HUMAN DEVELOPMENT – Page 111

Climate Change2013-11-182023-07-10

Health Issues On The Margins Of UN Conference

By Richard Johnson | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

WARSAW (IDN) – They are not in the limelight. But experts are drawing attention to the human health dimension of climate change at the global climate change talks in Poland’s capital Warsaw scheduled to conclude on November 22.

Dr Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum of the World Health Organization (WHO) has delivered “five health messages” for COP 19, the 19th Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). A scientist and team leader in WHO’s Climate Change and Health Unit, Dr Campbell-Lendrum says:

Climate Change2013-11-072023-07-10

Warsaw Meet Crucial To Combat Climate Change

By Jutta Wolf | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

BERLIN (IDN) – Dangers are lurking all around but appropriate action can help avoid perilous levels of climate change. Much hope is therefore pinned on the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) from November 11 to 22 in Warsaw.

USA and Canada2013-11-062023-07-12

When Freedom and Sovereignty Are Hollow Words

By Julio Godoy* | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

BARCELONA (IDN) The German political comedian Karl Valentin once coined a wonderful phrase to parody the cowardice of people who betray their own will: “Mögen hätt’ ich schon wollen,” Valentin mocked them, “aber dürfen habe ich mich nicht getraut.” Loosely translated: “I actually would have loved to want, but I did not dare to can.”

Valentin’s grim humour is a perfect match for the present predicament of European governments vis-à-vis the U.S. and British global surveillance of telecommunications, revealed by the brave Edward Snowden. All heads of governments, from Angela Merkel in Germany to Mariano Rajoy in Spain, passing through François Hollande of France, have expressed their alleged outrage towards the U.S. spying of their official and private telephone and Internet communications. All of them have used the same expression: What the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and the British Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) have been doing all these years is “unacceptable.”

Latin America & the Caribbean2013-10-312023-07-12

Mixed Praise For Chile’s Economic Performance

By J C Suresh | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

TORONTO (IDN) – Chile has received kudos for making significant economic progress in the previous three years but has been faulted for “some glaring inequalities”. A new study finds that – together with Mexico – Chile displays “the greatest inequality gap” in the 34-nation Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The average income of the wealthiest 10 percent in Chile and Mexico is 27 times that of the poorest 10 percent, in other words, a ratio of 27 to 1. By contrast, the OECD average is around 10 to 1, informs the 2013 Economic Survey of Chile.

USA and Canada2013-10-252023-07-12

‘Endless Enemies’ Inflict US Foreign Policy

By Julio Godoy | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

BARCELONA (IDN) – During the early 1980s, distinguished U.S. international affairs journalist Jonathan Kwitny started a journey throughout the world, to analyse his country’s foreign policy since the late 1940s. Kwitny, who had reported among other media for the Wall Street Journal, came to a disparaging conclusion: The U.S., which had emerged as the champion of the “free” world for its decisive intervention against Nazi Germany and Fascist Japan, and as such stood against the Soviet Union, did not care for democracy and human rights, but only for what its governments considered as “national interests”.

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT2013-10-232023-07-10

Sweden Commended For Global Development Aid

By Richard Johnson | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

PARIS (IDN) – At a time when international development cooperation does not draw public focus, a new report highlights Sweden’s significant contribution to assisting countries in need of money they cannot afford to muster on capital markets. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Sweden provided USD 5.24 billion in official development assistance (ODA) in 2012. This amounted to 0.99 percent of its gross national income (GNI) – in excess of the United Nations’ target of 0.7 percent of GNI.

Latin America & the Caribbean2013-10-222023-07-12

Latin America: Headwinds Challenging Progress

By J C Suresh | IDN-InDepth NewsReport

TORONTO (IDN) – Latin America has achieved economic growth and made significant progress in poverty reduction over the course of the last decade. But it is now facing headwinds, according to the latest Latin American Economic Outlook.

Jointly produced by the OECD Development Centre, the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UN ECLAC) and CAF – Development Bank of Latin America, the report was released in Panama City during the XXIII Ibero-American summit on October 18-19, 2013.

“Between 2003 and 2012, the region grew at an average annual rate of 4% thanks to the rapid rise of global trade and increasing commodity prices, and this despite the contraction brought about by the international financial crisis,” states the report.

Latin America & the Caribbean2013-10-122023-07-12

Female Share in Latam Labour Market Rising

By Oscar Ugarteche, Valentina Ballesté* | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

QUITO (IDN) – With no haste, but without pause, the participation of women in the labour market has seen accelerated growth since the 1970s, according to the Panorama Laboral 2012 of the International Labour Organization (ILO). There is a gradual closing of the differences in participation between men and women in the labour force.

The participation rate of women in Latin America in 2012 was 49.8%, the employment rate was 40.2% and the unemployment rate 7.7%, while for men the participation rate was 71.4%, employment 59.8% and unemployment 5.6%. (1)

USA and Canada2013-10-102023-07-12

Iran-US Relations: Restoration Benefits Both

By Nasser Saghafi-Ameri* | IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

TEHRAN (IDN | Iran Review) – After nearly 35 years of estrangement between Iran and the United States, a short phone call between President Rouhani and President Obama on September 27, 2013 culminated into a marathon diplomacy which started few days earlier at the United Nations and following the blessing of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei in what he qualified as ‘Heroic Flexibility’.

USA and Canada2013-10-022023-07-12

Latin America: Anti-US Rhetoric Does Not Overshadow Trade

By Luisa Parraguez, Francisco Garcia Gonzalez, Joskua Tadeo*
IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

MEXICO CITY (IDN | Yale Global) – The Latin American blogosphere held its breath when Bolivian president Evo Morales’s plane was forced to land in Vienna in July. As European authorities searched for former U.S. National Security Agency contract worker Edward Snowden on board, Twitter accounts of South American presidents exploded with resentment.

The continent denounced the United States for extending its hemispheric supremacy to Europe, sputtered words like “colonialism” and “imperialism,” and claimed that the incident violated the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Argentina’s President Cristina Kirchner called the incident “not only humiliating to a sister nation, but also for the whole South American continent.”