SEATTLE — Yemen is the poorest country in the Arab region. More than half of Yemenis live on $2 a day or less. The country faces a severe water shortage, with the available groundwater being depleted. It also has the second-highest child malnutrition level in the world with 1 million children suffering from malnutrition. Additionally, the country has one of the highest population growth rates globally, with the population expected to double in 23 years to around 40 million. The recent Saudi war against Yemen has intensified the already challenging economic conditions and poor humanitarian situation. The conflict started in…
Author: Marcelo Guadiana
Marcelo Guadiana
Marcelo writes for The Borgen Project from Boston, and his academic interests include Political Science and Economics.
BOSTON — Many have started to acknowledge Bitcoin’s ability to bring more of the world’s population out of poverty. As a digital asset and payment system, otherwise known as a networked cryptocurrency, Bitcoin allows users to exchange value charging no overhead cost. The network is essentially digital money with no physical basis. Since its launch in 2008, blockchain has been expanding its market, becoming a practical part of many financial services across the globe. How Does Bitcoin Alleviate Poverty? Bitcoin can be used as an engine to empower impoverished communities in a unified and decentralized network. Online, one can create a…
DIEGO GARCIA, Chagos Islands — Diego Garcia, an island in the Indian Ocean is known as one of the most important strategic military bases for the United States. It played a vital role in waging the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The acquisition of the island was kept under wraps for its overt human rights violations. When the U.S. purchased the island from Britain in 1971 more than 1,000 Chagossians were forcefully expelled from their homes. The Chagossians are the indigenous people that had been living on the island for than two centuries. They were left neglected, in conditions of…
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Justice Department recently instructed the Federal Bureau of Prisons to start phasing out the use of private for-profit prisons. Due to the decline in the federal prison population, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates ordered the Bureau of Prisons not to renew existing private prison contracts that are set to expire. Yates also recognized the safety and security concerns surrounding these private prisons. Yet this decision does not apply to the Department of Homeland Security in its confinement of immigrant detainees under Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE generates the majority of profits for private prisons and carries heavier safety and security concerns. These private…
SEATTLE — In 2008, rapper and activist Felipe Coronel (also known as ‘Immortal Technique’) garnered international attention to the plight of Afghani children by partnering with Omeid International. He promised to lend “his undying and restless support” by donating a percentage of the proceeds from his recently-released album, “The 3rd World.” Shamsia Razaqi Kahn, an Afghan-American philanthropist, launched Omeid International in 2005. Omeid International works to assist Afghan children who are the victims of warfare in an attempt to guide them toward a brighter future. As a result of warfare between neighboring countries and the United States, more than 100,000 Afghans…