The study examines the continuing job crisis affecting young people in many parts of the world. It provides updated statistics on global and regional youth unemployment rates and presents ILO policy recommendations to curb the current trends.

 

 Executive summary of the "Global Employment Trends for Youth 2012"

  Full report: English [‎pdf 1092KB]‎

 More on 2012 Global Employment Trends for Youth

That South Africa is a noisy republic is a trait of which we should be proud. We are truly given to hyperbole. As the march of the Democratic Alliance (DA) on COSATU headquarters unfolded, focus in discussion was about the numbers on either side; who threw the first stone; and the scores of people who were injured.

With the professional football season coming to an end, the entertainment value of "the blues" and "the reds" at each other's throats cannot be underestimated. From the point of view of the DA, this marks the beginning of an uprising against 'the real centre of power' in South Africa as, in its opinion, government has ceded decision-making to the giant federation.

It cannot be that the DA did not expect a mass and angry response to the march, from COSATU and its allies. This is not merely because of the antagonism between these two organisations which, in broad terms, stand at the extreme ends of South Africa's fault-lines of race and class. It is also because the issue at hand - about measures required urgently to deal with the challenge of youth unemployment including a youth wage subsidy - is as critical as it is urgent and emotive.

In the end and because of the chaos that it certainly should have expected, the DA got the publicity it wanted - and perhaps a few votes to milk. The alignment of forces in the debate about a youth wage subsidy is indeed a strange one. On the one hand, government has put forward the proposal and, after some eight years of internal debate, resources have been allocated for its implementation.

The DA, ironically a ruling party in one of the provinces which decided to march on the headquarters of a union federation, claims it has started implementing the scheme. The National Planning Commission (NPC) has similarly called for "a tax subsidy to employers to reduce the initial cost of hiring young labour market entrants".

The ANC Youth League rejects the proposal. The National Youth Development Agency, staffed mainly by youth leaguers, has expressed support for the wage subsidy, on condition that there is effective monitoring of the system. Debate around this issue has been raging for many months now at the National Economic, Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC) involving government, business, workers and civil society. Indications are that we should not hold our breath, as a resolution will not come soon.

This is the actual tragedy. For, try as government may to devise long-term strategies and plans, these will take years to impact on employment generally and on youth marginalisation in particular. The global economic crisis is not helping either. What is needed is a raft of urgent interventions that will facilitate the school-to-work transition which is the bane of our society's economic and social wellbeing.

The statistics on youth marginalisation have been repeated many times: 70% of the unemployed are young people; in 2009, about half of 18-24 year-olds looking for work were unemployed; scores of thousands of university graduates are roaming the streets... To attack this problem and in addition to the 'young labour tax subsidy', the NPC also calls for driver training for school leavers; subsidy to the placement sector to prepare and place matric graduates; extension of the Expanded Public Works Programme and expansion of learnerships.

Coming back to the issue of the youth wage subsidy or whatever it may be called, where does COSATU's "callousness" against which the DA had to march originate? Why such "selfishness" on the part of employed workers? Naturally, a trade union movement has the responsibility to defend the interests of employed workers, its members. It should be expected to protest against measures it sees as having the potential to create a two-tier labour market which ultimately would lower labour standards across the board.

But why not accept this as a temporary intervention to absorb as many young people as possible into economic activity, expand the numbers of workers and potential union members, and from this beach-head push for improved standards?

The answer to these questions lies not only with COSATU and other opponents of the youth wage subsidy. It should also come from employers and all of society. This is because at the core of the wrangling on this issue is the fundamental question of trust, a crucial deficit in South Africa's macrosocial environment.

Youth wage subsidies all over the world have been shown to facilitate young people's entry into the labour market. But this is if they are implemented in a manner that deals with the many negative consequences that they can otherwise spawn.

Researchers on this issue have pointed to some of these challenges:

• Deadweight loss - employers will take advantage of the subsidy but employ people who would have been employed anyway.
• Substitution effect - employers will absorb subsidised young people and get rid of unsubsidised, and mostly older, workers.
• Displacement effects - firms and industries without subsidised workers will be crowded out and general employment negatively affected.
• Destructive churning - companies will take a group of subsidised workers and when the subsidy period for these comes to an end, they will simply replace them with new ones.
• Corruption - the system does lend itself to graft on a mass scale.
• And so, rather than urging for a thoughtless plunge, cogent arguments and effective measures to obviate these challenges need to be put on the table. In this regard, the NYDA may have a point in arguing that there needs to be a system of effective monitoring, which itself could also absorb young people. To the extent that these issues are addressed, generic slogans about a two-tier labour market system and poverty wages will not pass muster in the court of public opinion.

These are the issues that organised labour and organised business - led by government - have to urgently resolve. The hope, though, is that what one business commentator called "a silly" decision on the part of the DA to march on COSATU HQ, will not harden attitudes and scuttle the discussions under way.

And, sooner rather than later, government will have to weigh the pros and cons, and the capacity to obviate the potential negative effects of the subsidy, and take a decision.

Written by Joel Netshitenzhe, ANC NEC member and the Executive Director of the Mapungubwe Institute (MISTRA)

Unacknowledged Deaths

 

Non-governmental organisation (NGO) Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (Casac) released a report in response to the National Planning Commission’s (NPC’s) call for submissions on the National Development Plan (NDP) – Vision 2030 and urged citizens to become more involved in a participatory democracy in which citizens play an active role in the reconceptualisation, reconstruction and development of their country.

 

 

The report, titled ‘From Subject to Citizen: Let the People Govern’, provides a constructive critical assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the policy proposals of the NDP and of the underlying diagnostic studies on which it is based. The NPC proposed the NDP to eliminate poverty and reduce inequality by 2030. From Polity.org.za

Link to full report:  http://www.casac.org.za/?wpfb_dl=80

South Africa faces numerous challenges in preventing and reducing the levels of violence and crime. The burden of mortality and morbidity arising from violence and injury affects the lives of millions of individuals annually and continues to undermine social harmony and socio-economic development. This is, now more than ever, a national public health priority – one that needs to be monitored and controlled so as to limit the number of injuries and non-natural deaths in South Africa. However, inadequate data prevents institutions from accurately identifying the trends of firearm-related crime and its impact on society...

[More]

Lauren Tracey, Researcher, Transnational Threats and International Crime Division, ISS Pretoria

Facing the double disease burden in Sub-Saharan Africa: Is this inevitable? Written by Adanna Chukwuma

The patient profile in clinics all over the developing world is changing. Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) have already established themselves as the predominant cause of disease and death in many middle-income countries.(2) This trend is slowly emerging in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) where, to date, communicable diseases have been the primary challenge facing health care providers. Consequently, health systems in SSA that are still battling with infectious diseases are potentially faced with a fresh challenge, namely the double disease burden. This paper seeks to analyse the underlying factors with regard to this ‘double burden of disease’,(3) identify the potential effects on SSA and discuss the possibility of action to prevent the continuation of this trend... [More]

Contact Adanna Chukwuma through Consultancy Africa Intelligence’s Public Health Unit              (public.health@consultancyafrica.com). 

WHO's annual  2012 reports present the most recent health statistics for the WHO Member States.

 

SUMMARY BROCHURE

FULL REPORT

Sections:

• Table of contents and introduction
  pdf, 144kb

• Part I. Health-related Millennium Development Goals
  pdf, 437kb

• Part II. Highlighted topics
  pdf, 253kb

Part III. Global health indicators

 

Fact sheet N°290: Progress on the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

Oil companies and their human rights (ir)responsibilities Written by Christine Petré  Wednesday, 16 May 2012 08:02

In recent years, gas and oil discoveries have been made on the African continent in countries such as Mozambique,(2) Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda and on prospected fields in Kenya, Mali and Sierra Leone. Today, 19 African countries are important oil and/or gas producers, with six of these, namely Nigeria, Libya, Algeria, Angola (oil), Sudan (oil) and Egypt (gas), accounting for the majority of the production.(3) However, for many countries the resource discoveries have been a curse rather than a blessing. 

On the African continent there are numerous cases of the infamous resource curse and the so-called Dutch disease. Companies getting involved in resource-rich areas of Africa, many of which are ravaged by conflicts and poverty, face a series of obstacles. Some of these obstacles are connected to companies’ responsibilities under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that all individuals and organs of society, including companies and business enterprises, must protect and promote human rights.(4) Oil companies are often accused of hampering developing countries’ progress and violating human rights. Such accusations beg the questions: what can be expected from oil companies and what problems are they facing?

This paper discusses the human cost of oil by grouping human rights into two categories:  direct and indirect human rights atrocities. The direct human rights atrocities are defined in this paper as those caused by oil companies because of their presence and activities in a country. The indirect human rights abuses are the ones in which revenues from oil and gas do not reach the people to whom the natural resources belong. Instead, the revenues encourage authoritarian Governments, or simply reach a small elite, hampering development and thus, indirectly violating peoples’ rights...[More]

Contact Christine Petré through Consultancy Africa Intelligence's Rights in Focus unit (rights.focus@consultancyafrica.com).

The purpose of the 2012 South African Budget Guide and Dictionary is to provide an accurate description of the South African budget system so as to enhance the ability of stakeholders, such as Members of Parliament and civil society, to participate and hold fiscal authorities to account. Additionally, legislative support staff will be able to utilise this Guide as a reference source in their work.

Our aim remains fundamentally descriptive rather than evaluative. The reader is provided with a clear sense of the relevant concepts, players and processes in the South African budget system.

BBC Africa Debate discusses the issue of Africa's international image in Kampala.

Panellists: Thebe Ikalafeng, Robert Kabushenga, plus an audience of invited guests.

Presenters: Akwasi Sarpong and Fergus Nicoll. Last broadcast on Sun, 29 Apr 2012, 14:05 on BBC World Service

There will be some who argue that the way the continent has been portrayed is a true reflection of what is happening in several countries, such as Uganda.

And that no amount of spin can wash the country if there are no meaningful reforms.

They argue that such countries have to clean up in order to be viewed more positively.

Some argue that Africa can only influence her image abroad if it gets to control/own part of the global media market.

There is also a growing buzz of businessmen who feel that Africa's image is changing and that the continent labelled by The Economist in 2000 as the "Hopeless Continent", is now rising.

Last year, the same magazine pointed out that over the past decade, six of the world's ten fastest-growing countries were African; and this trend looks set to continue.

BBC Africa Debate will be asking: Africa's international image, is it justified or prejudiced?

What do people mean when they invoke the name "Africa"?

Do they refer to a race? A geography?

What informs the global image of the continent?

To what extent does it reflect reality - is the portrayal the problem or is the product faulty?

Why have attempts to clean up the continent's image been unsuccessful?

Can Africa ever influence the way it is portrayed globally?

Putting the New Vision for Agriculture into Action: A Transformation Is Happening

 

 

In order to feed a population of 9 billion in 2050, the world will need a New Vision for Agriculture - delivering food security, environmental sustainability and economic opportunity through agriculture. This will require producing more food with fewer resources while reinvigorating rural economies. It can only be achieved through collaboration, investment and innovation among all stakeholders. This report outlines the concrete actions that can be taken to achieve such a vision, and the tools we can use to measure progress. 

A number of countries are now undertaking ambitious efforts to achieve the New Vision through a transformation of their agriculture sectors, engaging in public-private collaboration and market-based approaches. The report outlines six elements that are essential stepping stones toward success in a large-scale transformation effort. These are illustrated by examples from national initiatives underway in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), the just released  flagship report titled World of Work Report: Better jobs for Better Economy provides a comprehensive analysis of recent labour market and social trends, assesses risks of social unrest and presents employment projections for the next five years.

 

 

 

The report addresses the following questions:

• To what extent has the slow recovery aggravated social conditions, including falling incomes, deepening poverty and worsening inequality?
• Have countries gone too far, too fast with fiscal consolidation? How should they support recovery while meeting fiscal goals in the medium term?
• What can be expected from recent labour market reforms?
• How can investment be boosted so as to ensure a long-lasting recovery in both the economy and jobs?
• What have been the barriers to implementing a more job-centred and equity-enhancing policy approach? Why has the business-as-usual scenario maintained its centrality despite the increasing risk of social unrest?

The full report is available in English pdf format. From UN Pulse

Previous reports

• World of Work Report 2011
• World of Work Report 2010

On December 17, 2012, a Tunisian street vendor, named Mohammed Bouazizi, set himself alight in protest at harassment and humiliation that he received at the hands of government officials. His self-immolation served as the catalyst that galvanised the population to embark on a revolution against long-serving leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali after 23 years in power. The toppling of Ben Ali was to have great ramifications for not only Tunisia, but for the region as a whole, as waves of protests spread throughout the Arab world resulting in regime change in Egypt and Libya.

This report seeks to provide insight into some of the root causes of what came to be known as the Arab Spring and to analyse the consequences that the uprisings have had on the political dynamic in Africa, with particular focus on the political dynamic within continental body – the African Union (AU), as well as the regional dynamic within the Arab League. By investigating the characteristics of each country that experienced regime change, it is possible to identify certain trends that will help to predict whether an Arab Spring-like uprising is possible in other African countries on the basis of shared or similar traits. In doing so, the report looks into the cases where regime change has occurred, specifically Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Although these States are not archetypal, a closer look into their political systems and culture, combined with the regional dynamics, may provide important clues as to why revolutions occurred in these countries.

Before proceeding it is important to note that the Arab Spring is a new and evolving phenomenon. There are no definitive truths regarding the events still occurring in the region and the full consequences are yet to be seen, as at the time of writing Egypt awaits a presidential election amid conflict between the civilian population and the Supreme Military Council (SMC), while Libya awaits an election that many hope promises civil governance after a drawn out civil war resulting in the death of former dictator Muammar Gadaffi. Further, Syria is locked in a violent struggle between protestors and President Bashar al-Assad. One should bear in mind that the situation in the region is volatile and unpredictable and should therefore, given the time of writing, be taken in context.

In analysing each specific uprising that resulted in regime change, namely Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, it is possible to identify characteristics that combined to result in popular protest and thereafter revolution.

The material contained in this report was compiled by Bradley Dubbleman and the Research Unit of Creamer Media

Link to full report:

http://us-cdn.creamermedia.co.za/assets/articles/attachments/39328_arab_spring.pdf

The ANC is bound to lose power before too long to a new party that is likely to emerge from an alliance between...The Frederik van Zyl Slabbert Institute for Student Leadership Development invited mr Moeletsi Mbeki to give a lecture at Stellenbosch University.

A new handbook has been released by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) entitled - Developing a Road Map for Engaging Diasporas in Development: A Handbook for Policymakers and Practitioners in Home and Host Countries By Dovelyn Rannveig Agunias and Kathleen Newland

The user-friendly guide, a project of MPI and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), offers a strategic road map for governments to build a constructive relationship with diasporas and examines the success and failure of policies, programs and initiatives undertaken to date. The handbook is divided into three parts and is based on in-depth interviews and consultations with government officials and non-governmental actors, and includes responses by 62 national governments to a two-part survey designed and administered for this project. From UN Pulse
Related Links:

Other Migration Policy Institute publications

Other MPI Diaspora Engagement Research

MPI Press Release

Have you seen UN CountryStats, a free data visualization app to compare key economic, social, environmental, trade, and area & population indicators for 216 countries and territories?

 

The commodity problematique continues to be of major concern in the twenty-first century, as the commodity sector constitutes the key economic activity in most Commodity-Dependent Developing Countries in terms of foreign exchange earning, fiscal revenues, income growth, employment creation and livelihood sustenance for over 2 billion people dependent on the agricultural sector.

 Commodities and Development Report, 2012

The Special Unit on Commodities of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), works as an autonomous unit on commodities. The Unit recently released several studies, including:

Commodities and Development Report 2012

Each edition of this flagship report contains a comprehensive, yet accessible, discussion of a selected topic of major relevance to policy-makers on commodity trade and development in Commodity Dependent Developing Countries.

The 2012 issue of the UCDR is analytical, topical and provides many interesting insights resulting from an in-depth analysis of how different commodities or commodity groups have been affected over the last decade by the commodity price boom, the ensuing crisis, and the emerging recovery; and what the implications are in terms of commodity-based development.

The first part of the 2012 report - Overview - has been released in English.

The State of Commodity Dependence 2012

This publication aims to provide an individual country overview of the commodity-related situation of 154 developing countries.It also contains graphs which present a regional and global perspective of commodity dependence in the developing world over the period 2009–2010. It is available in English.

Resources

• UNCTAD - Special Unit on Commodities
• Comtrad - United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database
• Variou UN reports on commodities

From UN Pulse

The UN Secretary-General  has issued his  first report to the General Assembly since the High-level Meeting on HIV/AIDS, held in June 2011. The report summarizes results against the targets in the 2011 Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS. Although striking progress has been achieved, the world is not on track to meet the 2015 targets, underscoring the urgent need for all stakeholders to redouble their efforts to strengthen the HIV response.

UN Resources:

UN Security Council Resolutions

• S/RES/1983(2011)
• S/RES/1308 (2000)

Political Delacrations:

• 2006 Declaration
• 2001 Declaration
• United Nations Millennium Declaration

• Reports of the Secretary-General

• High level meetings

From UN Pulse

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) just published Progress for Children: A report card on adolescents. The report has been released in conjunction with a four-part series on adolescent health by the British medical journal The Lancet. 

The UNICEF report shows that although adolescents have made progress since 1990 – with increasing primary education enrolment and decreasing child mortality rates – those gains are not shared in all regions of the world.

The report is available in English.

Resources

• Progress for Children interactive website.

From UN Pulse

The Destruction of Shared Prosperity and the Role of Economics

Marshall McLuhan, the famed philosopher of media, wrote “We shape our tools and they in turn shape us”. His insight also applies to the economy which is shaped by economic policy derived from economic ideas, and it is the theme of my recent book which argues the global economic crisis is the product of flawed policies derived from flawed ideas.

IMF Working Paper by Nir Klein.

The paper looks at the dynamics of employment in South Africa and examines the factors that contributed to the job-shedding observed during the recent financial crisis. The paper finds that the rapid growth of the real wage, which outpaced the labor productivity growth in most sectors, played an important role in suppressing employment creation. The paper also finds that while there is a co-integrating link between the real wage and labor productivity, the deviations from equilibrium are persistent and thus contribute to a weak link between real wage growth and labor productivity growth in the short term. This finding is also supported by a cross-country analysis, which shows that in South Africa the link between the real wage and labor productivity is substantially weaker than in other emerging markets, even after controlling for labor market tightness indicators.
Free Full text:  (PDF file size is 1,025KB)

The Economic Commission on Africa (ECA) has released the Economic Report on Africa 2012. The current report presents a more cautious and nuanced analysis of the continent’s growth trajectory.

 

The report situates the story of a rising Africa in a broader context, by pointing out the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead as governments push forward a series of policies to achieve structural transformation in an environment of global uncertainty. The report identifies the key binding constraints for unleashing Africa’s productive capacity and proposes a series of bold measures that governments must implement to position the continent as the next pole of global growth and rebalancing.

From UN Pulse

Previous Reports:

• 2011
• 2010
• 2009

This African Activist Archive is preserving and making available online the records of activism in the United States to support the struggles of African peoples against colonialism, apartheid, and social injustice from the 1950s through the 1990s. The website includes:

• A growing online archive of historical materials - pamphlets, newsletters, leaflets, buttons, posters, T-shirts, photographs, and audio and video recordings
• personal remembrances and interviews with activists
• an international directory of collections deposited in libraries and archives

The African Activist Archive Project is collaborating with activists across the U.S. who supported African liberation struggles to create this online archive of more than 5,000 items. The project also assists individuals and groups to deposit their collections in public repositories, including the African Activist Archive collections in the Michigan State University Libraries.

This year, we cover 31 countries examining transparency of the public procurement process, media freedom, asset disclosure requirements, conflicts of interest regulations, and more. http://www.globalintegrity.org/report

The countries covered in 2011 were: Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burkina Faso, China, Colombia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Jordan, Kosovo, Liberia, Macedonia, Malawi, Mexico, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Tajikistan, Uganda, Ukraine, United Sates, Venezuela, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe.[CW: I have added bolding to the countries in Africa for quick reference.]

Executive summary

Key Findings 2011 (PDF) or online version.

The reports South Africa

• 2010
• 2008
• 2006
• 2004

About Global Integrity:

Global Integrity champions transparent and accountable government around the world by producing innovative research and technologies that inform, connect, and empower civic, private, and public reformers seeking more open societies.

Striving to ensure more transparent and accountable government for all citizens, regardless of state, region, or country, is at the crux of everything we do.

Justified redistribution of wealth or an obstacle to growth? Written by Anders Brudevoll

Historically Africa’s vast natural resources have been a driving factor for colonisation and imperialism. Still today, the true extent of Africa’s wealth of resources remains uncertain. Nevertheless, the continuous discoveries of immense mineral deposits and the rip-roaring Chinese demand contributing to soaring commodity prices, have led to Africa being perceived as the future for the world’s mining industries.(2)

In recent years, increasing commodity prices have boosted the returns from mining projects to all time high levels. Unsurprisingly, this has inspired Governments to seek to enhance their revenues from the mining sector. Highlighting this, South Africa has been reported to be considering imposing a 50% windfall tax on mining, Ghana has announced a review and possible renegotiation of all mining contracts, and Zambia recently doubled its royalties on copper.(3) However, increasing the role of the state has not necessarily led to higher returns. Across Africa, the nationalisation of mining has illustrated the positive opportunities for public-private partnerships, but also the negatives of enhancing the role of the state in mining operations. This CAI paper discusses what has beendescribed as the emergence of resource nationalism on the African continent, paying particular attention to the potential disadvantages of this trend and the role of society in effecting change in the way Governments handle their nations’ mineral wealth...[more]

Anders Brudevoll works for Consultancy Africa Intelligence’s Africa Watch Unit

How do class relations contribute to processes of capitalist development? Can workers’ struggles generate more progressive forms of human development, in the form of improved working and non-working conditions, rising pay and active social movements that bring workers’ concerns to the fore? Within much thinking about development the principal debate over the past 30 years or so has been between advocates of state-led and market-led development. For these advocates either state allocation and generation of resources or market-efficiency generates a growing pot of social wealth which trickles down, at some indeterminate point in the future, to the labouring population. Advocates of these approaches often support labour-repressive measures (ranging from opposition to minimum wages and worker welfare to support for dictatorial regimes that outlaw trade unions, raise the rate of exploitation and repress labour) as a means to kickstart the ‘development’ process of capital accumulation. From these perspectives capital and the state come first and receive political priority, and labour comes a distinct second, if at all.

Within development studies, such perspectives have become so normalised that there is rarely any comment on how they rest on a fundamental contradiction: Whilst development practitioners aim to improve the lot of the poor, such labour-repressing measures actually worsen their conditions for a considerable period of time and offer no guarantee when (or if) they will improve. In part such perspectives are supported by the assumption that labour represents just another interest group in society that, if enabled to impose demands on either states or private capital, will divert resources from the more important objectives of capital accumulation and the accumulation of productive power by the state. But what if it is the other way round? What if actions by workers contribute directly and positively to the development process? If this is the case then development studies would have to rethink its state and capital-centrism, and begin to consider ways in which workers can shape progressively the development process...
http://www.global-labour-university.org/fileadmin/GLU_Column/papers/no_92_Selwyn.pdf

Ben Selwyn is a Senior Lecturer in International Relations and Development Studies at the University of Sussex in Brighton. He writes about labour and development, and is currently working on a book provisionally entitled ‘Capitalism vs Development: Critiques and Alternatives’.

The Brittleness of Political Institutions

By Peggy Garvin, Docubase

From the publication:

As in other Arab countries, mass demonstrations did make an appearance in Iraq, but these were comparatively small and lacked the staying power of the ones that had toppled regimes and/or plunged countries into bloodshed. What distinguished the protests in Iraq was the nature of their declared goals, in which the demands for free elections and fresh faces that had defined the uprisings in other Arab countries were almost absent. And this was hardly surprising; the Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had been in power for less than six years, having been put there by the Iraqis themselves in two free and fair elections in December 2005 and March 2010. If the protestors were demonstrating about anything, it was the abysmal performance of the freely elected Maliki government ...

+ Link to full report (PDF; 2.10 MB)

By Adrian Janes, Docubase

+ Full Report (PDF; 5.1 MB)

+ Executive Summary and Recommendations (PDF; 2.9 MB)

From Conclusions:

The riots last August shocked the nation. Up to 15,000 individuals actively participated,with countless more observing from close quarters.

The majority of rioters were under 24. Individuals had poor academic records and histories of criminality. We found that 70 per cent of those brought before the courts came from the 30 per cent most deprived areas.

These facts forced us all to consider – how did these individuals end up in the circumstances they found themselves in? What impact does this have on the communities they live in?

These questions prompted us to visit over 20 areas since September 2011 and undertake further work in six neighbourhoods since November 2011. We spoke in detail with communities and the public services that work for them. The neighbourhoods we visited are facing significant issues. These are areas of high crime and unemployment. Many feel their quality of life is poor. There are concerns around cohesion, with the majority feeling individuals do not treat each other with respect.

By Adrian Janes, Docubase

In March 2011, the Chinese government released its Twelfth Five-Year Programme for Economic and Social Development (12FYP). The 12FYP sets out the government’s intentions across a broad spectrum of development policy issues up to and including 2015.  

The 12FYP is far more than a propaganda exercise, and should be taken seriously by all interested parties outside China. It offers unambiguous guidance to foreign governments and to the EU about China’s strategic priorities.  

Close reading of the 12FYP reveals scope for enhanced engagement, through dialogue and other means, on important issues of common concern and shared interest, including education, scientific and technological cooperation, energy saving and environmental enhancement. There is also considerable potential for collaboration on commercial and research projects. Taken as a whole, the 12FYP is a signpost to opportunities in which cooperation between China and the EU can be strengthened.  

During the period of the 12FYP, China’s development trajectory will be shaped more by domestic forces than by external drivers. This is partly attributable to the impact of the global financial crisis. But it also reflects the Chinese government's determination to rebalance the economy by making domestic consumption a more potent growth driver. There will, however, be no decoupling from the global economy, in which China will continue to play an active role.  

Both China's 12FYP and EU2020 prioritise 'sustainable' and 'inclusive' growth. Under these broad headings, there are many areas – for example, science and technology, innovation, education, energy conservation and climate change – in which the pursuit of common goals should be translated into enhanced cooperation.

Source: Chatham House

+ Direct link to document (PDF; 1.8 MB)

by Adrian Janes, Docubase

From Press Release:

If oil averages USD 120 per barrel in 2012, the global oil import burden – defined as total spending by net importing countries on net imports of oil – is set to reach a record high of over USD 2 trillion, or USD 5.5 billion per day, IEA Chief Economist Fatih Birol has said.

Oil price spikes have preceded each global recession since the early 1970s. Today, although the oil intensity (oil consumption per unit of Gross Domestic Product) of the global economy is less, prices still matter, particularly given the fragile state of the economic recovery.

Higher energy costs are reducing households’ purchasing power, forcing them to cut back on spending on other items or to increase their debt. 

Source: International Energy Agency

+ Press Release

+ Slides: Impact of high oil prices on the economy (PDF; 363 KB)

 

The changing nature of parliamentary representation By Peggy Garvin, Docubase

+ Link to full report (PDF; 3 MB)

+ Link to executive summary (PDF; 1.5 MB)

From the press release (PDF):

Parliaments today are facing greater public scrutiny and pressure than ever before with fundamental questions on their ability to hold governments to account, but they have never been more essential to the political life of a country, says a joint report launched today by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The first Global Parliamentary Report (GPR), which examines “The Changing Nature of Parliamentary Representation”, argues that to address the current low-level of trust in them, parliaments must engage with citizens, stay closely attuned to their needs and make every effort to meet them.

The report, in which more than 125 parliaments and 660 members of parliament (MPs) participated, aims to help both legislative assemblies and politicians better understand and respond to the public pressures they are facing.

TIME TRENDS AND CHARACTERISTICS OF PROTESTORS. Afrobarometer Briefing Paper, March 2012

...This briefing paper begins with an assessment of trends in protest participation over the last decade in South Africa before providing insights into protestors’ demographic characteristics, perceptions of government accessibility, and political behavior...

http://www.idasa.org/media/uploads/outputs/files/saf_r5_bull_protest_18mar12.pdf

A pilot version of an online mapping tool has been launched in Africa which enables researchers and policymakers to identify how climate change vulnerability, conflict, and aid intersect.

Researchers from the Strauss Center's Climate Change and African Political Stability (CCAPS) programme, United States, integrated data from areas of climate change vulnerability and active aid-funded projects in Malawi, and mapped this information onto the locations of Malawian conflicts up to 2010.

The result is a dynamic tool that can help policymakers, researchers and aid groups plan for climate change mitigation activities and deliver aid more effectively... From SciDev article by Bernard Appiah

• Online Mapping Tool

The State of the World’s Children 2012: Children in an Urban World was launched on 28 February 2012. More than half of the world’s 7 billion people now live in urban areas.  Cities are known to generate economic growth – but, as the report reveals, not all children are benefiting from urban expansion. In this increasingly urban world, the absence of a sustained focus on child rights means that some children are being left behind

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From UN Pulse

Go east: African immigrants in China  Written by Kaiyu Shao

In the recent year, the attention of major media organisations was spontaneously drawn to a new phenomenon - an increasing number of African emigration is now aiming for China as their new destination, and most of these immigrants concentrate on Guangzhou, a relative economically prosperous city in south China. 

Since China has always been an emigration country and has not developed a mature immigration administrative system, there is no official data on immigrants in China. However, according to Chinese media, there are now between 20,000 to 200,000 African immigrants living in Guangzhou. The Guangzhou Academy of Social Science, a research institution with governmental background, declared that the number should be around 100,000.(2)

The following paper will firstly discuss the causes for this new trend, outline the lives of African immigrants in China and, finally, describe the Chinese attitude towards the phenomenon...

 Kaiyu Shao is on the staff of Consultancy Africa Intelligence's Asia Dimension Unit

Conclusion
While there is much uncertainty, given the complexities of the political context in all three countries, it is reasonable to conclude that there is a particular risk of some kind of military confrontation in the six months to September. This is in spite of the many voices in the United States, Western Europe, and even Israel, that are calling for restraint. It is certainly likely to be
a time of considerable tension, and in such circumstances the so-called “AIM” factor becomes important – Accidents, Incidents and Mavericks. Any one of these factors might exacerbate a crisis, and this means that it is particularly important to work for an easing of the tensions. Ifthat happens and a conflict is avoided in the coming months, then there is a good chance that
negotiations in a calmer atmosphere next year might meet with success.

 http://www.oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk/sites/default/files/FebEn12.pdf

... and the balance of forces in 2012 A discussion document towards the National Policy Conference,
Version 6.0 as amended by the Special NEC 27 February 2012

The European Court of Human Rights on Thursday ruled that Italy violated human rights principles by spurning African migrants and asylum-seekers on the high seas, a judgment hailed as historic by Amnesty International. 

In the case, Hirsi Jamaa and Others v. Italy, the Court considered the plight of 24 people from Somalia and Eritrea who were among more than 200 people intercepted at sea by Italian authorities in 2009 and forced to return to Libya, their point of departure.

The practice violated international obligations to not return individuals to countries where they could be at risk of human rights abuses.

“This historic judgment is a damning verdict on Italy’s willingness to cooperate with Colonel Mu’ammar al-Gaddafi’s government in Libya, which was known to systematically abuse human rights,” said Sherif Elsayed-Ali, Amnesty International’s Head of Refugee and Migrants’ Rights.

“The ruling strengthens respect for human rights across Europe and upholds international legal safeguards for migrants and asylum-seekers.”

The Court found that Italy violated the European Convention of Human Rights by exposing the migrants to the risk of being subjected to ill-treatment in Libya and being repatriated to Somalia and Eritrea. 

Amnesty International intervened as third party in the case, jointly with the AIRE Centre and the Fédération internationale des ligues des droits de l’Homme (FIDH), pointing out that the Italian authorities’ actions began a policy of push-backs that were condemned for breaching fundamental principles of international human rights law.

The Court’s judgment establishes that even when individuals are intercepted in international waters, government authorities are obliged to abide by international human rights law. 

Anybody they intercept must have access to an individualized procedure as well as remedies to challenge the decision to return them to their country of departure. The Court found such removals operated outside national territory constituted collective expulsion. 

“States intercepting individuals outside their territorial waters cannot operate in a legal vacuum,” said Sherif Elsayed-Ali.

“Even on the high seas, international human rights norms still apply, including the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits returning people to a country where they run the risk of human rights abuses.”

The European Court judgment comes at a time when new governments are in place in both Italy and Libya.

However, Amnesty International has documented that Sub-Saharan African migrants in Libya are still at risk of torture or other ill-treatment, and many have been arbitrarily detained on the basis of their legal status in the country. Both governments are currently re-establishing cooperation ties on a number of issues, including migration control.

“It is regrettable that one of the first decisions of the National Transitional Council and the new Italian government, rather than rejecting such cooperation, has actually been to recommit to cooperation in the field
of migration control,” said Sherif Elsayed-Ali.

“The principles upheld by this judgment must inform any cooperation on migration control between the Italian government and the new Libyan authorities.”

Amnesty International

Ed Cairns explains Oxfam's report "Crises in a new world order"

 

 

The international humanitarian response system will fail to cope with the expected rise in the number of people exposed to crises unless there are more resources closer to where disasters happen and there is more investment in preventing and reducing the risk of disasters.

In the report, Crises in a New World Order, Oxfam notes that while governments’ and agencies’ response to emergencies has greatly improved it still remains ‘too little, too late’ and is often determined by the vagaries of media and political interest rather than level of human need...[more]

Kate Raworth, Senior Researcher at Oxfam Great Britain introduces her discussion paper "A Safe and Just Space for Humanity: can we live within the doughnut?"

In the run-up to Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, this discussion paper is an exploration of what such a model of prosperity might look like.

It presents a visual framework -- shaped like a doughnut -- which brings the concept of planetary boundaries together with the complementary concept of social boundaries, creating a safe and just space between the two, in which humanity can thrive.

 Download the paper A Safe and Just Space for Humanity: can we live within the doughnut?

Download Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan's 2012 South African Budget Speech and supporting guides

from Old Mutual

No Place for Children Child Recruitment, Forced Marriage, and Attacks on Schools in Somalia
This Human Rights Watch report details unlawful recruitment and other laws-of-war violations against children by all parties to the conflict in Somalia since 2010. The report is based on over 164 interviews with Somali children, including 21 who had escaped from al-Shabaab forces, as well as parents and teachers who had fled to Kenya.

Download the full report (PDF, 925.25 KB)

Contents

Read the Press Release

“The Causes of Stability and Unrest in the Middle East and North Africa: An Analytic Survey” and is available on the CSIS web site at: http://csis.org/files/publication/120213_MENA_Stability.pdf By Anthony H. Cordesman, Nicholas S. Yarosh, a Center for Strategic and International Studies, USA, report

The report focuses on underlying forces and causes at a time when political crisis -- and serious security issues -- dominate the region.  These political dynamics and unrest are, however, only part of the story.

The trends in demographics, economics, internal security and justice systems, governance, and social change show how much other factors affect both the region and individual nations, and will remain sources of violence and instability until they are dealt with. They show how basic data on the size of given economies, per capita incomes, populations, and population growth rates also contribute to instability. Finally, they illustrate the critical role of governance, social change, and justice systems in shaping and dealing with each nation’s problems...[more]

An updated and greatly expanded analysis of the metrics that can cause political instability and unrest in the Gulf and Middle East.

Armed militias operating across Libya commit widespread human rights abuses with impunity, fuelling insecurity and hindering the rebuilding of state institutions, warned Amnesty International in a new report released today, a year on from the start of the February 2011 uprising.

The report Militias threaten hopes for new Libya, documents widespread and serious abuses, including war crimes, by a multitude of militias against suspected al-Gaddafi loyalists, with cases of people being unlawfully detained and tortured – sometimes to death.

African migrants and refugees have also been targeted, and revenge attacks have been carried out, forcibly displacing entire communities – while the authorities have done nothing to investigate the abuses and hold those responsible to account.

“Militias in Libya are largely out of control and the blanket impunity they enjoy only encourages further abuses and perpetuates instability and insecurity,” said Donatella Rovera, Senior Crisis Response Adviser at Amnesty International.

“A year ago Libyans risked their lives to demand justice. Today their hopes are being jeopardized by lawless armed militias who trample human rights with impunity. The only way to break with the entrenched practices of decades of abuse under Colonel al-Gaddafi’s authoritarian rule is to ensure that nobody is above the law and that investigations are carried out into such abuses”.

In January and early February 2012, Amnesty International delegates visited 11 detention facilities in central and western Libya used by various militias and at 10 of these locations, detainees said they had been tortured or ill-treated en situ, and showed Amnesty International injuries resulting from recent abuse. Several detainees said they had confessed to rape, killings and other crimes they had not committed just to end the torture.

At least 12 detainees held by militias have died after being tortured since September.  Their bodies were covered in bruises, wounds and cuts and some had had nails pulled off. 

Individuals held in and around Tripoli, Gharyan, Misratah, Sirte and Zawiya told Amnesty International they had been suspended in contorted positions; beaten for hours with whips, cables, plastic hoses, metal chains and bars, and wooden sticks; and given electric shocks with live wires and taser-like electro-shock weapons.

At a detention centre in Misratah an Amnesty International delegate saw armed militia members beating and threatening some detainees whose release had been ordered. An older detainee from Tawargha was cowering, squatting against the wall, and crying as he was being kicked and threatened by a militia member who told Amnesty International that “those from Tawargha will not be released or we’ll kill them”.

In an interrogation centre in Misratah and Tripoli Amnesty International found detainees who interrogators had tried to conceal and who had been severely tortured – one so badly that he could hardly move or speak. 

Not a single effective investigation is known to have been carried out into cases of torture, even in cases where detainees died after having been tortured at militia headquarters or in interrogation centres which are formally or informally recognized or linked to the central authorities.

“Militias with a record of abuse of detainees should simply not be allowed to hold anyone and all detainees should be immediately transferred to authorized detention facilities under the control of the National Transitional Council.”

No investigations have been carried out either into other grave abuses, such as the extrajudicial execution of detainees and other war crimes, including the killing of some 65 people whose bodies were found on 23 October in a hotel in Sirte which served as a base for opposition fighters from Misratah.

Militia members are seen on video footage obtained by Amnesty International hitting and threatening to kill a group of 29 men in their custody. One is heard saying “take them all and kill them”. Their bodies were among those found three days later at the hotel, many with their hands tied behind their back and shot in the head.

The Libyan authorities have so far taken no action against the militias who have forcibly displaced entire communities – a crime under international law.  Militias from Misratah drove out the entire population of Tawargha, some 30,000 people, and looted and burned down their homes in revenge for crimes some Tawargha are accused of having committed during the conflict.  Thousands of members of the Mashashya tribe were similarly forced out of their village by militias from Zintan, in the Nafusa Mountains. These and other communities remains displaced in makeshift camps around the country while no action has been taken to hold the perpetrators accountable or to allow the displaced communities to return home.

“The blanket impunity afforded to militias is sending the message that such abuses are tolerated and is contributing to making such practices accepted practice. Individuals responsible for abuses must be held to account for their actions and removed from positions that would allow them to repeat such abuses.” said Donatella Rovera.

 “It is imperative that the Libyan authorities firmly demonstrate their commitment to turning the page on decades of systematic violations by reining in the militias, investigating all past and present abuses and prosecuting those responsible - on all sides - in accordance with international law.”

Amnesty International

The JRC has published a study mapping the potential of renewable energy sources in Africa. The report analyses the continent's current energy consumption and assesses potential of renewable energy sources - solar, wind, biomass and hydropower - and their cost efficiency and environmental sustainability.

The map of Africa's solar electricity potential, for example, based on the JRC's Photovoltaic Geographical Information System (PVGIS), shows that in many parts of Africa the same photovoltaic panel could produce twice as much electricity as it would produce in Central Europe. However, in order to assess the suitability of solar energy to provide electricity in rural areas, this option has to be assessed against costs for grid extensions and with the traditional diesel generators.

The report carries out an analysis of the costs and benefits of each technology, with varying results depending on the area of the continent.

The publication of the report coincides with the official European Launch of UN Year on "Sustainable Energy for All" held in Brussels on 8 February.

European Commission. Joint Research Centre News  08/02/12

Youth Employment: Youth Perspectives on the Pursuit of Decent Work in Changing Times

 

The World Youth Report 2011  explores the transition of young people from schools and training institutions into the labour market, a phase marking a critical period in the life cycle.The current employment scenario for young people, worsened by the global economic crisis, poses an urgent challenge with long-term implications for both young people and society as a whole. Young people themselves are crucial stakeholders in the pursuit of decent and productive work for all.

To view the full report, please visit: http://unworldyouthreport.org/

From UN Pulse

Slow and Steady Recovery Continues, With Encouraging Signs in Developing Countries in Eastern Europe

• Overall, the employment picture in middle-income countries continued a gradual recovery.
• Signs of a strong resurgence were seen in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
• Latin America's rebound appeared to be moderating, while trends in East Asia were positive.

JobTrends is a regular series monitoring labor markets in developing countries. It is a collaborative effort between the Human Development Network (HDN) and the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management (PREM) Network of the .