better on the global food crisis issue.