Interesante informe del Consejo de la Comunidad Europea

Pegué el informe completo, acerca del "Suicidio de niños y jovenes en Europa: una cuestión de salud pública". Remarqué un tema que me interesa: una de las causas más importantes es la discriminación por raza, cultura y preferencia sexual.

Ojalá en las latitudes latinoamericanas, los ministerios de salud tomaran el tema...

ahi va:

http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/AdoptedText/ta08/ERES1608.htm
Provisional edition
Child and teenage suicide in Europe: A serious public-health issue
Resolution 1608 (2008)1
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1. Teenage suicide has become a serious public-health issue. The importance of the problem is underestimated as there are tens of thousands of suicides every year, i.e. more deaths than are caused by road accidents. The underlying causes of suicide are often both psychological and social. Very often it is a call for help and a sign of deep suffering.
2. Childhood and adolescence are stages in life which need our full attention because it is then that young people are forging their future adult personality, integrating into society and learning to live in the community. It is therefore very important that this integration should take place in the best possible psychological and social conditions. Numerous Council of Europe legal instruments such as the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (CETS No. 201), the European Convention on the Exercise of Children’s Rights (ETS No. 160) and the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (CETS No. 197) guarantee this integration.
3. The Parliamentary Assembly refers to its previous work on the subject, in particular Recommendation 1532 (2001) on a dynamic social policy for children and adolescents in towns and cities and Recommendation 1632 (2003) on teenagers in distress: a social and health-based approach to youth malaise.
4. The Assembly also wishes to remind member states that ratification of the European Social Charter implies that member states are encouraged to introduce policies for preventing illness, in particular mental illness, and to ensure that people who are mentally ill enjoy a supportive environment. Even if several member states have undertaken preventive measures as regards adolescent suicide, these measures should be generally adopted.
5. It strongly condemns all psychological, physical and economic forms of violence against children and teenagers. It knows that the damage caused and the consequences of such violence for the equilibrium of children and teenagers may be irreversible and push them into committing suicide.
6. The Assembly is also concerned at the increase in risk behaviour, suicide and attempted suicide. It believes that suicide prevention plans aimed at teenagers must be more widely implemented and invite its Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee to look into this matter.
7. There should be specific measures and activities to shape children’s and teenagers’ attitudes to suicide and to death in general. Cross-sectoral programmes, with social, medical and educational components, must be adopted to prevent suicide and encourage and equip troubled teenagers to open up to communicate their fears or worries with someone who can help them.
8. The Assembly believes that certain innovatory methods such as “psychological autopsies” could be used more extensively to improve both understanding of the problem and risk evaluation.
9. It reaffirms the importance it attaches to respecting political, economic, social, cultural, sexual and physical differences. It therefore strongly condemns all forms of religious, ethnic and sexual discrimination and reasserts its commitment to combating racism, homophobia and the stigma attached to all sexual behaviours, including transexualism.
10. The Assembly is concerned at evidence that suicidality among young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people is significantly higher than in the general young population. It notes that this heightened risk is not a function of their sexual orientation or gender identity, but of the stigmatisation, marginalisation and discrimination which they experience because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. As such, this heightened risk has a significant human rights dimension.
11. The Assembly has over the past few years also noted the dangers of the misuse of the Internet and the need for rules governing its use. Suicide is very often glorified, particularly through websites and in certain blogs, and this may result in major tragedies. Moreover, the way in which the problem is presented by the media needs close attention particularly where adolescents, who are easily influenced by the Internet and television, are concerned.
12. As a corollary, the Assembly is concerned by the risk of harm from online information which promotes suicide. While such content may not be illegal nor conclusively proven by research evidence to induce suicide there is a risk to the physical, emotional and psychological well-being of young people in particular with regard to the portrayal and glorification of self-harm. The Assembly notes that the protection of children and young people from such risks forms part of the general obligations of member states pursuant to the European Convention on Human Rights;
13. In this connection, the Assembly considers that, as a means of counterbalancing promotional Internet information on suicide, the provision of information, by member states and other stakeholders, about suicide on the Internet forms part of the public service value of the Internet;
14. The expert knowledge of associations and NGOs working on the subject must also be reflected in government decisions. The Assembly firmly believes that the concerned non-governmental organisations and their institutional partners would make work in this field more effective.
15. Finally, the prevention of repeat attempts must be made a priority; 15% of teenagers who attempt to commit suicide make repeat attempts and 75% are not taken to hospital. The risk of repeat attempts must therefore be addressed as of the first attempt by specialised medical treatments and immediate youth-appropriate social follow-up should be given in order to prevent any further attempts at suicide.
16. Consequently, with a view to identifying people at risk of suicide and to prevention, the Assembly invites member states to:
16.1. address this question and make it a political priority;
16.2. support existing scientific research on this subject and to promote new research among themselves;
16.3. provide health education in primary and secondary schools but also take action to prevent violence and bullying in schools;
16.4. set up training for care staff to help them identify persons at risk and make suicidology an academic subject in its own right;
16.5. strengthen policies to combat drug and alcohol abuse among minors;
16.6. promote family support policies to help families ensure that teenagers successfully integrate into society;
16.7. put in place and/or establish walk-in centres or helplines, so as to be in a better position to hear the cries for help coming from teenagers and prevent crises from occurring;
16.8. improve teenagers’ medical knowledge of suicide and suicidal symptoms;
16.9. take steps to ensure that teenagers do not trivialise suicide;
16.10. as far as possible, and particularly in public places, to restrict all means of suicide;
16.11. foster co-operation with the media to make people more aware of the problem of suicide;
16.12. provide targeted information, advice and assistance on suicide as part of the implementation of the Committee of Ministers Recommendation CM/Rec(2007)16 on measures to promote the public service value of the Internet;
16.13. reinforce measures to combat homophobia through educational activities and discussion groups encouraging self-acceptance and the acceptance of others;
16.14. combat the inhumane practice of forced marriages and to intensify awareness concerning this matter;
16.15. strengthen networks involving associations, NGOs and public services.
17. With a view to preventing repeat attempts, the Assembly also invites member states to:
17.1. provide systematic psycho-social support measures;
17.2. provide psychological assistance not only to the young people concerned but also to parents and close friends;
17.3. introduce a multidisciplinary approach encompassing health, education, employment, the police, the justice system, the religious authorities, politics and the media.
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1 . Assembly debate on 16 April 2008 (15th Sitting) (see Doc. 11547, report of the Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee, rapporteur: Mr Bernard Marquet). Text adopted by the Assembly on 16 April 2008 (15th Sitting).

¿Nueva interpretación?

Buck-Morss, Susan, Hegel y Haití, La dialéctica amo-esclavo: una interpretación revolucionaria, ed. Norma, Buenos Aires, 2005.

Sólo unos pocos avezados, entre los cuales no me encuentro, pueden atisbar el contenido de este libro leyendo su título. Haití, esa pequeña isla caribeña, tiene el mérito de ser la segunda colonia americana en independizarse de Europa, luego de EEUU. Y la primera revolución negra.

Los esclavos de la colonia francesa en el siglo XVIII tomaron el poder y mataron o expulsaron a los pocos blancos de la isla, al mando de un "Jacobino negro", Toussaint -L'ouverture. Las tropas napoleónicas se vieron en dificultades cuando llegaron a sofocar el inédito hecho político, y encontrarse a estos hombres cantando la Marsellesa.

La autora, una norteamericana conocida en el área de estética, da una interpretación bastante polémica para los estudiosos en Hegel, acerca del conocimiento que el suabo tenía de estos hechos, y que influyeron en el diseño de su famosa figura de la "dialéctica del amo y el esclavo" en su Fenomenología del Espíritu.

Ahora bien, leyendo varios comentarios a este artículo de Buck-Morss, creo que se pierden de vista los siguientes puntos.

La tesis de la autora parte de una relectura de la historia oficial, la escrita por los vencedores blancos y europeos, que induce a pensar que Hegel figuraba el sistema esclavista antiguo, no el moderno, a la hora de escribir su Fenomenología. Es cierto que gran parte de los intérpretes apoya esta tesis, y que este libro la desmiente. Pero lo más importante de Hegel y Haití no es, según mi modesta opinión, una nueva interpretacion. Es, por el contrario, poner en marcha la difícil escritura de una historia de los márgenes, más allá del peso de la Academia y la versión oficial.

Ni Hegel ni ningún intelectual de la modernidad escapa al hecho de la necesidad económica del esclavismo, del racismo y del etnocentrismo europeo. La Ilustración nace europea, y la colonia tiene un lugar preciso en el contexto político y teórico del Occidente capitalista.

Buck-Morss, bien intencionadamente, bucea en estos contornos del pensamiento liberal, pero no escapa al propio escenario norteamericano en el que se encuentra. Considera su investigación como producto de un análisis profundo, intedisciplinario y complejo. Cualquier indio, negro o mulato americano te lo dice en dos palabras: "son gringos".

La historia de los márgenes sigue siendo marginal, desde el momento que pone en funcionamiento el aparato oficial, aún para cuestionarlo o revisarlo. Por eso, creo que en todo caso la complejidad y el "desvío" a los que se enfrenta la autora, son en realidad un desafío para los que leemos estas historias. Quiero decir, no creo que sea una nueva interpretación de Hegel, me parece más bien un reto para empezar a leer y escribir sobre Toussaint-L'ouverture, más que sobre Hegel.

Por supuesto, Hegel vende más que el haitiano, hoy por hoy...

De la editorial "El viejo Topo", este libro de Doménico Losurdo es un verdadero desmitificador de las ideas liberales de las revoluciones burguesas del siglo XVIII.

Es un análisis del fenómeno del esclavismo en America, principalmente Norteamerica, desde la mirada de los teóricos liberales. Cosas interesantes, tales como Jefferson, Washington y el propio John Locke, eminentes liberales, pero al mismo tiempo accionistas de las empresas esclavistas.

La pregunta esencial ¿qué es el liberalismo, realmente? tiene una respuesta en Losurdo bastante compleja, pero cualquiera sea su vertiente o intepretación, en general coincide con "libertad para algunos, sostenida en la opresión de otros".

Si bien la esclavitud no es el único tema, pues también toca la cuestión indígena, el eje del abordaje está en la profunda contradicción de los intelectuales que defienden la libertad y la igualdad, y saben que sólo pueden sostenerla en un sistema económico esclavista y opresor: el capitalismo.

Una perla: el capítulo de la revolución de los esclavos negros en Haití, que próximamente prometo comentar en mi blog.

Para mí, es una interesante forma de escribir una historia desde el marxismo, sin usar, casi, terminología marxista. Todo lo que se lee puede ser traducido al siglo XXI.