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VOA慢速英语2013 AS IT IS 2013-07-05 UN: 'Legal Highs' Flood International Drug Market

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AS IT IS 2013-07-05 UN: 'Legal Highs' Flood International Drug Market

From VOA Learning English, this is As It Is.

Welcome to the show. I’m Caty Weaver1. Today we tell about migrant children detained by Indonesia. We also report on a global fatherhood campaign. But first we look at an international report about so-called “designer drugs.”

Designer Drugs

Large groups of new drugs are hitting the international market. Psychoactive substances, made in laboratories, are sold as “legal highs” and “designer drugs.” The United Nations 2013 World Drug Report says such drugs are increasing so quickly that regulators cannot control them.

Thomas Pietschmann is a co-author of the report. He says a major effort is needed to prevent the manufacture, trafficking and use of these drugs. But he says controlling the spread is difficult because the new drugs change so quickly.

“Substance emerge on the market only for a short period of time, emerge, disappear and then another substance emerges, which creates the problem.”

The report says the number of new psychoactive substances reported by member states to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime rose 50 percent in three years.  

However, there is also good news in the report.

The report says heroin2 use seems to be dropping in Europe while cocaine3 use is falling in the United States.

Indonesia’s Child Detainees               

The organization Human Rights Watch says hundreds of refugee children detained by Indonesia face violence and terrible living conditions. A report from the New York-based group says the children fled war, poverty and other dangers in their own countries.  Now, it says some of the children are held by Indonesia for years. Katherine Cole has more.

The Human Rights Watch report says more than 1,000 children arrived in Indonesia last year. They came without adults. The report says the Indonesian government detained many and placed them in dirty and overcrowded detention4 centers.

Human Rights Watch researcher Andreas Harsono says the children rarely see sunlight.

“Sometimes, once in a week or twice in a week, they were given the freedom to walk inside the compound of the migrant detention center where they can walk free, playing around,  running, you know, being children.”

The report is based on discussions with more than 100 migrants. Almost half were children when they entered Indonesia.

It says the migrants described guards beating them. In one case, parents said immigration guards forced their children to watch guards beat other migrants.

Andreas Harsono says the number of migrants entering Indonesia is on the rise. He says many of the migrants have been oppressed in nearby countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Burma and Iran.

“The Indonesian government should open their eyes that increasingly over the last three - five years, because of conflict in the Middle East, in South Asia, because of the persecution5 against minorities there, religious minorities mostly, these people are running away.”

Indonesia has not signed the United Nations 1951 Refugee Convention. The UN refugee agency is responsible for processing asylum6 claims. But Human Rights Watch says Indonesia often refuses to release detainees even when the UN has recognized them as refugees.

Human Rights Watch researcher Andreas Harsono says the refugees in Indonesia are trying to get to Australia. But, he says, even if they avoid detention they have a dangerous trip ahead.

“If they are lucky, in this case, they are not arrested. It takes them another year or a year-and-a-half to get them to another smuggler7 who specializes in using boats to cross the Indian Ocean into Australia.”

Human Rights Watch says hundreds are thought to die on these crossings each year.

Global Fatherhood Campaign

In many societies around the world fathers are thought as the financial providers and the parent that gives out punishments.  There is a general understanding that a child goes to the father for money and the mother for love.

But a new worldwide campaign is trying to change this view. Organizers of the Men Care Campaign say it improves the lives of men and their children and it helps reduce violence against women. Jim Tedder8 reports.

South Africa is one of 17 countries where the Men Care campaign is taking place. It was launched in 2011. Jean-Marie Mkurunziza’s wife was pregnant at the time.

“We normally meet once a week.”

Mr. Mkunrunziza leads group meetings for Men Care.

“We go to the clinic and also in the community and inviting9 the expectant fathers to be part of this group and take responsibility in their family.”

Part of that responsibility is helping10 their wives with tasks around the house.

“We give them homework, to go home and do something special, which they had never done before, cleaning the house, or cleaning the dishes. So, last week, one of my team members came with his wife, who is currently about to give birth. Then, the wife was very happy.”

Vidar Vetterfalk is a Men Care Campaign organizer from Sweden.

“I attended a group while we were waiting for our first child.”

The Vetterfalks live in South Africa and have adopted two children there, a boy and girl. Mr. Vetterfalk says the Men Care group teaches men how to share the responsibility for child care.

“Me and my wife, we did that. Every second night we took care of the child. So at least one of us had slept in the morning.”

Promundo is an international group that helps support the campaign.  Gary Barker is with Promundo’s Washington, DC, office. He says to get the best results a father should get involved during his partner’s pregnancy11.

“We’re trying to get them inside the clinic, get the health workers to see men as allies in this process, because our research also shows if we engage men from that moment, they feel like, ‘wait, the world expects me to be involved in my child’s life for the long term even if they are not with the partner later on.”

Mr. Barker says the father’s group is just one part of the campaign. For greater outreach, local campaign partners take the message to the media through films, public service announcements and signs. They spread information about how and why fathers should get more involved in their children’s lives.

“Men who report closer relationships with their children, who get involved in the daily care, report they they’ve got better mental health. They are less likely to be involved in delinquency or crime. They are less likely to abuse alcohol. We have data from Sweden that they actually live longer. Sons who see their fathers do this are more likely to grow up and, themselves, respect women’s rights and believe in gender12 equality. And they’re less likely to use violence against their partners.”

The Men Care Campaign hopes this fatherhood movement will spread and improve families and societies around the world.

I’m Jim Tedder.

And that’s As It Is for today. I’m Caty Weaver.


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 weaver LgWwd     
n.织布工;编织者
参考例句:
  • She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快,而且布的质量很好。
  • The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。
2 heroin IrSzHX     
n.海洛因
参考例句:
  • Customs have made their biggest ever seizure of heroin.海关查获了有史以来最大的一批海洛因。
  • Heroin has been smuggled out by sea.海洛因已从海上偷运出境。
3 cocaine VbYy4     
n.可卡因,古柯碱(用作局部麻醉剂)
参考例句:
  • That young man is a cocaine addict.那个年轻人吸食可卡因成瘾。
  • Don't have cocaine abusively.不可滥服古柯碱。
4 detention 1vhxk     
n.滞留,停留;拘留,扣留;(教育)留下
参考例句:
  • He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
  • He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。
5 persecution PAnyA     
n. 迫害,烦扰
参考例句:
  • He had fled from France at the time of the persecution. 他在大迫害时期逃离了法国。
  • Their persecution only serves to arouse the opposition of the people. 他们的迫害只激起人民对他们的反抗。
6 asylum DobyD     
n.避难所,庇护所,避难
参考例句:
  • The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
  • Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。
7 smuggler 0xFwP     
n.走私者
参考例句:
  • The smuggler is in prison tonight, awaiting extradition to Britain. 这名走私犯今晚在监狱,等待引渡到英国。
  • The smuggler was finally obliged to inform against his boss. 那个走私犯最后不得不告发他的首领。
8 tedder 2833afc4f8252d8dc9f8cd73b24db55d     
n.(干草)翻晒者,翻晒机
参考例句:
  • Jim Tedder has more. 吉姆?特德将给我们做更多的介绍。 来自互联网
  • Jim Tedder tells us more. 吉姆?泰德给我们带来更详细的报道。 来自互联网
9 inviting CqIzNp     
adj.诱人的,引人注目的
参考例句:
  • An inviting smell of coffee wafted into the room.一股诱人的咖啡香味飘进了房间。
  • The kitchen smelled warm and inviting and blessedly familiar.这间厨房的味道温暖诱人,使人感到亲切温馨。
10 helping 2rGzDc     
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的
参考例句:
  • The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
  • By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。
11 pregnancy lPwxP     
n.怀孕,怀孕期
参考例句:
  • Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
  • Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。
12 gender slSyD     
n.(生理上的)性,(名词、代词等的)性
参考例句:
  • French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语,所有的名词都有性。
  • Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

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