Some 6.5 million Indonesians work overseas and many of them are female domestic workers. As the Indonesian government increases efforts to ensure their nationals have protection before, during and after they leave the country for employment, the Indonesian Red Cross Society has recently started to provide support to female domestic workers who are returning to their families after lengthy periods away. “Some come back with a success story, but many of them come home with serious or chronic injuries,” says Leo Pattiasina, head of the National Society’s social services sub-division.
It’s the stuff of science fiction: machines that make decisions about who and when to kill. Referred to as “autonomous weapons”, they’re already in use to some degree. But as more sophisticated systems are being developed we wanted to an expert in the field about whether such systems comply with international humanitarian law and what it means for humanity to give machines the power over human life and death.
In this episode, we talk with humanitarian communicator Kathy Mueller who produced our first magazine podcast series, The Wildfire Diaries, about massive wildfires in Northern Canada in 2017. We talk about that series, her many international missions, and the big changes in humanitarian communications since she began with the Canadian Red Cross almost 20 years ago.
In this episode, we talk about the power of storytelling to inform and inspire. “Storytelling is a fundamental aspect of human communication,” says our guest Prodip, a volunteer and multi-media storyteller for the Bangladesh Red Crescent. “It inspires us to be a hero of our own community.” We also speak with one such community hero, Dalal al-Taji, a longtime volunteer and advocate for inclusion of people with disabilities in emergencies response. “In disasters. persons with disabilities sometimes get forgotten.”
Half the people we serve (and often more) are women. Gender parity is not only a question of principle, it’s about results.
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