Violence against women and children worldwide

To begin this essay, the definition of violence must be clear. Violence is the use of physical force to injure people or property. Violence may cause physical pain to those who experience it directly, as well as emotional distress to those who either experience or witness it. Individuals, families, schools, workplaces, communities, society, and the environment all are harmed by violence.

Violence is actually a very serious situation that can be seen all around the world. Violence includes:
•Physical (slapping,hitting, choking...)
•Sexual (rape, harassment...)
•Emotional (controlling behaviour)
•Economic (controlling finances)
•Stalking (repeated following, watching)
The statements mentioned before are problems that people have to face in their everyday life. Not only women and children face violence, men do too.
Many cases have been reported of sexual assaultment and one of those many cases was about a girl named Anita Lorraine Cobby. She was a 26 year old Australian nurse and beauty pageant winner who was kidnapped, sexually assaulted and then murdered while walking home after dining out with 2 of her hospital colleagues. Investigations led to the arrest of five men who were later convicted of her abduction, rape and murder.
Another case that has to do with man violence was when Lionel Richie’s ex-wife, Brenda Harvey, was arrested for spousal abuse in 1988 for besting Richie after catching him in bed with another woman.
The 2012 Delhi Gang Rape case involved a rape and fatal assault that occurred on 16 December 2012 in Munirka.  The incident took place when a 23-year-old female, Jyoti Singh Pandey,was beaten, gang raped,, and tortured in a private bus in which she was traveling with her friend. There were six others in the bus, including the driver, all of whom raped the woman and beat her friend. Eleven days after the assault, she was transferred to a hospital in Singapore for emergency treatment but died from her injuries two days later.[
These 3 cases mentioned all happened in different countries.
Now child abuse, or child maltreatment is physical, sexual, or psychological maltreatment or neglect of a child or children, especially by a parent or other caregiver. Some parents take advantage of their children and change their minds into doing and obeying things that are not right at all. So do babysitters, they use physical violence on the child if they don’t do what they are told. There have been many cases filed of children abuse but not as much as women abuse since more men use violence on their partners than parents would on their own children. Some children are afraid to speak out when violence is being committed on them because they are afraid they’d make things worse, or sometimes they don’t know what to do about it and are threatened so they don’t speak up.

Violence is not nothing, it is a big deal since many people are dying from it all around the world. People should start doing something about it, or if they get to see any act of violence, they should call the police at least because if something happens to the victim, the person would feel guilty for not doing anything about it.

Elections in Colombia

Elections in Colombia are regulated and controlled by the National Electoral Council which also gives information on elections and election results in for the politics of Colombia. Colombia elects on national level a Head of state - the president - and a legislature. The president is elected for a four-year term by the people. The Congress' has two chambers. The House of Representatives and The Senate of the Republic

The violence that occurred between 1946 and 1964 resulted in over 200,000 deaths. An estimated one million people were displaced from their rural homes. Guerrilla movements arose from the anarchy to fully establish themselves in the 1960s and still trouble Colombia to this day. Historically, the two mainstream parties, the Conservatives and the Liberals, had dominated Colombian politics from the 19th century onwards, both enjoying large periods in power. These periods of hegemony were more partisan than personal because politics was characterized by voter affiliation to either party, based on social and economic class, regardless of who led them. However, after 1946, traditional party competition had broken down in Colombia. Mariano Ospina Pérez, the newly elected president, and his Conservative party government used the police and the army to repress the Liberal party. The Liberals then responded by arming peasants to fight back against the government. This created pressures within civil and political society, and violence began on a small scale.
In colombia, the citizens have the right to vote and make a very important decision that may provide for our country as well as affect it, these decisions can be made by people from the age of 18. It is supposedly an obligation for all citizens to vote, but there are still many people who don’t do so because of their personal reasons. Some people don’t vote because they simply don’t like to get involved in any type of politics or because they don’t have the time to do so.
The votes this year are a bit complex and troubling because the possible candidates for the presidency are candidates from the F.A.R.C (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) which was a guerrilla movement involved in continuing Colombian armed conflict since 1964. It was known to employ a variety of military tactics in addition to more unconventional methods, including terrorism. They are a subversive guerrilla group which signed peace agreements last year and they did so with the intentions for people to allow them to reach the government. People were furious and they were very unhappy because they do not consider that the  people who were in the army, who killed major quantities of people, who are drug traffickers and Organ traffickers as well, should not reach that power and should not be on the votes.

I believe that the political election for presidency has many incorrect and suspicious things because how is it possible for the voting cards for a winning candidate be done or run out? An election like this is very important because it defines the future of our country and citizens should be the only ones with the right to vote. Every person has their own opinion about each candidate at the end, so there is no reason to cheat if its the majority of the country who is making the choice.

How do you think Christmas must be celebrated?

Christmas is celebrated to remember and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ (our saviour). Christmas is celebrated in different ways by many and not celebrated at all by others. It is also celebrated on the 25th by most and on the 24th by other people.

Christmas is one of those holidays that just seems to be filled with cheer, wonder and happiness. Whether you are celebrating a religious or a secular Christmas, your day is sure to be filled with happines at the end. Christmas should be a religious, and social day for all of us. Not everyone believes in going  to church on that special day but it is one of the most important things to do on Christmas. It is a way of showing our love and thankfulness to Jesus for dying on the cross to save us. There are several and different ways of celebrating it, as mentioned before. It is a tradition all around the world to hang a Christmas tree in our home and decorate it beautifully. The christmas gifts are put by Santa Clause on the 25th just under the tree. People decorate their homes with colorful and cheerful lights, candy canes, santa clauses, reindeers and many more. Many people like to donate gifts to charities for the poor people on christmas. It makes them happy to know that they made someone else’s day on christmas when no one else would have!  It is a very generous act to show to others, it is all about spreading joy, kindness, beauty, and love during the Christmas season. Christmas is celebrated as well by gathering up with all of the family and having a great and delicious dinner. It is about sharing time with your loved ones, singing along to Christmas carols, having fun and playing games, praying and eating dinner after, being thankful for what you have, and watching Christmas movies all night long.

Christmas is truly one of my favorite holidays since its a very special day of the year where we can share with our loved ones, make other people happy, have fun ourselves, and celebrate christmas all together.

Christmas- Religious practice or commercial date?

     Is christmas actually a commercial date or a religious practice? This is a question that might be asked by many and i am going to be defining Christmas and giving my personal opinion about it as well.
      Christmas is an annual festival in which people celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, observed more commonly on december 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. In general it is a festivity that is celebrated by christians but that does not stop other people from celebrating if they wanted to. The reason of celebrating Christmas is what makes it a religious practice. Now since when did christmas become all about buying things in a store and not about our youth, family and goodwill? This is a great question we should all be asking ourselves! Christmas should be all about god, christ and family but instead it is all about some meaningless presents or about buying some gorgeous outfit from your favorite store because you want to look pretty that night.  Christmas is when most people take advantage of the date for personal reasons and to make more money. They use christmas in commercials for their own benefits. They wait for Christmas time which is the 25th to do some discounts for more people to buy things. They put special offers on tv to gain more customers when they barely care about christmas celebration.
        Now to answer the exact question, i believe that christmas is both, a religious practice to some and a commercial date to others, and i think it is time to change the thought of it being all about the hair, makeup, clothes, and presents and make it more about Jesus Christ which is the main reason why Christmas is celebrated.

Human rights

     Human rights are rights that belong to all human beings; whatever their nationality, color, religion, language, place of residence, or ethnic origin are. I believe we are all equally entitled to our human rights without discrimination.

      International human rights law lays down obligations of Governments to act in certain ways or to prohibit certain acts, in order to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms of individuals or groups. Human rights exist to stop other people from the ignorance, abuse, violation and discrimination that others commit on them. All of these situations mentioned icluding terror and disappearances are everyday ocurrences  in Colombia. There is a population of approximately 45 million here in Colombia where about mostly half of these people have possibly gone through those situations or worse. The threatening human righhs situation in Colombia is the worst in the region. Most of the human rights violations are executed by the guerrilla groups, laramilitaries and government forces. These include massacres, killings, torture, kidnapping and extortion. Human rights workers, lawyers, judges and even peasants are among the most common victims of terrorist groups and drug lords. The colombian government has come up with a military-economic plan for the removal of coke that has threatened to increase the armed conflict. The law offers a reduced sentence to members of groups who have committed crimes if they participate in demobilization. The law only applies to paramilitaries; not the mafia-like miltary groups who are funded by drug trafficking. The law provides no justice for the victims.

     I believe that the only solution for all of these problems is to open our minds and respect other peoples beliefs. Not to discrimante or distinguish other people because at the end of the day we are all humans and we are all equal. All  these problems would lead to war and what we all would want is  to live in a peaceful world and society.

Animal Abuse

        Abusing is the action of mistreating and causing pain or damage to others. In some countries  it is very common to find animal abuse,and it a nationwide problem that grows rapidly in today’s society. Year 2006 was the year that had the most cases of animal abuse in the U.S  which was approximately 2700 number of abuse cases.
     
        About three hundred thousand animals die each year from animal abuse. Some animals are used for scientific reasons. It is said that it is necessary to form experiments and do researchs on the poor animals for products, medicines, and economic reasons. The biggest problem with animal testing is that the animals suffer a horrible experience just for us humans to do experiments on them and learn more about their race. It is not fair and very selfish of us for animals to lose their hair or fur just for us humans to have nice clothing. They do not deserve that harm. Many scientists use the “its for science” excuse while there are other scientists and successful companies out there that don’t have the need to use these animals for testing their products yet they have very popular products that are bought daily. Cosmetic items are mostly tested on animals just to see the reaction of a particular product. If the product does react, it could harm very deeply that animal and may cause it to be blind or to die. This is the worst type of abuse because it can actually harm the animal for life. Some heartless people even use dogs for money. They put on a show and their owners put them up for a dog fight just for people’s entertainment and for the selfish reason of making a lot of money themselves if their dog gets to win.  Abusing an animal like that or using it for games is highly unacceptable and it is against the law and should be reduced because it is affecting them harshly.

         Honestly, no one deserves that kind of treatment. What if it was your pet or my pet that they were using and putting chemicals in with unknown reactions, how would you react? What if it was actually you instead of the animal being abused?  You have to put yourself in others shoes because they can  also get hurt the same way us humans do. It is inhumane to make a living creature suffer just for our benefits or for our entertainment. Animal abuse must stop immediately.

         

The Person I Admire Most

The person i admire the most is my mother. She’s the person i look up to the most, the one that has been there for me through thick and thin, the one that has given me advice whenever i needed it, and the one i trust the most and can actually call my best friend. Looking back at my childhood, it was filled with love and happines. My mother along with my father, they made sure my siblings and I grew up to be as strong as them and they made sure we lived in a house full of love and laughter.
My mother’s name is Claudia Ingrid Moscarella Acosta, she was born in Barranquilla, Colombia on the 5th of July, in 1968. She studied in the Polytechnic Atlantic Coast two carreers but only finished one, which was marketing and publicity. She has 3 nationalities, Italian (which she got from her father), Lebanese (which came from her husband) and obviously Colombian (her place of birth). Her mother, Sarah Acosta, is from spain, while her father, Boris Moscarella, is from italy. She met my father, Antoine Zalaket Sayegh, in 1995. They met at a church here in Barranquilla, where they went on road trips. In 1996 , after dating for a while, they decided to get married. My sister Pascale, was born one year after their marriage. After that came me, and then my brother Angelo was born. There are 3 years difference between each one of us. All 3 of us look up to her since she is a very strong, brave, beautiful woman. She used to pay for her own university when she was younger, and we admire her for her independence, intelligence and how strong she is. She will always be the woman i admire the most, she is everything I strive to be as a mom and a woman. I love my mother.