Decent Work & Economic Growth

Photo: Cambodian-Thai border courtesy of www.cambodiantr.gov.kh

ASEAN Chairman Duterte Pushes For Migrant Protection Treaty

By Kalinga Seneviratne

BANGKOK (IDN) - Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has signaled his intention to push harder for the adoption of a binding regional treaty to protect the human rights of migrant workers during his chairmanship of ASEAN (Association of South east Asian Nations) this year.

Though he is strongly supported by Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo, human rights advocates in the region fear that ASEAN’s “consensus” based decision making process may hinder these attempts because Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand may not agree to a binding treaty to protect migrant workers in their countries.

Though the ‘ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers’ was adopted a decade ago, there has been no attempt until now to give it some teeth in terms of a binding treaty.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 27 February 2017

Photo: Worker in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Something is Rotten in the State of Social Equality

By Phil Harris

ROME (IDN) - Amid persistent strong uncertainty about the global employment scenario, working poverty – particularly in emerging countries – is expected to increase as unemployment rises and the gender gap in the labour force increases.

So much for the optimism expressed when the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were launched in September 2015 to promote "sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all” and achieve “gender equality and empower all women and girls”.

: Phil Harris; SUSTAINABILITY; Gender Equality; 20 January 2017

Security Council Resolves to Halt Human Trafficking

By Santo D Banerjee

NEW YORK | VIENNA (IDN) – Human trafficking is a global problem particularly affecting people fleeing armed conflict, including women, children, internally displaced persons and refugees who are forced into modern slavery that fetches its perpetrators some $150 billion.

The UN Security Council is determined to put an end to this serious crime and violation of human rights, and has passed a resolution, which the Executive Director of the Vienna-based United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Yury Fedotov, describes as "historic".

“The resolution offers a powerful recognition by the international community that persons desperately fleeing armed conflict are especially vulnerable to trafficking in persons and to other forms of exploitation,” said the UNODC Chief, according to UN Information Service (UNIS) in Vienna.

: Santo D. Banerjee; UN INSIDER; 21 December 2016

Photo: Tanzania is one of the sub-Saharan African countries which have attracted growing interest from foreign investors. Credit: Kizito Makoye Shigela | IDN-INPS

Tanzania Adopts New Policy to Curb Land Grabbing

By Kizito Makoye Shigela

DAR ES SALAAM (ACP-IDN) – Tanzania has adopted a new national land policy which, among others, lowers the ceiling under which foreign investors can lease land from the current 99 to 33 years.

The new policy comes barely months after the East African nation embarked on a campaign to seize “idle” land and deter “rogue investors” from using it for speculative purposes.

The government has repeatedly accused some investors of hoarding swathes of land without developing it, while using the land as collateral for securing bank loans or selling it later at a higher price.

: IDN-INPS Middle East & Africa Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 17 December 2016

Photo: An overview of the SGI-EIC event at the UN. Credit: Tsuneo Yabusaki.

UN's New Development Agenda Assigns a Key Role for Youth

By Rodney Reynolds

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has continued to reiterate the key role to be played by youth in the implementation of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, points out that many young people across the world have been disproportionately affected by economic crises and recession.

“As torch bearers of the new development agenda, you have a critical role to play in ending poverty, inequality, hunger and environmental degradation. Your actions will be central in ushering in an era in which no one is left behind,” he told a gathering of youth.

: Rodney Reynolds; SUSTAINABILITY; Decent Work & Economic Growth; 13 November 2016

Photo: 4th Annual Youth Assembly at the UN

Marketable Youth Skills – Today's Challenge

Analysis by Dr Palitha Kohona

Former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in New York.

COLOMBO (IDN) - As the youth component of the global population increases, a new problem of critical magnitude is slowly creeping up on policy makers, especially in developing countries.

Many developing countries, consistent with their commitments under the Millennium Development Goals, some with great difficulty, have provided basic literacy and health care to their populations. But providing employment to these millions who possess basic literacy has not been successfully addressed.

: Dr. Palitha Kohona; UN INSIDER; 27 October 2016

Women at work preparing the field for the next rainy season – Niger. Photo: FAO/Giulio Napolitano

FAO-NEPAD Effort to Create Jobs for African Rural Youth

ROME (IDN) - The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) have agreed to generate job and business opportunities for young people in rural Benin, Cameroon, Malawi, and Niger.

FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva and NEPAD Planning and Coordination Agency (NPCA) Chief Executive Officer Ibrahim Assane Mayaki signed an agreement for the purpose on October 19. The project to be implemented with the help of a $4 million grant from the Africa Solidarity Trust Fund seeks to foster policy dialogue among countries, regional organizations, development and resource partners.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 20 October 2016

Photo: Vladimer Vaishvili | UNDP Georgia

Sustainable Development at Risk in E. Europe, Central Asia

By Jaya Ramachandran

BERLIN | BRUSSELS (IDN) - Unless adequate steps are taken with relentless determination, the core objective of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed by all member states of the United Nations in September 2015, which recommend that "no one be left behind", will not be achieved in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

This is the crux of a United Nations report titled 'Progress at Risk', published on October 12 in Brussels. Goals 8 and 10 of the SDGs – aiming to "promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all" and "reduce inequality within and among countries" – are being ignored.

: Jaya Ramachandran; UN INSIDER; 13 October 2016

Mountain Women Give a Spin to a Prickly Plant

By Stella Paul

In the upper Himalayan villages of India, hundreds of women have been finding a livelihood in the fiber of a pariah plant: the itchy nettle.

MANA VILLAGE, India (IDN) - Under a grey sky in Mana, the last Indian village before the border of Tibet begins, 36-year-old Bhotiya woman Gayatri Raut is trying hard to sell a basketful of knitwear to the visitors. A few more weeks and the entire population of Mana will migrate to a village far down the mountain to avoid heavy snowfall and extreme cold.

: Stella Paul; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 08 October 2016

Photo: Under Vision 2030, the agriculture sector in Kenya is to be made more innovative, commercially oriented and modern. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Kenyan Youth Need Jobs to Stem Radicalization

Viewpoint by Amina Mohamed and Siddharth Chatterjee

September 21 is the International Day of Peace. Ambassador Amina Mohamed (@AMB_A_Mohammed ), the Cabinet Secretary in Kenya's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Siddharth Chatterjee (@sidchat1), the United Nations Resident Coordinator to Kenya look into particular relevance of the Day for Kenya – its present and future.

NAIROBI (IDN) - Kenya has the largest number of jobless youth in East Africa, putting a strain on the economy’s growth and also threatening peace and security when hopeless youth gravitate towards violent extremist groups.