Since globalization contains far-reaching implications for practically every facet of life, it is necessarily suggests the need to rethink key questions of intercultural communication, multiculturalism, cross-cultural education. The definitions of all these expressions is dynamic, evolving, and reflects the continual changes in our society. In broad terms, it is the ability to make and communicate meaning from one culture to another by the use of a variety of socially contextual symbols. All these thoughts have been questioned not only by philosophy, sociology, and history but also by the process of globalization. These are the concepts of Cosmopolitan view of world societies and cultures.

The word ‘cosmopolitan’, which derives from the Greek word kosmopolitês (‘citizen of the world’), is defined as: familiar with and at ease in many different countries and cultures: his knowledge of French, Italian, and Spanish made him genuinely cosmopolitan, including people from many different countries: immigration transformed the city into a cosmopolitan metropolis, having an exciting and glamorous character associated with travel and a mixture of cultures.

What does the notion of ‘cosmopolitization’ then have to say? And why is it so important to clearly distinguish it from the many ‘cosmopolitanisms’ (Kant, Hegel, Habermas, Nussbaum, Appiah, Benhabib, Held etc.) of European philosophy and extra-European histories of thought? Cosmopolitanism as a theoretical approach, provides fine descriptions of what it means to be and communicate as a global citizen, how to critically study interconnectedness within and across cultures, and how to embrace differences without glossing over them.

Cosmopolitanism can be understood as a socio-cultural condition, which is expressed in the conception of an open and cosmopolitan world. This condition is created from the base of processes linked to globalization, such as greater access to information and the development of communications and telecommunications. These processes facilitate a multiplication of social exchanges – including migrations – as well as cultural contacts which bring us closer to places and cultures which are physically and, sometimes, psychologically distant.

Cosmopolitanism has been used to describe a wide variety of important views in moral and socio-political thought. All cosmopolitan beliefs share the idea that all human beings, regardless of their political affiliation, do (or at least can) belong to a single community, and that this community should be cultivated. Different versions of cosmopolitanism envision this community in different ways, some focusing on political institutions, others on moral norms or relationships, and still others focusing on shared markets or forms of cultural and educational expression. Our interest in cosmopolitanism lies in its challenge to commonly recognized attachments to fellow-citizens, the local state, parochially shared cultures, education and the like.

Within various levels of developmental ability, a cosmopolitan person can derive and convey meaning, and use their knowledge to achieve a desired purpose or goal that requires the use of language skills, be they spoken, written or electronically transformed. A literate person can mediate their world by consciously and flexibly coordinating meaning from one linguistic knowledge base and apply or connect it to another knowledge base.

Some critics contend that the multicultural argument for the preservation of cultures is premised on a problematic view of culture and of the individual’s relationship to culture. Cultures are not distinct, self-contained wholes; they have long interacted and influenced one another through war, imperialism, trade, and migration. People in many parts of the world live within cultures that are already cosmopolitan, characterized by cultural hybridist. As Jeremy Waldron (1995, 100) argues, “We live in a world formed by technology and trade; by economic, religious, and political imperialism and their offspring; by mass migration and the dispersion of cultural influences. In this context, to immerse oneself in the traditional practices of, say, an aboriginal culture might be a fascinating anthropological experiment, but it involves an artificial dislocation from what actually is going on in the world.” To aim at preserving or protecting a culture runs the risk of privileging one supposedly pure version of that culture, thereby crippling its ability to adapt to changes in circumstances (Waldron, 110; see also Benhabib 2002 and Scheffler 2007). Waldron also rejects the premise that the options available to an individual must come from a particular culture; meaningful options may come from a variety of cultural sources. What people need are cultural materials, not access to a particular cultural structure.

In response, multicultural theorists agree that cultures are overlapping and interactive, but still maintain that individuals belong to distinct societal cultures and wish to preserve these cultures (Kymlicka 1995, 103). Multiculturalism is a body of thought about the proper way to respond to cultural and social diversity.

In recent years practitioners in a wide variety of fields -scientific cooperation, academic research, business, management, education, health, culture, politics, diplomacy, development, and others- have realized just how important intercultural communication is for their everyday work. Fast travel, international media, and the Internet have made it easy for us to communicate with people all over the world. The process of economic globalization means that we cannot function in isolation but must interact with the rest of the world for survival. The global nature of many widely diverse modern problems and issues such as the environment, governance of the Internet, poverty and international terrorism call for cooperation between nations. Intercultural communication is no longer an option, but a necessity.

Because important decisions in business, politics, education, health, and culture these days usually affect citizens of more than one nation, the question of whether communication between people of different nations is effective and whether all parties emerge with the same understanding is of crucial importance. Individuals who deal with people from other cultures want to learn how to improve their performance through improving their communication skills. Numerous resources have sprung up to meet this emerging market in the business, academic, education and international relations communities: leading authors have written books and articles on the topic; business services provide consultation for improving the conduct of international business; universities and other educational institutions offer programs or degrees in Intercultural Communication and Cosmopolitism; and researchers have established international journals and academic societies specializing in research on intercultural communication. In fact, intercultural communication has become a business in itself. Following is just an example: Richard Lewis Communications is a company owned by the author of the popular When Cultures Collide: Managing Successfully Across Cultures. They offer business consultancy, run “cross-cultural training” courses and workshops, publish papers and workbooks, and develop software for intercultural communication. Richard Lewis provides a truly global and practical guide to working and communicating across cultures: ”Working in a global team and dealing with business partners or customers across cultures raises challenges and demands new attitudes and skills. Our experience shows that without the right approach, cultural differences greatly reduce effectiveness in the early stages of a relationship. But active management of the internationalization process and a conscious effort to acquire new skills will release fresh sources of competitive advantage. Lack of knowledge of another culture can lead, at the best, to embarrassing or amusing mistakes in communication. At the worst, such mistakes may confuse or even offend the people we wish to communicate with, making the conclusion of business deals or international agreements difficult or impossible.”

Through the exploration of other cultural identities opportunities are provided to recognize points of similarity between cultures that may be hidden from view or not immediately apparent. The focus is on exploring where cultures meet and developing knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that enable interaction and negotiation between cultures. This process of coming to an understanding of others requires self-reflection and the confrontation and deconstruction of sometimes deeply embedded stereotypical views. It challenges both students and faculty to understand how views are constructed and to appreciate that views about oneself are constructed in relation to how we see each other.

Multicultural education is an interdisciplinary, cross-curricular education that contributes to the preparation for students to live and work in a diverse environment. As cross-cultural appreciation and respect become increasingly important in a globalized, interdependent world, it is imperative that students develop an understanding of cultures outside of their own. Multicultural education provides an avenue for schools to develop cultural awareness among their student bodies. Intercultural/ Multicultural education is about developing an understanding of and valuing others and about understanding of and valuing self. It provides opportunities to gain an insight into one’s own knowledge, limits, doubts and attitudes by confronting, interacting and negotiating with other cultures. This requires developing an understanding of why we see the world in the way we do. It allows students to break through their prejudices and get to know something of the actual person behind the stereotype. These types of educational programmers help young people recognize the sensitivity of talking about strongly held beliefs, and the consequences of not handling them with care, particularly the problems that occur when disagreement escalates into conflict or violence.

Perhaps the most common invocations of the label ‘cosmopolitan’ in recent philosophical literature have been in the disputes over cultural cosmopolitanism. Especially with disputes over multiculturalism in educational curricula and with resurgent nationalisms, cultural claims and counter-claims have received much attention. The cosmopolitan position in both of these kinds of disputes rejects exclusive attachments to parochial culture. So on the one hand, the cosmopolitan encourages cultural diversity and appreciates a multicultural blend, and on the other hand, the cosmopolitan rejects a strong nationalism. In staking out these claims, the cosmopolitan must be cautious about very strong ‘rights to culture,’ respecting the rights of minority cultures while rebuffing the right to unconditional national self-determination. Hence, recent advocates of ‘liberal nationalism’ (e.g., Margalit and Raz,) or of the rights of minority cultures (e.g., Kymlicka) generally seem to be anti-cosmopolitan. But the cosmopolitan’s wariness towards very strong rights to culture and towards national self-determination need not be grounded in a wholesale skepticism about the importance of parochial cultural attachments. Cosmopolitanism can acknowledge the importance of (at least some kinds of) cultural attachments for the good human life (at least within certain limits), while denying that this implies that a person’s cultural identity should be defined by any bounded or homogeneous subset of the cultural resources available in the world (e.g., Waldron).

Cosmopolitan cultural identity is introduced across the global and the local, encompassing questions of cultural mastery, mobility, traveling, tourism, and home and nation-state attachments. Cosmopolitanism, containing but also furthering the notion of interculturalism, could constitute an alternative to or complement for ‘cross-cultural education’ in theory or practice, especially via its element of ‘multiculturalism’. The explicit reference of cosmopolitanism to the development of the individual, in contrast to institutionalized frameworks, opens up further usefulness for intercultural education. The cosmopolitanism with the concept “to be concerned for another as I am concerned for myself” — is integral in nature: it contains the conceptual agenda that is common to most cosmopolitan perceptions; it allows them to exist alongside one another; and it encourages a normative, systematic outlook in man – the concern for another for the “good of the whole” – since people are essentials in one connected human system.

This approach is pragmatic in that it suggests a practical solution not only to interpersonal challenges but also to intercultural challenges. The “vision of the good” that overwhelms society demands treatment first before structural changes. A suitable response requires an educational, moral and conscious shift among the citizens of the world. Each person must recognize that his destiny is dependent on his relations with others, meaning anyone outside himself. When openness and concern are placed for others at the top of society’s agenda, when that will be the defining principle for curriculum at the university, there will be immediate progress in the society. People will form an open approach to the world within themselves – a kind of cosmopolitan prism through which they can judge their actions toward fellow people – and it will bring about the change in spheres such as economy, migration, environment, communication, security and more. The cosmopolitan integral education can provide an alternative to the various private affairs. This is a massive mission, that is obligating citizens of the world to engage in mutually beneficial relationships rather than relationships of advantage and distance. Today, even from the most egoistic perspective it is worthwhile to be concerned for the public since future is dependent upon people of the world. (Kapstein & Rosenthal 2009)

Susie Michailidis Ph.D. Professor is Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of Indianapolis, Athens.

Bibliography:

- Benhabib, Seyla. The Claims of Culture: 
Equality and Diversity in the Global Era. Princeton University Press 2002

- Kapstein, E. B., & Rosenthal, J. H.Ethics and International Relations. Farnham, Ashgate, 2009

- Kymlicka, Will. Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.

- Lewis, Richard. When Cultures Collide: Managing Successfully Across Cultures London: Nicholas Brealey, 1993.

- MacIntyre, Alas dair. “Is Patriotism a Virtue?” In Theorizing Citizenship, ed. Ronald Beiner , 209-228. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995.

- Margalit, Avishai, and Joseph Raz. “National Self-Determination.” Journal of Philosophy 87 (1990): 439-61.

- Mason, Andrew. “Special Obligations to Compatriots.” Ethics 107: 427-447,1997.

- O’Neill, Onora. Bounds of Justice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

- Rex, Martin and Reidy, David, eds. Rawls’s Law of Peoples: A Realistic Utopia?. Malden: Blackwell, 2006.

- Tan Kok-Chor. Justice Without Borders: Cosmopolitanism, Nationalism, and Patriotism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.

- Waldron, J., “Superseding Historic Injustice,” Ethics, 103(1): 4–28, 1992.

- Waldron, J. “Minority Cultures and the Cosmopolitan Alternative,” in The Rights of Minority Cultures, Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1995.

So far this year, more than 644,000 refugees and migrants have arrived in Europe by sea. Of these, just over a third – 34 per cent – are women and children who are particularly vulnerable to abuse as they transit Europe, UNHCR said.

“Refugee and migrant children moving in Europe are at heightened risk of violence and abuse, including sexual violence, especially in overcrowded reception sites, or in many locations where refugees and migrants gather, such as parks, train stations, bus stations and roadsides,” UNHCR spokesperson Melissa Fleming told a news conference in Geneva.

“From testimony and reports we have received there have been instances of children engaging in survival sex to pay smugglers to continue their journey, either because they have run out money, or because they have been robbed,” she added.

Fleming noted that unaccompanied children can be particularly vulnerable as they lack the protection and care of an adult. They may also be placed in detention in some countries, including with adults, posing great risks to them, she said.

Refugee and migrant women travelling on their own are also at heightened risk as they move through Europe, sometimes at night, along insecure routes or staying in places that lack basic security. Many reception centres are overcrowded, and lack adequate lighting and separated spaces for single women and families with children.

UNHCR is appealing to all concerned national authorities in Europe to take measures to ensure the protection of women and girls, including through providing adequate and safe reception facilities.

The refugee agency is also calling to all authorities, as a matter of urgency, to find alternatives to the detention of children. UNHCR and partners are working to prevent and address immediately family separations, as women and girls on their own face enhanced risks.

Together with partners, UNHCR are working with authorities to ensure access to information, to enhance the identification of persons with specific needs, including unaccompanied children, and their referral to appropriate services, to provide psychosocial support and to enhance reception areas, including through the provision of safe spaces.

It is of utmost importance here, as in other parts of Europe, that reception conditions be adequate to the task. Without this essential element, the relocation programme agreed by Europe in September is in serious peril and may fail.

After the chaotic and miserable scenes over the past few days, borders along the Balkan routes have reopened. On the Serbian border with Croatia, some 3000 people were left waiting amid uncertainty in the rain from Sunday until late Monday afternoon without shelter, and with minimal assistance on hand. UNHCR staff and staff of our partner organizations provided what support they could at such short notice including food, water, and blankets. But many people, including the elderly, pregnant women and several physically handicapped people, were soaked through and instances of hypothermia were reported. There was similar misery on the Croatia-Slovenia border.

And while conditions are still difficult in some places and there is a backlog, movement has resumed, with 4,300 people arriving in Austria from Slovenia yesterday. Meanwhile, in Austria and Germany, tens of thousands of refugees and migrants are sleeping in tents and temporary shelters because of accommodation shortages.

In the Aegean, we are saddened by the recent wave of deaths at sea among people crossing from Turkey into Greece. 19 people have died in the past 9 days in five separate incidents, almost half of these over the weekend. Infants and children were among those who have perished. Refugees we spoke to over the weekend told us that smugglers are offering discounts rates for crossings in bad weather and packing more people onto boats.

At least 123 people have died or gone missing in Greek territorial waters so far this year (in all, at least 3,135 have perished in the Mediterranean to date in 2015). We are concerned at the potential for this number to rise further as people try to beat the onset of winter and fears of new border-closures. UNHCR urges that search and rescue operations be further strengthened in this area to reduce risks.

To address the current situation in Europe, various measures of stabilization are needed in countries of first asylum and all countries of secondary movements to reduce irregular secondary movements. These measures include strong support to countries hosting the vast majority of Syrian, Iraqi and Afghan refugees, an information campaign informing of the dangers of the sea journey, and the development of legal pathways to seek protection in Europe. In countries of secondary movement in Europe, significant efforts must be made to develop a robust reception and registration capacity in order for the relocation programme to work.

Collins was an assistant nurse in a military hospital in Douala, Cameroon. After two years of working without getting paid,she and her husband decided to head to Banki, in the north of the country. The town was captured by Boko Haram, and Collins and her husband were kidnapped and held in the bush. After a couple of months, Collins managed to escape with the help of an older woman and started a six-month journey that finally brought her to Libya. It was not easy, she was already eight months pregnant at that time and she was beaten while the women travelling with her were raped.

When the Dignity I crew found her on a rubber boat at 08:00 in the morning, her face showed she was in pain. Her labour contractions had already started. Astrid, an MSF midwife on board, helped Collins deliver a baby boy she called Divan. The delivery went smoothly. It is Collins’ second child. Besides her husband, of whom she has had no news since leaving Cameroon, she also left behind a two-year-old son, Warren, with her mother in Douala,.

After the delivery, Collins was transferred to the Spanish Guardia Civil boat that will take mother and son to Italy.

Source: MSF

- The International Conference [...] dealt with the urgent humanitarian crisis which are currently facing religious communities and cultural entities in the Middle East region caused by ongoing conflicts, tensions and extremism.

- The participants in the Conference, Patriarchs and Primates of Christian Churches, religious leaders of the Muslim and Jewish world, as well as other prominent religious personalities, representatives of international politics, academic communities and civil society, expressed their concern about the unprecedented humanitarian situation and condemned human rights violations and acts of terrorism and violent extremism perpetrated against religious and cultural communities in the context of the protracted conflicts in the area, especially in Syria and Iraq.

- The Conference sought to contribute to raising awareness of these pressing issues and enhance international efforts for the immediate humanitarian relief of these communities, their protection from violence, persecution and discrimination, their safe voluntary return and resettlement in their ancient cradles.

- Participants stressed that every effort should be made to urgently stop the conflicts and to ensure respect of fundamental rights and religious freedom of these communities, as well as their right to remain to their ancestral land, where they have maintained a constant presence for thousand years, defending universal values such as tolerance, multiculturalism, pluralism and peaceful coexistence.

- The Conference provided an opportunity to discuss initiatives that contribute to enhance unity against violence in the name of religion or caused by intolerance to cultural pluralism, with the aim to support religious and cultural diversity in the region and establish a dialogue founded on the principles of mutual understanding and cooperation. The participants shared testimonies, interreligious experience and best practices.

- Plenary discussions also focused on ways to restore damaged infrastructure, improve health education and living conditions of these communities in terms of dignity, participation and mutual understanding, and promote development in the region after the end of crisis.

- Furthermore, the deliberate destruction and looting of religious and cultural heritage assets such as churches, mosques, religious shrines and sites, monuments and museums in the region was strongly condemned and support was provided to every effort ensuring the effective protection of these cultural treasures.

- The Conference was further enriched by the experience of already assumed international initiatives. Participants reflected on ways to further proceed, address the pressing humanitarian situation and defend the rights of these communities.

- Participants highlighted the need to remain vigilant and exchanged ideas on a Greek proposal for the establishment of a follow up mechanism in Athens, which will take the form of a Centre that would examine the situation, in terms of freedom of religion or belief and cultural pluralism, would codify the various problems and would elaborate concrete proposals and viable solutions. Participants to the International Conference will be invited to take part to the activities of this Centre.

We are treating the medical consequences of the journey, including hypothermia and dehydration, but also acute conditions requiring medical evacuation such as septic shock, pneumonia and wounds inflicted by abuse and violence. We are trying to improve living conditions for people stranded in Greece, Italy, FYROM and Serbia. But all of our work amounts to filling the gaps left by states unwilling or unable to fulfil their responsibilities.

Many people are fleeing war, oppression and torture. Others are fleeing poverty, persecution and human rights violations. All want a safer and better life. But their exit routes are growing scarcer, while refugee hosting countries such as Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan become more overburdened. The world is faced with the worst displacement crisis since World War II. The conflict in Syria shows no sign of abating. Yet Europe is closing its borders.

Categorisations of ’migrants; , ’refugees’ or ’asylum seekers’ do not adequately or fairly describe the reality that pushes people to embark on long and dangerous journeys. Every person has a story to tell about why they were forced to risk their lives to reach Europe. When people need medical care, food, water and shelter, they should receive this assistance regardless of their legal status.

When your ministers gather this Monday for yet another summit on the so-called ‘migration crisis’, bear in mind that the decisions adopted in previous summits have so far largely failed to improve the situation. Some measures have made the situation worse: fences and forced fingerprinting only push people to choose more clandestine and dangerous routes. Lives continue to be lost at sea, in the back of lorries and in make shift camps where people live in unacceptable conditions in the heart of the European Union. It is time to put an end to these policies of deterrence. They have turned a foreseeable and manageable influx of people fleeing for survival into a policy-made human tragedy on Europe’s beaches, borders, train platforms and motorways. They are jeopardising the right to seek asylum. The current approach of ’non-reception’ and closed borders is causing death, injury and chaos.

Europe is faced with an increasing number of people seeking assistance and protection. These people are only a small portion of the millions who are fleeing intolerable suffering. No matter the obstacles, they will continue to come. They have no other choice. The current policies are untenable in the face of this situation. The only way Europe can prevent a worsening crisis on its territory is to replace the smugglers by providing a safe, legal and free alternative. We ask you to provide safe passage. Legal crossing of sea and land borders must be authorised for asylum seekers into and inside the EU. All forms of legal avenues allowing refugees to reach Europe must be put in place urgently. Efficient solutions to relocate asylum seekers from one EU member state to another must be found. Effective access to coherent asylum procedures and assistance should be provided at entry points, throughout Europe and along migratory routes. Swift registration and access to temporary protection should be provided upon arrival. Legal migration pathways must be created. Dignified reception conditions must be offered to all.

Make this life vest redundant. Provide humane, dignified and safe alternatives.

Sincerely,

Dr. Joanne Liu

International President

Médecins Sans Frontières

Lindis Hurum, MSF Emergency Coordinator on the boat describes the situation:

“It was intense. I spent 45 minutes on our fast rescue boat, staying close to them and talking to them in order to keep them calm until the other vessels arrived to assist us. It is an impressive sight when so many desperate and frightened people are crammed on a boat like this.The boat was close to tipping over – at one point I really thought it would capsize. During the rescue there was a mass man-overboard as people jumped ship, but we had passed sufficient life jackets onto the boat so all the people who jumped were rescued and no one drowned. There were many women, children and elderly men. Afterwards, I went on the boat to check that everyone had been rescued. What a sight – the conditions in the hold were terrible and I still cannot believe no one died. They were very lucky.

We transferred everyone we rescued to a Norwegian Navy Boat for immediate passage towards Italy late last night. Already this morning [Friday 07 August] we have saved a further 128 people from a rubber boat. They were all ecstatic to be alive and safe. Very emotional scenes of joy, prayer and singing broke out once they were safe on our ship. We are awaiting a transfer of a hundred or so people from another boat, and then we will also make our way towards Italy.”

Source: MSF

The State of World Population 2013, produced by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), notes that out of the 7.3 million births, 2 million are to girls who are 14 or younger, many of whom suffer grave long-term health and social consequences from pregnancy such as obstetric fistula, and an estimated 70,000 adolescents in developing countries who die each year from complications during pregnancy and childbirth.Too often, society blames only the girl for getting pregnant. The reality is that adolescent pregnancy is most often not the result of a deliberate choice, but rather the absence of choices, and of circumstances beyond a girl’s control.

“Too often, society blames only the girl for getting pregnant,” said UNFPA Executive Director Babatunde Osotimehin. “The reality is that adolescent pregnancy is most often not the result of a deliberate choice, but rather the absence of choices, and of circumstances beyond a girl’s control. It is a consequence of little or no access to school, employment, quality information and health care.”

The report, Motherhood in childhood: facing the challenge of adolescent pregnancy, seeks to offer a new perspective on teenage pregnancy, looking not only at girls’ behaviour as a cause of early pregnancy, but also at the actions of their families, communities and governments.

Early pregnancy takes a toll on a girl’s health, education and rights. It also prevents her from realizing her potential and adversely impacts the baby. A country’s economy is also affected by teenage pregnancies as adolescent mothers are prevented from entering the workforce.

In Kenya, for example, if the more than 200,000 teenage mothers had been employed instead of becoming pregnant, $3.4 billion could have been added to the economy. Similarly, if girls in Brazil and India had been able to wait until their early 20s to give birth, the countries would have greater economic productivity equal to more than $3.5 billion and $7.7 billion, respectively.

The report notes that countries must not only increase efforts to prevent teenage pregnancies, they must also invest more in girls as the currently the global community directs less than two cents of every dollar spent on international development to adolescent girls.

In addition to funding, the report stresses that to tackle teenage pregnancy, countries must adopt a holistic approach which does not dwell on changing girls’ behaviour, but seeks to change attitudes in society so girls are encouraged to stay in school, child marriage is banned, girls have access to sexual and reproductive health including contraception, and young mothers have better support systems.

“We must reflect on and urge changes to the policies and norms of families, communities and governments that often leave a girl with no other choice, but a path to early pregnancy,” said Osotimehin. “This is what we are doing at UNFPA and what we will continue to do and recommend until every girl is able to choose the direction of her life, own her future and achieve her greatest potential.”

While teenage pregnancy is a much bigger challenge in developing countries, the report also found that it is a significant issue in developed ones. In the United States for example, only about half of the girls who become pregnant as adolescents complete high school by 22, compared to nine out of 10 girls who do not become pregnant. It also harms the economy as a whole, with nearly $11 billion a year in costs to taxpayers in the country.

Saudi authorities should end the country’s driving ban for women as the “Women2Drive” campaign gathers momentum, Human Rights Watch said today.

“It is hard to believe that in the 21st century, Saudi Arabia is still barring women from driving,” said Rothna Begum, Middle East and North Africa women’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “It’s past time to address the country’s systemic discrimination; driving could open roads to reform.”

In recent months, women have defied the ban and published online videos of themselves driving the kingdom’s roads, including footage showing Saudi men driving by and giving the thumbs-up sign to show their support. The Ministry of Interior has issued a statement saying that officials will enforce the law on October 26.

The informal prohibition on female driving in Saudi Arabia became official state policy in 1990. During the Gulf War, Saudi women saw female American soldiers driving on military bases in their country, and organized a protest. Dozens of Saudi women drove the streets of Riyadh in a convoy to protest the restriction. In response, officials arrested them, suspended them from their jobs, and the Grand Mufti, the country’s most senior religious authority, immediately declared a fatwa, or religious edict, against women driving, stating that driving would expose women to “temptation” and lead to “social chaos.” Then-Minister of Interior Prince Nayef banned women’s driving by decree on the basis of the fatwa.

The “Women2Drive” campaign has used social media to raise awareness and encourage female drivers to take to the roads. On October 10, police stopped and detained two women in a car, including prominent blogger Eman al-Nafjan, who was filming the other woman driving. Officials released them the same day, after they signed a pledge not to repeat their actions. Their male “guardians” – the Saudi system requires a father, husband, or even a son to take legal responsibility for every woman – also signed a pledge that the women would not drive.

The campaign has also reignited public debate on female driving. The head of the religious police stated in September that Sharia, or Islamic law, has no text forbidding women from driving. A cleric’s claim that “driving affects women’s ovaries” was met with widespread mockery by Saudis on Twitter. In October, three women members of the Shura Council, the highest advisory body to the king, called for the traffic committee to look into lifting the ban, but other members of the council rejected the recommendation, saying the traffic committee had no authority to launch such an investigation.

Many within Saudi Arabia’s conservative religious establishment continue to oppose allowing women the right to drive, arguing that it would undermine social values. On October 22, more than 100 clerics visited the Royal Court, the office of the king, to protest “the conspiracy of women driving.”

On October 24, Saudi activists confirmed that a man who claimed to be from the Ministry of Interior individually phoned women activists behind the “Women2Drive” campaign, warning them not to drive on October 26. He told them that measures will be taken against all women why defy the driving ban, and that women caught driving could be taken into custody.

Saudi Arabia has recently made several advances on women’s rights in other areas. In September 2011, King Abdullah decreed that women would be able to stand as candidates and vote in municipal elections, next due in 2015, and women could become members of the Shura Council. In January 2013, he appointed 30 women among 150 Shura Council members. In September 2013, authorities passed a law that for the first time criminalized domestic violence.

Despite these advances, Saudi women continue to face pervasive, systematic state discrimination in their daily lives. The male guardianship system treats them as legal minors, who cannot conduct official government business, travel abroad, marry, pursue higher education, or undergo certain medical procedures without permission from men. Women cannot protest or establish independent organizations to address women’s rights, as the kingdom bans protest and does not permit nongovernmental human rights organizations to operate freely.

Driving has become a symbol of change for Saudi women. On the 2008 International Women’s Day, March 8, Wajeha al-Huwaider uploaded a video of herself driving in Saudi Arabia. That same year, al-Huwaider and Fawzia al-Oyouni founded an unregistered NGO called the Association for the Protection and Defense of Women’s Rights in Saudi Arabia and submitted a petition to King Abdullah calling for the reversal of the ban. These two leading activists currently face imprisonment for trying to help a woman who said that her husband had locked her and her children in their home without food or water.

When women activists launched the “Women2Drive” campaign in 2011, scores of women drove, but traffic police stopped many of them and forced their male guardians to sign a pledge that they would not allow the women to drive again. The Jeddah Criminal Court sentenced one woman to 10 lashes; but the sentence was later overturned. A Jeddah administrative court dismissed one legal challenge to the refusal of the Ministry of Interior to grant women drivers’ licenses, though no traffic or other regulation limits granting licenses to men. The court said that the decision fell outside of the jurisdiction of the court system and transferred it to an administrative inquiry by a committee at the Ministry of Interior. The results of the investigation have not yet been announced.

Because of the ban, women often rely on male relatives or foreign drivers to convey them to work, school, and other activities. Saudi women have complained that the cost of hiring foreign drivers to take them to work eats up much of their salaries. Women who cannot afford to hire a driver must sometimes forego work and other activities outside the home. The fatwa on the driving ban cited the goal of preventing women from committing acts of khilwa – spending time in a secluded space with an unrelated man – but ironically, because of the ban, women often resort to taking taxis chauffeured by strangers or hiring male drivers, often foreign nationals.

Saudi Arabia is to make a bid for a three-year seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council in November 2013.

“In 2005 King Abdullah came to power and said that he believed the day would come when women would drive,” said Begum. “Eight years later, the time for excuses is over.”

The Global Tuberculosis Report 2013, published today by the World Health Organization (WHO), confirms that the world is on track to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) target of reversing TB incidence, along with the target of a 50 per cent reduction in the mortality rate by 2015 (compared to 1990).

The report also underlines the need for a “quantum leap” in TB care and control which can only be achieved if two major challenges are addressed, WHO stated in a news release.

First, there are around three million people – equal to one in three people falling ill with TB – who are currently being ‘missed’ by health systems. WHO estimates that 75 per cent of the three million are in 12 countries.

Also, the response to test and treat all those affected by multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) is inadequate. Not only are the links in the MDR-TB chain weak, the links are simply not there yet, according to the report. WHO estimates that 450,000 people fell ill with MDR-TB in 2012 alone. China, India and Russia have the highest burden of MDR-TB followed by 24 other countries.

At the heart of both challenges, said WHO, is insufficient resources for TB.“Quality TB care for millions worldwide has driven down TB deaths,” said Mario Raviglione, WHO Director of the Global TB Programme. “But far too many people are still missing out on such care and are suffering as a result. They are not diagnosed, or not treated, or information on the quality of care they receive is unknown.”

While the number of people detected worldwide with rapid diagnostic tests increased by more than 40 per cent to 94,000 in 2012, three out of four MDR-TB cases still remain without a diagnosis.

Even more worrying, WHO pointed out, is that around 16,000 MDR-TB cases reported to the agency in 2012 were not put on treatment, with long waiting lists increasingly becoming a problem. Also, many countries are not achieving high cure rates due to a lack of service capacity and human resource shortages.

“The unmet demand for a full-scale and quality response to multidrug-resistant tuberculosis is a real public health crisis,” Dr. Raviglione stated. “It is unacceptable that increased access to diagnosis is not being matched by increased access to MDR-TB care.

“We have patients diagnosed but not enough drug supplies or trained people to treat them. The alert on antimicrobial resistance has been sounded; now is the time to act to halt drug-resistant TB.”

Another challenge, according to the report, relates to the TB and HIV ‘co-epidemic’. While there has been significant progress in the last decade in scaling-up antiretroviral treatment for TB patients living with HIV, less than 60 per cent were receiving antiretroviral drugs in 2012.

The report recommends five priority actions that could make a rapid difference between now and 2015. These include reaching the three million TB cases missed in national notification systems by expanding access to quality testing and care services across all relevant public, private or community based providers, including hospitals and non-governmental organizations which serve large proportions of populations at risk.

Other priorities include addressing with urgency the MDR-TB crisis; intensifying and building on TB-HIV successes to get as close as possible to full antiretroviral therapy (ART) coverage for people co-infected with TB and HIV; increasing domestic and international financing to close the resource gaps – now estimated at about $2 billion per year – for an effective response to TB in low- and middle-income countries; and accelerating rapid uptake of new tools.

“The WHO Global TB report highlights the very big gains the global community has made in the fight against tuberculosis,” said Osamu Kunii, Head of the Strategy, Investment and Impact Division of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

“We are now at a crucial moment where we cannot afford to let these gains go into reverse. We need the commitment of the international community to address the significant funding gap to fight this disease.”