Latvia

• Country name: Republic of Latvia.
• Year founded: The territory of Latvia has been populated since 9000 BC, after the Ice Age glaciers retreated. Around the beginnng of the third millennium BC (3000 BC) the proto-Baltic ancestors of the Latvian people settled on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea.
• Population: January 2009 estimate: 2,261,700 
• Primary Language: Latvian (official) Russian. 
• Ethnic Make-up: 
• 59.2% Latvians,
• 28% Russians,
• 3.7% Belarusians,
• 2.5%Ukrainians,
• 6.6% others
• Political System: The politics of Latvia takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. The President holds a primarily ceremonial role as Head of State. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament, the Saeima. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. 
• Year Entered the European Union: 2004.
• Representative of the European Union (include party): United Kingdom
• Type of Economy: Until the middle of 2008 Latvia had the fastest growing economy in Europe. It has had high GDP growth since 2000. In 2003, GDP growth was 7.5% and inflation was 2.9%. Unemployment was 8.8% in 2003, almost unchanged compared to the previous two years. Privatization is mostly complete, except for some of the large state-owned utilities. 
• Currency: lats. 
• Current Exchange rate for American Currency: 1 US Dollar = 0.52544 Latvian Lats 
  1 Latvian Lats (LVL) = 1.90317 US Dollar (USD)
• GDP: 7.5%
• Percentage of Trade within the European Union: 1%
• Unemployment Rate: 8.5%
• Chief exports: Wood and wood products, machinery and equipment, metals, textiles, foodstuffs.
• Key imports: Machinery and equipment, chemicals, fuels.
• Major religions: Christianity, (Protestant, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox). 
• Surrounding countries: Estonia , Russia , Belarus, Lithuania, and the Baltic Sea.
• Litearcy rate: 99.7%
• One Interesting Fact: Latvians are reserved and have a preference for formality in public.

 

Belgium

Country Name:
Kingdom of Belgium
Year Founded:
1830
Population:
10,414,336 (July 2009 est.)
Primary Language:
Dutch, French and German
Ethnic Make-up:
Fleming 58%, Walloon 31%, mixed or other 11%
Political System:
Federal parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy
Year Entered the European Union:
Founding member.
Representative of the European Union (include party):
Ambassador Jan MATTHYSEN
Type of Economy:
This modern, private-enterprise economy has capitalized on its central geographic location, highly developed transport network, and diversified industrial and commercial base.
Currency:
Eur
Current Exchange rate for American Currency:
0.7426
GDP:

GDP (purchasing power parity):
$398.7 billion (2008 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate):
$495.4 billion (2008)
GDP - real growth rate:
1.3% (2008)
GDP - per capita (PPP):
$38,300 (2008 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 1% industry: 24.2% services: 74.9% (2008 est.)

Percentage of Trade within the European Union:
70%
Unemployment Rate:
6.5% (2008)
Chief Exports:
Machinery and equipment, chemicals, diamonds, metals and metal products, foodstuffs.
Key Imports :
Machinery and equipment, chemicals, diamonds, pharmaceuticals, foodstuffs, transportation equipment, oil products.
Major Religions:
Roman Catholicism
Surrounding Countries:
France, Luxembourg, Germany and Netherlands.
Literacy Rate:
98%
One Interesting Fact:
Folklore plays a major role in Belgium's cultural life: the country has a comparatively high number of processions, cavalcades, parades, 'ommegangs' and 'ducasses', 'kermesse', and other local festivals, nearly always with an originally religious or mythological background.

The Czech Republic (:

1-Czechoslovakia, The Czech Republic
2-1918 the independent republic
3-2001…10,230,060
4-The official language is Czech
5-Ukrainian (131,965), Slovak (76,034), Vietnamese (60,258), Russian (27,178), Polish (21,710), German (15,700), Moldovan (8,038), Mongolian (6,028), Bulgarian (5,046), Chinese (4,986), American (4,452), Belarusan (3,977), British (3,775), Serbian (3,615), Austrian (3,373), Romanian (3,298), Kazakh (3,038), Italian (2,351), Croatian (2,327), Dutch (2,240), French (2,140), Bosnian (2,093), Macedonian (1,787), Armenian (1,624), Japanese (1,494) and Uzbek (1,148)
6-It is a multi-party parliamentary representative democratic republic
7-After the fallo f the comunista regime, 1989
8- Ambasor Milena vicerovaç
9-The principal industries are heavy and general machine-building, iron and steel production, metalworking, chemical production, electronics, transportation equipment, textiles, glass, brewing, china, ceramics, and pharmaceuticals. Its main agricultural products are sugarbeets, fodder roots, potatoes, wheat, and hops.
10-Czech Koruna (CZK)
11- 1 Czech Koruna (CZK) = 0.05080 US Dollar (USD)
12- GDP per capita at purchasing power parity was $26,800 in 2008, which is 82% of the EU average.
13-This Republic is committed to a free market and maintains a generally open economy with few barriers to trade and investement.
14-2003-9.0%,2004-9.90%,2005-10.60%,2006-8.90%,2007-8.40%,2008-6.60%
15- Machinery and transport equipment, other manufactured goods, chemicals, raw materials and fuel.
16-alcoholic Drinks
17-Most of the country is argonistic, atheist or non believer but 26% is Catholic and 2.5% is protestant.
18- The country borders Poland to the northeast, Germany to the west, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east.
19-99.0 adult literacy rate
20- The capital of Czech Republic is Prague, which is a major tourist destination, More than 50 percent of the population in Czech Republic is atheist, The Vltava is the longest river in the Czech Republic. The two popular sports of Czech Republic are football and ice hockey

Dominique

Country name: Republic of Austria

Year founded: 1124

Population: 8,210,281

Primary language: German, locally also Slovene, Croatian and Hungarian

Ethnic Make-up: Austrians 91.1%, former Yugoslavs 4% (includes Croations, Slovenes, Serbs, and Bosniaks), Turks 1.6%, German 0.9%, other or unspecified 2.4%

Political System: Federal Parliamentary Republic

Year entered the European Union: January 1, 1995

Representative of the European Union (include party): Valentin Inzko

Type of economy: Market economy

Currency: Euro

Current Exchange rate for American Currency: euros pero US dollar – 0.7345 (2008 est.)

GDP: GDP (purchasing power parity) $325 billion
GDP (official exchange rate) $432.4 billion
GDP – real growth rate 1.4%
GDP – per capital (PPP) $39,200
GDP – composition by sector agriculture: 1.9%
Industry: 30.6%
Services: 67.4%

Percentage of trade within the European Union: 34%

Unemployement rate: 3.7%

Chief exports: Germany, Italy, US, Switzerland; machinery and equipment, motor vehicules and parts, paper and paperboard, metal goods, chemicals, iron and steel, textiles, foodstuffs

Kep imports: Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Netherlands; machinery and equipment, motor vehicules, chemicals, metal goods, oil and oil products, foodstuffs

Major Religions: Roman Catholic 73.6%, Protestant 4.7%, Muslim 4.2%, other 3.5%, unspecified 2%, none 12%

Surrounding countries: It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the South, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west.

Literary Rate: 98%

One interesting fact: The central European land that is now Austria was occupied in pre-Roman times by various Celtic tribes.

Germany :)

•Country Name: Germany, officially it’s the Federal Republic of Germany. In German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland

•Year Founded: The Holy Roman Empire founded Germany in 962. Following the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte, the Congress of Vienna convened in 1814 and founded the German Confederation (Deutscher Bund), a loose league of 39 sovereign states. Germany was first unified as a nation-state amidst the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, with the German Empire. By 23 May 1949 it was a Federal Republic and its reunification (East and West) happened the 3rd of October of 1990

•Population: 82,329,758 (July 2009 estimated). It’s the most populous country in the European Union.

•Primary Language: German is the official and predominantly spoken language in Germany. Some recognized native minority languages are Danish, Sorbian, Romany, and Frisian.

•Ethnic Make-up: The people in Germany are 91.5% German, 2.4% Turkish, and other 6.1% made up largely by Greek, Italian, Polish, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, and Spanish.

•Political System: Germany's political system operates under a framework created in the West German Constitution of 1949. With the re-unification of the country in 1990, five newly-created East German states joined the Federal Republic (West) in accordance with Article 23 of the West German Constitution. Germany is considered a federal parliamentary representative democratic republic, with the seat of government centered in the capital city, Berlin.

•Year Entered the European Union: When Germany was still divided into West and East, West Germany was a founding member of the European Community in 1957, which became the European Union in 1993.

•Representative of the European Union (include party)

•Type of Economy: Germany's affluent and technologically powerful economy - the fifth largest in the world in PPP terms - showed considerable improvement in 2007 with 2.6% growth. Among the most important reasons for Germany's high unemployment during the past decade were macroeconomic stagnation, the declining level of investment in plant and equipment, company restructuring, flat domestic consumption, structural rigidities in the labor market, lack of competition in the service sector, and high interest rates.

•Currency: euro

•Current Exchange rate for American Currency: Euro, 1 Dollar is 1.58 Euro.

•GDP (All 2008 estimated)
-Purchasing power parity $2.863 trillion
-Official exchange rate $3.818 trillion
-Real growth rate 1.7%
-Per capita $34,800
-Composition by sector: agriculture 0.9%, industry 30.1%, services 69%

•Percentage of Trade within the European Union

•Unemployment Rate: 7.9%

•Chief Exports: exports: $1.53 trillion f.o.b. (2008 est.) machinery, vehicles, chemicals, metals and manufactures, foodstuffs, textiles. Export partners:
France 9.7%, US 7.5%, UK 7.3%, Italy 6.7%, Netherlands 6.4%, Austria 5.4%, Belgium 5.3%, Spain 5% (2007)

•Key Imports: $1.202 trillion f.o.b. (2008 est.) Import commodities: machinery, vehicles, chemicals, foodstuffs, textiles, metals. Import partners: Netherlands 12%, France 8.6%, Belgium 7.8%, China 6.2%, Italy 5.8%, UK 5.6%, US 4.5%, Austria 4.4% (2007)

•Major Religions: Christianity is the most practiced religion, with 53 million people (64%). The second one is Islam with 3.3 million people (4%), followed by Buddhism and Judaism, both with around 200,000 people (0.25%). Hinduism has some 90,000 adherents (0.1%). All other religious communities in Germany have fewer than 50,000 (or less than 0.05%) adherents. Protestantism is concentrated in the north and east and Roman Catholicism is concentrated in the south and west. Each denomination comprises about 31% of the population.

•Surrounding Countries: It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

•Literacy Rate: Age 15 and over can read and write. The total population would be: 99%, both male and female.

•One Interesting Fact: German people are the second biggest consumers of beer in the world (after the Irish), with an average of 119 liters per person per year (or 0.32 liters per day).

Luxembourg!

Country Name
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
Year Founded
963
Population
491,775
Primary Language
German, French and Luxembourgish
Ethnic Make-up
Luxembourger 63.1%, Portuguese 13.3%, French 4.5%, Italian 4.3%, German 2.3%, other EU 7.3%, other 5.2%
Political System
parliamentary representative democracy with a constitutional monarch;
Year Entered the European Union
1957
Representative of the European Union (include party)
Christian Social People's Party
Type of Economy

Currency
euro
Current Exchange rate for American Currency
1 euro = 1.3653 U.S. dollars
GDP
$85,100 (2008 est.)
Percentage of Trade within the European Union
Unemployment Rate
4.7%
Chief Exports
machinery and equipment, steel products, chemicals, rubber products, glass
Key Imports
minerals, metals, foodstuffs, quality consumer goods
Major Religions
Roman Catholic
Surrounding Countries
germany, Belgium,france
Literacy Rate
total population: 100%
male: 100%
female: 100% (2000 est.)

One Interesting Fact
The country has a highly developed economy, with the second highest Gross Domestic Product per capita in the world

Genocide

After you watch the video, answer the following questions: 

1. What did Damas Gisimba, Carl Wilkens, and Simon Weil Lipman value, and what risks did they take by holding onto their values?
   
2. What values did the children of the orphanage demonstrate?
3. As events unfolded, what were Damas Gisimba's concerns?
4. What does it mean - as both Simone Weil Lipman and Damas Gisimba state - to "see the other as yourself?"

Think back to the incidents that took place during the Rwandan genocide: 

1. What role did the international community play during the genocide?
2. Does the international community have the responsibility of assisting countries threatened by genocide?
3. How can students get involved and make their voices heard against genocide? (For suggestions, visit www.ushmm.org/conscience/alert/students/) 

Think about challenges you face in your everday life: 

1. Have you ever witnessed an incident by which a bystander took the responsibility of offering assistance to someone in need of help? What happened?
2. When someone needs help, do bystanders have the responsibility to offer assistance? What do bystanders risk when they intervene and when they do not get involved? 

At the end of the film, Damas Gisimba stated that hatred must be "banished" to make the world a peaceful place. Reflect on that and answer the following: 

1. What is "hatred?" When is it dangerous?
2. What are examples of different forms of hatred in the global community?
3. Can hatred be banished? 
4. What would it take to banish hatred? 
5. Whose responsibility is it to work to end hatred or to respond when hatred provokes violence?