Upstream Journal

Most girls in Bangladesh are married before they are 18. For the impacts, and what can be done to prevent harm, check out the latest article and podcast by Dasheeni Joud Selvaratnam

www.upstreamjournal.org

About eight million Canadians are aged 65 and older, almost 20% of the total population. Single seniors, particularly women, are highly likely to be in poverty. One-third of the senior population, mostly the women, have a mobility disability. And loneliness is a significant issue for many seniors, and again this is affecting mostly women.
In this Upstream Journal articles and companion episode on the Human Rights Magazine podcast, Enid Kohler looks into these concerns, and possible solutions.
www.upstreamjournal.org

Kurdistan is a region in western Asia where political, cultural and environmental concerns overlap to a significant degree. Control of water is of particular importance. In a new article and podcast episode, Selin Abali explores some aspects of the tensions that continue to arise as Kurdish people face challenges to how rivers are managed and to their overall relationship with the water that is central to their lives.
www.upstreamjournal.org

The UJ is taking a new direction with the addition of a section that "welcomes thoughtful and informed contributions providing critical reflection on human rights and social justice"!
We've just launched this "Ideas and opinions" section with two thought-provoking articles that I invite you to check out:
The Artist as Preacher: James Baldwin’s Sacred Task. Yahia Lababidi considers the role of the artist as understood by James Baldwin. “To read Baldwin, today, is to uphold this time-honored task of the writer: to transform perception. For this reason, his words continue to pierce, console, and instruct. In a time when language is often twisted to conceal, Baldwin restores its capacity to illuminate. He summons us to see, to feel, to reckon, to recover our shared humanity.”
Israel’s crisis of identity, of purpose, of faith in the state itself. Valentine Matta looks at aspects of what she calls the country’s “existential inflection point”, and a society that has “learned to partition its moral concern—to grieve Jewish suffering while remaining largely indifferent to Palestinian pain”.

International students in Canada can face considerable obstacles and sources of stress. There can be financial strain, including finding affordable accommodation. Finding meaningful part-time work can be difficult. There is also concern about exploitation by employers, landlords and criminals posing as immigration consultants.
Our podcast, Human Rights Magazine, looks into the issue in a new episode hosted by Napas Thein, with technical support and outreach by Jing Xiao.
https://upstreamjournal.org/humanrightsmagazine/