scholarly journals BASICS INEQUALITY

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 305-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen P. Gasteyer ◽  
Jennifer Lai ◽  
Brittany Tucker ◽  
Jennifer Carrera ◽  
Julius Moss
Keyword(s):  
American Indians ◽  
Alaska Native ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Central Valley ◽  
The United States ◽  
Structural Racism ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Water And Sanitation ◽  
Sanitation Services ◽  
Depth Analysis

AbstractIn light of 2014–2016 media coverage about the inadequate water and sanitation services for households in places like Flint and Detroit, Michigan and the Central Valley of California, this paper asks whether places with majority non-White residents in the United States disproportionately lack access to these most basic of services. Investigating this issue through the combined lenses of structural racism, environmental justice, and the human right to water and sanitation, we analyze U.S. Census American Community Survey household data at the county level. Our findings indicate strong White versus non-White racial effects at the national and county levels (R2 = 0.0462, P < 0.05). When the non-White population is broken down into racial categories, places with higher percentages of American Indians and Alaska Native households are significantly associated with lack of access to complete plumbing facilities. Lacking access to complete plumbing does correlate with lower educational attainment and higher percentages of unemployment, and less robustly, it also correlates positively with median household income. The implication is the existence of a pattern of structural environmental racism in terms of the practical accessibility of water and sanitation infrastructure. We suspect, however, that the U.S. Census, while considered the most comprehensive national data source on this issue right now, significantly undercounts those lacking access to water and sanitation services. We argue that better data will be essential in order to carry out a more in-depth analysis of water access conditions and to develop strategies that address this issue of growing importance.

Global Goal Setting and the Human Right to Water

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristy Clark
Keyword(s):  
Goal Setting ◽  
Universal Access ◽  
New Delhi ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Water And Sanitation ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Sanitation Services ◽  
Human Need ◽  
Global Goal ◽  
Development Goals

Since the 1970s, global goal setting to increase access to safe drinking water has taken a number of different approaches to whether water should be primarily understood as a “human right” or a “human need.” In the Mar del Plata declaration of 1977, states both recognized a human right to water and committed themselves to achieving universal access by 1990. By the 1990 New Delhi Statement, with universal access still out of reach, the goal was renewed with a new deadline of 2000, but water was described as a human need rather than a human right. This approach was coupled with an emphasis on water’s economic values and the need for increased cost recovery, which in turn increased the focus on, and uptake of, private-sector participation in the delivery of water and sanitation services across the Global South. A similar needs-based approach was adopted at the start of the new millennium in Target 7 of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but during this decade a consensus on the recognition of the human right to water also emerged in international law. As the normative status and content of this right came to be better articulated and understood, it began to influence the practice of providing water and sanitation services, and by the end of the MDG process a rights-based approach featured more prominently in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of 2015. While the provision of water and sanitation services is multifaceted, the evidence of global achievements from the 1970s onward indicates that a rights-based approach increases the priority given to the social values of such services and focuses attention on the need to go beyond technical solutions to address the structural issues at the heart of water inequality. Going forward, approaches to the provision of water and sanitation services and the human right to water will need to continue to adapt to new challenges and to changing conceptualizations of water, including the growing recognition that all living things have a right to water and that water itself can have rights.

American Indians fitting into Medical School

1999 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-11
Author(s):  
Apanakhi Buckley
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Medical School ◽  
American Indians ◽  
Alaska Native ◽  
White Women ◽  
The United States ◽  
Alaska Natives ◽  
Indian Health Service ◽  
Native Women ◽  
Indian Health

This paper describes a qualitative study of how indigenous people experience medical school in the United States. Nine American Indians and Alaska Natives participated in the study: five women and four men. They came from eight different tribes, but they have asked me to protect their confidentiality, so I will not identify their tribes. Their ages ranged from 27 to 39. Five of them had children. Two of them were unmarried.In the United States, the need for indigenous physicians is great. Twice as many American Indians die from homicide and suicide as non-Indians in the United States (Wallace, Kirk, Houston, Amnest, and Emrich, 1993); three times as many die from accidents and more than four times as many die from alcoholism (Indian Health Service, 1996). Diabetes is rampant among American Indians and Alaska Natives. Women are the hardest hit (Gilliland, Gilliland, and Carter; 1997). More than five times as many American Indian and Alaska Native women die from diabetes than non-Latina white women.

scholarly journals Diverse Caregivers in the United States: Implications for Caregiving Across the Lifespan

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 104-105
Author(s):  
C Grace Whiting ◽  
Rita Choula ◽  
Yanira Cruz ◽  
Lauren Pongan ◽  
Feylyn Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Asian American ◽  
Alaska Native ◽  
Geographic Location ◽  
The United States ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
The Us ◽  
Survey Interviews ◽  
Policy Institute ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Caregivers with diverse backgrounds make up an important part of the landscape of caregiving in the US. Their unique experiences have been traditionally under-researched in the field of social sciences and underrecognized by society. To further understand the impact of race, ethnicity, class, gender and sexuality onto caregiving, the National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC) and the AARP Public Policy Institute commissioned an in-depth analysis of the dataset collected from the Caregiving in the US 2020 study, which segments populations based on ethnic and sexual identity, geographic location, and income level. Utilizing survey interviews with 1,392 caregivers in the US, this study found differences amongst the African-American, Latinx, and Asian American-Pacific Islander populations in relation to age, time spent caregiving, ADL/IADLs, caregiving strain and intensity, receipt of formal and informal support, and financial impact. In consideration of the distinct challenges presented by diverse caregiving throughout the lifespan, this presentation will also feature results from a 2020-2021 Diverse Elders Coalition and NAC commissioned study on the unmet caregiving needs in diverse communities. 11 virtual listening sessions were held with 400 caregivers of color, including American Indian/Alaska Native caregivers, and LGBTQ caregivers across the nation. Presentation attendees can expect to learn new insights into the experiences of diverse caregivers, while also gaining a fresh understanding of informal and formal support preferences with a multicultural lens. Finally, this presentation will provide recommendations to further prioritize the needs of historically marginalized caregivers in policy and practice.

Settler Colonialism, Race, and the Law

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natsu Taylor Saito
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
American Indians ◽  
Settler Colonialism ◽  
The United States ◽  
Racial Justice ◽  
Structural Racism ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
Colonial Theory ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Right

Settler Colonialism, Race, and the Law begins from the premise that the United States is neither postracial nor postcolonial. Using the lens of settler colonial theory, it attributes the origins and persistence of racialized inequities in the United States to the prerogatives asserted by its predominantly Angloamerican founders to appropriate Indigenous lands and resources, to profit from the labor of voluntary and involuntary migrants, and to ensure that all people of color remain “in their place.” This book assesses the experiences of American Indians, African Americans, Latina/os, and Asian Americans to the present day in terms of the strategies utilized by the settlers to accomplish these ends. By providing a functional analysis that links disparate forms of oppression, it makes the case for the oft-cited proposition that racial justice is indivisible, focusing particularly on the importance of acknowledging and contesting the continued colonization of Indigenous peoples and lands. It concludes that we will more effectively dismantle structural racism not by relying on promises of formal equality but by envisioning what the right of all peoples to self-determination means in a settler colonial state.

scholarly journals Determinants in implementing a public policy for an essential volume of free water in Bogotá and Medellín, Colombia

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 719-730 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Vargas ◽  
Léo Heller
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Free Water ◽  
National Guidelines ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Water And Sanitation ◽  
Sanitation Services ◽  
Access To Water ◽  
User Groups

Abstract Within the framework for the realization of the human right to water and sanitation, States have the obligation to implement programs and public policies that satisfy the basic needs of their population, especially its most vulnerable demographics. In Colombia, this challenge has been addressed through policies that provide a determined essential amount of free water to people whose access to water and sanitation services are limited due to low income. Through a review of legal and technical documents as well as relevant literature, this article presents an analysis of the particular determinants involved in implementing this program in Bogotá and Medellín, as well as some related concerns. Among such factors, we discuss the evolution and changes of the tariff model used in service provision, estimates of basic consumption, the role of social movements and collective action, and user disconnection due to non-payment. The main particularities and differences of each case highlighted the inconveniences related to the method of identifying eligible users and applying assistance to beneficiary user groups, and the need for national guidelines in implementing this policy.

scholarly journals Copyright and Free Speech: The Human Rights Perspective

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 182-202
Author(s):  
Buss Krisjanis
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Free Speech ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
The United States ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Equal Importance ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Legal Effect ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract The relationship between copyright and freedom of expression has long been debated. Unlike the legal discourse in other jurisdictions, most notably the United States, where it is assumed that free speech and copyright do not collide, in Europe both rights have separate legal effect and are considered to be of equal importance. As a result, when an individual refers to the human right of free speech to hold and impart copyright protected material, it triggers the collision between the two rights. This paper highlights and explores these relationships between copyright and freedom of expression in Europe, offering an in-depth analysis of the human rights scope of copyright and free speech, as well as examining the circumstances under which each conflicting right should prevail.

scholarly journals Technical and Scale Efficiency of the Brazilian Municipalities’ Water and Sanitation Services: A Two-Stage Data Envelopment Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 199
Author(s):  
Miguel Alves Pereira ◽  
Rui Cunha Marques
Keyword(s):  
Data Envelopment Analysis ◽  
Water Source ◽  
Scale Efficiency ◽  
Data Envelopment ◽  
Service Networks ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Two Stage ◽  
Water And Sanitation ◽  
Sanitation Services ◽  
Contextual Environment

Seeking to “ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all” is an admirable Sustainable Development Goal and an honourable commitment of the United Nations and its Member States regarding the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation services (WSSs). However, the majority of countries are not on target to achieve this by 2030, with several of them moving away from the best practices. Brazil is one of these cases, given, for example, the existing asymmetries in the access to water supply and sanitation service networks. For this reason, we propose a benchmarking exercise using a two-stage Data Envelopment Analysis to measure the technical and scale efficiency of the Brazilian municipalities’ WSSs, noting their contextual environment. Our results point towards low mean efficiency scores, motivated by the existence of significant scale inefficiencies (the vast majority of municipalities are operating at a larger than optimal scale). Furthermore, the Water source was found to be a statistically significant efficiency predictor, with statistically significant differences found in terms of Ownership and Geography. Ultimately, we suggest policy-making and regulatory possibilities based on debureaucratization, the implementation of stricter expenditure control policies, and investment in the expansion of WSSs.

Indigenous Learning Environments

Education ◽  
2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Learning Environment ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
American Indians ◽  
Alaska Native ◽  
Critical Mass ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
The United States ◽  
Indigenous Students ◽  
Indigenous Learning

A learning environment incorporates the physical location, context, and cultures in which students learn. The term implicitly acknowledges that learning takes place in a multitude of ways and locations. The implication is that certain learning environments are better suited for certain individuals, cultures, subjects, or content. Indigneous students are often underserved in higher education. Few educational institutions, outside of tribally controlled institutions, have a critical mass of Indigenous students, resulting in a lack of Indigenous courses, content, programs, dialogue, and space. An additional consequence is that research solely dedicated to Indigenous postsecondary education is limited. To account for this gap, it is necessary to pull from secondary, and sometimes primary, academic research. Cultural differences between dominant higher education models and traditional ways of learning work to widen the education gap and reduce Indigenous students’ future opportunities. In 2016, approximately, 20 percent of American Indians/Alaska Native and Pacific Islander students enrolled in higher education, yet their graduation rate was 39 percent and 51 percent, respectively, compared to 64 percent for white students. Creating an Indigenous learning environment can serve to improve Indigneous student knowledge acquisition, increase recruitment and retention, and facilitate increased on-campus intercultural dialogue. Curating a space where Indigneous students can thrive and where non-Indigenous students are able to learn about the unique sociohistorical relationship betwen Indigneous people and the United States facilitates the bridging of a cultural gap in larger society. After providing a General Overview, the literature is divided into five sub-themes: Curriculum, Indigenous Knowledge, Indigenous Pedagogy, Indigenous-Focused Assessment, and Culturally Appropriate Safe Space.

Introduction: Impact of and Response to the Pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Randall Akee ◽  
Stephanie R. Carroll ◽  
Chandra Ford
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
American Indians ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
The United States ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
National Strategy ◽  
Special Edition ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Structural Racism ◽  
The Impact

In a two-volume, special edition, AICRJ volume 44, issues 2 and 3, we examine COVID-19’s unique implications for Indigenous Peoples, nations, and communities. Within the United States, African Americans, Hispanics, and American Indians have experienced substantially higher levels of COVID-19 infection and death. The impact of COVID-19 on Indigenous Peoples residing in other countries differs according to the overall national strategy for dealing with the pandemic. The structural racism of colonialism is the driver of myriad negative outcomes for Indigenous Peoples, and the effects of COVID-19 are no exception. The articles in this first special issue take a granular and intersectional look at the impact of the pandemic, the resilience of Indigenous communities, and the relevance of self-determination in public responses. These articles document specific programs and methods to combat and cope with COVID-19 effects in Indigenous communities and nations.

Water and Sanitation Services in Latin America: Access and Quality Outlook

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Analía Gómez Vidal ◽  
Fabiana Machado ◽  
Darcia Datshkovsky
Keyword(s):  
Service Quality ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Caribbean Region ◽  
Simple Task ◽  
Water And Sanitation ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Sanitation Services ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Nationally Representative

Tracking progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is critical to evaluate how far the water and sanitation sector is from achieving these targets, and to guarantee that the solutions and strategies implemented get everyone closer to them. But this is not a simple task. To truly assess collective progress towards achieving SDG 6 (and all other goals), it is fundamental to count on standardized measures that help track all types of access, their reliability, and their quality. Existing data tend to lack comparability across sources and locations because they rely on different definitions and categories. Samples are often not representative of all groups within the population. More developed areas are more likely to collect data, which results in the overrepresentation of groups that enjoy better services. Still in some areas and for some categories of information data is not available at all. In response to these challenges, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) partnered with the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) to gather nationally representative and comparable data in 18 countries in the region. The goal of this effort was to provide an initial outlook of the current landscape of water and sanitation services in the region, using two batteries of questions in the LAPOP questionnaire for the 2018-2019 wave. The main message that arises is that the Latin American and the Caribbean region faces a wide range of challenges, that vary both across and within countries. Some areas face the primary challenge of closing access gaps, while others display higher deficiency in service quality, such as continuity. The gaps in quality of services, in particular, are not clearly perceived by users. In general, levels of satisfaction with the services received is quite high among the population, much higher than warranted by the objective measures of service quality. This raises important issues for accountability in the sector. If users are mostly satisfied with the current state of affairs, it is unlikely they will pressure governments and utilities to improve service delivery. A more in-depth analysis is required to understand the reasons behind these opinions and possible ways to raise awareness.

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