The world's happiest countries, breast-ironing in Cameroon and a sea-migrants' lament - rap-style...

Where in the world do you think the people are happiest? The Pacific islands of Vanuatu? Well, maybe - they've got palm trees and beaches and sunshine and peace. They're so low-lying that the sea will wash over them before too long and the population will probably have to move elsewhere, but that hasn't stopped Vanuatu being listed as number one in a Happy Planet Index by British think tank New Economics Foundation (nef).

The index rates residents' perception of their own happiness, but then combines it with life expectancy and factors in each country's negative impact on the environment.

So the top 10 after Vanuatu are Colombia - the place with the world's second-highest number of internally displaced people after Sudan - followed by Costa Rica, Dominica, Panama, Cuba, Honduras, El Salvador and St. Vincent and Grenadines.

Dominica and St. Vincent are both in the Caribbean. Panama and Costa Rica are pretty calm. But are Guatemalans, Colombians and Salvadorans really among the happinest in the world? These are places where most people - from the rich elite to the poorest people living in shantytowns and villages, plus everyone in between - is worried their children are going to be stabbed, shot or abducted in the street or on a bus. And that's without even mentioning a series of wars that has killed over 200,000 people in the past three decades.

The New Economics Foundation wants to get across the message that you don't have to be rich to be happy. Fair enough. But I would say that just because you have a life expectancy of 55+, and you live in a country without many factories or private cars, it doesn't mean your life is automatically full of hope and roses.

"Breast-ironing"

Mothers in the west African country of Cameroon are so worried about their daughters being exposed to sexual harassment and even rape that it's a widespread practice to iron girls' breasts to try to stop them developing, a Reuters journalist reports.

"I did it to my two girls when they were eight years old. I would take a grinding stone, heat it in the fire and press it hard on the breasts," Philomene Moungang told Tansa Mousa, reporting from Cameroon's capital Yaounde.

"They cried and said it was painful. But I explained it was for their own good." Moungang eventually stopped ironing her daughters when one of them developed blisters and abcesses.

A survey says one in four teenagers have had this done to them, which means about 4 million women in Cameroon have probably gone through it.

It's more common in the Christian and animist south of the country than the Muslim north, where only 10 percent of women are affected.

Now the practice has been exposed, there's a government campaign to try to stamp it out, since as well as being extremely painful, it can stop one or both breasts appearing, lead to problems producing breast milk, and even contribute to cancer.

A lament for African migrants

The plight of poor African migrants heading to Europe on rickety boats in search of a better life has received a fair amount of media attention in recent months. But, according to an analysis story by Reuters, a conference of European and African ministers held this week to tackle the issue failed to get to grips with the reasons behind the widening wealth gap between the northern and southern hemispheres.

While that persists, it seems fairly obvious that economic migrants will keep on coming...as pointed out by DJ Awadi, one of Senegal's best-known rappers, in his song Sunugaal (Our Canoe). This funky tune, which isn't officially released until later this week, has been posted up on the internet with a slideshow of photos that movingly depict the tough experiences of those making the 100km (60-mile) journey across the Atlantic Ocean to the Canary Islands.

DJ Awadi told the BBC he had put the song online not to create a marketing buzz (though it might just help), but because he wanted to educate people. "We can't close our eyes. We have a duty to criticise for things to improve," he said.

The lyrics of the song sum up the bleak situation that forces thousands of Africans to undertake the perilous journey to Europe: "You promised me I would have a job / You promised me I would have food / You promised me I would have real work and hope / But so far - nothing / That's why I am leaving, that's why I am taking off in this canoe / Swearing not to stay here a second longer / I would prefer to die than to live in this hell."

Time for those who rail against illegal migration without considering the causes to listen up...

Ruth Gidley and Megan Rowling
AlertNet journalists