Early marriage.

   According to the Oxford online dictionary  marriage is : " the formal union of a man and a woman , typically as recognized by law, by which they become husband and wife". While a true marriage needs a full and free consent of both parties, many parents force their daughters to get married even if they are under the legal age which is eighteen years old. Statistics has shown that child marriage is very common in developing countries like  sub-saharan Africa  and the Asian sub-continent ( India,Nepal , Bangladesh).Child marriage is also very common  in some countries in the middle east such as Sudan,Yemen and Bahrain  where girls are getting married at a very young age. 

Poverty is the main factor and cause that pushes some parent to marry their daughters so that they can improve their financial and social status , so those girls are obliged to do so and to drop out of school . Also, in some cultures marrying a girl in an early age preserve both her reputation and her family's honor, lack of education is also a critical cause of early marriage especially in the rural word. Moreover, some families consider their daughters as a burden, so they want to get rid of them by marrying them.

Early marriage has several negative and harmful effects on women:

1- Illiteracy since a girl drop out of school at an early age.

2- Severe health problems because of pregnancy.

3- stress and severe depression because a young girl cannot cope  with  maternal and marital problems.

4- High rates of divorce since there is a lack of maturity and experience.

A report on a child marriage,Nepal: "

"I was married to a nine-year-old boy when I was three. At that point of time, I was unaware of marriages. I don't even remember my marriage event. I just remember that as I was too young and was unable to walk and they had to carry me and bring me over to their place. Getting married at an early age, I was destined to suffer a lot of hardships. I had to carry water in a small clay-pot in the mornings. I had to sweep and swap the floor everyday".

To sum up, gouvernment has to sensitize people about the negative effects of early marriage. Furthermore, strict laws and measures must be taken in order to stop the spread of this phenomenon.


Sources:
http://marriage.ygoy.com/early-marriage-problems/
http://middleeast.about.com/od/humanrightsdemocracy/a/child-brides.htm
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/recommendation.htm

Internet Addiction.

       According to Oxford online

 dictionary, addiction is :" the

 fact or condition of being abnormally addicted to a particular substance or activity". There are several types of addition: drugs,Alcohol,TV,and Internet addiction. Internet Addiction is a widespread phenomenon especially among youth and teenagers. this type of addiction is like any other addiction, and it is characterized by the overuse of the Internet. The addicted person in this case spend a huge amount of time in front of the computer screen using instant messaging,chat rooms,gambling, or even playing video games. Statistics shows that the rate of people who

 have problematic Internet habits in the United-States is:9-15

 million of people in the US use the Internet every day,and this rate

 is increasing every three months. 

Different symptomes can be shown by the internet addicted which are:

1- Neglecting the social life: the addicted becomes an isolated

 person, he may spend 8 to 12 hours in front of the monitor living

 in a virtual world, which has a negative impact on his or her social life.

2- Internet addiction contributes to depression,stress and anxiety .

3- The addicted manifests rage and anger once he is hampered

 from using Internet especially  if he/she is a teenager.

4- Lack of time managment since the addicted spend too much

 hours in front of the monitor, so he or she don't have enough time

 to complet other important tasks

 and responsabilities 

5- Less self control.

6- Change in the sleep pattern:

 the addicted may stay-up the

 whole  night surffing.

According to the online ressources of Al-Akhwayn

 University:"Compulsive use of the internet leads to negative life

 outcomes such as loosing a grade, missing a class or work, and

 missing a social engagment"(Junghyun Kim,Conference Papers -- International Communication Association; 2009 Annual Meeting, p1-36, 36p, 4 Diagrams, 4 Charts).

In order to overcome Internet Addiction, the addicted person must:

1- Try to  reduce the amount of time sitting in front of the computer

 screen, so that he or she gradually learn to get away from this 

addiction.

2- Starting new hobbies, and develop other productive activties 

such as reading books, playing sports,being a member in a club so 

that he or she can limit the time spent online.

Arab Spring and the role of social media.

No one of us had imagined that one day a Tunisian street vendor could be the spark of the greatest political development in the arab world. On the morning of December 17, the twenty-six years old Mohamed Bouazizi was selling fruits as usual in a narrow path when suddenly a police woman came to him and tried to take his fruits; Bouazizi started to resist as it is unfair then the police woman slapped him in the face in front of many witnesses. Bouazizi could not stand this humuliation because not only he was slapped in the face, but also in his pride and dignity. Then, Bouazizi decided to set himself on fire; he survived the first few days, but he passed away because of his dangerous burns.

After, the winds of change moved out the most populous country in the arab world, Egypt. Like many arab countries, Facebook, twitter, and other social networks are the only way for youth to express and share their political points of view with others. In egypt we can say that revolution started in the cyberspace; youth used to organize virtual demonstrations on FaceBook pages against the dectatorial and autocratic rule of Husni Mubarak. Then, the egyptian government had shut down Intenet connection and mobile phone communication in order to forbid people from communicating with each other. According to the electronic ressources of Alakhawayn University:"the protests in Egypt began abruptly, with many participants spurred by online postings on social-networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. (The government was able to block Twitter feeds for much of the afternoon and evening of Jan. 25, and it blocked Facebook access the next day. But it was too late: the wrath was already in the streets.) And just as in Tunisia, most of the protesters were apolitical. "I'm not part of any group or party," said Khalifa, the artist. "We've all just had enough."(Hauslohner,Abigail.Time; 2/7/2011, Vol. 177 Issue 5, p36-39, 4p, 4 Color Photographs). 

People did not give up and they decided to orgnize a great demonstration named: 'the friday of rage", so Hosni Mubarak sent his supporters that were riding camels and horses, and they started to hit people with sticks and stones. In Friday,

 2/11, the egyptian president resigned and left Cairo after  giving his last speech .

Egyptian were very happy to hear the president's announcment

 because they can finally participate in a transparent and

 accountable elections, and put an end to the emergency law,

 injustice, and corruption.

personal blog

Salma Faouzi Zizi

Euthanasia or mercy killing is a word that

 has a Greek root, and it can be devided

 into two parts Eu: good/well Thanasia:

 death. Acoording to the online medical dictionary, euthanasia is:" the act or practice of ending the life of an individual suffering from a terminal illness or an incurable condition, as by lethal injection or the suspension of extraordinary medical treatment. 

  There are two types of Euthansia active and passive. According to http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/euthanasia/overview/activepassive_1.shtml, active euthansia occurs when the medical profesionnals, or anyone else calculatingly caues the death of the patient, and in this case this patient and his family are aware of what will happen; while passive euthanasia is when medical profesionnals suspend treatment in patients, or stop doing somthing that is keeping the patint alive. In this case medical profetionnals may use a lots of ways:

1- Disconnect a feeding-tube.

2- Don't give appropriate medicines.

3- Switch -off life support-machines.

4-Suffocation with a plastic bag.

5- Gassing patients to death with carbon monoxide.

6- Lethal injection but it is not a very common way to euthanize a person as it decreases the bloodstream.

  The most major reason why people euthanize is to releave and put an end to the terrible suffering and pain of a terminally ill person with an incurable disease. It is a desperate act after many years of suffering and pain, and somtimes it is better for some people to die than being alive. According to killing and letting die book: " sometimes defective newborns are neglected in order that they might die. In such case, death is viewed as preferable to life for the infants, and this may be a reasonable attitude.("Killing and letting die" edited by Bonnie Steinbock and Alastair Norcross, second edition page 36). The second major cause of euthansia is compassion and mercy as there are some people who have incurable diseases like cancer, so they choose death instead of being alive and suffering.A lot of poeple confuse between euthansia and assisted suicide; assisted suicide is to provide the patient with means that help him or her to carry out death, so in this case it can be called SUICIDE.

  Euthansia is always considered as an ugly subject and a debatable where we have so many points of view. Arguments of people supporting euthansia are three: 

1- Death is a privat matter and as long as it doesn't create any harm to people, society others have no right to interface.

2-Violation of autonomy, so everyone of us is free to do whatever he or she wants .

3- Human dignity and ecency, prolonging the life of a patient that doesn't have any hope to live creates nothing but humulation and pain to this him or her.

  Arguments of people who are agianst euthansia are also three:

1- Religious abjections : peole have no right to put an end to their life because only God who can do that.

2- Secular objections: our rights are always limited by our obligations because our death may cause harm to our family, friend and even our siciety.

3- Philosophical objections:

Life has a value in itself, so we have to protect human's life .