February 20th is the UN’s declared World Day of Social Justice! The GlobeMed network is celebrating by challenging our peers to question injustice. As a chapter, we’re asking, “what is privilege?” Each of us came up with our own answer at the chapter, how would you respond?
Exciting news for GHI: This J-term, Middlebury’s philanthropy class chose GHI as one of the most effective organizations they looked at and awarded our partner organization with $35,000. This sum represents approximately a quarter of GHI’s operating budget, and is the biggest individual gift they have ever received. Given that GHI made it through the thorough vetting process of Middlebury students, our chapter feels renewed purpose going into second semester.
In GHU, we discussed “Refugees and Healthcare.” The UN definition of te rights of refugees are as follows:
“refugees also enjoy certain human rights linked to their particular vulnerable status, including the right to seek asylum, to freedom from forcible return, to freedom of movement, to a nationality, and to receive protection and assistance in securing their basic economic, social and cultural rights”
We watched this video about South Sudan’s refugee camp, Yusuf Batil, to provide a more vivid context for this week’s GHU topic. We then discussed the questions:
Do the refugees have a right to more than the services currently being provided in the camp?
Whose responsibility is it to provide health care to refugees? The country granting asylum? The international community? The UN? An affiliated NGO? What are possible consequences of each?
What is the difference between a “responsibility to protect” refugees and a “right to intervene” in refugee crises?
How do these concepts of refugee rights extend to illegal immigrants?