Top five regrets of the dying - Susie Steiner guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 1 February 2012 11.49 GMT

Top five regrets of the dying

A nurse has recorded the most common regrets of the dying, and among the top ones is 'I wish I hadn't worked so hard'. What would your biggest regret be if this was your last day of life?

• Susie Steiner
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 1 February 2012 11.49 GMT
• Article history

A palliative nurse has recorded the top five regrets of the dying. Photograph: Montgomery Martin/Alamy

There was no mention of more sex or bungee jumps. A palliative nurse who has counselled the dying in their last days has revealed the most common regrets we have at the end of our lives. And among the top, from men in particular, is 'I wish I hadn't worked so hard'.

Bronnie Ware is an Australian nurse who spent several years working in palliative care, caring for patients in the last 12 weeks of their lives. She recorded their dying epiphanies in a blog called Inspiration and Chai, which gathered so much attention that she put her observations into a book calledThe Top Five Regrets of the Dying.

Ware writes of the phenomenal clarity of vision that people gain at the end of their lives, and how we might learn from their wisdom. "When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently," she says, "common themes surfaced again and again."

Here are the top five regrets of the dying, as witnessed by Ware:

1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

"This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it."

2. I wish I hadn't worked so hard.

"This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret, but as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence."

3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.

"Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result."

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

"Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying."

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

"This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content, when deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again."

What's your greatest regret so far, and what will you set out to achieve or change before you die?

 

A vote to repeal the death penalty by Connecticut’s State Senate is a leap forward in the battle to end capital punishment, Amnesty International said

A vote to repeal the death penalty by Connecticut’s State Senate is a leap forward in the battle to end capital punishment, Amnesty International said.

The vote was passed after ten and a half hours of debate by 20 votes to 16. If approved by the House of Representatives and signed by Governor Malloy, Connecticut would become the 17th state in the United States to abolish the death penalty.

“Connecticut’s lawmakers have done the right thing and shown great leadership on advancing human rights in that state,” said Suzanne Nossel, executive director, Amnesty International USA.

“Ninety-seven countries worldwide – and nearly a third of all U.S. states – have now abandoned the death penalty.  By joining their ranks Connecticut would contribute to the momentum that will make this cruel and irreversible punishment a thing of the past.” 

“We urge the Connecticut House of Representatives to pass this bill swiftly and send it to Governor Malloy for his signature.”

Amnesty International said ending the death penalty will free resources in Connecticut to be directed toward policies that truly prevent crime and support the needs of crime victims and their families.

“These funds can be better spent to address crime and offer support to victims, rather than on bankrolling a punishment that has been rejected by more than 140 countries and 16 U.S. states,” said Suzanne Nossel.

Studies show that capital punishment in Connecticut is plagued by bias and imposed in an arbitrary way.  The relatives of 179 murder victims signed a letter of support for the bill.

Amnesty International’s annual report on the death penalty worldwide showed this year that only a handful of countries – China, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the USA – account for the largest number of executions.

Death sentences in the USA have plunged in the last decade to historic lows, largely due to the public’s increased awareness about glaring flaws inherent to capital punishment. One hundred and forty people on death row in the USA have been exonerated since 1973.

via amnesty.org

Livewire Amnesty - Roma community forcibly evicted from Coastei Street share their story The Roma community forcibly evicted from Coastei Street has been living in the New Pata Rat area since December 2010. (c) Joshua Gross, Joshua Tree Photography

 

Roma community forcibly evicted from Coastei Street share their story

 

 

 

 

The Roma community forcibly evicted from Coastei Street has been living in the New Pata Rat area since December 2010. (c) Joshua Gross, Joshua Tree Photography

 

 

 

By Creta Ernest & Fekete Petru members of the Coastei Street community,

Support the call for justice of the Roma community forcibly evicted from Coastei Street by taking action

It’s been over a year 76 families, the majority Roma, were forcibly evicted from the centre of the city of Cluj-Napoca in Romania. Over half of the families were re-housed in new housing units on the outskirts of the city in the New Pata Rat area, close to a garbage dump and a former chemical waste dump, in inadequate housing conditions. The rooms are overcrowded, they do not provide protection from damp and mould and the sanitation facilities are inadequate. 36 families, including the authors of the blog entry, were not provided with any alternative housing. Most of them had to construct improvised homes. They have no access to water, sanitation and electricity. With only a verbal agreement from the municipality and no formal title to the land, they live in a fear of eviction and of losing their homes again. Two young Roma who experienced the eviction shared it with us their story during the recent mission to Cluj-Napoca.

“The forced eviction from Coastei Street nr. 18 started on 15 December 2010. We aim to be as brief as possible in describing the traumatising event which took place from 15 to 17 December 2010.

In the morning of 15 December, we were woken up at 6.00 am with repeated knocks on the door, by the communitarian police, the public order police and gendarmes. The latter informed us that we were going to be allocated social housing, and so we were to go to the local Mayor’s office to be registered.

On16 December, a communitarian police unit patrolling Coastei Street used microphones to announce the disaster which was about to take place the following day. We all spent the night very worried and scared, not knowing what was going to happen to us.

The next day, early in the morning, an impressive number of police forces arrived on Coastei Street, joined by the local authorities. We were overwhelmed and terrified by the number of police officers that arrived as if a local match between famous teams was taking place. Following pressure and verbal threats from the local authorities, we accepted the housing they proposed without knowing the exact location and the condition they were in.

It was at that moment I realised that thirty other families including myself were not on the same list as our “blessed” neighbours, who had been allocated a “roof“ above their heads. We were taken to the location by bus and presented with a twenty square metres lot destined for housing construction. The local authorities verbally gave us the consent for construction and promised they would provide us with some help (labour force, building materials). In the end, we received ten planks and two beams per family. Abandoned on a freezing cold at -20 degrees [Celsius], we all felt not only the extremely cold air, but also a sentiment that cannot be described in words. Two years on, we are still left with ten planks and two beams and the same feelings we had on 17 December 2010.

From the thirty families which received twenty sq. m. lot, only some families managed to build a house without help from the mayor’s office, who did not stick to the promise to provide us with an official document for the received lot, that would indicate our legal status and would allow us to install the necessary utilities (water, electricity), or and to apply for an identity card at this address.

Following our relocation in the vicinity of the garbage dump and the former chemical waste dump, we can barely breathe in the mornings and evenings, and we risk developing diseases. The lives of the children and adults are at risk. A few people living in the New Pata Rât are already ill.

Added to this is the loss of employment, family doctors, access to public transport, decent living standards, loss of dignity and self-confidence. Still, we see adverts and various campaigns about the social integration of the Roma. We would like to take this opportunity to “thank” the local authorities for their help in our segregation and marginalisation.

We were already socially integrated when living in Coastei Street, we used to have jobs, the children went to high school, we had decent living standards, we had access to the park, etc. Here, by the garbage dump, we feel like in a ghetto, we feel discriminated against from all points of view”.

Published 

by 

eherbert

 

on 4 April 2012

 

in Eviction, Roma and amnesty international

. 1 CommentTags: amnesty international, forced evictions, human rights, roma.

Amnesty International - 5 April 2012 International Roma Day highlights discrimination against European Romani

5 April 2012

Amnesty International

International Roma Day highlights discrimination against European Romani

Roma across Europe are vulnerable to forced evictions

© Amnesty International

“

International Roma Day means nothing if governments fail to guarantee basic rights to Roma

”

Jezerca Tigani, Europe and Central Asia Deputy Programme Director

International Roma Day on April 8 is an opportunity to celebrate Romani culture but also to highlight the persecution and discrimination that Roma people face in all areas of life.

“Stereotyping and negative perceptions of Roma people, embedded by some media and parts of the European public opinion feed discrimination in all spheres of life,” said Jezerca Tigani, Europe and Central Asia Deputy Programme Director.  

“Governments must set the example and challenge social prejudices that foster discrimination against the Roma and ensure their equality. Instead, only too often governments neglect their responsibilities to their Roma citizens to the detriment of all.”

Numbering between 10 and 12 million people, the Roma are one of Europe’s largest and most disadvantaged minorities. 

“International Roma Day means nothing if governments fail to guarantee basic rights to Roma” said Jezerca Tigani.

Even as events to mark this important annual event take place, Roma living in Belvil, an informal settlement in Belgrade, Serbia, will spend International Roma Day under the threat of forced eviction. 

They were told two weeks ago about the eviction, but have no information about where they will go or what will happen to them.

Yet, a year ago on International Roma Day in 2011, the same Belvil residents were told by the City of Belgrade authorities that they would be resettled in prefabricated houses in settlements around the city. 12 months on, these promises have come to nothing

"This has been a really hard year for Roma in Belgrade, with more than eight forced evictions since last April " said Jezerca Tigani. 

"The Serbian government continues to deny Roma the right to adequate housing – as they have done since  April 2009, when Roma evicted from another informal settlement near Belvil, and spent International Roma Day, homeless on the side of the road.”

In Romania, 76 families, the majority Roma, have to live with the consequences of eviction. They were forcibly evicted from Coastei Street in the centre of the city of Cluj-Napoca in December 2010, and relocated on the outskirts of the city, where they live in overcrowded rooms next to a garbage dump and a former dump for chemical waste. Some of the Romani families were left homeless  in the middle of the winter.  For over a year they have been fighting for justice. 

“We were already socially integrated when living in Coastei Street, we used to have jobs, the children went to high school, we had decent living standards, we had access to the park, etc. Here, by the garbage dump, we feel like in a ghetto, we feel discriminated against from all points of view,” evicted Roma people told Amnesty International.
Millions of other Roma live in informal settlements, without adequate housing and often without access to running water or electricity. They are at greater risk of illness, but less able to access the health care they need. 

In some countries Romani children are often placed in special schools designed for pupils with “mild mental disabilities” or segregated in separate schools and classes that offer an inferior education. In turn, they are severely disadvantaged in the labour market. 

Unable to find jobs millions of Roma cannot access better housing, afford medication, or pay the costs of their children’s schooling. 

Socially marginalized, the Roma are also politically excluded. 

The cycle continues, aggravated by the discrimination that is routinely denying the Roma equal opportunity, equal treatment and the full enjoyment of all their human rights.

Racially motivated violence against Roma is becoming an alarming trend in recent years, with isolated assaults or vigilante attacks targeting Roma settlements or communities. 

Following a march attended by up to 2,000 people in the village of Gyöngyöspata by the far-right party Jobbik on 6 March 2011 three vigilante groups patrolled the village for almost a month. During this time, they were threatening, intimidating and harassing Romani residents. The Hungarian authorities failed to react adequately and prevent the abuses.

Instead of counteracting stereotypes and prejudices that fuel intolerance and hatred towards Roma, some governments and public officials actually strengthen them in their public discourse.

“It is time for governments in Europe to honour their obligations and protect their Roma citizens by ending discriminatory policies and practices that violate the human rights of Roma and keep them in a cycle of poverty and marginalization,” said Jezerca Tigani.

International Roma Day - challenge discrimination against European Romani, urges Amnesty International

Friday, 6 April 2012

http://www.therighthuman.blogspot.co.uk/

International Roma Day - challenge discrimination against European Romani, urges Amnesty International

Young girls removing their belongings from their home before the  forced eviction of an informal Roma settlement in Belgrade known as 'Block 72' on 7th March, 2012/ Photograph:  Sanja Knežević

International Romani Day on April 8 is an opportunity to celebrate Romani culture, but also to highlight the persecution and discrimination that Roma people still face today. To mark the day, Amnesty International released a hard-hitting briefing on the plight of Roma, Traveller and Gypsy communities across Europe and called on the European Union to stop ignoring their plight.

Kate Allen, director of Amnesty International UK, said: “Discrimination is one of Europe’s most pressing human rights concerns, affecting the lives of millions of people across the continent. Millions of people are still subjected to exclusion, poverty, ill-treatment, even violence, because of who they are, what they are presumed to be or what they believe... The Roma and Traveller populations of Europe suffer more than most. For too long, governments across Europe have swept the issue under the carpet. It’s time Europe woke up and put a full stop to persecution of these marginalised communities.”

The Amnesty briefing pulls together the latest statistics per country and paints a shocking picture of discrimination. The statistics include:

• In Ireland, life expectancy for male travellers is 61.7 years, around 15 years lower than the national average. 
• In Kosovo, 97 per cent of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians are unemployed.
• In Moldova, 59 per cent of Roma live in absolute poverty.
• In Slovakia, 70 per cent of Roma children are in institutional care.
• In Spain, poverty among the Roma community is 4.5 times higher than that among the rest of the Spanish population.
•  In France,  only 15 to 20% of traveller children of secondary school age go to secondary school. President Nicolas Sarkozy described Roma as the “source of criminality” in July 2010

A pregnant mother and her daughter at home before the forced eviction of 'Block 72' in Belgrade. Photograph:  Sanja Knežević

Numbering between 10 and 12 million people, the Roma are one of Europe’s largest and most disadvantaged minorities. On average, they have lower incomes, worse health, poorer housing, lower literacy rates and higher levels of unemployment than the rest of the population.

These are not simply consequences of poverty; they are the result of widespread, often systematic, discrimination and other human rights violations. They are, in particular, the result of prejudice – of centuries of societal, institutional and individual acts of discrimination, that have pushed the great majority of Roma to the very margins of society – and which are keeping them there. 

“Stereotyping and negative perceptions of Roma people, embedded by some media and parts of the European public opinion feed discrimination in all spheres of life,” said Jezerca Tigani, Europe and Central Asia Deputy Programme Director. 

“Governments must set the example and challenge social prejudices that foster discrimination against the Roma and ensure their equality. Instead, only too often governments neglect their responsibilities to their Roma citizens to the detriment of all.”

For more information, click here;  to read Amnesty’s blogs on Roma, click here.

In England, hundreds of Traveller, Roma and Gypsy families will mark the day by marching  alongside supporters in London on Sunday as part of a global day protest. Protesters will assemble in Hyde Park corner at noon, visiting various embassies before arriving at the Department of Communities and Local Government. The demonstration is organised by the Traveller Solidarity Network, a group formed out of the Dale Farm eviction. 
For more information, click here.

A bulldozer destroys a house as part of the forced eviction of an informal Roma settlement in Belgrade known as 'Block 72' on 7th March, 2012/ Photograph:  Sanja Knežević

Posted by Veronique Mistiaen at 06:08 

http://www.therighthuman.blogspot.co.uk/