Since the Paris terror attacks and the Charlie Hebdo shooting in 2015, Muslims in France have been increasingly stigmatized and discriminated against while the French government continues to please the anti-muslim sentiment. Recently, a French teacher was decapitated in broad daylight for sharing Hebdo cartoons with his class, and since then, the government has responded with laws proposed to “overhaul of the way Islam is organized in France,” but many Muslims argue that those laws just add more stigmatization to their already downtrodden religion. On one side are the free-speech supporting, often Catholic, and white protestors and movements around France and the rest of Europe calling for less immigration and Islamic influence in their countries, and on the other side are the Muslims who feel like their religion is under attack by the French government and are being unfairly grouped with radical Islamists.
Government interference in religion is a controversial idea in many places in the world, but currently, the French Government is trying to prevent future attacks by influencing Islam’s practice in France. In this case, each side is a community, but because Muslims are a minority in France, they would be the individuals within a greater community. An argument could be that by appealing to the majority, the people who are actively opposed to the spread of Islam, the French government is inadvertently causing more attacks because individuals in the Muslim community feel like their religion is under attack, and so they are too. Of course, this is a very small minority of Muslims. By forcefully changing things like where France gets its imams, the government is changing how Islam will be practiced in France, which would certainly go against the wishes of French Muslims who already feel stigmatized. For Muslims, as the article points out, Islam plays a much larger role in their lives than Christianity does for Christians, so any changes will be felt more and probably cause more violence by bad actors. All of the Islamic attacks are horrible, but by appealing to the anti-muslim sentiment with separatism more than to the Muslims’ wishes, the possibility for more violence rises so far seemingly despite the government’s attempt to root out Islamists. It is a broad goal, and the article implies that so far it has hurt and upset Muslims more than anything else. In this situation, there are two sets of individuals, Muslims in their broader French communities and Islamists in the Muslim community. For the broader French community trying to prevent further attacks, the belief is that principles such as freedom of speech are more important than appealing to their Muslim neighbors. The larger community is worried about violence from Muslims, which in turn seems to be causing more violence. In the long term, by protecting the core principles of their society like free speech and the protestors being unwilling to compromise their beliefs, it is unfair that Muslims are being forced to change while the other side gets their way without any change of themselves. The larger community believes that the spread of Islam will hurt their community but the ways that they are trying to prevent violence, at least in the short term, seem to be causing more violence by radical Islamists influenced by the government’s decisions. The irony in the situation is that if France made it clear that they wanted to see short-term results, the protestors would probably end up giving up the rights that are core to this fight because the government would take up a much more active role in suppressing communities. In China, there is the example of Xinjiang, a province that had a similar issue of Islamic attacks, but there, the government responded with a harsh crackdown on Uighurs, a Chinese Muslim minority, and it is well known that rights in France like the Freedom of speech are not present there, especially in response to the violence. In recent years, governments around the world have taken action to try to prevent Islamic terrorism and while their motivations are clearly to stop violence, those countries must consider the wishes of the majority of Muslims whether or not they agree with Islam to ensure justice for all, not just the majority. Source: https://apnews.com/article/paris-france-emmanuel-macron-islam-europe-ea5e15bb651bbe443b27bc19948cae6b
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In its current state, the Eritrean government is one of the most restrictive and oppressive in the World, second to only North Korea. The current president, Isaias Afwerki, has been in power since 1993, and is the definition of a tyrant. His worst policies include forcing every Eritrean into forced military service, prohibiting practically every freedom we take for granted, and backing the violence done by his officers and ethnic group. Indefinite Military Service and Forced Labor The current Eritrean government is extremely controlling of its population, and a primary method for its subjugation is the forced conscription of men and women when the turn 18, and sometimes even when they're younger. Often times, students in their last year of high school are transferred to military camps which control all aspects of their lives. Once their actually in the military, rampant abuse like sexual exploitation and unfair punishments plagues the service. But despite the government officially limiting mandatory service to 18 months, the horrible conditions don't end for most Eritreans as they're often forced into indefinite terms at the will of the government, which sometimes even leases service people as laborers to private companies. On top of all this, the compensation for being in the military is very low so families are often left without a primary source of income when their children are conscripted. No Freedom of Speech, Expression, Association, or Religion Eritrea's government has taken extreme measures to limit and oppress any dissent. It's known to be the most censored country in the world, and no external press or opposition parties are allowed within Eritrea. The internet is largely unreachable and large gatherings are suppressed heavily. Due to the lack of free speech, Eritreans have practically no power to speak out, which has lead to the extreme abuses of power in the country. The country is extremely locked down and the military has total control of the population, except in zones where militant groups fight for power, where conditions are even worse. Additionally, the Eritrean government allows Eritreans to be apart of only four religious denominations, Sunni Islam, Eritrean Orthodox, Roman Catholic, or Evangelical church. Eritreans affiliated with other denominations face prosecution and detention. Oppressive Violence Many Eritreans face unlawful detention for minor charges, and without any fair prosecution system, detainees mostly aren't given any trial. Abuse is rampant inside detention centers, detainees are extremely exploited, and some are even tortured. Because of the religious stigmatization in the country and conflict with Ethiopia, many killings and even massacres have been committed by the Eritrean military on civilians in Eritrea and in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Women especially are targeted by the military and sexual violence is prevalent against female soldiers and civilians. My solutions:
There are many possible solutions I can think of to rectifying Eritrea's human rights catastrophe, including the introduction of external NGOs, more tariffs/restrictions on countries dealing with Eritrea and on Eritrea, using external Military involvement, aiding Ethiopian militias/military, disposing of Isaias, and letting the country run out of labor and fall apart. But my optimal solution is to boost the Eritrean economy and improve business relations with the country through ethical and humanitarian trade. Rather than punish the Eritrean people for their government, making ethical and advantageous trade deals with the country could incentivize the government helping its people rather than tyrannizing them by allowing terrible labor conditions and taking away any freedom they once had. Eritrea has a lot of valuable resources and currently primarily trades with China. US/Western trading deals can bolster both Eritrea and its people, as well as us. Eritrea is relatively impoverished, so improving their economy with ethical trade will give people more economic power, and hence more political power. This solution is very risky though, as the government might take these new economic deals as justification for their current oppression. It will be important for organizations and countries to be careful to not let corruption ruin deals, but solutions like this one have worked in other countries. China, the best example of this outside economic influence changing its quality of life, saw human rights growth as it became a major trader with the rest of the world. Hopefully, the Eritrean government will be less interested in such extreme censorship when they’re whole society gains economic power and growth, something that holds Eritrea back compared to neighboring countries. Sources: “China Balance of Trade1981-2021 Data: 2022-2023 Forecast: Calendar: Historical.” China Balance of Trade | 1981-2021 Data | 2022-2023 Forecast | Calendar | Historical, tradingeconomics.com/china/balance-of-trade. “Eritrea.” Eritrea Economy: Population, GDP, Inflation, Business, Trade, FDI, Corruption, www.heritage.org/index/country/eritrea. “Inside Eritrea: The World's Most Censored Country.” VICE, www.vice.com/en/article/gv5dqx/inside-eritrea-the-worlds-most-censored-country. Robinson, Mary. Business and Human Rights: A Progress Report. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/BusinessHRen.pdf. and news articles on Eritrea:March 5, 2021 - Ethiopia: Eritrean Forces Massacre Tigray Civilians September 11, 2020 - Eritrea Busses Thousands of Students to Military Camp 3 April, 2020 - Eritrea: Show humanity and release prisoners of conscience amid COVID-19 27 June, 2019 - Eritrea: Government officials and supporters target critics abroad as repression stretches beyond borders |
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May 2022
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