On the occasion of Women’s Day, a series of graphic graphics by the UK’s DFID on the situation of women and girls in developing countries focusing on obstacles to personal and corresponding overall economic & societal development:
The WHO has launched the World Report on Disability. As the Guardian reports that “disability is less about health conditions and more about social and economic barriers to inclusion.” “Aid donors should not be funding projects that are not inclusive to people with disabilities,” Tom Shakespeare, one of the co-authors of the Report is quoted. “Disability must be seen as a development issue, says the report, but like obesity and ageing, it is an issue that transcends the traditional north-south distinctions,” writes the Guardian.
The Guardian reports on findings by the High Pay Commission, which suggests that current trends unaltered, the gap between the very rich and the poor could reach levels last seen under the reign of Queen Victoria by 2030.
ISDE Bangladesh highlights the results of excluding minorities from census data. During the 2001 census, “a large number of minorities from Hindu and Christian were excluded from counting. In an Upazila, Mohammadpur of Magura the 2001 census shown that the Hindu Population was 21,808 where the number of Hindu voters was 35,503,” in the 2008 voter list. Also, people of Christian faith were grossly underrepresented in census data. ISDE calls for inclusion, also of Dalit people in the upcoming 2011 census.
CBM Australia has launched a campaign, “End the Cycle” on the need to empower persons with disabilities to stop the sequence of persons with disabilities being among the poorest of the poor on account of being invisible, marginalized and excluded. Sign up here to support the call.
The NYTimes reports that India is discussing the constitutional recognition of the right to food. While obviously part of a political debate, which also eyes likely effects in upcoming elections, the essential question is: should there be a right, an entitlement to have access to basic food stuffs?
On July 28 2010 the United Nations’ General Assembly declared access to clean water a human right. So far, access to water has been interpreted as part of the right to food as enshrined in Article 11 of the Covenant on Economic & Social Rights, which states inter alia:
The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions.
The Committee charged with monitoring the implementation of the Covenant and its interpretation, in 2002 explained in great detail why water is an essential part of food, declaring:
The human right to water is indispensable for leading a life in human dignity. It is a prerequisite for the realization of other human rights.
The move by the General Assembly adds to this the weight of a resolution, recognizing the importance of access to clean water on a human rights based approach.
The BBC relays a study reported by the British Medical Journal suggesting that health related inequality is currently greater than it was during the Great Depression in the 1920ies.
As part of its Demand Dignity Campaign, amnesty international, in its Report From Promises to Delivery demands that the fight against poverty – the spear head of the Millennium Development Campaign – be based on human rights.
The Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty, Magdalena Sepulveda in her Report to the Human Rights Council warns that the changing of societal patterns and family living arrangements means that older persons are at an increased risk of extreme poverty.
“Societies are abandoning traditional care practices,” the Special Rapporteur warns and calls on systemic measures such as realization of the right to social protection through universal pensions.
The United Nations have set eight goals to be reached by 2015: halving poverty, ensuring universal primary education for all among others. Persons with disabilities are largely being left out of the policies and programs put in place to reach the so called Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The General Assembly of the United Nations has adopted a resolution calling for the realization of the MDGs also for persons with disabilities. The world’s parliament among others calls for ‘explicit’ mention of persons with disabilities in the upcoming review of the goals. The Journal for Disability & Development has published an analysis of the resolution. More information on the issue can also be found at www.IncludeEverybody.org
The Guardian reports about a Report by the National Equality Panel. It highlights income disparities: “richest 10% is more than 100 times better off than the poorest 10%”. An unemployed father of three observes:
“If you don’t feel secure, you are always on tenterhooks, you snap at the children. It is a mental strain. Sometimes you feel you just want to roll over and give up. Your resilience is worn away, there is nothing left to rely on.”
Data of the report can be found here.
As the tragedy in Haiti unfolds, the Wall Street Journal observes: “while natural calamities do not discriminate between rich countries and poor ones, their effects almost invariably do (…) The difference is a function of a wealth-generating and law-abiding society that can afford, among other things, the expense of proper building codes.”
In an Op-Ed in the Observer, singer Régine Chassagne states:
“Many Haitians expect to be let down. History shows they are right to feel that way. Haitians know that they have been wronged many, many times. What we are seeing on the news right now is more than a natural disaster. This earthquake has torn away the veil and revealed the crushing poverty that has been allowed by the west’s centuries of disregard.”
Happy New Year! The European Union is dedicating 2010 to the fight against poverty and social exclusion, see EU framework on poverty + social exclusion.
(The image states: I (HEART) RAEDNIG – 42 million Americans are functionally illiterate. Join Jumpstart in the fight against illiteracy.)
There are many initiatives to boost people’s ability to read and write, as the right to education and attain the skills to read and write are still not being fulfilled for many people. A particularly striking campaign is underway in the United States, where jumpstart is using the famous “I love New York” icon to highlight the need to ensure that everyone has a chance to learn to read and write:
(The image states: I (HEART) NWE YROK – 22% of New Yorkers can’t read. Join Jumpstart in the fight against illiteracy.)
FAIR – Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting – takes a critical look at the discussion of “poverty” as the economic crisis widens and deepens. Not entirely surprisingly there are some traps the mass-media are falling into. The stereotypes of the “good times” are maintained as the focus is not on low-income poor who have been stuck on the margines of society for years and are hit hardest by the economic down-turn but rather on the newly poor who by and large have a middle-class background.
Speaking of poverty, Peter Singer observes “There is a psychological difficulty in really thinking seriously about large-scale poverty when it happens far away from you and you don’t know the people involved,” in a discussion of his new book – The Life You can Save: Ending World Poverty Now.
In a rare interview, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Mohamed ElBaradei tells the LATimes he is “talking more and more about poverty, HIV-/AIDS” because the “nuclear issue is the tip of the iceberg” and world leaders need to address “broader unease about security, poverty and perceived injustice.”
Having to pull myself out of the numbness that sometimes surrounds me in highlighting the effects of poverty on people in poor countries, it is always particularly disturbing to witness the effects of poverty in those parts of the world where one would assume there is plenty for all: the Guardian reports on poverty as the primary cause for child mortality in the United Kingdom.
In addition to the growing gap between rich and poor the report of British network End Child Poverty points out that poor families are at a factor 10 more likely to loose their child due to suddent infant death than better-off families. It also highlights a fact usually a standard in reports from developing countries: the underweight of children born into poor families.
The right to food is a recognized human right. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in December 1948, proclaims that “everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself (herself!) and of his (her!) family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care ..” (Article 25 of the Declaration). Now that food prices for basic foods are soaring and global food stocks are lower than expected, there is fear that hunger and therewith poverty will not decrease – as is the plan of the 2015Millennium Development Goals – but rather increase and spread into areas of society where it was not expected.