University Admissions Essay

University Admissions Essay

In today 's world , humans increasingly feel bonded to each other even if they live in the most remote corners of the planet . Internet makes message delivery quick as lightning , and communications networks transmit our voices all over the planet . However , in this rapidly progressing world , there are still areas that escape the attention of global media , fall out of businessmen 's attention span , and people living there seem to be isolated from modern-day civilization . One such blind ' patch on the planet is Africa where human rights abuses are

br still rampant , and dictators often remain in power , unsupervised and undisturbed by world leaders busy with regions that play a more conspicuous role in world politics

As of present , my special concern in this area is Ethiopia , the land in which the current rule of the Ethiopian People 's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF ) is said to violate the civil rights of its people . The election in May 2005 was followed by large-scale street protests that ended in clashes with the police . The leaders of the opposition who protested allegedly fraudulent elections got in prison where they are still suffering from inhuman conditions . The country has come to be one of Amnesty International 's human rights concerns , as the international organization cites reports of widespread arbitrary detention , torture , `disappearances , harsh prison conditions , and use of excessive force by police and soldiers against anyone suspected of supporting the armed opposition groups (Amnesty International USA 2006

I know the story partially from the media , and partially from my friend who is of Ethiopian origin and resides in the US . It is really thrilling to learn things like that from a personal source because it alerts one to the way people really feel about the situation . My friend Martha is really pained when she talks of the opposition leaders who are being starved in jail , living on just a loaf of bread a day . She also shared with me horrible stories of many people forced to use the same razor in the nation where AIDS prevalence is so high one can talk of an epidemic I might not have believed her if I had not read in the news and reputable sites that this is indeed what is happening in the nation . I am not convinced that opposition leaders were committed to democracy but I do think that such treatment of people is immoral as a punishment for disagreeing with the government

Applying to the International Relations Program , I believe that diplomats and policy-makers can make a great contribution in situations like that . Part of being a citizen of the world is taking an active stand where human rights are abused . No one can afford to sit and wait until dictators stifle their opposition , killing innocent people and shoving their opponents in prisons

In the case of Ethiopia , the United States has begun to act some time ago when Congressman Christopher Smith proposed Bill 4423 to put pressure on the Ethiopian ruler...