Tag: gendercide

A 13 year old girl was raped and buried alive by two men in Pakistan. Cultural myths persist there, including one leading  HIV positive men into believing they can be cured through sex with a virgin.

[quote type=”center”]Statistic show cases of child rape have risen from 668 in 2002 to 2,788 last year, according to the International Business Times. [/quote]

[button link=”http://nypost.com/2013/10/29/girl-crawls-out-of-grave-after-being-raped-buried-alive/” newwindow=”yes”] Read More[/button]

Spotlighting The Child Brides Epidemic

This summer millions of people have watched 11 year old Nada al-Ahdal of Yemen passionately state her case on You Tube. Her parents have arranged for her to be married, and she would have none of it. Child brides like Nada are a too common occurrence throughout the developing world.

[quote]”What about the innocence of childhood?” she implores “What have children done wrong? Why do you marry them off like that?”[/quote]

Nada  is (through this video) a great voice for reason and a strong advocate for Justice For Youth! The fact is that 38,000 child brides are married around the world EACH DAY. And the number is growing.

WP On Child Brides

Here is an excellent piece from The Washington Post about the world’s  forgotten population of child brides:

[button link=”http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/08/01/girls-are-the-worlds-forgotten-population-nine-facts-about-child-brides/” newwindow=”yes”] Nine Facts About Child Brides[/button]

Half The Sky: Read The Book And Watch The DVD

When we launched Justice For Youth over two years ago, I was eager to make up for lost time and learn everything I could about human trafficking: the statistics, the stories and the root causes. One of the very first books I read was “Half The Sky” by Nicholas Kristof and his wife Sheryl WuDunn. Together this couple traveled extensively to see for themselves the persecution and oppression that women were experiencing and to journal it. The book, named to bring attention to the assault that is taking place on half of the world’s population, is the result of their discoveries. The subjects of the book are beautiful, disarming girls, and when I read of their plight, I could connect with their pain as I could with my mother, my sister, my daughters, my wife. The stories of gendercide and abuse are heart rending. But I finished the book with a sense of hope that something can be done if we are willing to pay the price.

Gendercide is a real.  (We all would do well to define gendercide as an attack on our mother.) The War On Baby Girls is real. Sex trafficking is rampant and growing globally.  Half the Sky by Kristof puts a very articulate and in depth focus on the problem. The target: girls of every age. We must speak out. We must hold government officials accountable. We must pray. We must be aware of what is going on around us. Some of us must go to these places and do what we can to relieve the pain and set things right.

If you haven’t read the book “Half The Sky” and don’t feel you have the time to do so, then by all means watch the two part series of the same name which was produced last Fall. It is available on Netflix—WATCH IT! If you are not a Netflix subscriber, then purchase the DVD. We have linked it on the sidebar for your convenience.

Here is an excellent intro to get you started:

[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]http://advocacy.justiceforyouth.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/John-Mugshot.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]John Nielsen is a social entrepreneur who, having served all of his adult life championing young people on four continents, is now speaking out passionately against global human trafficking. (Copyright 2013– Justice For Youth. All rights reserved.) [/author_info] [/author]

The Gosnell Trial Should Be A Wake Up Call

Human Trafficking takes many forms. When profit is generated from the enslavement or destruction of human beings, we must speak out. Justice For Youth is an organization, like dozens of others worldwide, that seeks to champion the cause of “at risk” children and young people around the world. We stand against modern day slavery in all of its forms. We seek to prevent sex trafficking through raising awareness and educating young people at the grass roots level.

Too Much Silence On A Critical Human Rights Issue

Yet far too many of us who seek justice have been silent on the issue of abortion, in good measure because it doesn’t pass the test of political correctness. Too many of our friends and fellows who stand with us against human trafficking are “pro-choice,” meaning they support the right of a woman to terminate her pregnancy. Most want to leave the discussion there and not delve into the deeper, gory details of just how this termination process takes place. Nor do they want to spend too long discussing the questions that come up in this conversation:

[quote]When does human life begin? Why is the choice of the mother to escape the burden of motherhood more important than the right of the baby to live? What are the rights of a baby that survives a late term abortion and lay crying on the stainless steel counter top in the operation room? These little people who have no voice and are truly the most vulnerable among us, who will champion their cause?[/quote]

Enter the story of Kermit Gosnell, an abortion Dr in Philadelphia whose clinic has raked in  multiplied millions of dollars  performing abortions these past 30 years. The Kermit Gosnell trial–coined now by at least one journalist as the “Kermit Gosnell House of Horrors”  has been underway since March 18th that up until a couple of days ago was virtually ignored by the press and all the major networks. Many feel this lack of coverage was deliberate, because the issues raised in the Gosnell trial don’t pass the “political correctness” test. (Kirsten Powers blew the whistle on her fellow journalists earlier this week.)

Here is the story:  Kermit Gosnell is on trial  for murder—and the details that have surfaced in this trial are horrifying.

The Gosnell Trial: A First Hand Account

Below is a first hand account from one of the few journalists who has attended the Gosnell trial and is courageous enough to go against the tide of “political correctness” and share a first hand account.

[button link=”http://www.phillyburbs.com/blogs/news_columnists/jd_mullane/what-i-saw-at-the-gosnell-trial/article_c15d6904-cd3c-55b7-970f-f8e510182daf.html” newwindow=”yes”] What I Saw At The Gosnell Trial[/button]

Here are a couple of other notable articles on the trial written in the past couple of days:

[button link=”http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/04/why-dr-kermit-gosnells-trial-should-be-a-front-page-story/274944/” newwindow=”yes”] Why The Gosnell Trial Should Be A Front Page Story[/button]

[button link=”http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2013/04/13/americas_stunning_abortion_mind-block_117934.html” newwindow=”yes”] America’s Stunning Abortion Mind Block[/button]

Download the Kermit Gosnell Grand Jury Report HERE

[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]http://advocacy.justiceforyouth.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/John-Mugshot.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]John Nielsen is a social entrepreneur who, having served all of his adult life championing young people on four continents, is now speaking out passionately against global human trafficking. (Copyright 2013– Justice For Youth. All rights reserved.) [/author_info] [/author]

A great deal of attention has been paid to women’s rights as it pertains to the workplace. There certainly is much to be said for that.

But what about a woman’s right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?

I was deeply disturbed, as no doubt millions were in recent weeks, to hear of the brutal gang rape of a girl in New Delhi around Christmas. This  young mother was hospitalized and eventually died from her internal injuries. We linked a story about it on our advocacy site: Justice Sought In India Gendercide Case.

Then there was the story that broke this week regarding the latest statistics from Planned Parenthood, as record breaking numbers of abortions have been performed these past three years by this organization–the direct result of a surge Federal funding of abortion on demand. The numbers are staggering.

[quote type=”center”] In the US alone, 54.5 million babies have been aborted since 1973. Over half of these children who we never given the opportunity to see the light of day were girls. These young ladies were denied life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Can we see this as a violation of women’s rights? [/quote]

We’ve added a new page to our site under the statistics section: The War On Girls Is A Fact Of Life.  In it we details a few facts that underscore our point that gendercide is a major global problem. We hope you will join us in speaking out against global gendercide.

[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]http://advocacy.justiceforyouth.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/John-Mugshot.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]John Nielsen is a social entrepreneur who, having served all of his adult life championing young people on four continents, is now speaking out passionately against global human trafficking. (Copyright 2013– Justice For Youth. All rights reserved.) [/author_info] [/author]

It isn’t what happens to you that counts, it’s how you respond to it. I have heard this many times, and believe it to be true. Crisis can hit any of us any time  but hope need not give way to fear. There is always a bright future for those who will carry the right lesson forward.

[quote type=”center”] The tiny country of Rwanda, situated like a pearl deep in the heart of Africa, stands as an example  to the world of great loss that can result when good people fail to act– as well as the great gains that can be made when concrete steps are taken to change course. [/quote]

Seventeen years ago last month the plane carrying Rwanda’s president Juvnal Habyarimana and Burundi’s president Cyprien Ntaryamira was shot down, and during the 100 days that followed, 800,000 people were murdered in what will go down in history as the Rwandan Genocide.

It inspired a critically acclaimed movie ‘Hotel Rwanda,” which was nominated for multiple awards in 1994, including  Academy Award nominations for best actor, best supporting actrsss and original screenplay.

When he visited Rwanda in the summer of 2005, former U.S. President Bill Clinton apologized for refusing to step  in, as the leader of the free world, to prevent the slaughter.

“I express regret for my personal failure,” he said before touring the museum commemorating victims of the 100-day massacre.

Whether or not you like Bill Clinton or agree with his ideology, you have to respect his willingness to come to grips with his mistake in Rwanda. He has backed it up with action, as well.  In a touching article written by Kate Snow on the Good Morning America website, Clinton’s visit to Rwanda in 2008 with his daughter Chelsea is highlighted. After describing their movements through the Rwandan countryside, the article ends with a sense of reflection on what happened in 1994:

[quote] Clinton says he doesn’t feel any “guilt” that the genocide occurred while he was president of the United States.

‘No, not guilt. I’ve atoned for that,’ Clinton said. ‘I’ve been here in 1998 and told them I was sorry. But I do feel a lifetime responsibility.

Clinton continued, ‘When I left the White House, I told [Rwandan] President [Reuben] Kigame that I felt I should do whatever I could for the rest of my life to help them become whole and make a new beginning.[/quote]

Today, Rwanda continues a remarkable recovery. Rwanda’s economy suffered heavily during the 1994 Genocide, but has since strengthened. It is now one of the safest and most orderly countries in Africa.

In an interview with NY Magazine, author and expert on the genocide, Philip Gourevitch, describes the incredible and inspiring leadership of president Kagame, who has brought Rwanda back to phenomenal recovery:

He’s become, probably Africa’s pre-eminent evangelist of entrepreneurship and freedom from foreign aid.

You can pull up the fascinating 12 minute audio of the interview HERE.

So many men were killed in the genocide of ’94 in Rwanda, that when the smoke cleared, the population was 70% female. This was a deeply wounded nation, where 200,000 people had HIV and 800,000 children were orphaned.

Kagame, whose personal friends includes people like Bill Clinton and Rick Warren, rolled with the punches, and began to champion women at every level of society.

‘You shut that population out of economic activity at your peril,’ he told an interviewer. ‘The decision to involve women, we did not leave it to chance,’  he added. ‘In the constitution, we said that women have to make up 30 percent of the parliament.’

The result has been a new Rwanda that has amazed outside observers. It has one of the fastest growing economies on Africa and also one of the least corrupt and best-governed countries in Africa.

Rwanda has proven on the macro level what can happen if the right lesson is carried forward and if women are given a platform to make a difference in every level of life. Gendercide can be answered with gender empowerment.

So the question must be asked: can women who are rescued from human trafficking and the slave trade find their place as healers and world changers? Why not?