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The Arab Women's Organization, in cooperation with the United Nations Development Fund and the League of Arab States, recently met in Cairo to discuss the preparation of quantitative and qualitative indicators of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in their organization. It was the third meeting by experts, and held in order to provide support for the Arab States in preparing their national reports on their commitment to CEDAW.\ The Kingdom of Bahrain with host the event entitled Be Free on June 9-10. International organizations such as UNICEF and the Organization of Internet Control along with and a number of world-renown experts will participate. The goal of the two-day event is to discuss ways to prevent the trafficking and physical abuse of children through the Internet. \ The Center for Arab Unity Studies in Beirut has issued a new book on the concept of crimes against humanity in international law. Written by William George Nassar, the book covers the concepts of crimes such as genocide, torture, and apartheid, along with ways to identify criminal prosecution and the need for international protection for humanity. \ The Arab Today reported that the Jordanian Ministry of Development plans to conduct a study on the subject of elderly unmarried women in the upcoming months. Thought to be widespread throughout Jordan, the study will focus on the economic and social impediments of spinsterhood.\ An Australian court has agreed to allow a 17 year old female to continue medical treatment that has lead to confusion of her legal gender identification. After the ruling, the court has allowed doctors to remove her breasts in order to appear more masculine. She has already completed several hormonal therapies in order to prevent the onset of menstruation. Doctors have attributed her desire to change her gender due to depression.\ Doctors at the British Queen's University reported that the number of patients with juvenile diabetes has increased significantly within Europe. More than 20,000 children under the age of five are now believed to be afflicted.\ The United Nations Children's Fund "UNICEF" has been asked to take firm action to stop the trafficking of children amidst the background of a new report stating that more than 150 million girls and 73 million boys under eighteen years of age are forced to have sex every year in different parts of the world. \ The government of the United Arab Emirates has launched a humanitarian initiative which ensures that, upon legal age, any citizen the country deems an orphan will be submitted for employment and receive a secured monthly income. The Human Resources Section of the Dubai police will implement this initiative.\ 18 organizations in a local Jordanian community recently signed the Memoranda of Understanding with the Organization of American Jurisdiction to implement the program "Combating Child Labor through Education." The program will continue for a period of four years, with funding from the Department of Labor in America, at an estimated cost of U.S. $ 4 million.\ A U.S. study reported that an estimated 3.5 million children under the age of five are at risk of starvation in the United States alone. These findings coincide with another study by the U.S. Food Group, which indicated that more than 20% of American children in eleven states suffer from hunger due to the lack of food.



Mercy Killing

Kamel Abbass- Al Thara
Translated by: Ghassan Al- Nasayef

3.7.2010

The suffering of my village peasants, in the fifties of last century, was not restricted on natural disasters, resulted from storms, lightening and the changes of climate, rather it exceeded it to social disasters, and this one of them, recorded in the archives of my memory: a family is formed of a father a mother and four males only, the father got his four children married, to work beside him in the land, so he built for them humble houses next to his, when he got older

he suffered of paralysis, so he became as burden for the whole family, on basis of this ordeal, his children agreed among themselves that, each one of them will keep his father a complete month, so when the month is over, the other child will take turn and so on, but the problem was that, one of the daughter in laws, was of a strong personality and neurotic, in the same time she has the control over her husband, so when the turn come to them, the atmosphere of the family in all its branches becomes electrified.
One time the father requested his children, before moving to the house of his difficult daughter in law, to find a solution for his drama and that he desired death, for it is more comfortable for him and for his daughter in law, and that he is ready to declare this before everybody, that he is wholly content to put an end to his life, on an agreement with a doctor, who is to be brought from the city for this purpose.
The family, the neighbors, the mayor and the chosen ones of the village gathered, to discuss this issue.
The Mayor said : this path is surrounded with danger, in addition it is a challenge to God's ordinance, one of them answered him, the man is considered sick, with a disease that there is no cure from, moreover he is in a torment, that God is not satisfied with, as I think, so putting an end to his life through a legal medicine, is a favor to him and to his family, it is an ending of a tragedy, if it continue it may cause uncountable social problems inside the family, the Mayor replied him : in our village there are many youths, considered to have psychological problems and is also considered to be dangerous to the society, not only to his family, so do we kill that person in order to satisfy the society ?
The only solution to this tragedy is patience and accept the test of God in us, serve the patient as much as we could, until God take his life.
Modern life presents this problem , in more than one shape and color, in my village and in the world at large, through the presence of patients of all ages, children, youths and old aged, of both sexes, and many of them demand death, as a solution to their tragedy, and the methods of death are now easy, due to advancement of medicine, by making variety of drugs, that can finish life fast and easily, without pain, but the laws in most of the countries around the world, do not accept this kind of practice, consider it as killing of the self, which God prohibited.
I remembered this suffering, when I was reading the following story, in Al- Maarifa magazine, from the mid seventies ( Al- Maarifa magazine was and still is published by Syrian Ministry of Education ) the story is translated from Bulgarian, under the title – The floating ice berg – the story says : a very old grandmother, whose grand children got fed up of her, so they decided to get rid of her where she was not knowing, so she was very happy when they told her that, they are going to take her on a sea trip, and as a matter of fact they accompanied her in the trip and sent her to a floating ice berg, as food for fishes and returned back home, save her.
No doubt the writer is criticizing the singular dimension development, in her socialist country then, this behavior is condemned and rejected by human values, but by other side it indicate a problem that the society is suffering of, when people reach old age, where they become burden, on themselves and on those who are surrounding them.
The solution to this problem is simple, it lies in providing refuges for old people, in every province, supervised by the ministry of health, but the solution to those patients, who are suffering of chronic diseases, which have no cure, is another issue.


Thara E- Magazine No. 240 ,3/7/2010
Reproduction permitted with appropriate citation

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