State of World Population 2012 By Choice, Not By Chance
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- Written by UNFPA
- Category: Documents
“…..All human beings—regardless of age, sex, race or income—are equal in dignity and rights.
Yet 222 million women in developing countries are unable to exercise the human right to voluntary family planning.
Earth First? Bolivia’s Mother Earth Law Meets the Neo-Extractivist Economy
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- Written by Eily Achtenberg - Rebel Currents
- Category: Analysis
While the U. S. courts have granted civil rights to corporations, Bolivia has enacted a new law enshrining the legal rights of nature. The “Law of Mother Earth and Integral Development for Living Well,” promulgated by President Evo Morales on October 15, establishes eleven rights of Mother Earth, including the right to life, biodiversity, pure water, clean air, and freedom from genetic modification and contamination.
Read more: Earth First? Bolivia’s Mother Earth Law Meets the Neo-Extractivist Economy
Extreme Poverty is violence
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- Written by ATD Fourth World
- Category: Analysis
“Extreme poverty is violence. Alongside the violence of deprivation exists another equally extreme form of it: the humiliation and contempt that denies a person’s humanity, ‘like we were not even humans’. This attitude leads to many types of violence: continual disrespect, humiliation, discrimination, verbal abuse, and denial of basic rights. This can go as far as physical blows at school, work, and in the street,” according to the final report of an “action-research project” developed by the International Movement ATD Fourth World on the connections between extreme poverty, violence and peace.
Social Protection and Access to Essential Services
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- Written by Tina Ebro
- Category: Analysis
Report on the Plenary Meeting of the 9th Asia–Europe People’s Forum, Vientiane, October 2012.
Introduction: Multiple Crises
A multiple crisis has been buffeting affluent states such as the US and those of the European Union for the past five years. While the main focus has been on the financial aspects of the crisis, with its terrible effects on jobs and debt, in fact the crisis manifests itself in many ways. The multiple, overlapping global crises of food insecurity, volatile energy and climate change are just the most obvious manifestations of today’s grave problems. This has all led to a loss of confidence in the international economic system and agencies of global governance. The developing countries of Asia, which did not cause the crisis, are nonetheless severely affected by it. Many parts of Asia already experienced an economic recession in 2009–10 and all the indicators are that severe social catastrophes are imminent. This combination of interrelated crises creates huge challenges for social activists from both Asia and Europe, challenges that demand our immediate and concerted action.
Read more: Social Protection and Access to Essential Services
World Wealth Report 2012
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- Written by Credit Suisse
- Category: Documents
Another shocking but interesting World Wealth Report
The Buoyant Billions: How middle class are the new middle classes in developing countries? And why does it matter?
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- Written by Andy Summer - CGD
- Category: Analysis
Middle-income countries are now home to most of the world's extreme poor. At the same time these MICs are also home to a drastically expanding emerging middle class ... but are these middle classes also free of the risk of falling into poverty?
Right to Water
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- Written by Amnesty International
- Category: Analysis
The UN Human Rights Council at its 21st session adopted resolution 21/2 on “The human right to safe drinking water and sanitation” by consensus. This statement reflects on the developments with regard to that resolution.
At the 21st session, for the first time all delegations accepted the reaffirmation of the right to sanitation. All States accepted the reaffirmation that the rights to water and sanitation are derived from the right to an adequate standard of living. Amnesty International welcomes these developments; however it would like to see the Council’s progress on the rights to water and sanitation reflect the content of these rights.
Transparency as Funding for the MDGs
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- Written by Ann Hoillingshead - GFI
- Category: Analysis
In September at the turn of this century, the leaders of the world convened at the Millennium Assembly of the United Nations. The Assembly was the culmination of nearly a decade of United Nations summits and conferences to address development and poverty. It was in 2000, however, that the world’s leaders adopted the United Nations Millennium Declaration, a commitment to a noble new partnership to drastically reduce poverty worldwide. All 193 member states of the United Nations and 23 organizations have agreed to achieve a set of eight goals by 2015.
Declining Inequality in Latin America in the 2000s
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- Written by Nora Lustif et al.
- Category: Analysis
"…..Between 2000 and 2010, the Gini coefficient declined in 13 of 17 Latin American countries. The decline was statistically significant and robust to changes in the time interval, inequality measures, and data sources. In depth country studies for Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico suggest two main phenomena underlie this trend: a fall in the premium to skilled labor and more progressive government transfers.
The fall in the premium to skills resulted from a combination of supply, demand, and institutional factors. Their relative importance depends on the country…”
Read this World Bank paper
Chinese Economy Lost $3.79 Trillion in Illicit Financial Outflows Since 2000, Reveals New GFI Report
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- Written by GFI
- Category: Documents
The Chinese economy hemorrhaged US$3.79 trillion in illicit financial outflows from 2000 through 2011, according to a new report [PDF] released today by Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a Washington, DC-based research and advocacy organization. Amidst increased domestic concern over inequality and corruption, GFI’s study raises serious questions about the stability of the Chinese economy merely two weeks before the once-in-a-decade leadership transition.
The World Bank's new 'Doing Business' Report 2013: Unfounded claims about deregulation
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- Written by ITUC
- Category: Analysis
