Editing, commentary by Carolyn Bennett
Copenhagen, Denmark, 1995 hosted the
World Summit for Social Development. In the ‘Copenhagen Declaration’ more than 100
political leaders pledged to make these their overriding objectives: the conquest of poverty and full employment; stable, safe, and just societies; and to
put people at the center of development plans.
MENA: Middle East and North Africa
The ILO reports, “Youth unemployment in MENA countries remains
the highest in the world” (2013 percentages):
27.2 percent in the Middle East;
More than 29 percent in North Africa
More than twice the global average:
e.g., youth unemployment
Morocco 19 percent
Algeria and Lebanon over 22 percent
Egypt 25 percent
Jordan and Saudi Arabia closer to
30 percent
Occupied Palestinian Territory around
40 percent
 |
| MENA |
Tunisia over 42 percent
“In many MENA countries, educational attainment actually
increases the risk of joblessness, e.g., unemployment rates for those with
tertiary (higher or post-secondary) education
Saudi Arabia over 43 percent
Occupied Palestinian Territory 24
percent
United Arab Emirates and in Morocco
22 percent
Tunisia 14 percent
Algeria over 11 percent
“…Education systems in other countries, such as Egypt and
Jordan, struggle to deliver graduates with the necessary skills for finding
productive jobs. Overall many young people in the (MENA) region are both
overqualified and under-qualified for available positions compared to countries
in other regions at similar levels of development.
 |
| Sub-Saharan Africa |
In Lebanon 38 percent of surveyed firms showed labour skill
levels “to be one of the key constraints”; and the same finding in the Syrian
Arab Republic 36 percent; in Jordan 33 percent; in Egypt 31 percent. [Ref.
World Bank’s Enterprise Surveys]
The region of Sub-Saharan Africa, also affected by wars and conflict,
foreign exploitation and plunder and internal corruption, is even worse off in
terms of education, opportunity, and advancement and infrastructural
development than the MENA region. Though “some progress has been made in
reducing the proportion of people living in poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa,” the
report says, this region “has seen a steady rise in the absolute number of extremely
poor people.”
Conflict, Forced Migration, Enforced Inequality
“Skills mismatches in most MENA countries are worsened
because the educational systems are characterized by significant inequalities.
Students coming from a disadvantaged background have less chance of completing
their primary education. They also have a lower probability of gaining access
to better quality education. Therefore, they will be less able to access
university educations.
“This inequality is aggravated by the rapid decline in
public investment in education. The unequal distribution and – on average –
inadequate quality of education reduce the returns that many people receive
from their education and prevent the region from benefiting from the large
overall investment they make in education. At the same time, the fact that only
a few possess the skills actually required by local businesses creates
substantial wage premiums, such as may be earned, for instance, by returning
migrants in Egypt, who are often perceived as being more adequately educated.”
At war in MENA, U.S. feeds 1 percent, neglects 99 percent
“The rise in corporate profits and inexpensive borrowing did
not spark an investment boom in the real economy. Rather, companies have
decided to pay larger and larger dividends to their shareholders. …Taking
advantage of ultra-low interest rates to buy back shares and increasing dividend
payments to shareholders alongside persistently weak hiring [is] seen as a choice
to invest an increasing proportion of available corporate funds into financial
capital, as opposed to into physical capital or into expanding the workforce.
In the United States these trends have further worsened income inequality.
“Between 2009 and 2012 in the United States, average family
incomes of the top 1 percent of households grew by 31.4 percent while the
incomes of the bottom 99 per cent of households grew by only 0.4 percent.”
Accordingly, “the top 1 percent in the United States captured 95 percent of
aggregate income gains in the first two years of the recovery” [Ref. Saez
(2013)].
ILO Report concludes
June 2009 was in the midst of the sharpest downturn in
global economic activity since the Great Depression of the 1930s and “[f]our and a half years
later… the global labour market remains deeply scarred by this crisis. … [R]ecent
years have seen a tendency towards aggressive fiscal consolidation and
overreliance on expansionary monetary policy, with far less international
coordination. Not surprisingly, the economic recovery has weakened, and many
labour markets remain deeply distressed. Inequality continues to increase in
many parts of the world.”
World Day of Social Justice?
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said some nice words this
week as he always does on such commemorative occasions. “Social justice is more
than an ethical imperative,” he said, “it is a foundation for national
stability and global prosperity. Equal opportunity, solidarity and respect for
human rights – these are essential to unlocking the full productive potential
of nations and peoples.” But does the few super rich who are also at war with
the world want the world’s peoples to realize their potential? I don’t think
they do.
ILO Director-General Juan Somavia also reportedly expressed
some nice words. “Achieving a fair globalization,” he said, “calls for a new
vision of society and economy, with a balanced approach to the role of state,
markets and society and a clear understanding of the possibilities and
limitations of individual action in that framework. Action must go beyond
simply recovering growth – we will not get out of the crisis with the same
policies that led to it. We need to move toward a new era of social justice.”
|
N
|
ice words all round but you cannot speak seriously of
justice without talking about the violence that is being perpetrated endlessly
on the world by powers who traffic arms, promote conflict, engage in war, corrupt
leaders, constantly intimidate citizens, deny their advancement and force them
from their homes, further impoverishing them and their homelands.
Last month in issuing the report “Humanity divided,” Helen
Clark, head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), said, “It is
only through the action and voices of many that we will be able to curb one of
the greatest moral and practical challenges of our times: the quest for
equality, shared prosperity, and human well-being.”
All these years and we are still questing. Why is that? Because those in inordinate power have a vested interest in maintaining this unconscionable state of inequality, that's why.
Sources and notes
“GLOBAL EMPLOYMENT TRENDS 2014: Risk of a Jobless Recovery” International
Labour Organization report
Copyright © International Labour Organization 2014
First published 2014
Publications of the International Labour Office enjoy
copyright under Protocol 2 of the Universal Copyright Convention. Nevertheless,
short excerpts from them may be reproduced without authorization, on condition
that the source is indicated. For rights of reproduction or translation,
application should be made to ILO Publications (Rights and Permissions),
International Labour Office, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland, or by email:
pubdroit@ilo.org. The International Labour Office welcomes such applications.
Libraries, institutions and other users registered with
reproduction rights organizations may make copies in accordance with the
licences issued to them for this purpose. Visit www.ifrro.org to find the
reproduction rights organization in your country.
GLOBAL EMPLOYMENT TRENDS 2014006.65
http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/---publ/documents/publication/wcms_233953.pdf
World day of Social Justice 2014, http://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/who-we-are/ilo-director-general/statements-and-speeches/WCMS_235779/lang--en/index.htm
ILO Director-General: 'We are faced with a deep social
crisis, a crisis too of social justice'
As the world marks the Day of Social Justice, ILO
Director-General Guy Ryder urges 'policy-makers to converge on the ambition of
a real global socio-economic recovery – a recovery for all – and a Post-2015
Development Agenda that helps lift all out of poverty.'
February 20: World Day of Social Justice
http://www.un-ngls.org/spip.php?page=article_s&id_article=3136
World Day of Social Justice Observances,
http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/un/world-social-justice-day
Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1995 hosted
the World Summit for Social Development out of which emerged “the Copenhagen
Declaration and Programme of Action.” More than 100 political leaders pledged
to make the conquest of poverty and full employment, as well as stable, safe
and just societies, their overriding objectives. They also agreed on the need
to put people at the center of development plans.
On November 26, 2007, the UN
General Assembly named February 20 as the annual World Day of Social Justice, scheduled
for its first observance in 2009.
See also
“Warning of ‘humanity divided,’ UN urges job creation,
inclusive growth strategies” http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=47039&Cr=inequality&Cr1=#.Uwe8-2JdV7I
January 29, 2014 – Raising the
alarm against deepening income disparities in countries around the world, the
head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) called for a shift to
more inclusive growth patterns – supported by redistributive polices and
changes in social norms.… “‘Inequalities on today’s levels are unjust… and they
also impede human progress,’” Helen Clark said in releasing the agency’s new
report ‘Humanity Divided: Confronting Inequality in Developing Countries’ that
reveals income inequality increased by 11 percent in developing countries over
the decades 1990-2010.
___________________________________________________
Bennett's books are available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire http://www.facebook.com/#!/bennetts2ndstudy
___________________________________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment