Why Does the World Ignore Africa Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Why Does the World Ignore Africa - Essay Example Despite the abundance in Africa's natural resources it is still one of the world's poorest and most underdeveloped continents. This economy is often the reason for a number of deadly conflicts, guerilla warfare and genocides within different African states: the Darfur conflict. Human rights are also a cause of major cause as they are brutally violated in states like Zimbabwe and Sierra Leone. Basic amenities like healthcare are also severely lacking with deadly diseases and viruses like HIV/AIDS on the rise. With high levels of illiteracy, African states are unable to emerge from their developing status to provide any sort of contribution to the creation of an industrial or service sector. Poverty, illiteracy, malnutrition and inadequate water supply and sanitation affect the African population. The result is that the situation is severe enough for the last 25 ranks in the United Nations Human Development Report to be African states (Reuters). The reasons given for Africa's backwards condition are diverse and complicated. While countries like the United States swoop in to prevent and curb the spread of AIDS in Africa, little is done for the conflicts ranging in the African states. The civil wars are ignored because the world sees them as wars between the Africans to seize and exploit human rights. Tragedies like the Rwandan genocide were shown by the Western media as just another incident of tribal violence in Africa (Heleta 2009). The weapons used to kill the victims were the most simple and brutal available: men, women and children were hacked to death with simple machetes. The death of nearly a million Tutsis and moderate Hutus by the brutal extremists in Rwanda created not a stir of sympathy or assistance. Instead, the UN Security Council was pressurized by its major components: United States and Britain to cut down the number of UN troops in the region from 2500 to 270, right in the midst of the genocide. The French were no less severe as they were held responsible for training the Hutu troops that attacked the Tutsis, all in the name of retaining their French influence in the region. History today sees Ramada as one of the biggest UN failures not only because of its inability to curb the violence but also because while it drew out troops from Rwanda it increased the numbers being sent to Bosnia and Herzegovina. On a trip to Rwanda in 1998 Clinton did apologize stating "We in the United States and the world community did not do as much as we could have and should have done to try to limit what occurred in Rwanda in 1994" (The Radford Reviews). The question arising is that why did the world not do anything Many claim this to be a move to protect the white man while ignoring the black one. Western governments' were said to be aware of this genocide and yet it did nothing to intervene. So after Rwanda's atrocities why did the developed world not prevent the tragedy of Darfur 300,000 people were killed in this region and no action was taken by any government to intervene. The Darfur Daily News complains and rightly so that the United Nations has been created to prevent such atrocities and has been unable to fulfill its responsibilities (2009). So maybe all the accusations placed on the world for favoring a certain race or ignoring the problems of another country is well-founded in the lack of interest shown for Rwanda and Darfur. It has already been mentioned that Africa has

Trade Unions and High Performance Working Essay

Trade Unions and High Performance Working - Essay Example The government also has not been left behind in passing legislations that ensure protection of worker’s rights. High performance working involves employee involvement and participation, learning and development, teamwork, information sharing, and other HR practices such as talent management, and performance management among others (Cox et al. 2006). The role of trade unions has been declining over the past two decades which bring us to the question as to whether trade union presence enables the British management to develop high performance. To answer this question, the paper will discuss the various high performances work practices in British organisations today and assess their effectiveness in absence of union representation. This is to try to show that despite declining union influence in organisations today, most of the practices require the presence of the union for them to be effective. Another issue of importance is whether an extended coverage of employee rights to of fer protection to workers can be a replacement for union representation given the nature of British laws which allow discretion to management in enforcement. Over the years, women participation in employment has increased but women have yet to achieve equal treatment as their male counterparts, does this require the intervention of unions? Another key debate is the work-life balance. HRM friendly practices claim to enable workers to have flexible working so as to balance work and family life and so are legislations passed to that effect such as the Working Time Regulations, but the question is, â€Å"are workers having a satisfactory work-life balance and what is the role of the union in this matter?† Another issue worthy noting is the current revitalisation efforts by the unions especially through advocacy for lifelong learning. The paper will first give a short history of trade unions to include the structure and changing legal framework of employment relations. The paper w ill then cover the alternative forms of voice both individual and collective and their effectiveness as well as the legal institutions and regulation of workplaces. The increasing role of women in trade union will be discussed and finally the paper will discuss the strategies used to revitalise unions such as use of learning representatives. History of Trade Unions Trade unions in Britain can be traced back to 17th century during the time of crafts trade whereby craftsmen formed guilds to guard their trade. The system of employment relations in place at that time was voluntarism characterised by low regulation or non government intervention in employment issues. The craftspeople carried out their trades at home and engaged the services of family members as apprentices and therefore there was no need for intervention. However, industrialisation changed the nature of employment relations as work turned to the factory system where labour was impersonal. The trade unions became more org anised as various guilds from different parts of the country joined to form unions so as to protect themselves from the effects of the factory system (Hyman, 2001). The role of the earliest unions was to offer mutual assistance to members and to defend their jobs and wages. As crafts trade was wiped out by