But hunger will never cease in Ethiopia until its leaders can pay their own
Posted in General on 09. Oct, 2010
But hunger will never cease in Ethiopia until its leaders can pay their own way out of trouble. Fair terms of trade for coffee and other foodstuffs offer one solution. Tourist dollars could be another.The sanction is a blunt instrument It must be correctly targeted. Years ago, the West imposed an arms embargo on Liberia’s President, Charles Taylor. His gunmen are currently fighting for their lives.Economic punishment can work, as it did in apartheid South Africa. But those applying the pressure must ensure it hurts those inflicting the pain, not those suffering it.. Next time you are lying on a beach in, say, the Maldive Islands or Turkey’s Dalmatian coast, slapping on suntan lotion, spare a thought for Mohammed Nasheed and Eren Keskin.
The ethical tourist, they say, should be as concerned about the rights afforded to local people as they are about environmental issues. In a report out today, Amnesty details serious allegations against the government of the Maldives, often seen as the archetypal tropical paradise, a favoured destination of the international jet-set and once-in-a-lifetime honeymooners. Behind that fa?e, says Amnesty, there is scant regard for human rights.But Amnesty stresses that it is not only the Maldives where our consciences should be disturbed: the records of several other favourite holiday destinations for Britons, such as Turkey, Jamaica and Thailand, are full of claims of state- sponsored brutality, the use of the death penalty and corrupt law enforcement.Amnesty and other organisations, such as Tourism Concern, which promotes ethical or “fair” tourism, reject the idea that they should ask people not to visit countries that have poor human rights or environmental records. With only one exception – Burma – they say people should be made aware of the concerns and then left to make their own minds up.Similarly, they are deeply reluctant to name any countries that might be considered a politically correct destination for the ethical tourist, citing places such as the Solomon Islands, once considered a typical Pacific paradise but now a hotbed of tribal warfare and illegal weapons. Even the UK, they point out, has not escaped criticism – ethical tourists from overseas may choose to avoid Britain because of its overcrowded jails, treatment of asylum-seekers or the war on Iraq.”We are not saying people shouldn’t go to a country but that they should go with their eyes open,” says Kate Allen, UK director of Amnesty. “The responsible traveller should acquaint themselves with the human rights situation of their chosen destination, checking, for example, on whether it is a safe place to openly express your religious or political views.”Discovering through research, or even during your visit, that local people’s basic human rights are breached could act as a spur to making a difference in the future.”Sue Wheat, of Tourism Concern, which has recently campaigned to end the exploitation of poorly paid guides who help Western trekkers in Nepal, added: “It has to be a personal decision.
For instance, some people might not want to visit the United States at the moment because of Iraq. A lot of people are dependent on tourism and by not going it is not usually the government that is punished but those most in need of assistance.”The exception is Burma, which Tourism Concern asks people not to visit because of a request from the elected government – which the military junta has not allowed to take office. Burma is also considered unique in that it has used slave labour to develop its tourist infrastructure. But even Amnesty does not specifically request people not to visit.While the case of Burma is well known to any self- respecting ethical tourist, it is the revelations about countries such as the Maldives that are likely to make many Britons pause for thought when picking their dream holiday.The Maldives gained independence from Britain in 1965. A moderate Muslim state with a form of sharia law (no death penalty, no stonings and no amputations), it has been a member of the Commonwealth since 1985 but is, in essence, a one-party state very far from guaranteeing freedom of expression to all its people.
The President, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who took office in 1978 and is serving his fifth consecutive term, is elected (unopposed) by the legislature and heads both the executive and the judiciary.Members of the Majlis, or parliament, are elected as independents, generally unopposed. There are no political parties, despite laws passed that permits them to exist. Even now, those who have tried to form a political party have found themselves hauled before the courts for other, generally spurious, offences.According to Amnesty, when individuals come to the attention of the authorities, by voicing criticism of the authorities, for instance; by alleging official corruption, or trying to exercise their right to engage in party-political activity, they find themselves in a dark, labyrinthine world about as far as can be imagined from the blue skies and white beaches of the holiday brochures.One form of ill-treatment entails being forced to stand on a chair with a coconut in either hand; another is being chained to a palm tree for hours on end. Projects already supported include helping local craftsmen, guides and fruit-sellers in the Gambia to benefit from tourism and, in Cyprus, help introduce day trips to neglected rural areas to help improve the local economy.Even the Foreign Office now urges Britons to respect local culture and customs, and indicates a concern for environmental issues – protecting coral reefs, for example.