Eubios Journal of Asian andInternational Bioethics
EJAIB Vol. 28 (1) January 2018www.eubios.info
ISSN 1173-2571 (Print) ISSN 2350-3106 (Online)
Official Journal of the Asian Bioethics Association (ABA)

Copyright ©2018 Eubios Ethics Institute(All rights reserved, for commercial reproductions).

Contents

page
Editorial: Serving Public Good through Ethical Research,
Engineering and Volunteering
1- Darryl Macer
Effect of demographic variables on academicians’
behaviour towards research misconduct and its
predictors
2- Angelina P Olesen, Latifah Amin, Maznah Ibrahim,
Anisah Che Ngah & Siti Zaimah Zainal
Takao Takahashi’s Disaster Ethics and Climate Justice 11-Christopher Ryan Maboloc
Effective Analysis of Mitigation Measures on Rural Roads
of Nepal
14- Ranjan Aryal & Darryl Macer
Social justice advocacy and its challenges: Case studies ofInternational African volunteers serving in the AsiaPacific Region
26- Bellarmee Lumbwe Milosi & Darryl Macer
ABA Renewal and EJAIB Subscription
37

Editorial address, and all correspondence to:Prof. Darryl Macer, Ph.D., Hon.D.
President, American University of Sovereign
Nations (AUSN), Arizona, USA
Email: darryl@eubios.info
EJAIB adopts and complies with the Committee on
Publication Ethics (COPE) Publication ethics andmalpractice policy. All potential authors shouldhave read these guidelines and by submission of anarticle for publication you acknowledge that you
have complied with this policy. Violations will behandled in proportion to the intention andseriousness of the violation.
Registered address of EJAIB: P.O. Box 16 329,
Hornby, Christchurch 8441, New Zealand

Editorial: Serving Public Good throughEthicalResearch,EngineeringandVolunteering
One of the basic virtues of our lives is to serve
the public good. This can be achieved in various
ways depending on the gifts and opportunities that
we each have. This is a thread that ties the four
papers in this issue together. Three of the papers
present descriptive bioethical studies. EJAIB has no
particular size limit for papers, allowing authors topublish complete research studies in one paper
rather than the common pratice of splitting papers
into smaller papers, so some issues of EJAIB may
have ten different papers, but this one has four overits 36 pages.
Angelina Olsen et al. present the results of asurvey of academics in Malaysia that reveals some
important differences in the understanding andacceptance of different examples of research
misconduct. It will be interesting to see whether
future studies both in Malaysia and other countries
confirm these results. The fimdmings also have
implications that we need to include research ethics
training for all academics in all disciplines.
Christopher Ryan Maboloc discusses the disasterethics that has been developed by Takao Takahashi
in recent Kumamoto Bioethics Roundtables, andrelates this also to climate justice. Ranjan Aryalpresents a study of how to ethically construct ruralroads with the use of bioengineering and goodengineering practice in order to avoid disasters,
and environmental pollution. To those of us who
have driven on Nepali mountain roads, one
appreciates the ethics and precaution, amd thefeatures from the 3 cases analyzed in the field.
Bellarmee Milosi presents a study on social
justice through intercontinental volunteering – inparticular in the motivations, experiences andactions of volunteers from Africa helping social
development in Asia. Cross-cultural experiences
enrich us all, and especially the person themselves.
- Darryl Macer

2

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 28 (January 2018)

Effect of demographic variables onacademicians’ behaviour towards
research misconduct and its predictors- Angelina P Olesen, Ph.D.,
Pusat Citra UKM, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia,
43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
Email: olesen.angelina@ukm.edu.my- Latifah Amin, Ph.D.,
Pusat Citra UKM, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia,
Email: nilam@ukm.edu.my- Maznah Ibrahim, M. Ed.
Pusat Citra UKM, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia,
Email: maznah@ukm.edu.my- Anisah Che Ngah, Ph.D.,
Faculty of Law, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
Email: anisah@ukm.edu.my- Siti Zaimah Zainal, B.Sc.
Pusat Citra UKM, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

Abstract
Recent well-publicized scandals, involving
unethical conduct have rekindled interest in
research misconduct. The purpose of this paper is
to compare the misconduct behaviour and thecontributing factors across several demographic
background variables including education level,
age, gender, race, type of university and faculty. A
survey was carried out within the Klang Valley
region on 329 academicians, both male and female,with diverse background and work at either
Research or Non-research Universities in Malaysia.
Analyses of Variances (ANOVAs) and T-test wereused to carry out the statistical analysis to compare
the differences of mean score of each contributing
factors across demographic variables. Overall,academicians’
behaviour
towardresearch
misconduct was found to be negative. Nevertheless,academicians’
behaviour
towardresearch
misconduct was found to be more positive in
Research University as compare to Non-Research
University. Results also showed that otherdemographic variables such as age, race andeducational level fairly have a significant effect onsome contributing factors to research misconduct.
However, gender do not displayed any difference intheir behaviour toward research misconduct. Thesefindings expand the knowledge on the effect ofdemographic variables on academicians’ behaviour
toward research misconduct in Malaysia. However,more in-depth research should be carried out inorder to know and understand the underlying
reason of these differences.
1. Introduction
There has been a lot of interest in ethicalbehaviour in general and in academic misconduct
in particular over the past two decades due topublicized scandals in both organizational andacademic realms (Kisamore et al., 2007). Thereseems little doubt that research misconduct does
occur, but beyond that, however, very little is
known about it. Previous research informationsuggested that the decline of academic integrity
began some time ago and still continued until today(Kisamore et al., 2007) because there are still
researchers who purposely commit misconduct,
although knowing it is wrong (Barlow, 2001).
Despite the increase in research on academic
misconduct, relatively few studies have addressed
its causes (Davis et al., 2007). Many factors havebeen postulated as contributing to the occurrenceof academic misconduct. Previous scholars
concluded that factors contributing to academic
misconduct could be divided into five groups individual, situational, organizational, structuraland cultural factors (Resnik, 2010; Davis et al.
2007). An individual factor refers to one’s attitude,
which promotes misconduct to happen. Therefore,
someone with low moral value is prone to commit
academic misconduct. However, Woolf (1981) said
that an honest researcher could handle pressure
effectively, and focus and give their fullcommitments to research activities. According to
Weed (1998), one’s ego could lead to certain
individual to engage in research misconduct.
The second factor that could influence a certain
individual to engage in misconduct is structural
factors, which includes pressures for promotion
and tenure, competition between researchers, needfor recognition and desire for financial gain (Weed,1998).
The third contributing factor to research
misconduct are organizational factors. The ethicalclimate of the organisation in which the researchtakes place is one such factor (Gaddis et al. 2003). A
comfortable workplace is important to cultivate
responsible atmosphere among employees andhonesty in managing research (James et al. 2003).
According to Morrison (1990), good relationships
between employees are important to avoid
research misconduct. Organizational factor also
includes existence of explicit versus implicit rules,
penalties and rewards, attached to such rules,
access to resources and extent of on-going training(Pryor et al., 2007). Situational factors, both
personal and career situation, also can contributeto research or academic misconduct. According toDavis and Riske (2002), several individuals who
were found guilty of research misconduct admitted
that they had experienced family and otherpersonal problems at the time of their research. At
the same time, Goodstein (2002) suggested thatcareer pressure is the causal factor of research
misconduct. For example, when researcher has towork alone for a long duration of time without
supervision, they might start taking for granted

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 28 (January 2018)
certain procedures and quality of their work
(Tindemans, 2007). A final factor that contributes
to research misconduct are cultural factors. An
observation by Davis (2003) found that individuals
who experience cultural change usually carry thenorms of the culture in which they were socialized.
Cultural factors are also links to questionableauthorship or gift authorship.
A limited number of studies in the past years
have provided information on the prevalence of
misconduct, although its true extent remains
unknown. A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
of Survey Data, pooled 21 surveys for thesystematic review and 18 for the meta-analysis
because three of these data did not match thequality requirements to be included in the metaanalysis (Fanelli, 2009). Fifteen of the studies werefrom the United States, three from the United
Kingdom, two from multinational samples indeveloped countries and one study was from
Australia. It is found that on average 2% ofscientists admitted to having fabricated, falsified or
modified data or results at least once, a serious
form of misconduct by any standard (Smith, 2000;
COPE, 2000; Berk, Korenman & Wenger, 2000). And
up to one third admitted a variety of otherquestionable
research
practices
including“dropping data point based on gut feeling” and“changing the design, methodology or results of astudy in response to pressure from a funding
source”. There was no such study found in
Malaysia, a reflection of the dearth of studies fromthe nation.
Therefore, we contend that it is imperative to
examine factors that influence individual
misconduct behaviour. At the same time, this study
also aims to evaluate the effect of demographic
variables toward individual behaviour toward
research misconduct. Hence, provide us with better
understand of individual’s propensities to engage in
research misconduct. While these factors arerecognised globally, the extent to which they playor interplay in any particular case of research
misconduct vary and are probably context specific.
To our knowledge, this study is the first of its kindin the country.
2. Methods
Subjects and sample
The respondents involved in this study wereselected among the academicians from within thevicinity of Klang Valley, which is the centre of thecountry’s economic, social development andeducation hub. The sample consisted of 329
academicians (n=329), whose age range is frombelow to above 35 years of age, and holding various
academic positions (young lecturer=129, seniorlecturer 106, associate professor= 50 and full3

professor= 44). Out of 329 respondents, 193
respondents work in Research University and 136
in Non-research University (95 respondents arefrom the biology, 83 respondents are from physic
and 150 are from the social science). The
respondents were chosen using the stratified
purposive sampling technique recommended by
Monroe and Monroe (1993).
Table 1 Background of respondents surveyed
BackgroundN%
GenderMale
148
45
Female
181
55
Races
Malay
264
80.2
Chinese30
9.1
Indian19
5.8
Others
16
4.8
Age
<35
97
29.5
35-44
116
35.3
45-54
71
21.6
>54
45
13.7
Educational levels
Non- PhD holder
134
40.7
PhD holder
195
59.3
Type of University
Research university
193
58.7
Non-research
136
41.3
university
Faculty
Biological science95
28.9
Physical science83
25.2
Social science150
45.6
Instrument
The instrument measuring specific attitudes
towards research misconduct incorporated six
dimensions or factors: cultural norms, workload,
personal problems, behaviour to misconduct,
freedom to act and competition. Each dimension or
factors comprised of several items measured on
five point Likert scales. Table 2 shows the results ofprincipal component factor analyses using varimax
rotation. This rotation yielded meaningful item
groupings or dimensions with strong unambiguous
loadings. The entire factor loading values were
either equal to or greater than 0.5, which can beconsidered as more significant (Hair et al. 1992).
The first dimension reflected individual behaviour
toward research misconduct, and was named as
misconduct behaviour. Seven items strongly loaded
highly on it. The second dimension with three items
strongly loaded on it and labelled as competition. It
reflects on
thecompetitiveness between
academicians in higher institutions of learning that
could possibly lead to research misconduct.

Table 2 Factor loadings and Cronbach’s alpha values for measurement scale of attitude towards research misconduct
Constructs and observed variables
Factors loadingα
Misconduct Behaviour
0.811
Same paper in different journal
0.760
Submitting accepted paper
0.690
Plagiarized idea
0.678
Plagiarism
0.597
Denied significant contribution
0.616
Unauthorized use of information
0.671
Hiding information from subjects
0.734
Competition
0.710
Competitiveness
0.815
Pressure for promotion
0.829
Pressure obtaining external fund
0.613
Freedom to act
0.789
Freedom to act on what is right
0.744
Able to follow own sense of morality
0.830
Free to do my job as it fit
0.845
Cultural norm
0.574
Everyone does research misconduct
0.788
Reprehensive behaviour will not be denounced
0.775
Personal Problem
0.841
Family problem
0.890
Financial problem
0.888
Workload
0.627
Heavy workload
0.802
Difficult job specification
0.667
Knowledge
0.831
Knowledge on research ethics
0.733
Knowledge on responsible conduct for research
0.731
Can differentiate between right or wrong in carrying research
0.605
Can differentiate between right or wrong in reporting research
0.583
Attitudes to research misconduct
0.753
Justified to create data without experiment
0.481
Justified to alter data to look better
0.628
Justified to plagiarized
0.420
Appropriate to falsified or fabricate data
0.544
Acceptable to use reference without mention the source
0.512

Three items were salient to the third factor,
which reflects on their freedom to act. The fourthfactor, which was made up of two items, appeared
to relate to the common practise of researchers
from their respective work place and wasinterpreted as cultural norm. Another two items
loaded heavily on the fifth factor and wereinterpreted as personal problem, reflects on theexisting of personal problem that can affect one’s
moral judgment and pressure are not handlingproperly. The sixth factor, which was made up of
another two items, appeared to relate to careerburden and was called as workload. Four items
were salient to the seventh factor, which reflects on
the knowledge regarding research ethics. The lastfactor, which is factor eight, made up of five items,
appeared to relate to attitudes toward research
misconduct. Table 2 shows the standardised alphacoefficients of all dimensions were above 0.70,
which can be considered as good (De Villis, 1991).

Statistical analysis
Initially, reliability tests and confirmatory factor
analysis were carried out using SPSS version 12.0
to assess the consistency and uni-dimensionality of
the constructs. ANOVAs were also carried out using
the same statistical package to compare thedifferences in mean for behaviour toward research
misconduct between respondents of different age,educational levels, race, gender, type of university
and faculty, and T-test was carried out to see thedifferences in the mean value for attitudes between
the different genders. When ANOVAs showedsignificant differences, Post Hoc test were thencarried out to detect the differences between
specific groups. Before running Post Hoc test, testsof homogeneity of variances were employed todetermine suitable Post Hoc tests. Four variables
with homogenous variances, Scheffe Post Hoc tests
were chosen. On the other hand, for variables
whose variances were not homogenous, Games Howell Post Hoc tests were selected. The minimum

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 28 (January 2018)significant level accepted in all ANOVAs and Post
Hoc tests was 0.05.
3. Results
Comparisons across ages
Misconduct behaviour across all ages is low
with their misconduct behaviour ratings below the
mid-point level of 3.0 (Table 3.0). ANOVA showsthat misconduct behaviour during research was not
significant across ages. Cultural norms across ages
were higher in respondents more than 54 years ofage compared to respondents younger than 35
years old. On the other hand, competition levelacross ages is moderate but low in respondents
older than 54 years old. However, ANOVA showedsignificant differences in the cultural norm aspectsof research misconduct across ages (F=8.357,
p<0.05) but not in competition. The Scheffe Post
Hoc test confirmed that the older age group (>54
years) has a higher rating for cultural norm
associated with research misconduct as comparedto the younger group (<35 years). This maybe
because they have been in the working
environment too long so that they had been
exposed to various kinds of deviation fromscientific norms as compared to the younger
respondents.
All age group rate freedom to act as highalthough ANOVAs did not show any significant
differences in their opinion at p<0.05. Comparing
the workload across ages, the younger groups (<35years) shows the lowest mean score (2.55) ascompared to the older age group (>54 years) withmean score of 2.98. ANOVA was significant forworkload across ages (F=3.590, p<0.05). The
Scheffe Post Hoc test showed that the younger
group of respondents perceived themselves as
having a lower workload than the older group.
Respondents above the age of 54 perceived
themselves as having more personal and financial
problems as compared to the younger respondents.
ANOVA was significant for personal problem acrossages (F=6.922, p<0.05). Knowledge on research
ethics and responsible research conduct for
research is high across age. ANOVA showedsignificant differences in knowledge related toresearch ethics across age (F=4.393, p<0.05). The
Scheffe Post Hoc test confirmed that respondents
aged less than 35 years old have the lowest rating
for knowledge in research ethics as compared torespondents between the ages of 35-44 years old.
This is understandable because of their lack ofexperience conducting research as compared toacademicians who have more work experiences. All
age groups show more negative favourable attitude
toward research misconduct where they strongly
disagree toward action that fabricate, falsify or
modify data, and toward those who involve in the5

act of plagiarism. ANOVA test showed that there isno significant differences in their rating on
favourable attitude to research misconduct at
p<0.05.
Table 3 Behaviour towards research misconduct
across ages
Dimension

Mean score*±Std dev.
Misconduct Behaviour<35
1.26 ± 0.478
35-44
1.23 ± 0.449
45-54
1.17 ± 0.360>54
1.23 ± 0.543
Cultural norm
<35
3.42 ± 0.825
35-44
3.43 ± 0.810
45-54
3.62 ± 0.663>54
4.04 ± 0.656
Workload<35
2.55 ± 0.795
35-44
2.83 ± 0.872
45-54
2.90 ± 0.897>54
2.98 ± 0.982
Personal Problem<35
2.91 ± 1.102
35-44
3.05 ± 1.082
45-54
3.37 ± 1.215>54
3.74 ± 1.064
Freedom to act<35
3.69 ± 0.802
35-443.88 ± 0.816
45-54
3.71 ± 0.838>54
3.96 ± 0.934
Competition<35
2.35 ± 0.740
35-442.36 ± 0.745
45-54
2.51 ± 0.699>54
2.18 ± 0.611
Knowledge<35
3.80 ± 0.534
35-44
4.03 ± 0.493
45-54
3.99 ± 0.507>54
4.04 ±0.581
Attitude<35
1.75 ± 0.645
35-44
1.71 ± 0.688
45-54
1.71 ± 0.610>54
1.50 ± 0.389

Interpretatio
n
Low
Low
Low
Low
Moderate
Moderate
Moderate
High
Moderate
Moderate
Moderate
Moderate
Moderate
Moderate
Moderate
High
High
High
High
High
Moderate
Moderate
Moderate
Low
High
High
High
High
Low
Low
Low
Low

*Mean score: 1-2.33 low, 2.34 -3.66 moderate,
3.67-5.0 high; Std dev., Standard deviation
Comparison across races
Overall results shows that misconduct
behaviour across races is low. Their misconduct
behaviour ratings were lower than the mid-pointvalue of 3.0 (Table 4). ANOVA did not show any
significant differences in their opinion at p<0.05.
Malay and Chinese respondents rated cultural
norms related to research misconduct as moderate
but Indian and others respondents rated it as high(Table 4). ANOVA was significant for cultural normsof research ethics across races (F=4.178, p<0.05).

6

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 28 (January 2018)

The Scheffe Post Hoc test showed significant
differences in the cultural norms related toresearch misconduct, with the highest among theIndian respondents and lowest being among the
Malay respondents.
All races perceived workload; personal
problems and competition at their working place as
moderate and when ANOVA was carried out there
are no significant differences across races.
Respondents across races rated freedom to act ashigh (Table 4). ANOVA was carried out and theresult shows that there is significant difference intheir ratings across races (F=3.109, p<0.05). The
Scheffe Post Hoc test confirmed that the Indians feltthat they have more freedom to conduct their own
research and freedom to make their own judgment
regarding their research tasks as compared to otherraces. All respondents rated their knowledge on
research ethics as high and favourable attitude
toward research misconduct as low. However,
ANOVA test did not show any significant differencein their opinion at p<0.05.
Comparisons across gender
Both male and female respondents claimed tohave low misconduct behaviour (Table 5). They
also ranked cultural norms, personal problem andfreedom to act as moderate, and knowledge related
to research ethics as high. However, theirfavourable attitude towards research misconduct is
rated as low. In order to compare differences in
attitudes across gender, T-test were carried out.
The results of the T-tests showed that both genders
were more in agreement in their opinion on
cultural norm, workload, personal problem,
freedom to act, competition, misconduct behaviour,knowledge and attitude.
Comparisons across educational levels
There is little difference in misconduct behaviour
between education levels. Respondents rated thefactors contributing to research misconduct such as
cultural norms, workload and personal problem asmoderate. On the other hand, both groups of
respondents rated freedom to act as high, whichindicated that all respondents felt that they havefreedom to make their own decision and judgments
when it comes to their research task.
Competition in terms of obtaining externalfunding, promotion among academicians andpublishing academic paper are rated as low acrossdifferent educational level, where respondents who
are non-PhD holder showed a higher rating as
comparef to respondents who are PhD holders. This
showed that respondents who are non-PhD holder
felt that they need to work harder than those whoare already a PhD holder in terms of gaining
research funds and better academic positions ininstitutions of higher learning. T-Test was carriedout in order to compare differences in factors
contributing to research misconduct behaviour
across educational level. Results of the T-test showthat respondents who are PhD holder have higher
knowledge regarding research ethics andresponsible conduct of research as compared tothose who are not PhD holders (t=-4.50, p<0.05).
They (PhD holder) also rated their workload as
higher than those who are non-PhD holder (t=-3.44,
p<0.05). However, all respondents regardless ofeducation level were more in agreement in theiropinion on cultural norm, workload, competition,
working environment and misconduct behaviour.
Table 4 Behaviour towards research misconduct
across races
Dimension
MeanInterpretation
score* ±Std
dev.
Misconduct Behaviour
Malay
1.24 ± 0.492
Low
Chinese1.13 ± 0.186
Low
Indian1.21 ± 0.310
Low
Others1.22 ± 0.193
Low
Cultural norm
Malay
3.49 ± 0.774
Moderate
Chinese3.62 ± 0.795
Moderate
Indian4.05 ± 0.832
High
Others3.88 ± 0.791
HighWorkload
Malay
2.77 ± 0.894
Moderate
Chinese2.82 ± 0.713
Moderate
Indian2.79 ± 0.962
Moderate
Others
2.94 ± 0.928
Moderate
Personal Problem
Malay
3.17 ± 1.172
Moderate
Chinese3.35 ± 0.993
Moderate
Indian3.03 ± 1.099
Moderate
Others3.06 ± 1.063
Moderate
Freedom to act
Malay
3.76 ± 0.822
High
Chinese3.84 ± 0.791
HighIndian4.35 ± 0.828
High
Others3.73 ± 0.990
High
Competition
Malay
2.37 ± 0.737
Moderate
Chinese2.31 ± 0.631
Moderate
Indian2.39 ± 0.650
Moderate
Others2.38 ± 0.729
Moderate
Knowledge
Malay
3.94 ± 0.531
High
Chinese4.03 ± 0.510
HighIndian4.03 ± 0.492
High
Others
4.08 ± 0.597
HIgh
AttitudeMalay
1.73 ± 0.633
Low
Chinese1.55 ± 0.395
Low
Indian1.39 ± 0.323
Low
Others1.68 ± 0.526
Low*Mean score: 1-2.33 low, 3.34-3.66 moderate, 3.675.0 high; Std dev., Standard deviation

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 28 (January 2018)
Table 5 Behaviour towards research misconduct
across genders
Dimension
MeanInterpretation
score* ±Std
dev.
Misconduct Behaviour
Male
1.23 ± 0.474
Low
Female1.22 ± 0.438
Low
Cultural normMale
3.52 ± 0.819
Moderate
Female3.57 ± 0.768
Moderate
WorkloadMale
2.78 ± 0.902
Moderate
Female2.79 ± 0.868
Moderate
Personal Problem
Male
3.22 ± 1.170
Moderate
Female3.14 ± 1.127
Moderate
Freedom to act
Male
3.80 ± 0.894
HighFemale3.80 ± 0.788
High
CompetitionMale
2.35 ± 0.689
Low
Female2.38 ± 0.746
Low
KnowledgeMale
4.00 ± 0.542
HighFemale3.92 ± 0.517
High
AttitudeMale
1.74 ± 0.654
Low
Female1.66 ± 0.604
Low*Mean score: 1-2.33 low, 2.34-3.66 moderate, 3.665.0 high; Std dev.; Standard deviation
Table 6 Behaviour towards research misconduct
across educational levels
Dimension
Mean score*
Interpretation±Std dev.
Misconduct Behaviour
PhD holder
1.23 ± 0.451
Low
Non-PhD holder 1.22 ± 0.460
Low
Cultural norm
PhD holder
3.59 ± 0.756
Moderate
Non PhD holder 3.49 ± 0.838
Moderate
Workload
PhD holder
2.92 ± 0.910
Moderate
Non-PhD holder 2.59 ± 0.803
Moderate
Personal Problem
PhD holder
3.33 ± 1.125
Moderate
Non PhD holder 2.94 ± 1.140
Moderate
Freedom to act
PhD holder
3.89 ± 0.816
HighNon- PhD holder 3.67 ± 0.851
High
Competition
PhD holder
2.31 ± 0.698
Low
Non PhD holder 2.46 ± 0.744
Low
Knowledge
PhD holder
4.06 ± 0.549
HighNon- PhD holder 3.80 ± 0.460
High
Attitude
PhD holder
1.62 ± 0.594
Low
Non-PhD holder 1.79 ± 0.0.661
Low*Mean score: 1-2.33 low, 2.34-3.66 moderate, 3.665.0 high; Std dev.; Standard deviation

7

Comparisons across the university
Although respondents who work both in a
research universities or non-research universities
acknowledged low level of misconduct in research,the mean score for Research University is higher
than for Non-Research university (Table 7). Results
showedthat
respondents
fromresearch
universities felt that they have higher workload,
higher personal problems and higher level of trust
to make their own judgment related to theirresearch task as compare to those who work in a
non-research universities. This contributes to ahigher probability to be involved in misconduct
behaviour among research universities employees
than non-research universities employees.
Table 7 Behaviour toward research misconduct
across type of university
Meanscore* ±Std Interpret
Dimension
dev.
ation
Misconduct
Research university 1.28 ± 0.525
Low
Non-research
university
1.15 ± 0.314
Low
Cultural Norm
Research university 3.51 ± 0.832
High
Non-research
university
3.61 ± 0.727
HighWorkload
Research university 2.91 ± 0.871
Moderate
Non-research
university
2.61 ± 0.870
Moderate
Personal problem
Research university 3.22 ± 1.133
Moderate
Non-research
university
3.11 ± 1.163
Moderate
Working environment
Research university 3.86 ± 0.862
High
Non-research
university
3.71 ± 0.792
High
Competition
Research university 2.32 ± 0.742
Moderate
Non-research
university
2.43 ± 0.685
Moderate
Knowledge
Research
universities
4.04 ± 0.549
High
Non-research
universities
3.84 ± 0.477
High
AttitudeResearch
universities
1.72 ± 0.678
Low
Non-research
universities
1.66 ± 0.548
Low*Mean score: 1-2.33 low, 2.34-3.66 moderate, 3.665.0 high; Std dev.; Standard deviation

8

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 28 (January 2018)

Cultural norms related to research misconduct
are rated as high across different types ofuniversities. In order to compare differences inbehaviour toward research misconduct acrossdifferent types of university, T-test was carried out.
T-test results show that respondents who work inresearch universities are most likely to be involved
in behaviour that led to misconduct in research(t=2.52, p<0.01). They also displayed slightly higher
positive favourable attitudes toward misconduct ascompared to non-research universities (t= 0.90,
p<0.05).
Comparisons across faculty
Although misconduct behaviour of all
respondents was below the mid-point value of 3.0(Table 8), there is slight difference in terms of themean score where academicians from the social
science faculty have more positive behaviour toresearch misconduct. ANOVA test was carried andresult shows that there is significant difference for
misconduct behaviour across faculties (F=6.269,
p<0.001). Respondents from the biological sciencefaculty showed that their behaviour toward
research misconduct was the lowest and GamesHowell test confirmed that their ranking was
significantly lower than respondents from otherfaculties.
Factors such as competition for better position
or obtaining research grants, workload andpersonal problem, which could contribute to
misconduct, are rated as moderate by all
respondents. ANOVA was carried out and showedno significant difference between the faculties incompetition and workload but was significant for
personal problem (F=4.702, p<0.05). Respondents
from physical science faculty perceived themselves
as having more personal problem than respondents
from the social science faculty.
All respondents rated freedom to act as high,which indicate that all faculties provide freedom tothe academician a certain level of trust to act andmake their own judgment regarding their researchtask. ANOVA was carried out and results shows
significant differences for freedom to act acrossfaculties (F=5.703, p<0.001). The Scheffe Post Hoc
test confirmed that respondents from the biologicalscience felt they are given more freedom to maketheir own decision related to their research ascompare to social science faculty. They differ intheir rating of cultural norms related to research
misconduct, where it is rated as moderate (Table 8)
However, ANOVA showed significant differences incultural norm across faculties (F=4.304, p<0.05).
The Scheffe Post hoc test confirmed that the
researchers from the biological science faculty
perceived cultural norms in research misconduct as
higher compared to those in the social sciencefaculty.

Table 8 showed that respondents’ knowledge on
research ethics is high and their tolerance towards
research misconduct is low. ANOVA test showedthat there is no significant difference in theirknowledge. However, ANOVA shows there issignificant different in their favourable attitude toresearch misconduct (F=8.88, p<0.01). GamesHowell Post Hoc test confirmed that academiciansfrom the social science favourable attitude toward
research misconduct is more positive compare to
those in the biological and physical.
Table 8 Behaviour towards research misconduct
across faculty
Mean score*
Interpret
Dimension± Std dev.
ation
Misconduct
Biological Science
1.10 ± 0.172
Low
Physical Science
1.22 ± 0.404
Low
Social Science
1.31 ± 0.572
Low
Cultural Norm
Biological Science
3.67 ± 0.857
Moderate
Physical Science
3.67 ± 0.750
Moderate
Social Science
3.41 ±0.750
Moderate
Workload
Biological Science
2.86 ± 0.917
Moderate
Physic Science
2.84 ± 0.873
Moderate
Social Science
2.70 ±0.863
Moderate
Personal Problem
Biological Science
3.25 ±1.076
Moderate
Physical Science
3.44 ±1.172
Moderate
Social Science2.98 ±1.145
Moderate
Freedom to act
Biological Science
4.03 ±0.788
High
Physical Science
3.77 ± 0.854
HighSocial Science
3.66 ± 0.830
High
Competition
Biological Science
2.37 ± 0.663
Moderate
Physical Science
2.27 ± 0.711
Moderate
Social Science
2.43 ± 0.757
Moderate
Knowledge
Biological Science
3.97 ± 0.558
High
Physical Science
4.04 ± 0.517
HighSocial Science
3.90 ± 0.513
High
Attitude
Biological Science
1.56 ± 0.413
Low
Physical Science
1.57 ± 0.545
Low
Social Science
1.85 ± 0.741
Low*Mean score: 1-2.33 low, 2.34-3.66 moderate, 3.665.0 high; Std dev.; Standard deviation
Discussion
This is the first Malaysian survey on research
misconduct and respondents’ behaviour andEubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 28 (January 2018)attitude towards research misconduct. Overall
results showed that behaviour and favourable
attitudes to research misconduct among the
respondents in this study are low. Factors such asindividual, structural, situational, organizationaland cultural have been found to effect misconduct
behaviour and these factors contributing to the
misconduct. Davis et al. (2007), found that
individuals who experience changes in culture
usually carry the norms of the culture in which they
were socialized. This can be seen evidently in thefindings where cultural norms related to research
misconduct showed significant different in meanscore across races, ages, type of universities andfaculties. Cultural norms related to misconduct are
seen higher in the Indian respondents, respondents
older than 54 years old, in non-research
universities and biological science faculty. Cultural
norms can be link to the tradition, which may bepractised in a research or academic community(Davis et al., 2007).
Having a heavy workload is the source of
research misconduct among researchers according
to Amin et al. (2012). Usually, researchers are
academics who have responsibilities in teaching,researching, publishing, attending conferences andproviding community services (Abidin & Ayudin,2008). Sometimes, overload of responsibilities
might cause conflict of interest, lead to burn out,
thus barely meet their teaching and researchobligation, and could resulted in research
misconduct (Sugarman, 2005). In this study,
respondents who are above the age of 54, who are
PhD holder, who are working in research
universities and in the Biological Science faculties,
felt that they do have higher workload as comparedto other respondents.
Situational factor can be divided into personaland career situation (Davis and Riske, 2002).
Personal situation refers to personal pressure,which researchers go through in their normal daily
life. Personal problems included loss of a loved one,
relationship problems and financial pressures, allhave the potential of contributing to thecompromising of quality research (Davis et al.,2007). Having many personal problems is assumed
to contribute to research misconduct because whenpressure is not handled properly, one might lose hisor her moral judgment, thus ending up choosing
unethical behaviour (Broome, 2003). Respondents
in this study who are above 54 years old, who holda PhD degree, working in research universities andfrom the Physical Science faculties, claimed to havemore personal problem than the rest of the
respondents. Respondents who are above 54 years
old normally has an established academic careerwith lots of responsibilities, workload and face
more challenging problem as compare to young

9

academicians. For respondents with higher
education level, they could face more exposure to
the culture and power of science, as suggested byPriest (2000). Meaning, they felt that having higher
workload with more personal or financial problem.
Although these problems are hardly received lots ofattention in the literature, a few commentators
have mentioned them (Broome, 2003; Morrison,1990).
The
workingenvironmentinwhichresearchers conduct their work is said to be
conducive to research misconduct (Davis et al.
2007). It is the responsibility of the organization toprovide a conducive and comfortable working
environment for their employees to cultivate good
and trusting relationship and honesty in managing
research, thus to avoid research misconduct (Jameset al. 2003). Many respondents who are 54 years
old and above, felt highly that they have thefreedom to make their own judgement when
conducting research as well as freedom conducting
their research as deemed fit = compared to younger
respondents. These rating could be due to the factthat the younger respondents were most likely
newly appointed academics with little exposure to
the research and academic field. Therefore, theymight be still under their superior supervision anddo not have the freedom to act or make soledecisions related to their research. Whereby,
respondents who are above the age of 54, aremostly senior researcher who has many years ofexperience in conducting research. These findings
concurred to a number of studies that showed therole that age plays in research/academic
misconduct and generally suggests that younger
students/researchers may be more likely to engage
in academic misconduct than older researchers(Nonis & Swift, 2001). Results also indicated that
respondents who work in research universities andthose who work in the Biological Science, rated
freedom to act as high as compare to the rest of the
respondents. This might not be surprising because
research universities and Biological Science placepriority in researching task, therefore, they do not
feel they should place too much pressure in
structural tasks. Although knowing pressure cancontribute to productivity, too much pressure andless freedom to do their job can cause someone tolose ability in making good judgments. Thus, thisperson is prone to commit research misconduct(Amin et al. 2007).
According to Louis (1995), there is a strong
positive correlation between competition to
publish or perish pressure among academics inuniversities. In this study, respondents who are 54
years above, the rate competition is lowest ascompared to respondents younger than 35 years
old. This probably because the older respondents

10

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 28 (January 2018)(>54 years old) feel that they already have a stablecareer and accomplished a lot in their career, thus,
felt that the need to compete for promotion andgreater financial rewards or tenure is a bit lesser ascompare to the younger academicians, who are stillin the process in building their career (Davis et al.,2007). However, respondents who are non-PhD
holder and from Social Science faculty felt that thecompetition to gain better financial reward, more
publications, getting research funding or better
tenure is higher as compared to other respondents.
Therefore, these pressures might cause one to be
involved in misconduct behaviour. According toAnderson (1996), competitive environment in a
department is positively correlated with discoveryof research misconduct. Furthermore, rapid science
progress and only a limited number of positions
and research grant available, all researchers needto fight for the opportunities (Dhand, 2002). It isalso suggested by Illingworth (2004) thatcompetition among academicians or researchers is
capable of distorting one’s perception of what is
ethically acceptable. However, one’s gender or race
did not display any effect on the need to compete in
the work place.
All respondents displayed high knowledge
related to research ethics and high understanding
regarding responsible conduct for research, which
related to their capability to differentiate what isright or wrong when conducting research, andreporting research findings. This contributes totheir overall low rating on behaviour contributing
to misconduct as shown in the result of this study.
Respondents’ attitude toward research misconduct
are also low, which indicates their support toresponsible conduct of research. This also showsthat respondents are aware of their responsibility
to conduct research ethically and to make sure that
all research finding and publication are reported as
it is without fabricating, falsifying or modifying any
date.
Conclusion
Overall, knowledge on research ethics andtheir understanding on responsible conduct of
research are high among Malaysian academics.
Therefore, leading to low rating of their attitude
toward research misconduct, which indicates their
low support toward behaviour that results inmisconduct. Factors such as cultural, individual,
situational, structural and organizational have beenreported to have an impact to respondents’behaviour toward misconduct. These contributing
factors have been found to be influence bydemographic variables such as age, race, gender,
educational level, type of university and faculty inwhich they work. These differences should be taken
into consideration constructively by the regulators

to understand the social constructs of public
behaviour towards research misconduct. Thesefindings can and eventually will have an impact onpolicy and practise of ethical conduct of research inall research institution. However, in-depth study
should be carried out to understand the reason thatcause these differences in order to have the rightmeasures to tackle the issues and further improve
the quality of research integrity among Malaysian
researchers.
References
Kisamore, JL., Stone, TH. & Jawahar, IM. (2007) Academic
integrity: The relationship between individual andsituational factors on misconduct contemplations,
Journal of Business Ethics, DOI 10.1007/s10551-0069260-9.
Amin, L., Zainal, SZ., Hassan, Z. & Haji Ibrahim, M. (2012)
Factors contributing to research misconducts, The
Social Sciences, 7(2): 283-288.
Barlow, DH. (2001) Publication ethics and humanreproduction, Human Reproduction, 16.
Davis, MS., Riske-Morris, M. & Diaz, SR. (2007) Causal
factors implicated in research misconduct: Evidence
from ORI case files, Science & Engineering Ethics, 13,395-414.
Gaddis, B, Helton-Fauth W, Scott G et al. (2003)
Development of two measures of climate for scientificorganizations, Account Res., 10, 253-288.
McCabe, DL., Trevino, LK & Butterfield, KD. (2002)
Honor codes and other contextual influences onacademic integrity: A replication and extension ofmodified honor code settings, Research in Higher
Education, 43(3), 357-378.
Crown DF & Soiller MS. (1998) Learning from theliterature on collegiate cheating: A review of
empirical research, Journal of Business Ethics, 17, 683700.
Ford RC & Richardson WD. (1994) Ethical decision
making: A review of the empirical literature, Journalof Business Ethics, 13, 205-221.
Pryor ER, Habermann B & Broome ME. (2006) Scientificmisconduct from the perspective of researchcoordinators: a national survey, Journal of Medical
Ethics, 33, 365-369.
Weed, D. (1998) Preventing scientific misconduct,
American Journal of Public Health, 88, 125-129.
Monroe Jr JC & Monroe CB. (1993) Statistical problem
solving in geography. Oxford:Wm.c. Brown Publishers.
Gaskell G, Allum N, Baouer M, Durant J, Allansdottir A,
Bonfadelli H, Boy D, Cheveigne DS, Fjaestad B,
Gutteling JM, Hampel J, Jelsoe E, Jesuino JG, Kohring
M, Kronberger N, Midden C, Nielsen TH, Przestalski A,
Rusanen T, Sakellaris G, Torgersen H, Twardowski T,
Wagner W. (2000), Biotechnology and the European
public, Nature Biotechnoloft, 18, 935-938.
Amin, L., Jamaluddin MJ, Abdul Rahim MN, Mohammad
O, Nor MM (2004). The development of an instrument
for public attitude towards modern biotechnology in
Malaysia, Proceeding of 2nd Bangi World Conference
on Environmental Management, pp.630-635.

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Hair JF, Anferson RE, Tatham RL, Black WC (1992)
Multivariate data analysis with readings, New
York:MacMillan Publishing Company.
De Vellis RF (1991), Scale development. Newbury Park,
NJ: Sage Publications.
People J & Bailey G. (2010) Humanity: An introduction to
cultural anthropology (9th ed.), Wadsworth Cengage
Learning, p.389.
Louis KS, Anderson, MS & Rosenberg, L. (1995)
Academic misconduct and values: The department’s
influence, Review of Higher Education, 8, 393-422.
Macer D & Chen Ng MA (2000). Changing attitudes tobiotechnology in Japan, Nature biotechnology, 18,945-947.
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Priest SH. (2000) US public opinion divided overbiotechnology? Nature Biotechnology, 18(9), 150-163.
Broome, ME (2003). Scientific integrity: Nursing outlook,51, 197-198.
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Hetherington EM & Feldman SE. (1964) College cheating
as a function of subject and situational variables,
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Simon CA, Carr JR, McCollough SM, Morgan SJ, Oleson T &Ressel M (2004). Gender, student perceptions,institutional commitments and academic dishonesty:
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Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 29,
75-90 .

Takao Takahashi’s Disaster Ethics
and Climate Justice- Christopher Ryan Maboloc, PhD, MA Applied Ethics
Ateneo de Davao University, Davao City, Philippines
Email: ryanmaboloc75@yahoo.com

Introduction
The massive devastation caused by Super
Typhoon Yolanda (International Name: Haiyan), thestrongest to hit the Philippines, with winds of up to
195 miles per hour – the equivalent to a Category 5
storm – makes a compelling case for all of humanity
to take a solid stand in confronting climate change.
With a storm surge reaching as high as thirteen
feet, the disaster killed more than 6,000 persons,and further injured 27,000. Sixteen million people
were affected as the typhoon hit Central Visayas in
the Philippines – Tacloban and Ormoc being thehardest hit areas. The Super Typhoon displaced 4.1
million individuals and reports indicate that around
1.2 million homes had been destroyed.
While discussions pertaining to climate justice
have been focused on the moral burden of the West,the urgent thing to do for all countries is to find that11

sense of solidarity by way of a common ground. It isapparent that industrial nations should carry theheavier responsibility in terms of mitigating theimpact of global warming on poor nations, but thecooperation of every government is also importantin order to achieve the greater interest of humanity
which is to save the planet. In relation to this, aparticular concern that needs the attention of
everyone is the prevalence of natural disasters. The
approach to disaster management ethics is thehumanitarian view. This is universally accepted.
However, a philosophically enriching discussion on
the role of moral virtue is warranted in view of thesocial and political circumstances that people are
into.
Takahashi’s Disaster Ethics
Takao
Takahashi
writesabout
thephilosophical foundation of disaster ethics. In his
analysis, it is important to consider human virtue
both in disaster preparation and in responding toactual calamities. Takahashi believes that thehuman being as a higher species is capable offinding what is common with his fellow species. In
this case, the philosopher thinks that it is “thepreservation of life itself and the maintenance oforder.”1
Takahashi’s thoughts on disaster ethics isreminiscent of Albert Schweitzer’s philosophy of“reverence for life.”2 This reverence for life is built
around the idea of self-realization and empathy or
the ethical concern for others. Caring for others is
not individualistic or egoistic. Rather, it is a naturecentered perspective that cuts across all cultures,
respecting the lives of all other species as well as
their environment. Ethics is paramount in humanaffairs. Katarina Komenska explains:“Ethics and philosophy have always attempted toreflect on the problems people face in their lives.
Despite some of these issues having belonged tohuman history from its very beginning, it is only
recently that they have been subjected to asystematic ethical consideration. An important
motive for extending the scope of ethics in this way isthe development of applied ethics; in other words,
the aspiration of ethics to practically reflect on issues
related to the life of society and its members.”3
Natural calamities may be unavoidable, butsociety can design scientific measures to protect the
lives of people. In the Philippines, disaster ethics is
not given enough consideration since thegovernment maintains its focus on the efficient
1 Takao Takahashi, “Disaster Ethics,” Plenary Lecture, 11th
Kumamoto Bioethics Round Table (2017): 41.
2 Vasil Gluchman, “Moral Theory and Natural and Social
Disasters.” In Human Affairs 26 (2016): 6.
3 Katarina Komenska, “Ethics and Disaster in the Works ofAlbert Schweitzer.” In Human Affairs 26 (2016): 34.

12

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 28 (January 2018)

distribution of relief goods, although such has been
without much success. No real ethical deliberation
takes place in terms of deciding which areas should
be prioritized when in fact, moral responsivenesswill require that institutions frame their decisionmaking processes on ethical principles.
Takahashi explains that in responding to natural
disasters, the people are not really concerned about
the greatest happiness of the society or thecommunity. 4 Rather, it is to save the life of theperson who is wounded and bring the same to his
family so that the said individual can continue
living a normal life. Takahashi says that there arebasic principles of ethical behavior that must be
observed and includes “the respect for fairness andhuman rights.”5
Disaster response, Takahashi notes, will requireinternational cooperation. Natural disasters havesince become large scale and in this regard,
governments must not only prepare the necessary
equipment to mitigate their impact. There is a needto orient people as well on the ethics of disastermanagement. In the case of the Philippines, thesolidarity of the people is crucial and the spirit ofvolunteerism is as important as the resources
necessary to make an effective disastermanagement.
Without the support or help from private
individuals or institutions, the pain and suffering ofdisaster victims will be prolonged. In Third World
nations where corruption is so rampant, training
people and promoting transparency are important.
Disasters, while due mostly to acts of nature, areexacerbated by human factors. People cause
troubles, for instance, when they begin to hoard orraise the prices of basic commodities. Henceforth, itis wrong to ascribe the misery felt by people duringcalamities to fate or God’s will. The human element
is apparent. Vasil Gluchman writes:“Many scientists have come to a similar conclusion
regarding natural disasters…but many problems are
the result of human activity. Here we might mention
climatic changes, global warming, more frequenttropical storms, hurricanes and tornadoes including
the overall deterioration of the environment that is
the result of intense industrial activity in almost allparts of the world.”6
The above brings us to a crucial issue. Humanbeings often ask themselves the right thing to do.
But it is undeniable that the sheer disregard of theenvironment has tragic consequences. Today, ahuge threat to the existence of the whole ofhumanity exists. This danger comes from the realityof climate change.

4 Takahashi, “Disaster Ethics,” 42.
5 Ibid.

6 Gluchman, “Moral Theory and Natural and Social Disasters,” 3.

The Paris Climate Agreement
Given the unprecedented amounts of carbon
emission, the earth’s temperature is expected torise by 2.5 degrees centigrade by 2050.7 According
to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC), “the evidence for the warming of the climate
is unequivocal.”8 To date, as a response to global
warming, the Paris Climate Agreement has beensigned by 195 countries. The new Paris accord ismeant to curb carbon emissions starting in the year
2020. The United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change negotiated the said agreement,
which is meant to keep the current global
temperatures from rising above two (2 degrees)
Celsius and lower the target to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The “bottoms-up approach” used in the agreement
will require all countries to devise plans, evaluate
adaptation, and develop the transfer of technology.
Like the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the accord isintended at the fair distribution of responsibility forgreen gas emissions. This principle of fair
distribution is called “burden sharing.” The Kyoto
Protocol then included proposals and policies likethe curtailment of energy use in rich countries. It
also provided for the implementation of stricter
environmental standards. The Paris Agreement, on
the other hand, recognized the differences in theways countries adapt to strategies to mitigate theimpact of climate change.
Burden sharing recognizes the historicalcauses of climate change. While the bigger burdenlies with rich nations since they have benefitted
from years of industrial expansion, it is the moral
obligation of all nations to reduce their carbon
emissions in order to save the planet. The humanelement in natural disasters is apparent. Komenska
says that “while exerting control over natural forces
can support material, technological, and scientificprogress, it can also lead us to misuse and destroy
them.”9
U.S. President Donald Trump has sincethreatened to withdraw from the agreement. While
Trump is considered a skeptic with respect toclimate change, the actual reason for his threat can
only be economic. For him, the setting of emission
targets would not be beneficial to the US economy.
He thinks that many jobs in the US would be lost if
the agreement will be adopted by the world’s
largest economy.
The hesitance of Trump to implement the newaccord is understandable from an economic or
political end, but it is bereft of legitimacy from an
7 E. Wesley and F. Peterson, “The Ethics of Burden Sharing in
the Global Greenhouse.” In Journal of Agricultural andEnvironmental Ethics, 1999, volume 11:3.
8 https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
9 Komenska, “Ethics and Disaster in the Works of Albert
Schweitzer,” 36.

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 28 (January 2018)
ethical or moral end. In addition, the sciencearound climate change is well-founded while theskepticism about it is just less than one per cent.
For example, the data from NASA’s Gravity
Recovery and Climate Experiment will show that
“Greenland lost 250 cubic kilometers of ice per year
from 2002 to 2006.”10
Thus, the US government should be put to task
into taking greater responsibility for its pastgreenhouse emissions or what is called historic
pollution. China though has recently surpassed the
US in carbon emissions. In this regard, China’s
industrial regime should be asked to invest the useof environment friendly energy sources, i.e. windand hydro. China, it should be noted though, is now
the biggest producer of wind energy.
The sad reality, of course, is that climatechange affects the poor regions. It is a matter of factthat the Third World has been bearing most of themisery. The citizens of rich nations benefit fromtheir economic expansion while people in poor
nations suffer from the effects of global warming. It
is in this respect that the concept of climate justiceis an issue that must be addressed by every
government around the world.
Ethics and Climate Justice
According to Paul Ehrlich and Anne Ehrlich,
the risk of global warming was anticipated but long
ignored. 11 During the early nineties, people havetalked about the reduction in the use of CFCs
(Chlorofluorocarbons) due to the large hole in theozone layer. The solid ground in which we can baseour moral discernment on the issue is the common
concern that we have for the survival of the humanspecies. The point of the matter is that, regardlessof race, we are all inhabitants of the earth. Indeed,climate change is a social justice issue. It is a social
justice issue since it involves the lives of people.
There is a necessity to compel all nations to fulfill
their moral obligations. In this regard, we have tolook into two areas of concern.
First, inter-generational justice implies a moral
obligation to the future. The reason is that the
future depends on the present. What people will do
now affects the lives of our children. It is also
morally plausible to argue that this moral
obligation proceeds from the fact that we haveacquired an environment that has made it possible
for us to survive. The idea is that people in the past
have not harmed the environment so as to enable
us to inhabit a planet that is livable. On this basis,
we also have a duty to pass on to the next
generation a world that is habitable.
10 https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
11 P. Ehrlich and Anne Ehrlich, Risks, costs and benefits, inDaniel Bonevac, ed., Moral Issues Today (Boston: McGraw-Hill,
2002), 122.

13

Second, the concept of intra-generational
justice implies our moral obligation to the present.
It is the recognition that what we do individually orcollectively affects the lives of others. In this regard,
it matters that we value the present for the sake ofall those who are living now. Justice is founded on
the idea of the moral equality of all persons. It is notfair for a young child from Bangladesh to suffer
because a lot of fossil fuels are irresponsibly burnt
in the US.
In the Philippines, five per cent of the annual
budget of Local Government Units are allocated fordisaster and emergency relief programs andprojects. This includes provisions for equipment,
training, and services, including relief goods during
actual calamities. However, the government has notbeen insulated from the corrupt practices of somepoliticians who use calamities as means inpromoting their vested interests. Relief operations
have become self-serving at times.
But the gap that needs to be addressed is not
only the lack of effort to ensure transparency. It isalso critical to look into the ethical deficits thatpeople have. 12 Laws are important in making
people behave in a virtuous way. But most laws arelimited by an emphasis on penal provisions or
punishment. A more pro-active approach todisaster management is about how the government
can empower communities and individuals todevelop a type of solidarity that will enable people
to volunteer their services for the good of others.
Min Zhang and Darryl Macer explain, however,that “due to some traditional cultural barriers, young
people across the region often remain at the margins
with regard to participation in the decision-making
process.” 13 In this regard, leadership and value
formation will be crucial. The trust and confidenceof people in their leaders can remedy the sociocultural divide in society. The youth, while not as
mature as all senior government officials, possess
the enthusiasm and the important motivation toanswer the call of volunteerism.
According to Darryl Macer, all “the artificial
barriers that continue to stifle the progress ofsocieties need to be addressed for the sake of all
beings and the planet as a whole.” 14 Takahashi’s
ethics of disaster, when fused with the intent ofcreating a truly just order in the world, isinstructive as to how individuals can proceed.
While this is grounded in an incontrovertible sense
12 Christopher Ryan Maboloc, “On the Ethical and Democratic
Deficits of Environmental Pragmatism,” Journal of Human
Values 22 (2): 107.
13 Min Zhang, “Youth Volunteerism in the Asia Pacific – YPA and
LBD voice of Volunteerism,” In Eubios Journal of Asian andInternational Bioethics, Volume 23 (2013): 38.
14 Darryl Macer, “We can and we must rebuild the bridges ofInterdisciplinary bioethics,” Plenary Lecture, 11th Kumamoto
Bioethics Round Table (2017): 5.

14

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 28 (January 2018)of moral responsibility, such is also founded inevery human being’s quest and yearning for selfrealization which can only be actualized insolidarity with all types of beings.
Conclusion
Takahashi’s proposal of an ethics-based
disaster management system is crucial if people areto survive the impact of natural calamities. For the
longest time, millions continue to suffer from theeffects of environmental destruction. However,what is not obvious is the fact that unless we areable to address the moral gap in disaster response,
marginal sectors will bear the burden of alldisasters. Moral integrity is crucial in building a justsociety. The same is also needed when natural
disasters happen because without it, there arepeople and even government instrumentalities thatwill take advantage of the situation and benefit
from the misery of others.
References
Ehrlich, Paul and Ehrlich, Anne. 2002. “Risks, Costs andBenefits.” In Daniel Bonevac, Editor. Moral Issues
Today. Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Gluchman, Vasil. 2016. “Moral Theory and Natural andSocial Disasters.” In Human Affairs 26: 3-7.
Komenska, Katarina. 2016. “Ethics and Disaster in theWorks of Albert Schweitzer.” In Human Affairs 26: 3442.
Maboloc, Christopher Ryan. “On the Ethical and
Democratic Deficits of Environmental Pragmatism.”
In Journal of Human Values 22 (2): 107-114.
Macer, Daryl. 2017. “We can and we must rebuild thebridges of Interdisciplinary bioethics,” Plenary
Lecture, 11th Kumamoto Bioethics Round Table.
Macer, Daryl and Zhang, Min. 2013. “Youth Volunteerism
in the Asia Pacific – YPA and LBD voice of
Volunteerism.” In Eubios Journal of Asian andInternational Bioethics, Volume 23: 38-46.
Takahashi, Takao. 2017. “Disaster Ethics.” Plenary
Lecture, 11th Kumamoto Bioethics Round Table.
Wesley, E. and Peterson, F. 1999. “The Ethics of Burden
Sharing in the Global Greenhouse.” In Journal of
Agricultural and Environmental Ethics Volume 11:167-196.

Effective Analysis of Mitigation
Measures on Rural Roads of Nepal- Ranjan Aryal, MBGPH
Director, Himalayan Environment Research Institute,
Nepal
Email: er.rnaryal@gmail.com- Darryl Macer, Ph.D., Hon.D., MPH
President, American University of Soveiregn Nations,Arizona, USA
Email: provost@ausn.info

Abstract
Construction of rural roads started to expand in
Nepal since the 1980s and is still an ongoingprocess, however environmental considerations
have been considered since the mid 1990s.
Adoption of environmental safeguards indevelopment projects have been an important
aspect of project cycle although there is lot more to
do at the field level. In this study, three different
ongoing projects in different regions of Nepal havebeen accessed at the field level and mitigation
measures were examined in order to study theeffectiveness of those measures. This study reviews
a lot of mitigation measures that have been
proposed and each of them were implemented at
the field level. A successful implementation of
mitigation measures was found but it still
recommends that there is still a lot more room for
improvement.
Key Words: Rural Roads, Bioethics, Environmental
ethics, Roads, Environmental Safeguards
1. Background of the Study
Nepal is a landlocked country with diverse
landscape features. From the Tarai region in South
with altitude ranging below 300 m above sea levelis considered at Plain Tarai region that extends
along southern region bordering India. Sivalik
region whose altitude ranges between 300 m to
700 m above sea level and Middle Mountain region
ranging from 700-2000 m above sea level isconsidered as the Hilly Region that is situated in thecentral part of country. The high Mountain region
starts at 2000 m till 2500 m above sea level. The
High Himalaya region starts at 2500 m above sea
level till the top of world, with Mt Everest at 8848
m. High Mountain and High Himalayas regions are
generally considered Himalayan regions in the
country. These physiographical characteristics of
Nepal can be understood in Figure 1.
Transportation is difficult due to the topography.
In such a scenario, rural roads play a crucial role inincreasing connectivity among rural settlements of
Nepal. Rural roads are increasing accessibility tomarkets, increasing trade, saving travel time andreducing administrative costs. Nepalese society is

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 28 (January 2018)
based on agriculture so rural roads play a crucialrole in linking places producing foods, vegetablewith market centers where there is demand forsuch products. Rural Roads are the only option tocreate door-to-door connectivity in Nepal, and thus
critical to ethical social development.

Figure 1: Physiographic regions of Nepal (Source:
Topographic Survey Branch, Department of Survey,
Government of Nepal, 1983)
The main source of income and employment
depends directly or indirectly on agriculture.
Therefore, it is envisaged that the living standardsof the rural people can be improved through theconstruction of a reliable rural road network,through an inexpensive investment, in answer tomany concerns and will be the key factor instimulating economic activities in rural areas(DoLIDAR, 1999).
Rural roads are not only to link rural villages
with headquarters, they reduce travel time andtravel cost. In the same time they are playing a
crucial role in reducing poverty in our hills,
mountain and terrain where isolation and hardshipare common. In this regard, rural roads arebackbone of development and center of local
economy. It is ethical to have a good road network.
The government of Nepal has given higher
priority for construction of rural roads over the last
few years. This can be seen through establishmentof a separate body for construction andmaintenance of rural roads. This is the Department
of Local Infrastructure and Agriculture Roads(DoLIDAR), established in 1997, under the thenMinistry of Federal Affairs Local Development(MoFALD). Ministry of Federal Affairs Local
Development wasthen recognized as Ministry ofFederal Local Development (MoLD). As a result, thetotal length of rural roads in Nepal has reached50,844 km in 2013 (DoLIDAR Bulletin, 2013) from
14,000 km in 1999 (DoLIDAR, 1999). Details of thisroad in terms of standard of pavement surface arepresented in Table 1.

15

Table 1: Rural roads in Nepal till August 2013
Standardof Length (Km)pavement
2013
1999
Earthen34,666.00
7,400.00
Graveled
14,602.00
6,600.00
Black topped
1,576.00
0.00
Total
50,844.00
14,000.00(Source: DoLIDAR Bulletin, 2013)
Environmental and social considerations should
be taken into account prior to road construction
and operation for the sustainability of project. The
first initiative to environmental conservation andmanagement in Nepal was formulated during theEighth Five-year Plan (1992-1997). This five year
plan generated a wave of environment concern. The
Environment
Protection
Act(1996)
andEnvironment Protection Regulation (1997) wereenacted. The EPA & EPR are legal instrument tocarry Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) or
Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) for
development projects including rural roads.
Apart from EPA and EPR, the Forest Act (1993)
and Regulation (1995) requires permission from
related authorities for any intervention in forest
area. Similarly, the National Park and Wildlife
Conservation Act (1972) demands permission for
any intervention within National Park andConservation Area from Ministry of Forest and Soil
Conservation (MoFSC) after recommendation from
Department of National Park and Wildlife
Conservation (DNPWC).
Environment Assessment (EA) including EIA or
IEE is also mandatory in donor's policy. AsianDevelopment Bank (ADB), World Bank (WB) and
Department for International Development (DFID)
are major donors in rural road sector. ADB's
safeguard policy statement (2009) seek to avoid,
minimize or mitigate adverse environmental andsocial impacts, including protecting the rights of
those likely to be affected marginalized by thedevelopment process. World Bank Policy and DFID
policy also make it mandatory to undergo
environmental screening process and mitigate theadverse impacts.
2. Rationale for ethical development
All development activities should ultimately
enhance human livelihood in accordance with the
ethical principle of beneficience, however they may
have some adverse impacts on the environment,
and construction of rural roads is not an exception.
While meeting its aim of ensuring access tocommunity with social centers and market placeand fostering the economic development incommunities, rural roads are more likely to disrupt
existing environmental conditions till some extent.
For a least developing nation like Nepal, road

16

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 28 (January 2018)

construction often changes the social structure
because of poverty, remote rural region, vulnerable
communities etc. Environmental degradation is also
another impact due to road construction because offragile geology, numerous forest areas, rich natural
bio diversity etc. Thus road construction can bringsignificant adversities to local, regional andnational environmental setting and socio-cultural
fabric of the affected population (ESMF, 2007)
A common weakness generally observed in
Nepal rural road development programs is inadequate integration of environmental and social
recommendations into project plans, designs andBill of Quantity (BoQ). This is partly because of latecommissioning of environmental and social studies.
In some case, implementation of project withoutsocial and environmental expert is also cause ofproblem (ESMF, 2007).
Road construction activities bear the risks forpotential environmental impacts likely to occur inthe physical, biological, social cultural andsometimes archeological spheres. Landslides, slope
failure, soil erosion, loss of national park, forest andagricultural land, interference with water bodies &
irrigation facilities are among major impacts
resulting from road construction (ESMF, 2007).
These are major problems that are required to beaddressed in design and BoQ. These same issues
should be mentioned in EA (IEE or EIA) study
report. Presence of mitigation measures for thesementioned issues can ensure one the project hasgiven compliance during road construction.
The main objective of this study was todescribe whether the proposed mitigation
measures are effective enough to maintainenvironment safeguard at proposed site. This study
has the following objectives:• To ensure if mitigation measures are proposed
or not in rural road construction project• To examine if proposed mitigation measures
are suitable of not• To examine if proposed mitigation measures
are implemented or not,• To identify why proposed measures are noteffectively implemented,• To recommend site specific suggestion for
effective implementation
3. The Site and Scope of the Study
This study has been conducted in three different
sections of the country. In this study, three ruralroads are considered which represent threedifferent ecological and geographical regions.
Roads selected for study are:
• Surunga-Lasune Rural Road of Jhapa District inEastern Development Region in Terai plain
areas.
• Kagbeni –Jhaite Rural Road of Mustang Districtin Western Development Region in Himalayan
areas.
• Bagbazar-Bagarkot Road of Dadeldhura Districtin Far Western Development Region in Hilly
areas.
These roads were selected for study for thefollowing reasons:• These sites represent three roads from various
ecological and geographical regions of Nepal.
• Diverse
socio-economic
andculturalenvironment• Rural roads being constructed at present in allthese places• To make comparative analysis of similar issues
at different geographical and ecological regions.
Due to limited resources, time constraints andlack of sufficient budget it was unable to carry thestudy till road project completion. As a result,
mitigation measures that will be provided after
completion of project weren't analyzed.
4. Environmental Assessment and Roads
4.1 Environment Assessment
A narrow definition of Environmental Impact
Assessment (EIA) describes it as a systematic
process of identifying, predicting, analyzing,evaluating and mitigating the direct and indirectenvironmental effects of a proposed activity before
permission is given for it to commence. A broader
definition stresses the need to identify and assess
the potential impacts, not only of projects, but alsoof legislative proposals, policies, programs andoperational procedures, on the environment,
human health and well-being, and to communicate
information about those impacts to the generalpublic. Within the context of this broader definition,
several studies on sustainable development (World
Bank, 1991) recommend that in addition toassessing impacts on the physical and biologicalenvironment,
EIAshouldaddresssocioeconomicimpacts,includingthoseonethnicminorities,women,and community governance (Bhatt andKhanal, 2009).
Environment Assessments are carried in orderto ensure that the development options underconsideration are environmentally sound andsustainable
and
that
any
environmental
consequences are recognized early and then into
account in project design. Nepal environmental
Policy and Action Plan 1993, which was endorsed
by Environment Protection Council, was the firstprogram to comprehensively articulate theenvironmental policies of Nepal. The main points ofpolicies include:
I. Manage natural and physical resources
efficiently and sustainably;
II. balance development efforts and environmental
conservation for sustainable fulfillment ofEubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 28 (January 2018)
people's basic needs;
III. safeguard national heritage;
IV. mitigate the adverse environmental impacts ofdevelopment projects and human actions
V. integrate environment and development
through appropriate institutions, adequate
legislation and economic incentives, andsufficient public resources;
VI. foster environmental education and awarenessat all levels; andVII. facilitate participatory involvement of private
sector, NGOs, INGOs, and Civil Society withgovernment
efforts
inenvironmental
protection.
Environment Assessment been defined as a tool
to assist task masters in making good decisions toscreen projects efficiently for their environment
impacts, to clarify to government what is needed
for sustainable projects and to design themeffectively (World Bank, 1991).
Environment Assessment is defined as a tool toidentify and predict the impacts of the environmentand on our health and well being of legislative
proposals, policies, programs, projects andoperational procedure and to interpret and tocommunicate about the impacts (Munn, 1979).
Mitigation measures are recommended actions
to reduce, avoid or offset the potential adverse
impacts environmental resulting from proposed
activities of projects. The objectives of mitigation
measures are to minimize and remove undesirable
impacts and maximize the project benefits. It aims
to achieve both environmental and economic
benefit (Khadka, 2008).
4.2 Environment Assessment in Nepal
In Nepal, environment assessment (EA) wasstarted in early 1980s, particularly in donor –assisted projects, in 1982; Nepal established theEnvironmental Impact Study Projects (EISP) under
the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation toinitiate the activities for formulation of necessary
policies and laws to create public awareness on theenvironmental matters. It also carried out EA ofsome projects. Its usage was ramified after
implementation of the National EIA guidelines
1993, separate EIA guidelines for forestry andindustry sectors in 1995 and inclusion of several
provisions in the legal regime on the environment
in 1996 (Uprety, 2005).
According to EPA and EPR, Ministry of Science,
Technology and Environment (MoSTE) is theadministrator for action. Being based on formulatedacts, policies, guidelines and regulations, MoSTE
has clearly defined the type of project that requires
EIA or IEE. In this system, Screening is carried out
initially to examine if project requires EIA or IEE.
To make the screening process, a certain level of

17

information about the project is required such as
nature of project, scale of process and location ofproject. EPR provides list of projects that require anapplication of IEE in Schedule 1 pertaining to rule 3
projects that require an application of EIA in
Schedule 2 pertaining to rule 3. Projects not listed
in the list have been considered from financial
threshold point of view such as project costing 10
to 100 million requires an application of IEE while
project costing beyond 100 million requires
application of EIA. (Khadka, 2011, Process EA
application in SA.). Ministry of Science, Technology
and Environment is responsible authority for
approval of EIA while IEE are approved fromconcerned ministry.

Figure 2: Environment Assessment Steps in Nepal.
(Source: Khadka, R. B. 2011)
4.3 Environment Assessment in the Road Sector in
Nepal
Existing EPA 1994, Section 4 states that no
Proposal (i.e. Physical development project) can be
implemented without the approval of the agency or
the concerned ministry or Ministry of Science,
Technology and Environment. Section 5 states thatthe every proposal must be submitted with an EIA
and IEE report carried out by proponent. Section 6,
sub section 1, states that in case of the proposal
which required only IEE, it the study shows that the
project doesn't appear to have significant adverse
environmental impact; concerned ministry may
grant approval for the project. Sub section 3, 4 and5 states that on receiving proposal accompanied by
and EIA expert, the ministry of Science, Technology
and Environment makes report available for public
review. It may also arrange for its review by acommittee of experts. It these reviews don’t reveal

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 28 (January 2018)18

any significant adverse environmental impacts andthen the ministry will also approve the proposal.
Sub section 6 states that if it appears that any
identified significant adverse environmental impact
can be mitigated or controlled, then the concerned
ministry or Ministry of Science, Technology or
Environment can give conditional approval to the
proposal (Shrestha, 2003).
Table 2: Screening Criteria of Road Projects in
Nepal (Government of Nepal)
Type of Project
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

17

18

19
20

Construction of National highways
Construction of Major feeder
roads
Construction of Minor feeder
roads
Construction of district road
Construction of Urban Road
Construction of Rural Road
Construction of 1-5 km long
Ropeways
Construction of more than 5 kmlong ropeway
Construction of 1-5 km long cablecar
Construction of more than 5 kmlong cable car
Construction of major bridges
Construction of minor or medium
bridges
Construction of Tunnels
Routine, Recurrent, Periodic or
Emergency maintainace
Upgrading, rehabilitation andreconstructionofnational
highways and feeder roads
Anyprojectthatrequiresdeforestation, clearance felling or
rehabilitation of national forest ofand area up to 5 hectors
Anyprojectthatrequiresdeforestation, clearance felling or
rehabilitation of national forest ofand area up more than 5 hectors
Any project which is to beconstructed within sensitive areas(historical,
culturalandarcheological sites; ecologicallysensitive and wet land areas;
National Park, Wildlife Sanctuaries
and conservation areas; Semi arid,
Mountainous
andHimalayan
Regions; Flood prone and otherdangerous areas; Residential,
school, and Hospital areas; Areas
that are main sources of Public
water supply)
Project with investment cost of Rs
10 million to 100 million
Project with investment cost ofover 100 million.

(Source: ESMF, 2007)

Type ofEnvironment
Assessment
Required
EIA
EIA
IEE
IEE
IEE
IEE
IEE
EIA
IEE
EIA
IEE
Exempted
IEE
Exempted
IEE

IEE

EIA

EIA

IEE
EIA

Geo-Environment and Social Unit (GESU) underDepartment of Roads (DoR) has set following legal
criteria for selecting IEE or EIA in the road sector aspresented in Table 2.
5. Environment Assessment of roads understudy
In this study, three rural roads located in threedifferent ecological regions were selected for study.
These roads were upgraded by DoLIDAR under the
Rural Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Sector
Development Program (RRRSDP). RRRSDP is
implemented under a grant of Asian Development
Bank (ADB Grant 0093 NEP). Other financial
partners for the program are Department forInternational
Development(DFID),
Swiss
Development Cooperation (SDC) and OPEC fund forInternational Development (OFID). EA was prerequisite for project prior to implementation for all
donor agencies and GoN, thus IEE study has been
completed prior to project implementation. Project
has received approval from concerned ministry i.e.
Ministry of Federal Affairs Local Development(MoFALD).
Details of Environment Assessment of roads inthis study is presented in Table 3.
5.1.
Surunga-Sarnamati-Taganduba-Digalbank
Rural Road
This road is located in the Jhapa district ofeastern region. It is terai road that starts at from
East-west national highway towards south till
Indian boarder at Digalbank via Lasune Bazar. This
proposal upgrades existing earthen gravel road toblacktopped standard ensuring all weather
accessibility, reduction in travel time and travelcost. The anticipated environmental concerns inthis particular sub project were:• Acquisition of public and private and public landfor short term during road construction.
• Emission of smoke during burning of charcoal
for blacktopping.
• Emission of dust during construction andoperation of road.
• Clearance of trees.
• Disruption on water bodies.
• Change in land use during construction andcampsite management.
• Impacts on health and safety of construction
workers.
• Encroachment of road due to expansion ofmarket place.
• Safety of travelers during operation of road.
5.2. Kagbeni-Jhaite Rural Road
This road is located in the Mustang districtwhichiscompletely
insideAnnapurna
Conservation Area Project (ACAP) at Himalayas

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 28 (January 2018)
region in Western Development Region. Mustang is
also located in Himalayan region hence EIA study
was required prior to road construction. However
due to high demand of local people and lack ofpatience, it was officially recommended that IEE
study could be sufficient for the project. 30% ofroad track is already opened by DDC and VDC and
70% of track especially at hard rocky section was
yet to open. This region is also a center of attraction
among travelers and tourists so it was very
important to ensure travelers and tourist will not
be disturbed by project.
The anticipated environmental concerns inproject implementation were:‘

Far Western
Development

Western
Development

19• Change in land use due to opening of new track.
• Management of spoil due to fresh cutting andexisting road widening works.
• Loss of tree and vegetation.
• Pollution of air, sound and water during
construction and operation.
• Influx of labor.
• Change in land use during construction andoperation.
• Impact on water bodies.
• Disturbance on trekkers and travelers during
road construction.

Eastern
Development

Figure 3: Location of study area
Table 3: Details of Environment Assessment of roads under study
Name and District of Ecological
LengthDate of Terms ofRoad
project
under Region(km)
Reference (ToR)
studyapproval

DateofEnvironment
Assessment
Approval

1

Surunga-SarnamatiTaganduba-Digalbank
Rural road, Jhapa

Terai

23.7042066-06-22

2067-04-23

2

Kagbeni-Jhaite
Road, Mustang

Himalayas

38.8

2066-01-15

2068-01-23

3

Bagbazar-Bagarkot
Rural Road, Dadeldhura

Hills

18.2

2066-01-22

2067-0129

Rural(Source: Approved IEE Study reports and field visit 2012)

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 28 (January 2018)20

Table 4: Environmental Acts, Regulations and Guidelines
1
2

Environmental
Acts,
Regulations
andGuidelines
Three Years Interim Plan, 2007/08-2009/10,
GoN
Environmental Protection Act, 2053 BS (1997
AD), GoN

3

Environmental Protection Rule 2054 BS (1997
AD) (amendment, 2007), GoN

4Forest Act, 2049 BS (1993 AD)(amendment, 2007), GoN

5Forest Rules, 2051 BS (1995 AD), GoN

6

Batabaraniya Nirdesika-in Nepali Language(Nepal; MOFALD), 2057, GoN

7

Local Self Governance Act 2055 BS (1999 AD)(1999) and Regulation 2055 BS (1999 AD),
GoN
Land Acquisition Act, 2034 BS (1977 AD) andLand
Acquisition Rules, 2026 BS (1969 AD), GoN
National Environmental Impact Assessment
Guidelines, 1993 (2050 BS), GoN

8
9

10
11

12
13

14
16
17

APPROACH
fortheDevelopment
ofAgricultural and Rural Roads, 1999 (2055 BS),GoNRRRSDP Environmental Assessment & Review
Procedures (EARP), 2007, GoN

Reference Manual for Environmental andSocialAspectsofIntegrated
Road
Development, 2003 (2060 BS), GoN
Green Roads in Nepal, Best Practices Report:
An
Innovative
Approachfor
Rural
Infrastructure Development in the Himalayas
and Other Mountainous Regions, 1999 (2055
BS), GoN
Environmental Assessment Guidelines, 2003,
ADB
The Interim Constitution of Nepal, 2063
(2007).
The Labor Act, 2048 BS (1992 AD)

Description of Requirements
Requires all projects will be formulated and constructed based on methods that optimallyutilize the local skill and resources and generate employment opportunities.
Any development project, before implementation, shall pass through environmental
assessment, which will be either IEE or an EIA depending upon the location, type and sizeof the projects.
The EPR and its schedules clearly provide various step-wise requirements to be followed
while conducting the IEE study. It also obliges the Proponent to timely consult and informthe public on the contents of the proposal and IEE study.
Requires decision makers to take account of all forest values, including environmental
services and biodiversity, not just the production of timber and other commodities. It
includes several provisions to ensure development, conservation, management, andsustainable use of forest resources based on approved work plan.
Elaborates legal measures for the conservation of forests and wildlife. Expenses incurred
for cutting trees and transportation shall be borne by proponent.
The directive is focused in the practical implementation of small rural infrastructures
through the minimization of environmental impacts. This directive includes the simple
methods of environmental management in the different phases of the project cycle.
Empowers the local bodies for the conservation of soil, forest and other natural resources
and implements environmental conservation activities
Specifies procedural matters on land acquisition and compensation
Provides guidance to project proponent on integrating environmental mitigation
measures, particularly on the management of quarries, borrow pits, stockpiling ofmaterials and spoil disposal, operation of the work camps, earthworks and slope
stabilization, location of stone crushing plants etc.
Emphasizes labor based technology and environmental friendly, local resource oriented
construction methods to be incorporated actively in rural infrastructure process.
For preparation of environmental assessments of future subprojects under Rural
Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Sector Development Program (RRRSDP), this EARP
includes: i) The process to be adopted while preparing environmental reports, ii) the
potential environmental impacts that could result from undertaking the Project based on
the Initial Environmental Examinations (IEEs) of sample core subprojects; iii) the
proposed mitigation measures to avoid the identified impacts; iv) institutional capacity
assessment and strengthening arrangements; v) legal framework for environmental
assessment, domestic and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) environmental assessment
and review procedures; and finally vi) the approaches to be adopted during
implementation of the Project in order to ensure that environmental aspects are dealt
with in a comprehensive manner.
Suggests stepwise process of addressing environmental and social issues alongside thetechnical, financial and others
Focuses on participatory, labor based and environment friendly technology with properalignment selection, mass balancing, proper water management, bioengineering andphased construction
Requires that environmental considerations be incorporated into ADB operations whereenvironmental assessment is the primary administrative tool to integrate environmental
considerations into decision-making of all types of development initiatives
Has provision of right regarding environment - Every person shall have the right to live inclean environment.
Regulates the working environment and deals with occupational health and safety.

• Hunting and poaching of Himalayan species
during construction and operation period.
• Slope instability and chances of landslide.
• Loss of public and private property.
• Encroachment of road due to expansion ofmarket and business centers.
5.3. Bagbazar-Bagarkot Rural Road
This road is located in the Dadeldhura district ofhilly region of far western development region. It
involved upgrading of existing rural track to all
weather graveled road. Extra widening, geometry

correction at turning, grade improvement andconstruction of drainage structures were major
project component. Safe disposal of cut material,change in land use, loss of trees, demolition of
public and private properties are major issues
identified in approved IEE study report for thisrural road project.
The anticipated environmental concerns inproject implementation were:• Acquisition of public and private and public landfor short term during road construction.
• Change in land use during construction andEubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 28 (January 2018)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

operation of road
Emission of dust during construction andoperation of road.
Clearance of local trees and protected species.
Disruption on water bodies.
Influx of labor at local environment
Change in land use due to campsite
management.
Impacts on health and safety of construction
workers.
Encroachment of road due to expansion ofmarket place.
Safety of travelers during operation of road.

5.4. Review of approved IEE and relevant laws
During the study, approved IEE reports, design
reports and Detailed Project Report (DPR) werereviewed separately for each rural road. An
environmental Management Plan (EMP) preparedfor each road was studied. It was noticed weather
issues mentioned in ToR were incorporated instudy report or not. Mitigation measures for all
issues were noted down.
Meantime, existing legal regulations werereviewed. In addition to EPA and EPR, National
Conservation Strategy (1988), Nepal Environment
Policy and Action Plant (1993),Solid Waste
Management Policy (1996), National Water Supply
Sector Policy (1998), Revised Forest Sector Policy(2000), Three Year Interim Plan (2007082009/10), Forest Act (1993, amendment 2007),
Batabaraniya Nirdeshika (2057), National Park andWildlife Conservation Act (1973), Land Acquisition
Act (1977), Labor Act (1992), APPROACH for thedevelopment of Agricultural Roads (1999), RRRSDP
Environmental Assessment and Review Procedure(ERAP)(2007),
Environment
Assessment
Guidelines (ADB) (2003), Safeguard Policy
Statement (ADB) (2009) were also reviewed. Table
4 presents the list of legislations that werereviewed. In addition to the laws listed in Table 4,
several formal and informal reports, news paper
article related to study were also reviewed.
5.5. Field Observation
Field observation was carried in May 2015 tocompare to earlier field observations conducted
between September to November of 2014. Eachroad was visited in order to find first hand datafrom field. Project activity during the field wasobserved. The main thing considered during thevisit was project status. It was noticed in which
phase the project was running and how many inmitigation measures are implemented till then. It
was noticed where were mitigation measures
implemented actually?

21

Figure 4: Consultation with stakeholders

In some cases mitigation measures were alreadyprovided while other compliances were yet to beprovided according to project schedule. Indicatorsof provided mitigation measures were searchedduring the field observation.
Indicators andparameters as mentioned in the approved IEE
study report were observed in field visit. Tools suchas checklist and photography were used in order torecord the findings.
During field visits, interaction with local
stakeholders, project members and working
laborers was done. Formal and informalinteractions were done in order to inspect theimplementation of measures.
5.6. Consultation with local stakeholders
Construction of rural roads and incorporation ofenvironmental measures is team work involving
numerous stakeholders. However in this study,
contractors (including laborers), local residents
around road site and project officials were themajor stakeholders. Representatives from thesestakeholders interacted in order to examine social
acceptability of the project. Onsite discussion was
done with these stakeholders with formal andinformal meetings and talk.
5.7. Data Analysis
Field information was collected which was thenanalyzed by comparing with mitigation measures
mentioned in the IEE reports. It was carefully
analyzed if there is presence of mitigating
structures such as river training gabion wall,
drainage structures, safety sign board, tools ofoccupational safety and personal protection as
mentioned in the report. Parameters and indicatorsof implementation were examined.

Table 5: Percentage of Total project cost allocated for Environment Management Cost
Name of Rural Road

Mitigation(NRs)

1
Surunga-Digalbank, Jhapa
2
Kagbeni-Jhaite, Mustang
3
Bagbazar-Bagarkot, Dadeldhura(Source: IEE Study Report)

Cost

Total Project cost

3,680,000.00
27,260,972.00
1,408,000.00

6. Analysis of IEE Study report
The approved IEE study reports were obtained
from the project implementation office and all
included proposals for site specific and practicalmitigation measures, with cost estimates (Table 5).
From the information in Table 5, it is seen thatenvironment mitigation costs exceeded 2 percent of
the project cost in all the road projects. In case ofKagbeni-Jhaite
Rural
Road,
Mustang,theEnvironment Management cost is more than 10%
because of higher sensitivity of the Himalayan
environment. Until sufficient money is allocated toEnvironment Management costs, mitigation
measures are completely insignificant. In case ofrural road under consideration, it is seen thatsufficient amount of cost is allocated for
implementation of mitigation measures. In case ofMustang, additional cost is allocated regarding
sensitivity of ACAP.

1,33,543,085.00
258,237,524.00
50,492,663.00

Table 6: Selection of suitable alignment to avoid
land use change in farmland, settlement and forest
Road
SurungaDigalbank,
Jhapa
KagbeniJhaite,
Mustang

Impactdue
toproject
Upgradingofexisting alignment
hence no impact onland use change
Loss of 0.55 ha offarmland and 4.21
ha of barren/bushy
areas

Implementationof measures
No
mitigation
measuresrequiredCompensation
providedtofarmer.
Replantation works
will be done at
the end of project

7.1 Selection of Suitable alignment to avoid land usechange especially at farmland, settlement and forest
This is a crucial activity in order to forbid loss
during construction and operation of roads. In mostcases it is desired to use existing tracks forwidening as long as there are no issues ofcompensation or debate in land use. Constructionsof new tracks are more vulnerable for geological

2.75%
10.55%
2.78%

issues and also produce a lot of debris material.
Table 6 presented below analyzes accomplishmentsof this mitigation measure.
7.2. Proper Management of Spoilt Environment
In Nepal, road construction is carried out by
cutting of slopes in hills. In this case, earthmaterials are generated in an excess amount.
Haphazard disposal of earth materials are likely to
disrupt land and water quality at disposal area. In
most of case, there is random deposition of debris
in valley side of road. It is always desired totransfer debris to spoil bank which is considered assafe place for relocation of spoils and preservationof top soil. Table 7 shows the site specific condition
for accomplishment of this measure during the
project activity.
Table 7: Proper Management of Spoils (Waste)
Road

7. Analysis of Mitigation Activities in Rural Road
Project
Most mitigation measures are common for allroad projects as project activities are common for
all rural roads. However the cost and extent of
mitigation activities are different for each road. The
following activities were analyzed separately foreach road project.

% allocated Environment
Management Cost

SurungaDigalbank,
Jhapa
KagbeniJhaite,
Mustang

BagbazarBagarkot,
Dadeldhura

Impact due toproject
Soil material notgenerated in Terai
Generationof
Spoilsmaterial
during cutting ofhill slope
Generation of Spoil
materials
duringcutting of hill slope

Implementationof measures
No
mitigation
measuresrequired.
Some amount ofspoil is depositedat spoil bankwhile most of
spoil is deposited
at valley side.
Spoil bank is not
used enough.

7.3. Bioengineering Activities
Bioengineering activities refers to use of civil
structures and vegetative plants constructed alongroad sides in order to prevent loss of road fromnatural influence like rain, land slide or soil erosion.
Since rural roads are constructed with a limited
budget, extensive attention is provided in use ofvegetative measures over civil structures.
Environmental assessment report suggests in using
local species of plants because they are more likely
to sustain and grow ensure higher protection. Table
8 shows if suitable bioengineering measures havebeen taken or not.
7.4. Construction of suitable structures for drainage
management in each rural road project
Water is a major threat for sustainability of ruralroads. Water from rain or river should be allowedEubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 28 (January 2018)
to pass suitably without causing any disturbance.
Table 8: Implementation of bioengineering
measures
Road
SurungaDigalbank,
Jhapa
KagbeniJhaite,
Mustang

BagbazarBagarkot,
Dadeldhura

Impact due toproject
Instability inembankment

Implementationofmeasures
Road side plantation
was done.

Instability due
to fresh cut
hill slope

Trenmendioius
bioengineering work
will be done at theend.
Nurseryisalready established forthe purpose.
Nursery establishment
work is under process.

Instability due
to fresh cut
hill slope

Table 9: Drainage management works
Road
SurungaDigalbank,
Jhapa

KagbeniJhaite,
Mustang

BagbazarBagarkot,
Dadeldhura

Impact due toproject
Existing
drainagestructures
such as Humpipe and side
drain
are
demolishedpartially
during project
activities.
Road crosses
Kaligandaki
riverRoad passes
along
numerous
kholsisand
irrigation
structure

Implementationofmeasures
Reconstructionofdemolished drain andnew side drain isbeing carried.

Bridge construction at
Kaligandaki river isunder process. Sidedrain and cross drain
are
under
construction.
Irrigation canal isrelocated already.
Side-drain and cross
drain
are
under
construction.
Irrigation crossing isrelocated at Aitabazar.

Road or any of its structures like access roadprotecting structures should never disturb regularflow of water. In case if road alignment and natural
water channels intersect among each other,suitable drainage structures like bridge, culverts,
side drain or underground drain should beconstructed. Table 9 shows implementation of such
mitigation measures applied on roads underconsideration.
7.5. Use of personal protective equipment by laborers
during construction time at site
In these roads, uses of heavy machineries were
replaced by human labor in order to create jobs for23

people. Machines were used in cases where it was
impossible to complete task by human labor. Thiswas really appreciated by the local people but at
the same time occupational safety of workers has tobe considered. Environmental assessment reports
have suggested using of personal protective
equipment like helmets, face masks and gloves.
However, local labors were never comfortable inusing these. Table 10 shows how effectively thismeasure was conducted.
Table 10: Use of personal protective equipment
Road
SurungaDigalbank,
Jhapa
KagbeniJhaite,
Mustang
BagbazarBagarkot,
Dadeldhura

Impact due toproject
Noise due toheavymachines andemission ofsmoke fromconstruction
equipments.

Implementationofmeasures
Laborers don’t use
helmet, ear plug andfacemask complainingthat they are not
comfortable.

Table 11: Use of safety and informatory boards.
Nameof
Rural Road
SurungaDigalbank,
Jhapa
KagbeniJhaite,
Mustang
BagbazarBagarkot,
Dadeldhura

Impact due toproject
Disturbance
existing vehicular
movement
Disturbancetotrekkers
andtourist.
Disturbancetolocal
pedestrianand vehicle.

Implementationof measures
Limited use of
informatory andsafety signboard
noticedduringfield visit.

7.6. Use safety sign boards and informatory boards(such as No Horn, Diversion)
In order to ensure safety of local travelers,
visitors and community living within theconstruction sites, it was advised to use safety sign
such at diversion, danger zone or construction area
to ensure the safety of travelers and workers. Table
11 shows adoption of mitigation measures during
the construction and operation of road.
7.7. Location of Camp sites at suitable areas
All the roads were planned to be constructedusing local human resources to the maximum
extent possible but for some machine based
sophisticated task it was necessary to importskilled labor. Those laborers live in camps. The
study report suggested placing the camp close toconstruction site and not to use productive lands orforest for camping purpose. It was noticed that local
house at suitable location were rented and no
farmland or forest were occupied for constructionof camp site. There was an impact of a change inland and sanitation problem used due to campsiteEubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 28 (January 2018)24

establishment. The measures used in all sites werethat local house is taken in rent for camp site
operation and storage depots. Temporary camps
were made at the construction site for taking rest in
daytime.
7.8. Facility of toilets and drinking water at camp
Defecating at public places will not only pollute
but also spread communicable diseases hence alllabors are required to provide toilets at accessible
location. At sometime all camps are required to beconnected with source of palatable water. The
impacts at all sites included sanitation problems forlaborers. Degradation of health/hygiene of worker.
Measures included Houses with facility of toilet are
taken in rent. It was found at all stes that temporary

toilets are not constructed in sufficient amount atworking site.
7.9. Water sprinkling as a dust trap
It is very necessary to sprinkle theconstruction site with water at least three times a
day in order to trap dust. Emission of dust hasserious consequences on public health and local
aesthetics hence this measure was recommended
however this option was not taken seriously. The
impact was emission of dust during construction
time, especially at afternoon. This impact was seen
neglected. Water sprinkling activities were notnoticed.

Table 13: Discussions for implementation of mitigation measures
Issues examined

Selection of suitable alignment in order to avoid land use change
especially at farmland, settlement and forest.
Proper Management of Spoils
Bioengineering Activities
Construction of suitable structures for drainage management in eachrural road project
Use of personal protective equipments by labors during construction
time at site
Use safety sign board and informatory boards (such as No Horn,
Diversion)
Location of Camp sites at suitable areas
Facility of toilets and drinking water at camp
Water sprinkling as dust trap
Compensatory Plantation
Working at day time only
Relocation/Reconstruction of demolished private/public structures

Table 12: Compensatory Plantation
Nameof
Rural Road
SurungaDigalbank,
Jhapa
KagbeniJhaite,
Mustang
BagbazarBagarkot,
Dadeldhura

Impact due
to project
Loss of tree
withinformation
width.

Implementationofmeasures
Compensatory
plantation work wascompleted in somepackages
Plantation works will
be
done
after
completion of earth
works.

7.10. Compensatory Plantation
Construction of new roads or upgrading ofexisting roads often requires tree clearance. The
government of Nepal is very strict in tree clearance.
Several of trees species are protected by nationalact which are not allowed to be cut however others
can be cleared for road construction. It is a rule forevery one tree cleared during road construction

SurungaLasune Rural
Road of Jhapa
District√

Name of Rural Roads
Kagbeni –Jhaite Bagbazar-Bagarkot
Rural Road of Road of Dadeldhura
Mustang District
District
√

√

√
√
√

√
√
√

√
√
√

X

X

X

√

√

√

√
X
X
√
√
√

√
X
X
√
√
√

√
X
X
√
√
√

compensatory plantation should be done in theratio of 1:25. Table 12 shows adoption of thesemeasures.
7.11. Working at day time only
All the road construction activities wererecommended to be done in day time only toensure safety of labor and restrict noise from heavymachineries. It was clearly seen as a measure in allsites that entire of road construction work weredone in daytime only. The impact is that working innight time can cause accident among the workers.
7.12. Relocation/Reconstruction of demolishedprivate/public structures
Construction of new tracks, widening works andgeometrical correction are often required to disrupt
public private properties partially or wholly. In
either of case, suffering parties must be given due
compensation. The impact at all sites was public
and private property within formation width aredemolished. The measure was that compensation

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 28 (January 2018)
is paid already in all road projects.
8. Discussion
Rural people are given priority in road
construction. Road construction was done using aLabor Based and Environment Friendly andParticipatory (LEP) approach. Road Building
Committees (RBGs) were formed at the local level.
RBGs were assigned for soft engineering works
such as site clearance, construction of toe wall andconstruction of drain while specific engineeringtasks such as grading, leveling, breaking of hardrock and blacktopping works at Surunga-Digalbank
Rural Road, Jhapa was done by contractor
approach. The integration of LEP and Contractor
approach increased the sense of ownership at local
level. It was very useful in creating employment for
locals.
In the case of Kagbeni-Jhaite Rural Road in
Mustang, Local people were desperately waiting forroad construction. They could open a track anyway
using blasting technology. In this road, RRRSDP
worked following ACAP norms with local
participation, hence track opening was possible
without blasting. It was not an easy task to carryout the development projects at grass level, andsocial disputes and confusion among stakeholder
was often recorded. However by incorporatingsocial and environmental compliance, projects
were noticed to run smoothly.
Selection of suitable alignment in order to avoid
land use change especially at farmland, settlement
and forest is important, and the existing route wasselected for Surunga-Digalbank Rural Road, Jhapa
and Bagbazar-Bagarkot Rural Road, Dadeldhura. An
existing narrow road was used in widening purposein Kagbani-Jhaite Rural Road, Mustang. In case of
new construction, private land were avoided if at all
possible. However, attention to maintain higher
Himalayan aesthetics was not provided in sufficientamount.
Proper Management of Waste is important andSpoil (waste) was not a problem for Terai road. In
the case of Kagbeni-Jhiate Rural Road, Mustang,spoil banks were used in order to reduce
disturbance at Kaligandaki river. Haphazard
dumping of spoil in the valley was noticed often at
Bagbazar-Bagarkot Rural Road, Dadeldhura. Spoilbanks are located at considerably far places fromconstruction site hence operation of spoil bankweren’t seen in a satisfactory amount.
Bio-engineering works at the embankment
are carried already in Surnga-Dialbank Rural Road,
Jhapa. Nurseries are already established for bioengineering purposes in both of the roads. Sidedrain and cross drain are already included in
Design, BoQ and DPR. Construction of drainage
structures are in progress in all rural road project.

25

Although personal protective equipments areprovided by projects for laborers in the project, thelaborers don't feel comfortable to use such personal
protective equipment. We can say that this activity
wasn’t successful at all.
In all of the projects, uses of safety sign boards
were used. These informatory boards were
installed at least 20 meters ahead of construction
site to ensure diversion for local travelers andvehicles. The most common safety sign boards usedwere “Men at work”, “Diversion”, and “Chances ofrock fall” (especially in the hill and mountain roads
under study).
Private houses were rented in order to avoid
impact on natural environment. However,temporary sheds were constructed at theconstruction site where laborers take rest during
mid day break. Thus adverse impact due toestablishment was not identified. During the fieldvisit, it was seen that private houses with facility ofdrinking water storage and toilet were chosen inorder to establish as camp. However, the sanitation
condition at camps looked miserable. In rural areas
there is not any provision of sophisticated toilets
and drinking water supply system.
Water sprinkling as a dust trap was mostly seen
at settlements areas. Contractors often carried
sprinkling of dust to trap it in order to avoid
nuisance due to dust and air pollution.
After completion of project, compensatory
plantation was especially made at the road side. It
was reported that compensatory plantation would
work as a dust shield and prevent roadencroachment.
Demolished public and private structures wererelocated and constructed. Private structures thatwere demolished during the road construction
were paid with compensation. All these issues arepresented in Table 13.
9. Conclusions
Environmental Assessment is a pre-requisite fordevelopment projects not only from a legal point ofview but also for sustainability of project. It isessential in order to be an ethical project and toenhance the bioethical responsibility of thecommunity and society. An effective EA can forecast
all possible adverse and beneficial impacts ofproject. As a result it will be easy for decision
makers to implement project enhancing thebeneficial impacts and mitigating the adverse onesin order to ensure the sustainability of the project.
Three quarters (73%) of mitigation measures forenvironmental consideration were implemented.
In each of these rural road projects, the IEE study
was carried according to EPA and EPR and
mitigation measures were proved. In conclusion it
can be said that site specific and practical

26

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 28 (January 2018)

mitigation measures were proposed for the ruralroad construction, and mitigation measures are
implemented to reasonable extent except withsome issues such as use of personal protective
equipment and availability of access to clean during
water and toilets in rural areas. Society has todetermine how much money shold be allocated tooccupational safety, education, and biorestoration.
There are mitigation measures available andengineers are becoming familiar with these,
References
Bhatt, R. P., & Khanal, S. N. (2009) Environmental Impact
Assessment System in Nepal- An overview of policy,
legal instruments and process. Kathmandu University
Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology,
5(2)160-170.
Khadka, R. B. 2008, Environmental Impact Assessment(EIA): Concept Procedure, Application and Practice,
SchEMS, Kathmandu Nepal.
Munn. R.E 1979, Environmental Impact Assessment:
Principle and Procedures. SCOPE and ICSU, John
Wiley and sons, UK
Uprety, B.K. 2005, Environmental Impact Assessment:
Practices and Process, Kathmandu Nepal
WorldBank (1991), Environmental Assessment Source
book: Policies, Procedures and Cross-Sectoral Issues.
The World Bank Technical Paper No. 139, Vol. I.
Washington, D.C.: Environmental Department, theWorld Bank.
World Bank, 1991.Environmental Source Book, WorldBank Washington D.C.

Social justice advocacy and its
challenges: Case studies ofInternational African volunteers serving
in the Asia-Pacific Region- Bellarmee Lumbwe Milosi, MBGPH
Democratic Republic of Congo
Volunteer with xxx in the Philippines
Email: bellarmee1000aussi@gmail.com- Darryl Macer, Ph.D., Hon.D., MPH
President, American University of Soveiregn Nations,Arizona, USA
Email: provost@ausn.info
Abstract

This research examines challenges faced by youth
vonlunteers from Africa serving in the Asia PacificRegion. These challenges are present on both theside from the youth volunteer and from the hostorganization or communities. This research foundthat half of the volunteer sample affirmed that the
Asia Pacific was not their preferred choice for doing
advocacy.
Misunderstanding of social justice advocacy fromboth sides, of youth volunteers and their hostorganizations was another cause of unexpectedchallenges. Some youth went into service without
having a strong understanding of what social justiceadvocacy is. Only one quarter had a clear
understanding of what social justice is, and mostnever had an advocacy experience before. Hostorganizations also did not have a clear
understanding of social justice. Each hostingorganization should select young people who’s
objectives align with the organization objectives
and goals. Language barrier is one of the expectedchallenges, as is the weather. On the culture
difference, youth volunteers tend to cope up very
well with the culture shock as few confessed thatthe culture was too difficult for them. However,there are concerns about stereotypes which
affected the aptitude of some youth, as well as someinappropriate or unacceptable behavior toward theyouth volunteers.
1. Social Justice and Bioethics
Love of life is the simplest and most allencompassing definition of bioethics (Macer,2015). This love is not restricted to human beings
only but it is extended to all forms of life found in
the universe, ranging from big mammals to smallorganisms. Social science is the scientific study ofhuman society and social relationship (according to
the Oxford dictionary); therefore when talking
about human society and relationships, this comesalong with all ranges problems, challenges anddifficulties that human beings face on a daily basis.
For instance, due to human thirst of power, greedof money; unprecedent wrestling for natural
resources, depleting the natural reserves. In theprocess, this has also created social life gaps which
has resulted into discrimination, marginalization
amongst people; as people with resources, power
and money tend to be more privileged than others.
Such situation has affected millions of people all
around the world, as people with privileges arefewer than the rest of the population. With suchsituations, some international organizations havedecided to invest their resources, time, and talents
to redress the balance of social life throughinitiatives such as social justice advocacy.
According to Swartz (2012), social justice is castin terms of our generosity and charity to others
who are presumably less fortunate than us. As partof the society, everybody is allowed to succeed inlife, but not by oppressing others. Manyorganizations in the world which advocate forsocial justice around the world. Each organization
has its own requirements, strategies of recruitment
and placement for it workers in terms of age,gender, country of origin. There are challenges
which come along while advocating for social
justice especially when one’s is advocating in acountry which is different from his or her country

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 28 (January 2018)27

of origin. Therefore this research will address someof the challenges that youth volunteer from Africa
face in advocating for social justice in the Asia
Pacific region.
Social justice is cast in terms of our commitment
to alleviating the injustices against persons fromvarious marginalized and disenfranchised groups(Swartz, 2012). Therefore, social justice advocacy is
as critical as the rest of the cases that internationalorganizations are trying to solve. When a lot of
resources are mobilized by these organizations,
success is highly expected. But, unfortunately there
are few measures of social justice advocacy
success; communities has been hardly impacted by
the work while social justice advocacy has been
there for long time.

5. How is the attitudes of local persons in thePhilippines relate to those of the foreigners
advocating for social justice?
We note that the target group for this research
has a very limited number. The physical distancemight be another limitation for this survey. Due tothe distance, the internet was the only means
through which surveys were shared to the willing
participants. An assumption of the research is thateach participant in this survey will contribute asmuch as they can, and in all honesty for the successof our research. The research also ensured thatparticipant’s anonymity as well as privacy andindependency is preserved for them to have thefreedom to answer freely to our survey.
Respondents are identified using numbers.

2. Significance of this Research
Looking at the failure of social justice advocacy
in this paper will focus on one issue, the presenceof foreigners advocating for social justice. This
research will provide a basis based on which we
can determine whether or not humanitarian
donors should invest as much as they are doing in
recruiting foreigners in advocating for socialchanges abroad no matter the motivation behind
their strategies. To some extent, this research will
also provide a set of recommendations based on
which organizations can draw conclusions on. This
will also help reducing the cost related tounproductive investment, bearing in mind thatsocial justice commitment is to alleviate theinjustice against people from various marginalized
and disenfranchised groups as stated by Swartz(2012), therefore all efforts have to be mobilized
to reach the overall goal.
The objectives of this study include:
1. Identify possible challenges encountered byforeigners as they advocate for social justice.
2. Investigate to what extend are these challenges
affecting the advocacy work.
3. Evaluate these challenges, and providing a set ofrecommendations as to whether or not theforeign strategy should be used for social justiceadvocacy in the Asia-pacific.
4. Examine concepts of social justice in the selected
populations
The study aims to answer the following
questions:
1. Are there any challenges being faced byforeigners while advocating for social justice?
2. What are the challenges encountered while
advocating for social justice?
3. What are the possible causes and nature of thesechallenges?
4. Is it adequate for foreigners to advocate forsocial justice in a foreign land?

3. Youth Volunteers Results
3.1. Sample Characteristics
Of the 8 respondents, 75% of the sample weremale. 7/8 were young people between 25- 29 years
old, with one younger. 25% of the sample had a
Master’s education (RN# 3, 8). The rest had anundergraduate degree.
Five were Congolese (DR Congo) [RN 1, 3, 4, 5, 6].
Two were Zimbabwean [RN 2, 8] with one
Malagasy (from Madagascar) RN 8. Half of thesample served in the Philippines (RN 4, 5, 7, 8). 25% of the sample served in Japan (RN 3, 6). The
others served in Cambodia [RN 2] and South Korea[RN 1]. 75% of the sample had lived outside theirhome countries before serving as volunteers in
Asia.
3.2. Awareness about respondents’ knowledge on
Social justiceThe respondents were asked Q8. “What motivated
you to be an advocate for social justice?”
Respondents provided the following answers:
RN 1:“I grew up in country where Political leaders once
elected or nominated (as is often the case) become
millionaires in their first two or three years of serving,while the majority of the people continues to be poor. Most
communities don’t have basic infrastructures, simple clinic
or public school education for children. In a rich country
like the Democratic Republic of Congo the government
cannot even provide primary and secondary education to
all children. Only children of people who have money areable to receive education. So my motivation to be an
advocate for social justice is advocate to the government
for that poor community, by asking the government that,
why community living poverty without the electricity,
health care and education facilities, so that the
government will find the solution to the problems thatfacing the poor community”.
RN 2:“I was motivated to become a volunteer because of
the inherent challenges we face in my home country.
Precisely I wanted to learn and get a better understandingof what social injustice is really about. I was also
motivated by the desire to advance my career through28

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 28 (January 2018)getting experience in the field of food security and poverty
alleviation”.
RN 3:“God’s heart for it, and His commandment of it”.
RN 4:“The social injustices that my country the DR
Congo faces and the passion to serve and to engage with
marginalized, underprivileged and oppressed people
especially young people and women so that they can be
one day the change they want to see in their respective
communities”.
RN 5:“My main motivation to be an advocate for social
justice was community development course I took atuniversity. This course helped me to look at my community
in another perspective, I start asking so many questions
about the community where I lived. For example why somepeople can afford so many things and others cannot? Whysome youth are studying while others are selling in local
market to support their families? These question push me
be more involve in my community in quest tounderstanding its dynamics”.
RN 6:“My motivation was to work for Gender justice andall related issues”.
RN 7:“Injustice is everywhere. The world is not sticking
in the same old situation, it is moving, it is changing andall situations are getting worst and worst. The future is
not for the old, it is for us "young adults". We still haveenergy even if we do not have the power and role tochange anything. At least we are ambitious for the best of
our planet. If we do not take part of creating peace, who isgoing to do that for us? The old persons have money but
do not have energy. Together we can eradicate all forms ofinequality and exclusion in our society and in ensuringthat the voices of the excluded and marginalized to beheard. We are all human beings. We are all the same; why
not create a peaceful environment for the best of every oneof us. That is what motivated me to be an advocate forsocial justice”.
RN 8:“Passion for social justice work. To get experienceand to grow in the Humanitarian field. A calling to do so”.

as ‘good’. 25% of the sample said ‘very good’ (RN 4,
5). One person rated their performance as ‘poor’(RN 3) and the other as ‘fair’ (RN 7). Respondents
were also asked, how they would rate their impact
in their host community (Q14). Three answered‘Good’ [RN 1, 2, 4], three answered ‘fair’ [RN 7, 8],
one each answered ‘Poor’ [RN 3], ‘very good’ [RN 6]
and ‘excellent’ [RN 5].
3.5. Awareness about respondents understanding ofSocial Justice
Respondents were asked in Q15. “How would you
rate your understanding of social justice before you
started advocating for it in Asia-Pacific?”. Halfaffirmed to have a ‘Good’ understanding of social
justice [RN 4, 5, 6, 8]. Three rated it as ‘fair’ [RN 1, 27]; one rated their understanding of social justice as‘poor’. This was the case of RN 3 who generally
seemed unsatisfied with themselves and theirperformance.
Asked in Q16. “In your own words, please explain
what you understand by social justice?” The
respondents gave the following responses:

3.3. Respondents awareness about South Asia
Half affirmed that their first choice was Asia
Pacific as placement (RN 1, 3, 6, 8). The majority ofthe sample who answered ‘Yes’ said that they choseSouth Asia because of the culture in this region.
Half of the sample had/have lived more than 6months in the Asia Pacific, but not more than a year
(RN 1, 2, 7, 8). The rest of the sample have lived in
the region for one year or more, as was the case of
RN 5 who have lived in the region for more than
two years. RN 6 and 4 have lived for more than one
year but not up to two years. RN 3 has lived for ayear in the region.

RN 1:“My understanding of Social justice is the view thateveryone deserves equal access to life-sustaining
resources, such as health, education, food, employment, aclean environment, legal protection from discriminationand economic opportunity”.
RN 2:“In my definition, social justice means equitable
distribution of national resources. It also means freedom
and access”.
RN 3:“God’s demand that all men have everything restored
to them that was divinely appointed to them”.
RN 4:“For me, social Justice is simply when people are
fairly and equitably treated in the society regardless of
their identity, race, sex, etc... In addition, it is also whenpeople are provided with the resources as well as thecompetences they need to use the given resources in orderto develop their respective communities without any
constraints”.
RN 5:“Social justice to me means doing what is good forthe person, both individually and in association withothers. Social justice is about serving the interest of others
without putting your in jeopardy”.
RN 6:“It is the equitable allocation of wealth,opportunities and privileges in the community or society.
It is the understanding that all human beings are createdequally and should be treated as such. Social justice is not
limited to human being, it encompasses the all creation”.
RN 7:“Social justice is the form of equality in a society. It
may be inter-social treatment issues, legal segregation,and unequal government policies”.
RN 8:“It implies fairness in the availability and access toand distribution of resources and opportunities”.

3.4. Awareness about respondents understanding of
Advocacy
Respondents were asked about how they would
rate their performance as social justice advocates(Q13). Half (RN 1, 2, 6, 8) rated their performance

RN 1:“My understanding of Social justice advocate is theact of speaking on the behalf of or in support of anotherperson’s right, so that they can have access to life-

Respondents were asked, Q9. “Before serving in
the Asia-Pacific, have you ever advocated for social
justice in any form?”. 75% answered ‘No’.

Respondents were asked, Q17. “In your own
words. Please explain what you understand by social
justice advocate” The respondents provided thefollowing answers:

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 28 (January 2018)sustaining resources, such as health, education, food,
employment, a clean environment, legal protection fromdiscrimination and economic opportunity”.
RN 3:“A social justice advocate is a person who listens andlearn from the voices of the people. An advocate promotes
non-violent protests/demonstrations. An advocate creates
new ideas that make the old ideas obsolete”.
RN 4:“Like the Isaiah’s and Jeremiahs of their day, it is
becoming an obedient instrument of God”.
RN 5:“Social justice advocate is someone who publicly
support or suggest an idea according to what they believe
is right. For example He/ She can stand in solidarity withindigenous people to support their rights to education andthe protection or conservation of their land”.
RN 6:“A social justice advocate is every person who standfor justice, who speaks out against any form of injusticewhether through police making or raising awareness of acertain issue of inequality in the community where he/she
is part of”.
RN 7:“Social justice advocate is being a person who canplan sustained actions for the equality of all. Actions thatcan break all boundaries of any type of segregation in asociety”.
RN 8:“Advocacy to ensure that everyone has equal accessto resources and opportunities”.

3.6. Awareness of respondents about their work
Respondents were asked in Q18. “What was yourobjective while joining the social justice advocacy
work?” Respondents gave the following answers:
RN 1:“My objective while joining the social justiceadvocacy work was advocating and being that prophetic
voice so that the least and the marginalized find theirplace at the table of God’s resources and grace”.
RN 2:“To bring about transformation – restoring people’sdignity and identity”.
RN 3:“To witness God’s work of redemption; even throughthis unworthy instrument”.
RN 4:“My first objective was to be a good student to thepeople I served so that I can better serve them”.
RN 5:“My objective was to learn as much as can from thepeople so that I can better understand the challenges theirface and address those challenges together as community”.
RN 6:“My objective was to make a difference”.
RN 7:“My objective was making everyone feel how
important they are so that they understand the equality
existing between us. To help them to find the pride theylost because of some financial status or family cast”.
RN 8:“Have more experience in justice advocacy,knowledge gathering Change someone`s life Ensure thatjustice prevails”.

Respondents were then asked in Q19. “How would
rate the achievement of your goal?”. Half of thesample rated ‘Good’ [RN 1, 2, 7, 8]. Two rated it‘Very good’ [RN 4 , 5], and one rated ‘Poor’ [RN 3].
Respondents were asked in Q20. “Will you beinterested to continue social justice advocacy? Even
after the time frame provided by yourorganization?”. Seven answered ‘Yes’, with RN 3
answering “I don’t know”.
Respondents were asked in Q21. “How would you
rate your work?”. Half rated their work to be29

difficult [RN 1, 4, 5, 6]. Two rated ‘Average’ [RN 2, 8]
and the other two rated their work ‘Very difficult’[RN 3 7]. When asked why they found it difficult orvery difficult, they said:
RN 1 stated, that “Because of the people in the word place
do not speak in English and I cannot speak Korean very
well, so sometimes is very hard to communicate well”.
RN 3:“I tried to do God’s work in my human strength”.
RN 4 did not provide further as to why the work isdifficult.
RN 5:“Because I learned more about issues related tosocial justice, but the implementation or the solutions tothose issues did not satisfy my expectations”.
RN 6 did not also provide further explanation as to why
the work was difficult.
RN 7 did not provide further explanation as to why thework was very difficult.

3.7. Awareness about the challenge in the community
Respondents were asked in Q22. “What are theareas that challenged you the most? Please rankthem in order of most difficult to least difficult from 1
being the most difficult. Please explain why?” -1Culture -2- Weather -3- Food -4- People -5Language. Out of 8 respondents, 6/8 provided theirrating. Respondents provide the following rating:
RN 1 ranked as followed: 5-2-3-1-4 (language,
weather, Food, Culture and People);
RN 2 ranked as followed: 5-1-3-2-4 (Language,
Culture, Food, Weather and people);
RN 3 ranked as followed: 3-2-1-5-4 (Food, Weather,
Culture, Language, and People);
RN 5 ranked as followed: 5-3 (Language, food);
RN 7 ranked as followed: 1-4-5-2-3 (Culture, People,
Language, Weather and Food);
RN 8 ranked as followed: 5-2-1-4-3 (Language,
Weather, Culture, People and Food);
Out of 8 respondents, half of the sample provided
an explanation to their rating as follows:
RN 1:“Language barriers, the weather is very cold, thefood is spacy, the culture is little bit different and people
are good”.
RN 2:“It takes time to learn the language and the culture
is really different - somewhat traditional, mythical and isshaped by religious beliefs”.
RN 5:“Because the language spoken in Philippines is
totally different from English especially the way theystructure the sentences is totally opposite to English
sentence structure”. RN 6:“The challenge I got was mostly
on language because I had no clue of the Japanese
language and it took me six months to learn and I couldn’t
master it all. Also, by the time my Japanese was improving,it was time to leave”.
RN 7:“As we are from different context, there might besome activities to make them understand some otherpolicies about social justice but not conform to theirculture. You have to skip that part. Wherever we go, wewill never really understand the people who we areworking with, sometimes it is so embarrassing and making
us feel uncomfortable in their zone. We do all have somelanguage barriers sometimes and it needs a translator

30

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 28 (January 2018)that it’s not easy sometimes as the translation turn into
something else or the aim is not so deep and relevant in
the language we are speaking”.
RN 8:“Difficulties in communication made even simple
things difficult, humid hotness made me feel tired and tooktime to adjust, difficult to relate to people of a different
race especially when they are racially biased”.

3.8. Awareness of the language spoken in the hostcommunities
Respondents were asked in Q23. “How would you
rate your language proficiency?” Most of the
respondents rated ‘fair’ [RN 1, 2, 3, 7,, 8]. Two rated‘Good’ [RN 4 , 6]. One [RN 5] rated ‘very good’, but
nobody answered excellent or poor.
Respondents were asked in Q25. “Do you thinklanguage was/is an important tool in fulfilment yourwork as a social justice advocate?”. All the
respondents answered “yes” to this question; andwhen asked why, the following reasons were cited:
RN 1:“Because it helps me to communicate very well withthe people that I am working with”.
RN 2 stated by, “By understanding the language, you arebreaking many cultural barriers since there is a lot in theway they speak that explains their culture”.
RN 3:“People need to understand the message you have tocommunicate”.
RN 4:“I was mostly engaged in indigenous communities
where the local language is spoken fluently”.
RN 5:“Because if you speak English to people here
especially the economically disadvantage you won’t beable to get certain information that is essential to yourwork, you can’t even integrate with them therefore you
won’t accomplish your goals because of language
barriers”.
RN 6:“It is very crucial for social justice worker to know
the language of the people you’re working with becausethat is how you build relationship and engage in thecommunity which in return helps you understand theissues of justice that you want to work for and work withthe people themselves for a radical change”.
RN 7:“Because if you really want to let them understandwhat your purpose is for them, it is much better to speak
their language. Teach them in their local language makes
everyone comfortable so that it will be easier to catch it
and put it into practice”.
RN 8:“Made it Easier to communicate with various
people”.

3.9. Awareness about culture
Respondents were asked, Q26. “How would you
rate your cultural integration?”. Three rated it, “verygood” [RN 1, 4, 6], and another three rated ‘Good’[RN 2, 5, 8]. One rated it ‘fair’ [RN 7], and anotherrated it as ‘poor’ [RN 3].
Respondents were asked, do they agree that,“Asian Pacific Culture is difficult to live in”. Three[RN 3, 5, 8] “Strongly disagree”, two said “Somewhat
disagree” [RN 1 and 4], while another two replied“Somewhat agree” [RN 2, and ][. RN 6 “Strongly
agreed”.

Respondents were asked in Q28. “Some cultural
norms or practice have/had impeded me to advocate
fully in my communities”. Two “Somewhat
disagreed” [RN 4 7] and another two [RN 3 , 5]
“Strongly disagreed”.
RN 2:“At grassroots level communities are somewhat
traditional, not open to change. Fear of stepping on
political lines. A patriarchal society in which gender roles
are stereotyped/ traditional gender roles. Men don’t
attend several gatherings – except weddings, parties andfunerals etc.”
RN 5:“Because even I speak the local language, I am still a
foreigner so there things that only a local can be able to dothem very well and will well represent the local”.
RN 7:“I think people was born without culture, they got itfrom their family, neighbor. So they live with it, it is hard
to change their culture. If you touch their culture, it is like
you touch their life so I think; it is kind of crucial part.
Because if someone do the same to my culture, I will bechoked”.

Respondents were asked to rate how they agree
to this question “Q.29. Some cultural beliefs
confuses/ed me”. Three disagreed [RN 1,3, 6] andthree agreed [RN 2,5,7]. They answered:RN 2:“Some people don’t have a clear understanding
about Africa. They identify Africa with lack and poverty
only. They are skeptical about what I have to offer until I
start speaking in front of them”.
RN 4 was “Not really sure” about his answer.
RN 5:“For Filipino if you are foreigner it means you have a
lot of money therefore they win try to take advantage ofthat by increasing the price if you are buying things inlocal market and you are not careful”.
RN 7:“May be I do not just understand why they are doing
such a things, or why they are still doing this. I can give
one example. As a Christian, we should not sacrifice any
animals for ancestral prayers. But here in the Philippines,
they start any event on killing hen and pray the ancestors
led by the tribal leader (datu), then continue the ceremony
with a Christian prayer. Is it compatible? I don’t think so.
That is part of the things I do not really understand andconfused me so far”.

Respondents were asked in Q30. “The culture
shock was too strong for me, and I could not deal
with it.” All except RN answered No.
Respondents were asked Q31. “Were there any
kind of stereotypes about you due to your gender,
race, and origin?” Half answered ‘Yes’ [RN 2, 4, 6, 8].
Three responded ‘I don’t know’ [RN 1, 5, 7]. RN 3
answered ‘No’.
RN 2:“Most Cambodians I met don’t have a clear
understanding about Africa. I have been asked thisquestion for the umpteenth time – Is Africa very hot/close
to the sun? They believe I’m dark because of the heat. The
major cause for concern is how they identify themselveswith Africans. Cambodia went through a tough time fromthe 70s through 90s. Genocide and civil war left thecountry impoverished. Many Cambodians I have met readthe book Cry Freedom which basically talks about Steve
Biko and apartheid in South Africa. I assume what they
feel for Africans is pity and they relate their challenges ofpoverty with those of Africa. They don’t really expect anEubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 28 (January 2018)
African to speak English and have capabilities. In the city
Africans are believed to be criminals”.
RN 4:“Race”.
RN 6:“Like being an African woman, I was supposed to bevery strong and handle all the physical work in theorganization”.
RN 8:“Dark skin whether foreign or local is not desirable.
It’s associated with low social class, detestable”.

Respondents were asked, Q32. “If you answer YES
to question No.31. Did this affect your performanceat work?” Three said “No” [RN 3, 7, 8]. Two
answered ‘yes’ [RN 2, 5]. Some explanations were:RN 2:“To a certain extent it takes time for people to havetrust in what I have to offer but since my supervisors areforeigners and more exposed they have a clear
understanding of what all people are capable of”.
RN 5:“I did not understand fully the language because
certain things they speak has an historical context that I
did not know of, so I was not fully engaging them in theabove mentioned situations”.
RN 8:“trust issues about the people`s stance on racism”.

Respondents were asked in Q33. “Some behaviors
were unacceptable and inappropriate to you”. 70%
answered ‘Yes’ [RN 1, 2, 6, 7, 8]. Two answered ‘No’
[RN 3, 5]. RN 4 answered ‘I don’t Know’.
Respondents who answered ‘Yes’ wrote:
RN 1:“Some people were touching me without mypermission”.
RN 2:“Questions about my private life – how much do I pay
for rent, what do I eat every day, age, etc. A culture which
is not so open”. Cleaning the shelter was not part of my job
description but was forced to it.
RN 6:“Cleaning the shelter was not part of my job
description”.
RN 7:“They do not great each other at the office, they do
not respect people. Even if they crushed you, it is like it so
expensive from them to say sorry”.
RN 8:“Invasion of privacy”.

3.10. Awareness on the weather
Respondents were asked to give their agreement
on Q.34. “I found the climate too hot for me.”. Fivesaid “Strongly agree” [RN 2, 3, 4, 8], while two said,“Somewhat agree” [RN 1, 7]. One each said “neither
agree nor disagree” [RN 5] and “strongly disagree”[RN 6]. When asked to give their agreement on Q35.
“I found the climate is too cold for me”. Six said thatthey “Strongly disagree” [RN 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 8]; while
two said “strongly agree” [RN 1, 6].
Respondents were asked in Q37 “Is the weather
different from your home country? How?” Seven
answered ‘Yes’, while RN 5 answered it was thesame. Only two persons said yes to, “If yes, does thechange in weather affect you physically?” When
asked in Q38 “In your view, has weather/climate
ever affected your health (physical, mental etc.)?”Three answered ‘No’ [RN 1, 3, 7], three answered‘Yes’ [RN 2, 6, 8].
3.11. Awareness on other general questions

31

Respondents were asked Q39. “What is
Bioethics?”. Half provided the answer, while one
respondent answered “No idea” [RN 3] and another
respondent answered “I don’t know” [RN 4].
RN 2:“I am not really sure but Bio could mean livingorganisms or environments. Ethics perhaps is a sociallyacceptable code of conduct that’s moral and everybody is
supposed to adhere to it. Bioethics could mean a
responsible way of living, having a sense of accountability
to the ecological and physical environmental around us –It involves Public health, food, WASH, wildlife, forests etc”.
RN 5:“Is the study of what is right or wrong in biologicalprogress”.
RN 7:“It is a field of study about ethics and philosophicalimpact of some implication of biological medicines”.
RN 8:“A field of ethics that focuses on biology”.

Respondents were asked Q40. “Were you involvedin Public Health activities? Please Describe.” Fiveanswered ‘No’ [RN 1, 3, 4, 5, 7]. The rest answered“Yes” [RN 2. 6 8] and provided the following;
RN 2:“Public health I am involved at CHAD with the WASH
initiatives. We teach people about wash behaviors. We
give loans for latrines and water filters. Some of our staff
are involved in water referrals”.
RN 6:“I walk every morning for about 25 min and an hour
every Wednesday, I ran every Saturday morning for 30
min plus Zumba dance every other day. I did yoga every
Friday at my work. I would say I was very active. I also did
my medical checkup every other months”.
RN 8:“Just trainings which were health related”.

Respondents were asked, Q41. “How would you
rate the communication at your workplace(Communication among co-workers)”. Half rated‘fair’ [RN 4, 6, 7, 8], and half ‘Good’ [RN 1, 2, 3, 5].
Respondents were asked,Q42.“Have you ever feelthat you were not important at your organization?”.
Half answered ‘No’ [RN 1, 3, 6, 7], while twoanswered ‘Yes’ [RN 4, 8].
Respondents were asked in Q43. “Yourorganization never needed you for doing the
advocacy” Two “Somewhat agreed” with thestatement [RN 5, 7]. Two ‘disagreed’ [RN 1, 6].
Respondents were asked in Q44. “Have you everregretted to have accepted the offer of being a social
justice advocate” Only one answered ‘Yes’ [RN 2]. A
more detailed case discussion of the respondents isavailable from the authors (Milosi, 2018).
4. Motivations
The motivation behind a given action can reveal
how committed somebody is toward that action.
Motivation is a reason or reasons for acting or
behaving in a particular way (Oxford Dictionary).
While in such situation, people always have some
expectations as well. According to the Oxford
Dictionary, the word expectation is defined as astrong belief that something will happen or be thecase. This can also be understood as a predisposed
situation about something. These can all affect theperformance of young people in their service. The

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Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 28 (January 2018)

motivation of these young people differs from one
to another. Personal experience with situation
occurring in one’s country was important for RN 1.
In DR Congo (where RN 1 comes from), according
to Latif (2017) President Joseph Kabila’s family –especially his siblings Jaynet and Zoe – hasestablished a vast business empire that has interestin dozens of companies and brings in hundreds ofmillions of dollars every year. From a different
country, RN 2 stated that they wanted tounderstand more about social justice. Whilereferring to Africa in general Kimemia (2016):for
many decades, Africa has experienced both
economic and political instability, leading to a
fragile continent overall.
Africa is known to be very spiritual and religious
at the same time. This can explain the motivation of
RN 3, which has is based on his spiritual or
religious belief, as he:“God’s heart for it, and His
commandment of it”.
Schools are the right places were most young
people get inspired and motivated about real life.
Some find the passion early in their education,
while others build up their passion, late in theireducation such as college. Thus, an education
experience can become a source of motivation inpursuing social justice advocacy, as Khare andHurst (2018):as a means to achieving a specific job
or promotion or position, the extrinsic value of
education can motivate students to engage more
fully in co-creation. This was the case for RN 5.
Africa is one of the continents which has striven
on issues regarding gender equality and equity.
Truth be told, the continent is making some great
improvement, as Prah (2013):African countries
have made progress in the area of bridging gender
equity, equality and power relations between men
and women. However, things doesn’t mean that,
equality among genders are evenly distributed. Thisreveals the reason why, the issue of gender becamea source of motivation for one of the female
respondents, as she stated that “My motivation was
to work for Gender justice and all related issues” (RN
6). However, according to Prah (2013), theexpected transformations of a change in genderstereotypes and patriarchal attitudes, power
relations, institutional structures and the divisionof labour in and outside the home have notoccurred to make a significant difference in genderissues in almost all sub-Saharan African countries.
However, RN 6 has had advocacy experience prior
to her moving to South Asia region. “Through thevolunteers in mission student club at Africa
University” (RN6).
From respondents’ responses, the spirit ofcuriosity and youth energy motivated other
respondents to immerse themselves in the newadventure of social justice advocacy (e.g. RN 7).

When young people begin to gain consciousness
about the leadership of the world, they become
involve in possible activities which can lead them togoal. Some have the passion to serve, which become
their motivation afterwards, as RN 8 stated,“Passion for social justice work. To get experienceand to grow in the Humanitarian field. A calling to
do so”.
Despite all motivations stated above. RN 4 wasamong the 25% of the sample, who have actually
being involved in social justice advocacy prior tothe moving to the South Asia region. In the case of
RN 4, he was part of a program held in Washington
DC where he was assigned to work with an
Organization called Men Can Stop Rape, as RN 4:“I
was assigned to work with Men Can Stop Rape which
is an organization that promotes healthy masculinity
to end violence, especially violence against women.
Besides that, I conducted trainings in my homecountry about this issue in order to equip men andboys with skills that will help them to fight against
violence that women face”.
5. Advocacy and Social Justice
Bearing in mind that, adaptation differs from one
person to another and the time they spentadvocating differs as well. Respondents provided arating about their performance. Overall, 50% of thesample rated their performance as ‘good’, with few
rating ‘very good’ and the rest rated ‘poor’ and ‘fair’.
For Instance, RN 4 and 5 rated their performance as‘very good’, although these two respondents areamong the 50% whom rated their work as difficult.
No matter how interested somebody might be insomething, that does not always mean they will
perform better in their committment. For instance,
RN 1, 6 and 8 had Asia pacific as their preferredplace where they wanted to serve. But, they rated
their performance as just ‘good’.
Social justice is a broad concept which does nothave a singled agreed definition. However, mostpeople have a working definition of social justicewhich will be used as a baseline. According toSensoy and DiAngelo (2017), it is commonly
understood as the principles of “fairness” and“equality” for all people and respect for their basic
human rights. Form the common understanding ofwhat social justice is all about, we can deduct four
core words, which include fairness, equality,
respect and human right.
In as much as respondents had different
motivations to advocate for social justice, only two
respondents said that they had been involved inprior justice service. In fact, only 50% of the sample
affirmed that, they have a good understanding ofwhat social justice is, prior to their service.
Therefore, lack of understanding of social justice or
misconception around this concept cannot beEubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 28 (January 2018)excluded as a plausible reason why actually there
are some poor performance rate of some
respondents. For instance, among the respondents
who affirmed to have a good understanding ofsocial justice, in his own understanding RN 8
defined social justice by stating that, “It implies
fairness in the availability and access to anddistribution of resources and opportunities”. The
respondents mentioned access to and distribution of
resources and opportunities, which are core valuesof basic human right. It is a human right for people
to have fair access to the same opportunities andresources like other people. While talking about
fairnessandequality/equitable,another
respondent stated that “For me, social Justice issimply when people are fairly and equitably treatedin the society regardless of their identity, race, sex,etc.(RN 4).
On the other hand, Sensoy and DiAngelo (2017)
seldom the following questions are discussed, andeven less seldom are they agreed upon. Thus thedefinition itself is our first challenge. What arethose basic human rights? From whose perspective
is something fair and equitable? Might something
be fair for one person while actually having an
unfair outcome for another? What does ‘respect’
actually mean in practice? While some say it is totreat others as we would like to be treated, some
say that it is to treat others as ‘they’ would like to
be treated (Sensoy and DiAngelo, 2017). When
analyzing the working definition, we can also
realize the challenge that the definition itself is
portraying. However, the challenge seems to be inalmost every definition, which respondents
provided. For instance, while RN 5:“Social justice tome means doing what is good for the person, bothindividually and in association with others. Social
justice is about serving the interest of others without
putting your in jeopardy”.
Sensoy and Di Angelo (2017) questioned “Fromwhose perspective is something fair and equitable?”,in other words, we would question this definition
as from whose perspective are we going to abidethat something is good or bad while serving? RN
6:“It is the equitable allocation of wealth,opportunities and privileges in the community orsociety. It is the understanding that all human beingsare created equally and should be treated as such”.
Sensoy and Di Angelo (2017) questioned, “whilesome say it is to treat others as we would like to betreated, some say that it is to treat others as ‘they’
would like to be treated”, and yet the above definition
just mentioned that“ In other words, how thistreatment should go, based on the person who
treating or the other person who is being treated.
However, although very spiritual, RN 3 rated his
understanding of social justice as ‘poor’ prior to his
service. This might also explain his poor

33

performance that’s he rated earlier on, due to poor
understanding of what social justice is, although
Asia was his preferred place to serve.
For respondents who rated their understandingas ‘fair’, they mainly rely on the common definition,
which focus on the four core words (fairness,equality, respect and human right). For instance, RN
2:“In my definition, social justice means equitable
distribution of national resources. It also means
freedom and access”, and RN 7:“Social justice is theform of equality in a society. It may be inter-social
treatment issues, legal segregation, and unequal
government policies”. All of these definition reveal
the challenge that’s surround the concept of social
justice.
6. Awareness of respondent about their work
In the quest of figuring out what aspect ofadvocacy might stand out as potential challenges
which affect young people to advocate effectively,
we also wanted to look the objectives which
motivated these young people to join social service.
Although the goals differed from one respondent toanother, some respondents aimed at serving theircommunities which they will be serving up until
they impact, and if possible transform them. For
instance, RN 1:“My objective while joining the social
justice advocacy work was advocating and beingthat prophetic voice so that the least and themarginalized find their place at the table of God’s
resources and grace”. Which can be contrasted withRN 2 who aimed at, “To bring about transformation– restoring people’s dignity and identity”. These two
respondents are part of the 50% of the respondents
who rated ‘good’, the achievement of their goal.
Meaning that these respondents had an
opportunity to immerse in the community andimpact the community in which there were serving.
These results might be contrasted with community
their performance rate, as both RN 1 and 2 rated‘good’ their community’s impact.
Some respondents actually came in service withthe objective to learn first in order to serve. Whichwas the case of RN 4 and 5 who rated ‘very good’the achievement of their goals. This can becontrasted also by the fact that, they rated theirperformance as ‘very good’, which might also meanthat they learned a lot. RN 4:“My first objective wasto be a good student to the people I served so that I
can better serve them”. While, RN 5:“My objective
was to learn as much as can from the people so that I
can better understand the challenges their face andaddress those challenges together as community”.
On the same line of thinking, RN 8:“Have moreexperience in justice advocacy, knowledge gathering
Change someone`s life Ensure that justice prevails”,
although RN 8 objective was not literally about

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Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 28 (January 2018)

learning, but having experience which is justanother form of learning.
RN 3’s objective was more driven by his belief, as
he:“To witness God’s work of redemption; eventhrough this unworthy instrument”. After rating as‘poor’ his performance and his impact on his hostcommunity, he also rated the achievement of his
objective as ‘poor’. This really shows, that he missed
out on his service to some extent. From all the
respondents, RN 3 answered, ‘I don’t know’ to thequestion Q20. which:“Will you be interested tocontinue social justice advocacy? Even after the timeframe provided by your organization?” While all theremaining respondents answered ‘Yes’.
For the remaining respondents, they had different
objectives, for instance RN 6:“My objective was tomake a difference”. While, RN 7 who rated theachievement of his goal as ‘good’ (Table 11),
also:“My objective was making everyone feel how
important they are so that they understand theequality existing between us. To help them to find the
pride they lost because of some financial status orfamily cast”.
7. Awareness about community challenges
Respondents were given five critical aspects of acommunity to rank. Out of the 6 respondents who
provided their ranking, 4 of them ranked ‘language’as the most challenging. We had 3 respondents
ranking ‘weather’ as the second most challenging
aspect. As the least challenging was ‘people’ orsocializing with people.
At a very conservative estimate some 4,000
languages are spoken today (Comrie, 2005). Local
languages play a very important role in the serviceof these young people. Because you can’t make awhole community learn to speak to you in English,
but you have to learn how to speak their language.
As a matter of fact, all the respondents answered‘yes’ to question 25, which asked, “Do you thinklanguage was/is an important tool in fulfilment yourwork as a social justice advocate?” . This shows how
and why language was ranked as the mostchallenging aspect in their community, not because
for some it was hard to learn and it is different fromother Africa languages but because it is a necessity
to your service. RN 2 who served in Cambodia:“Ittakes time to learn the language and the culture isreally different”. But, still with community services,
these young people are expected to speak local
languages, as RN 4 who served in the Philippines:“Iwas mostly engaged in indigenous communities
where the local language is spoken fluently”, this is
despite the fact that people can also speak English
fluently.
With the concept and the spirit of serving others.
In order to make the people that you are serving tofeel very comfortable with you, international social

workers are expected to learn local languages
which can be very challenging and stressful at thesame time. The challenge I got was mostly on
language because I had no clue of the Japanese
language and it took me six months to learn and I
couldn’t master it all (RN 6). RN 6, was among the
30% of the sample which rated their language
proficiency as ‘good’; while the majority of thesample rated ‘fair’ their language proficiency, with
only RN 5 who rated ‘very good’ his language
proficiency, as it is shown in table 15. While trying
to explain why the language is so crucial, RN
5:“Because if you speak English to people here
especially the economically disadvantage you won’t
be able to get certain information that is essential toyour work, you can’t even integrate with them
therefore you won’t accomplish your goals because oflanguage barriers”.
According to RN 6, “It is very crucial for social
justice worker to know the language of the people
you’re working with, because that is how you build
relationship and engage in the community which inreturn helps you understand the issues of justice thatyou want to work for and work with the people
themselves for a radical change”. RN 7 stated that “Ifyou really want to let them understand what yourpurpose is for them, it is much better to speak theirlanguage. Teach them in their local language makes
everyone comfortable so that it will be easier tocatch it and put it into practice”.
The weather tends to be also something
challenging for these young people. As one of the
respondents who picked weather as the second
most challenging aspect, RN 8 who is serving in thePhilippines,:“humid hotness made me feel tired andtook time to adjust”, while RN 1who served in
Korea:“the weather is very cold”.
The social conditions or People was ranked to be
the least challenging. Asian people are known to bevery friendly toward foreigners, as RN 1 affirmed
this while referring to Asian people, and specifically
Korean people, he:“people are good”. Although thisis not an attitude that one might expect from all
Asian people, as RN 8:“…... difficult to relate topeople of a different race especially when they are
racially biased”, just a reminder that, RN 8 served in
the Philippines. But overall they are welcoming,
friendly people. This might justify the fact thatliving with Asian people was one of the least
challenging aspect during the service for theseyoung people.
For instance people who served in the country
such as the Philippines, language had the highest
rank as the most challenging, as RN 5:“Because thelanguage spoken in Philippines is totally different
from English especially the way they structure thesentences is totally opposite to English sentence
structure”. Food was the least challenging.

Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 28 (January 2018)
8. Awareness about culture
According to Peoples and Bailey (2012), an
enormous range of cultural diversity was and isfound on all continents and regions of the world. If
the Asia culture became one of the main attractive
aspect of some respondents. This does not exempt
the difficulty to embrace this culture. The word‘culture’ is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as theideas, customs, and social behavior of a particularpeople or society. Thus, Africa customs and Asiancustoms are really different from each other. 40 %of the sample “Strongly disagree” that the Asia
Pacific Culture is difficult to live in; while RN 6
which makes 10% of the sample ‘strongly agree’.
Overall, we can say that the Asian culture is easy tolive. However, 40% of the sample rated theircultural integration “very good”, and another 40%
rated “good”; which really shows that these young
people have integrated culturally easily.
When asked if there were some cultural norms orpractices that could have/had impeded youth
volunteers to advocate fully in their communities,
40% of the sample said, “Neither agree nor disagree.
25% of the sample “Somewhat disagree”, like RN 7
who:“I think people was born without culture, they
got it from their family, neighbor. So they live with it,
it is hard to change their culture. If you touch theirculture, it is like you touch their life so I think; it iskind of crucial part. Because if someone do the same
to my culture, I will be choked”. 25% of the sample“Strongly disagree”, like RN 5 who was among those
who strongly disagreed that the Asian Pacificculture is difficult to live in, or that some cultural
norms or practices have/had impede him to
advocate fully in his communities. He:“Because even
I speak the local language, I am still a foreigner sothere things that only a local can be able to do themvery well and will well represent the local” (RN 5).
With 10% of the sample “Somewhat agree”, in thelike of RN 2 who stated that “At grassroots levelcommunities are somewhat traditional, not open tochange. Fear of stepping on political lines. A
patriarchal society in which gender roles arestereotyped/ traditional gender roles. Men don’t
attend several gatherings – except weddings, parties
and funerals etc.”, this might explain why this
respondent somewhat agree that the Asian Pacificculture is difficult to live in, and that some cultural
norms or practices have/had impede him to
advocate fully in his communities, RN 5 strongly
agree that some cultural beliefs confused him, as
he:For Filipino if you are foreigner it means you havea lot of money therefore they win try to takeadvantage of that by increasing the price if you arebuying things in local market and you are notcareful”.
When asked if the culture shock was too strongfor youth volunteer, such that they could not deal

35

with it, the majority of the respondents answered‘No’, except RN 2 who answered ‘yes’ and:“It’sunexplainable but it was intense – sounds from thegongs, greetings, gatherings, etc I can deal with it toa certain extend now”. As far as other people areconcerned, RN 1:“Because we have almost the same
culture”, which idea was support by RN 8,
who:“There still similarities with my own culture so
it was not too strong for me”. While, RN 5 explained
that, “Because I researched about the Philippines
before, so many things experience I already readthem and new them”. On the other hand RN 6
defend his explanation by stating that, “Because I
was able to do my work and finish my term, if theculture shock was too strong I would have left before
the end of my term”.
According to Houghton (2014), Lippmann’s(1922) basic definition of stereotypes as “pictures in
our heads” remains the generally accepted andclassical sociological definition to date. Stereotypes
are those misconceptions which people have aboutother people, for several reasons be it their race,
their origins or continents. Therefore, there might
be some misconceptions about Africans that Asianpeople would have had, and that would have
impede youth volunteers to work effectively. 50 %of the sample agreed to have faced stereotypes intheir host communities.
9. Conclusions and Recommendations
This study described the cases of eight African
volunterrs to Asia, and they all are working forsocial justice both in their home country and in the
Asian country they served (or still serve) in Asia.
There were challenges faced by youth volunteers
while serving in the Asia Pacific Region as
described in this study. The points made could betested by other studies, in different regions of theworld, and in larger numbers.
We hope that this study will break down some ofthe stereotypes which affected the attitudes ofyouth. We thank all who participated in thisresearch.
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For more forthcoming conferences see:www.eubios.info or www.ausn.info
0.03..0…3Email to Darryl@eubios.info.
Nineteenth Asian Bioethics Conference (ABC19): Bioethics for
Smart Living in Asia and Beyond: Taiwan as a hub for nurturing
international partnerships and sustainable practices, 13-16
November 2018, Kaohsung and Pingtung, Taiwan.
Twelfth Kumamoto University and AUSN International Bioethics
Roundtable (KBRT12): Bioethics in the 21st Century, 1-2 December
2018, Kumamoto University, JapanEJAIB Editor: Darryl Macer
Associate Editor
Nader Ghotbi (Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University(APU), Japan)

Editorial Board: Akira Akabayashi (Japan), Sahin Aksoy(Turkey), Martha Marcela Rodriguez-Alanis (Mexico),Angeles Tan Alora (Philippines), Atsushi Asai (Japan),
Alireza Bagheri (Iran), Gerhold Becker (Germany), Rhyddhi
Chakraborty (India/UK), Shamima Lasker (Bangladesh),
Minakshi Bhardwaj (UK), Christian Byk (IALES; France), Ken
Daniels (New Zealand), Ole Doering (Germany),
Amarbayasgalan Dorjderem (Mongolia), Hasan Erbay(Turkey), Soraj Hongladarom (Thailand), Dena Hsin
(Taiwan), Rihito Kimura (Japan), Abby Lippman (Canada),
Umar Jenie (Indonesia), Nobuko Yasuhara Macer (Japan),
Masahiro Morioka (Japan), Anwar Nasim (Pakistan), JingBao Nie (China, New Zealand), Pinit Ratanakul (Thailand),Qiu Ren Zong (China), Hyakudai Sakamoto (Japan), Sangyong Song (Republic of Korea), Takao Takahashi (Japan),
Noritoshi Tanida (Japan), Ananya Tritipthumrongchok(Thailand), Yanguang Wang (China), Daniel Wikler (USA),
Jeong Ro Yoon (Republic of Korea).

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