Continued French Ignorance of Indigenous Populations

In May 2024, riots roared across the French Overseas Territory of New Caledonia due to the French government’s implementation of a new voting amendment. The legislation, passed by politicians across the ocean in Paris, allowed for residents who have been on the island for at least 10 years to vote in elections and participate civically. 

However, the Indigenous Kanaks, who make up 41% of the country’s population, have lived through many migration efforts by the French government since the 1960s. These attempts have encouraged French residents to migrate to the territory, actively displacing and lessening the influence that the Kanak have over their native land. 

For decades, tensions have continued rising between the island's pro-independence and loyalist parties. The Kanak have continuously suffered from the neglect of the French government and face numerous socioeconomic challenges, such as unemployment, reliance on subsistence farming, and land dispossession. 

This amendment is seen as just an additional move to disregard and overlook the struggles and needs of the island’s native population. 

Between the 1960s and 1980s, the movement for independence within New Caledonia swept across the country’s political scene, and in 1988, a referendum for independence was accepted: the Nouméa Accord. 

This frustration has now taken a new front. 

Native Kanak peoples seeking the autonomy that was gradually promised in the 1989 Nouméa accord feel that any progress has effectively been walked back through this motion, a step that many see as further reducing the influence they have in their homeland by those who are supposed to represent their needs in their politics.  

Even UN experts have been alarmed by the situation, stating: “The French government has failed to respect the basic rights to participation, consultation and free, prior, informed consent of the Kanak Indigenous Peoples and its institutions, including the Customary Senate.”

Beginning in February 2024, Kanak people have taken to the streets in response to protest this measure. Still, due to a lack of dialogue, violence has started to emerge out of these demonstrations. In response, the military has utilized what many have referred to as excessive force, leading to today with the deaths of 14 Kanaks, over 2000 arrests, and nearly 1 billion euros of damage. A large factory was burnt down in Nouméa, alongside the destruction of other property like businesses and cars. 

On the 16th of May, the French government even banned TikTok on the island, aiming further to reduce the spreading of communication and anti-government sentiment. The app’s restrictions were lifted on the 29th as violence began to lighten up due to a French military operation that targeted those organizing. 

Yet, attacks persist across the country as tensions run high between the natives of the New Caledonian islands and the police and military forces, who just months ago employed any means necessary to suppress their voices and resentment over the poor treatment of their communities within the island’s political sphere. A strong police presence remains in many neighborhoods and urban areas across the country, signaling to the Kanak that those who claim to be interested in their liberation still don’t trust or understand them. 

New Caledonia’s status as an overseas territory, especially in the 21st century, is incredibly unique and repeatedly displays the inadequacy of colonial policies that persist in the modern era. 

Roughly 71 overseas territories exist globally, and while not all have created difficult situations for Indigenous populations’ homelands, New Caledonia exemplifies how governments that are so detached can be wholly inadequate for meeting the needs of the people that they have jurisdiction over. 

As this situation unfolds, the international community will continue to watch how poorly this form of governance can manifest itself upon those it is designed to protect. 

The US-Mexico Border isn't Just a Political Issue, it's a Humanitarian Crisis

By: Priya Buddhavarapu

December 1, 2024

The US-Mexico migrant crisis isn’t just a political issue, but also a major humanitarian crisis. 

As Americans, we tend to boil down the complexity of the border crisis to three major dimensions: border security, illegal immigration, and drugs. However, there is a fourth dimension, a humanitarian dimension, that goes relatively unnoticed by the mass media and governments alike. Migrants are a highly vulnerable demographic, often exposed to extreme cases of danger, exploitation, and abuse. 

There are two aspects of the trans-American odyssey that especially contribute to the significant humanitarian risk that come with illegal immigration. The first is the dangers of the chosen form of passage, and the second is the exploitation of migrants by drug traffickers and powerful cartels.

Each mode of transportation along the migrants’ journey to the United States is accompanied by its unique risks and tribulations, whether it be by foot, boat, bus, or train. For example, a migrant traveling by foot from South America must survive the Darién Gap, a roadless crossing that is “more than sixty miles of dense rain forest, steep mountains, and vast swamps” situated on the border of Panama and Colombia. The Darién Gap is the only overland path connecting Central and South America, making it a key transit point that authorities have led crackdowns on. Through this route, migrants must often pay for a guide, called a “coyote,” to lead them through the jungle, where they are often faced with extreme hunger and thirst, intense anxiety, hopelessness, relentless rainfall, muddy terrain, and drastic temperatures. At the same time, they must evade–and often fall victim to– smugglers, drug cartels, and bands of criminals who often extort and assault migrants. In the first six months of 2023 alone, there were 60 reported deaths, leaving cause to believe that the actual figure was much larger. Not only do these migrants face the physical dangers of their environment, they are also victims of rape, robbery, and human trafficking. 

Assume the migrant has successfully crossed the Darién Gap, one of the most dangerous natural traps of their journey up north, as well as several other Central American countries. Now, they face the last, yet arguably the most treacherous leg: traversing Mexico. They opt for the infamous cargo train lines that run from the Guatemalan border to the north of the country. Colloquially called La Bestia – “The Beast.” —  migrants ride atop these rapidly moving freight trains, seeing that there are no passenger rail cars. Any space is valuable real estate; if they fall or are pushed off, they are subject to injury, amputation, or death. Furthermore, many of these freight lines are controlled by gangs and organized crime groups. Defenseless migrants are often subject to extortion, violence, rape, kidnapping, and robbery. According to one estimate, “eighty percent of passengers are subjected to violence while hundreds have died.” 

The humanitarian perils of their journey does not stop here. Throughout every step, organized crime groups exploit the fragile states of migrants, using blackmail, extortion, and violence to trap them in dangerous, self-serving situations. Many, especially women and children, fall victim to human trafficking and sexual violence, leading to grave circumstances such as unwanted pregnancies, HIVs, sexually transmitted diseases, and mental health issues. And, of course, no matter where migrants are, there is the omnipresent risk of being turned in or discovered by immigration officials threatening deportation or worse. 

The statuses of these migrants must not be diminished to a figure on an immigration report. In fact, this issue should not solely be looked at as a border issue, but as a real, imminent humanitarian crisis that governments across North America are insufficiently acting to prevent. In addressing a solution regarding the border, these governments must not only focus on security, but also on the lives and safety of migrants, who risk everything to seek a better life. 

AI Threatens to Exacerbate Global Inequality

By Saira Uttamchandani

November 16, 2024

The development of artificial intelligence has led to some fascinating, increasingly popular inventions, such as the large language model ChatGPT. While artificial intelligence (AI) can do many interesting things, such as write music or create art, it also has had a significant positive  impact on various fields, such as finance, transportation, and medicine. As a result, investors are betting that the implementation of AI could raise global GDP by 7.5% by the year 2034. However, this incredible potential for growth could also exacerbate global inequality, as AI’s benefits are experienced unequally across countries and regions. Many developing countries lack the resources needed to take advantage of AI’s benefits and may also be the first to experience its harms.

Reaping the benefits of AI requires countries to have the necessary hard and soft infrastructure to support its use. This requires extensive digital connectivity, a technically savvy population, appropriate laws and regulations, and innovation. Higher-income countries are better prepared to take advantage of AI's benefits in all these areas due to the current wealth disparity between nations. Higher-income nations are thus better poised to benefit from artificial intelligence financially and economically. As these countries continue to benefit from artificial intelligence, it threatens to increase global inequality, as AI has the ability to increase productivity and generate greater wealth. 

Artificial intelligence also requires a lot of energy for the algorithm running, data center operation, and other similar tasks. This poses an issue, as lower-income countries often lack access to stable and reliable energy sources. This means they are less likely to benefit from the use of AI compared to higher-income nations, further increasing the chasmic divide. 

Artificial intelligence has been shown to improve economic productivity and economic status. If lower-income countries do not have access to these benefits, they will continue to fall behind as higher-income countries grow richer. Similarly, AI requires extensive computing power to run effectively, which many lower-income countries do not have. This is yet another difficulty lower-income countries face when trying to harness the power of artificial intelligence. 

It would be bad enough if developing countries were only less able to take advantage of AI's benefits, but this harm is exacerbated by the fact that AI also threatens to weaken the economies of developing countries through labor market disruption and a lack of technological skills in the countries’ workforce.

Labor market disruption via artificial intelligence has already begun. For example, automated assembly lines are replacing human workers, especially among “routine and repetitive” jobs, which automation can easily replace. Many corporations, such as Nike and Apple, outsource labor to developing countries, and a significant part of these countries’ GDP can be attributed to these manufacturing jobs. As they invest in their factories to improve productivity, the workers who are replaced by artificial intelligence have less disposable income and dollars to reinvest into the economy of these developing countries, thus stunting growth.

Incorporating artificial intelligence also increases demand for workers with skills to work alongside these new systems. 

AI is different from previous significant technological developments. For example, compared to the Industrial Revolution, AI is more likely to impact both blue-collar and white-collar jobs, and there is much more potential for high-skilled workers to reap the benefits. Complementary jobs in cybersecurity and IT, which already pay quite well compared to other fields, will surge as AI creates new opportunities As a result, high earning workers may experience a disproportionate increase in their income. These high-wage earners are disproportionately located in developed countries and, therefore, workers in lower-income countries may not experience the benefits as robustly.

In an increasingly automated world where artificial intelligence is continuously growing at remarkable speeds, we must recognize the unequal benefit  it provides and the harm it causes.