Download Human Rights Council South Korea Kenlei Lenae Cowell Hartford

Human Rights Council
South Korea
Kenlei Lenae Cowell
Hartford Union High School
Squatter cities, shantytowns, black allies, marginalized neighborhoods, slums—over one billion
people world wide are suffering from the conditions that these so-called “homes” bring. That is onesixth of the world's population living in rags and their own filth. Slums are characterized by their high
poverty, unemployment rates, and overpopulation. They are rampant with crime, drug addiction,
alcoholism, disease, and death. Slum dwellers have an insufficient water supply, inadequate sanitation
(especially in the form of human waste disposal), and insubstantial housing. Overall, slums bring
dreadful living conditions to their residents. However, as these unfortunate people struggle to survive
on virtually nothing, creativity flourishes. Cleverness is necessary to find a way to fit as many people
as possible living into a miniscule area. Many believe slums exhibit a sophisticated and cultured way of
occupying the land. The issue of the living conditions in these areas needs to be addressed so the world
can benefit from the ideas and economic possibilities that slums offer.
South Korea's government has effectively addressed the issue of poverty, thus slums in its
country. The population has had an astonishing improvement in their standard of living since the 1960s.
The improvements in infrastructure that ensure access to safe water, sanitation, health services, and
respectable diets. Now every South Korean has access to health services, and sanitation because it
believes of reforms in the health-care system. Only 7 percent of the population does not have access to
safe and sanitary water.
These major improvements are due to economic development over the past fifty years.
Industrial revolution brought millions of jobs across the nation, but in 1990s rapid development also
brought a large gap between the wealthy and the poor. Many lost their jobs or faced wage cuts. The
government solved this issue by investing more money into social programs. The South Korean
government also invested immensely in the education of the country because efficiency of an economy
comes from a literate and intellectual society. In 1997 education and social services accounted for 24.5
percent of the government's spending.
Although these were quite pricey investments on the government's part, the results were worth
it. Between the years of 1975 to 2000 the GDP per Capita increased from $2,894 to $11,123, life
expectancy went from 62.6 to 72.4. The literacy rate increased from 22 percent in 1949 to 97.5 percent
in 2000. The most shocking statistic is that now only 4.2 percent of the population lives below the
poverty level, an exceptionally low number for Asia. Many South Koreans moved out of the slums and
entered the ranks of the middle class.
Although South Korea has successfully addressed the issue of slums in its own country, it does
have some propositions to stimulate the economy in the slums of the less economically developed
corners of world. It sounds absurd, but the wealthier travelers are vacationing in the poorest
neighborhoods of the world. The people in the slums, and national governments need to embrace this
and realize that people of the developed nations are attracted to the fascinating culture of the slums.
People are attracted to the genius the of inhabitants of slums, by their creatively built homes, from
boxes to mud huts they are ecologically and economically friendly. Environmentalists, economists, and
architects are taking inspiration from the slums to benefit the rest of the world population.
This may not seem beneficial to the poverty stricken souls living in these overpopulated parts of
the world, but as soon as they, and their nations' governments, allow for more of these wealthier
“tourists” into their communities, the sooner their economy rises. Tourists will shop in the small stores
that many slum dwellers depend on for their only source of money. The morose atmosphere of the
poverty filled areas will also pluck at the heart strings of the wealthier visitors. These people will then
go back to their wealthy homes and donate to programs that will help with social relief in the slums.
But what is a good way to spend this money? What the people living in slums need is the same thing
every person needs. Access to a safe and abundant water supply, ample nourishing food, and a safe,
sanitary, and secure home to live and raise their families. The money in such programs should go
towards building communities, because having a humane place to live the first building block to
economic development, and therefore eliminating in the slums of the world.