UN CHIEF CALLS ON COUNTRIES TO LISTEN TO VOICES OF WOMEN AND YOUNG PEOPLE
February 17, 2012 in Young Professionals, Youth
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed today the need to empower women and youth, who have been at the centre of recent social protest movements worldwide, and warned countries against ignoring their voices as they are critical to countries’ development.
“Tahrir Square [in Cairo] and the fight for democracy throughout the Arab world, Occupy Wall Street, ‘los indignados’ in Puerta del Sol [Madrid], protests in Greece… What was the common thread? They were overwhelmingly women and young people,” Mr. Ban told attendees at a lecture in Vienna, underlining the role of women and youth in mobilizing change.
“Women demanding equal opportunity and participation, young people worried about their future, fed up with corruption and speaking out for dignity and decent jobs. Their power and activism turned the tide of history.”
Mr. Ban stressed that these movements represented an urgent call for countries to listen to their citizens and act to implement measures that give them more opportunities to make decision in their societies.
The Secretary-General emphasized the importance of boosting women’s opportunities to assume decision-making and entrepreneurial roles. “Studies have found that Fortune 500 companies with the highest number of women on the governing boards were far more profitable than those with the fewest number,” Mr. Ban said, pointing to various sectors where they are making a difference.
“Today, many look to the world of social media. The majority of those who use it are women – and the chief operating officer of Facebook is a woman. Yet many are asking: Why are there no women on the corporate board of Facebook, Twitter or other young, dynamic companies?”
In particular, Mr. Ban called for greater women’s representation in parliaments, including in the Arab world and stressed that temporary measures such as quotas or other special steps can make a permanent difference in governments.
Regarding youth, Mr. Ban underscored the need to address the unemployment rate which young people are facing, which has caused unrest in many countries.
“Unemployment rates for young people are at record levels – two, three, sometimes even six times the rate for adults. But joblessness is only part of the story. Many who are working are stuck in low-wage, dead-end work. Many others are finding that their degrees are not always a ticket to jobs,” he said, adding that governments need to equip them with better tools and skills to not only find but create jobs.
Mr. Ban urged Member States and international organizations to give youth a voice in their governments and create programmes that address their priorities, warning that if they failed to do this they risked creating a “lost generation.”
“The priorities of young people should be just as prominent in our halls as they are on the streets and squares. They should be just as present in our meeting space as they are in cyberspace. Young people can be embraced as partners in shaping their societies, or they can be excluded and left to simmer in frustration and despair.
“Let us recognize that addressing the needs and hopes of the world’s women and young people is not simply an act of solidarity, it is an act of necessity.” Original story here.
This goal deals with an integral issue, which solution should involve concepts related to development from all its approaches; its accomplishment depends on many factors, like empowerment of the communities and implementation of entrepreneurship programs, along with financial assistance, in order to attack the issue from the root, rather than only diminishing its consequences. Furthermore, involvement from the civil society constitutes an essential factor in the quest for equality and social justice, along with the political will of government representatives of any kind and level; they should be encourage to build a reliable database using empirical evidence, that will allow those in charge of resources to properly allocate them. We strongly suggest the leaders throughout the world to become involved in the solution of this issue, taking into account that every person has dignity and is entitled to the right t food and development.
The following are actions taken around the globe, which can be more broadly utilized, to implement Goal 2 of the Millennium Development Goals; to ensure that by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling. Remove fees associated with attending school, including the cost of tuition, books, supplies, uniforms, and transportation. Provide amnesty for undocumented, migrant, and refugee children to attend school with out deportation or other consequences. Provide two meals a day to encourage families facing poverty to send their children to school. Address gender barriers, especially in rural areas. Provide feasible transportation to children, or adopt mobile schools.
It become evident in the group discusions that the 8 MDG is not recognised and the information around the issues that it affects is not well recognised. This goal deals with developing an open finance system and non discriminatory trading practices. After much delibaration some points were agreed upon as to how this MDG could be improved to suit a system based approach of how the MDG’s should be implemented. Overally the group felt the MDG was articulated on a top down approach and very much western centric.Thus not representing the real issues of all countries. Firstly the use of ‘partners’ in wording of the MDG should be replaced with ‘stakeholders’ as this word is more inclusive of all the actors in achieving this MDG. There was a consesus that debt problems is not only on developing countries thus it should change focus and include all countries and also include debt owing to international monetary organisations. Also that the issue of tarrifs should be reduced or removed as countries for example the UK places high tariifs on products from Africa of which the collect more money then the one the give aid to the African continent. Much needs to be done on this MDG in order to achieve its targets.
The Millennium Development Goals (MDG) are the world’s time bound and quantified targets for addressing extreme poverty, hunger, disease, lack of adequate shelter and exclusion while promoting gender equality, education and environmental sustainability. There are eight goals and this article focuses on MDG 6 which targets to combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases.
Bangladesh, being geographically positioned at the receiving end of perhaps the largest river system, and owing to other concomitant factors like the deltaic formation history and low-line coastal morphology has become the most disaster prone region on earth. Processes embedded in the nature, caused by multitudinous factors, constitute hazards to the environment of this region having severe aftermath on local lives, property and livelihoods of the population, and eventually, impeding the overall socio-economic development of Bangladesh. The (co)occurrence of these natural events are often coupled and multiplied with the high base vulnerabilities of the individuals, households and communities results in disasters that further drive the country towards greater environmental degradation, hunger, poverty, social deprivation and political conflicts, thereby impeding the development of Bangladesh. Therefore, over the last few decades, both national and international communities have been engaged in counteracting the negative developmental impacts of disasters as well as ensuring that development interventions do not exacerbate vulnerability to hazards.
It become evident in the group discusions that the 8 MDG is not recognised and the information around the issues that it affects is not well recognised. This goal deals with developing an open finance system and non discriminatory trading practices. After much delibaration some points were agreed upon as to how this MDG could be improved to suit a system based approach of how the MDG’s should be implemented. Overally the group felt the MDG was articulated on a top down approach and very much western centric.Thus not representing the real issues of all countries. Firstly the use of ‘partners’ in wording of the MDG should be replaced with ‘stakeholders’ as this word is more inclusive of all the actors in achieving this MDG. There was a consesus that debt problems is not only on developing countries thus it should change focus and include all countries and also include debt owing to international monetary organisations. Also that the issue of tarrifs should be reduced or removed as countries for example the UK places high tariifs on products from Africa of which the collect more money then the one the give aid to the African continent. Much needs to be done on this MDG in order to achive its targets.