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  Poverty / Development / Economic, social & cultural rights: Jan.-June 2001  

See also other materials on poverty / development / economic, social & cultural rights.

See also sections of this website entitled "Linking development and human rights", "UNDP (United Nations Development Programme)", "World Bank", "Environment", "Globalisation", "Access to life-saving medicines (including AIDS medicines)" and "Business support for projects promoting sustainable development / economic, social & cultural rights: Some examples".

Jan.-June 2001:

DEVELOPMENT: UN Panel Urges Rich States To Give More Aid (UN Wire, 29 June 2001)

Report of the High-Level Panel on Financing for Development (United Nations, 28 June 2001) {···english···español···français} 

Greenpeace and The Body Shop launch challenge to bring clean energy to two billion worldwide: Leading environmental organisation Greenpeace has joined forces with international high street retailer, The Body Shop, today, to challenge world governments to provide access to renewable energy for all, in particular the two billion people who live without any power, within ten years. (Greenpeace, 28 June 2001)

HIV/AIDS: Epidemic May Lead To 40% GNP Drop In Some States (UN Wire, 28 June 2001)

WORLD BANK/IMF: US Calls For New Approach To Fight Poverty (UN Wire, 28 June 2001)

New index highlights worldwide corruption crisis, says Transparency International: The Corruption Perceptions Index 2001 ranks 91 countries. "There is no end in sight to the misuse of power by those in public office - and corruption levels are perceived to be as high as ever in both the developed and developing worlds," said Peter Eigen, Chairman of Transparency International, speaking today on the launch of the Corruption Perceptions Index 2001. "The new Index illustrates once more the vicious circle of poverty and corruption, where parents have to bribe underpaid teachers to secure an education for their children and underresourced health services provide a breeding ground for corruption. The world's poorest are the greatest victims of corruption," said Peter Eigen at a press conference in Paris. "Vast amounts of public funds are being wasted and stolen by corrupt officials," he continued. TI's chairman said: "HIV AIDS is killing millions of Africans, and in many of the countries where AIDS is at its deadliest the problem is compounded by the fact that corruption levels are seen to be very high. While it is imperative that richer countries provide the fruits of medical research at an affordable price to address this human tragedy, it is also essential that corrupt governments do not steal from their own people. This is now an urgent priority if lives are to be saved." While the CPI scores of most leading industrial countries are quite high, the CPI focuses on corruption involving public officials. It does not reflect secret payments to finance political campaigns, the complicity of banks in money laundering or bribery by multinational companies. Speaking in Washington DC, TI Vice Chairman Frank Vogl noted: "Corruption in the most prosperous countries in the world has many manifestations, and Transparency International is increasing its efforts to stimulate actions to secure greater transparency in politics, business and banking. We aim to publish a new Bribe Payers Index in early 2002 to shine the spotlight on the propensity of western firms to use bribes in emerging market economies." (Transparency International, 27 June 2001) 

Seed patents needed to boost research - industry: Seed patents, which some critics attack as harmful to poor farmers, are a vital incentive for research and a means of encouraging plant diversity, a life sciences industry official said yesterday. (David Brough, Reuters, 27 June 2001) 

Green groups say seed patents menace food security: Environment groups said yesterday the patenting of food and seeds by multinational companies threatened food security and access by farmers to vital genetic resources. (David Brough, Reuters, 26 June 2001)

United Nations special meeting on HIV/AIDS - another missed opportunity (Christian Aid, 26 June 2001)

Aid and AIDS: time for serious action: It is double or quits time for the world's richest nations. Either they must dramatically increase the amount of aid to poor countries or they must end the ceaseless rhetoric about their efforts to tackle poverty. (Mark Curtis, Head of Policy, Christian Aid, 25 June 2001) 

Shell, IFC loan fund for Niger Delta: Oil giant Royal/Dutch Shell and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) have proposed a US $30-million loan fund aimed at improving job opportunities in Nigeria's impoverished and volatile Niger Delta oil region.  The main beneficiaries will be contracting firms to Shell owned by indigenes of the Niger Delta or employing people from the area. (Integrated Regional Information Networks, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 22 June 2001)

BARCLAYS - Financial exclusion - Barclays Bank is supporting the creation of a microcredit scheme accessed through a bank account for people on low incomes in northern England. Salford Money Line is an example of how banks can work in partnership with the local community [in this case Barclays works with Money Line’s other founding partners, Salford city council & University of Salford] to provide services that are tailored to the needs of the financially excluded (Ethical Performance magazine, summer 2001)

Poverty linked to environmental issue: Pakistan is undergoing $2bn annual loss due to environmental degradation, said federal minister for environment, local government and rural development, Omar Asghar Khan, while quoting a World Bank report...."Poverty is closely linked with environmental issues as in comparison with elites of the country, poor live in environmental fragile areas," said Omar. He said "environment is no longer a western-sponsored agenda as it was considered to be". (Dawn [Karachi, Pakistan], 21 June 2001)

Asia's environmental abuse has to end - ADB: Environmental degradation in Asia and the Pacific is pervasive, accelerating and unabated and policy-makers have to respond to the problem now, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said yesterday. (Reuters, 19 June 2001) 

UNDP Urges Businesses To Help Fight AIDS (UN Wire, 18 June 2001)

LATIN AMERICA: ECLAC [Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean] Addresses Role Of Women In Development (UN Wire, 14 June 2001)

Following Violent Crackdown in Chad, Environmental Defense & Chadian Association for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights Call on World Bank to Rethink Funds for Chad Pipeline Project (Environmental Defense, 13 June 2001)

Illegal fishing harms Mozambique economy says official (Reuters, 13 June 2001) 

ISTANBUL+5: Right To Housing A Contentious Issue At UN Session; United States Denies Right To Housing; UN Housing Rapporteur Says United States Is Evading Issue Of Right To Housing (UN Wire, 8 June 2001)

POLL - Saving forest is top priority in Amazon: Preserving the rain forest ranks as the top priority for the 20 million people living in Brazil's Amazon, the first such study polling the region's population showed this week [study conducted by Brazil branch of the World Wildlife Fund] (Axel Bugge, Reuters, 8 June 2001) 

Aids plays havoc with Africa's children: The UN chief has challenged world leaders to act on youth poverty (Victoria Brittain, Guardian [UK], 6 June 2001)

DEVELOPMENT: End Of Era For Development Giants -- UNDP Head [UN Development Program Administrator Mark Malloch Brown] (UN Wire, 5 June 2001)

A New Voice For The Global Environment: Telecommunications Industry Launches Sustainability Initiative (press release jointly issues by UNEP [United Nations Environment Programme], ITU [International Telecommunication Union] and GeSI [Global e-Sustainability Initiative], 5 June 2001)

DEVELOPMENT: Habitat Releases Pioneering Reports on the World's Cities - The United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) launched its first reports on urban conditions and trends Monday, stressing that more than 1.2 billion of the world's population of 6 billion live in inadequate housing. (Mithre J. Sandrasagra, Inter Press Service, 4 June 2001)

Tear up the envelope! [expressing concern that poorest countries will not get adequate debt cancellation] (Adrian Lovett, Director and Senior Partner, Drop the Debt, 4 June 2001)

AGRICULTURE: A World Without Hunger - Still a Distant Dream: The current pace at which the number of hungry people in the world is being cut - by eight million a year - is not fast enough if nations are to make good on their pledge to reduce the number of undernourished people to half the 1996 total of 800 million by 2015, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warned Friday. (Jorge Pina, Inter Press Service, 1 June 2001)

Local agenda 21s (briefing paper for World Summit on Sustainable Development, published by IIED [International Institute for Environment and Development] and RING [Regional and International Networking Group], June 2001)

The UN Financing for Development process (briefing paper for World Summit on Sustainable Development, published by IIED [International Institute for Environment and Development] and RING [Regional and International Networking Group], June 2001)

National Strategies for Sustainable Development (briefing paper for World Summit on Sustainable Development, published by IIED [International Institute for Environment and Development] and RING [Regional and International Networking Group], June 2001)

Sustainability and trade (briefing paper for World Summit on Sustainable Development, published by IIED [International Institute for Environment and Development] and RING [Regional and International Networking Group], June 2001)

Poverty and environment (briefing paper for World Summit on Sustainable Development, published by IIED [International Institute for Environment and Development] and RING [Regional and International Networking Group], June 2001)

Food and Agriculture - the impact of agribusiness  (briefing paper for World Summit on Sustainable Development, published by IIED [International Institute for Environment and Development] and RING [Regional and International Networking Group], June 2001)

Health and Sustainable Development (briefing paper for World Summit on Sustainable Development, published by IIED [International Institute for Environment and Development] and RING [Regional and International Networking Group], June 2001)

Mining and Sustainable Development (briefing paper for World Summit on Sustainable Development, published by IIED [International Institute for Environment and Development] and RING [Regional and International Networking Group], June 2001)

Tapping the market - can private enterprise supply water to the poor? (Insights, id21, June 2001)

Timber group urges help for poor tropical states: Poverty is the main cause of destruction of rainforests and poor countries must get more aid and investment to preserve their forests for future generations, the International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO) said (Tansa Musa, Reuters, 30 May 2001) 

JUST PENSIONS: Launch of cutting-edge toolkit for trustees and fund managers [providing essential advice on how to improve the impact of pension fund investment on people in the poorest countries in the world] (Just Pensions, 26 May 2001)

DEVELOPMENT: Bank [World Bank], NGOs Doubt Impact Of Conference [Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries] (UN Wire, 23 May 2001)

Global Union welcomes recognition of workers’ rights in achieving development of the Least Developed Countries: Outcome of the Third UN Conference on LDC’s [Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, Brussels, 14-20 May 2001] (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 21 May 2001)

Malign neglect (leader/editorial, Financial Times, 21 May 2001)

DEVELOPMENT: LDC [Least Developed Countries] Conference Ends With Adoption Of Action Plan (UN Wire, 21 May 2001)

Progress for poor hard to spot at UN conference [Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, Brussels, 14-20 May 2001] (Frances Williams, Financial Times, 21 May 2001)

Group's goal: fair price for coffee (Sarah Tomlinson, Boston Globe, 20 May 2001)

UN Conference in 10-year Rescue Plan for World's Poorest [Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, Brussels, 14-20 May 2001] (Allen Nacheman, Agence France Presse, 20 May 2001)

Donors urged to support Africa's health systems not exacerbate their collapse (Save the Children UK and Medact, 18 May 2001)

DEVELOPMENT: UNCTAD Says Market Access Would Help LDCs [Least Developed Countries] (UN Wire, 18 May 2001)

HIV/AIDS: Impact On Development Outlined At LDC [Least Developed Countries] Conference (UN Wire, 17 May 2001)

Protecting the traditional knowledge of the poor nations: The world’s Least Developed Countries (LDCs) no longer have to sit back and see their traditional knowledge, folklore and genetic resources robbed by global players in possession of the most modern know-how and financial muscle.  This is at least what Roberto Castelo, deputy director-general of the Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), says. (Ramesh Jaura, Inter Press Service, 16 May 2001)

UNAIDS: HIV Needs to be at the Center of Development Policy (UNAIDS, 16 May 2001)

Action not promises That is what developing countries need (leader/editorial, Guardian [UK], 16 May 2001)

Oxfam urges plan to aid world's coffee farmers (Clare Black, Reuters, 16 May 2001)

Trust fund to fight disease, importance of health to development among issues at thematic session of Brussels conference (Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, Brussels, 14-20 May 2001, 16 May 2001)

Role Of Health In Poverty Reduction Cited (UN Wire, 16 May 2001)

Entrepreneurs from poorest countries can seize global economy's opportunities, say speakers at Brussels conference business round table (Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, Brussels, 14-20 May 2001, 16 May 2001)

Bitter coffee: how the poor are paying for the slump in world coffee prices (press release, Oxfam, 16 May 2001)

Secretary-General [UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan] Urges NGOs to Campaign For Genuinely Open Markets [The Non Governmental Organisations (NGO) Forum at the 3rd United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries] (M2 Presswire, 15 May 2001)

A Lobby Group Pushes For Women Advancement: A gender empowerment lobby at the least developing countries (LDC) conference in Brussels is pushing hard for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to establish an eminent persons group, to ensure that commitments to advance women become a reality (Farah Khan, Inter Press Service, 15 May 2001)

POVERTY: UNICEF Calls For Urgent Attention To Children (UN Wire, 15 May 2001)

Statement by Juan Somavia Director-General of the International Labour Office to the Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, Brussels, 14 May 2001 (International Labour Organization, 14 May 2001)

'The challenge of eradicating poverty; international community response' special event at Brussels conference on Least Developed Countries (Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, Brussels, 14-20 May 2001, 14 May 2001)

Rigged trade and not much aid: how rich countries help to keep the Least Developed Countries poor (Oxfam GB [Great Britain], 14 May 2001)

TRADE: Restrictions Cost World's Poor 2.5b Dollars Each Year - Oxfam (Brian Kenety, Inter Press Service, 13 May 2001)

Development: Independent panel sought for big issues - Opponents could get help with evidence - Civil liberty activists want an independent panel on public hearings to prevent conflicts arising from mega-developments [Thailand] (Ploenpote Atthakor, Bangkok Post, 11 May 2001)

International Organisations [World Bank, IMF, WTO] Discuss Social And Economic Rights (WorldNews.com, 10 May 2001)

Global $$, Leadership Keys to AIDS Fight (James D. Wolfensohn, President of World Bank, in Newsday [New York], 2 May 2001)

World Bank targets poverty, Aids (David Schepp, BBC News Online, 1 May 2001)

Corporate Social and Environmental Responsibility: Selected Sources of Information - Bibliography and Websites (Renato Alva Pino, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, May 2001)

Just Pensions: Socially Responsible Investment and International Development - A Guide for Trustees and Fund Managers (Just Pensions/Traidcraft Exchange/War on Want, May 2001)

Poverty and Children: Lessons of the 90's for Least Developed Counties (UNICEF, May 2001)

A matter of rights: New video series explores the right to development - The first ever video film series exploring development as a human right was launched on Thursday in Bangkok (Bangkok Post, 30 Apr. 2001)

US still has World Bank in its sights (Alan Beattie, Financial Times, 30 Apr. 2001)

World Bank's plea for poorest (David Schepp and Kevin Anderson, BBC News Online, 29 Apr. 2001)

Poor Countries Need Good Governance to Get Out of Debt Trap [comments by World Bank President James Wolfensohn] (Panafrican News Agency, 28 Apr. 2001)

FAO Director-General calls for renewed commitment to fight hunger and poverty in Africa (UN Food & Agriculture Organization, 27 Apr. 2001)

Conference Board's BEST [Business Enterprises for Sustainable Travel] Recognizes CC Africa [Conservation Corporation Africa] for Extensive Community Development Efforts: Eco-Luxury Safari Lodge Operator Subject of Latest 'Best Practices' Report (Business Enterprises for Sustainable Travel, 26 Apr. 2001)

Global health fund [proposed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan] must not just be about drugs (Save the Children and Medact, 26 Apr. 2001)

Economic Development and Gender-Based Discrimination: A Survey of Current Issues and Future Perspectives (paper submitted to U.N. World Conference Against Racism by The National Council of Negro Women [NCNW], 24 Apr. 2001)

Poverty, the number one killer worldwide, warns UN (Thalif Deen, Inter Press Service, 4 Apr. 2001)

Patents and Development: What Role for the World Community? (Dr. Christopher Stevens, Institute of Development Studies, 4 Apr. 2001)

Famed labor lawyer Ted Kheel on sustainable development (Pranay Gupte, Earth Times News Service, 4 Apr. 2001)

Issue Paper 3: Measuring the impacts of business and poverty. [refers to Tanzania, Vietnam, Thailand; summarises a Resource Centre discussion forum held on 3 Apr. 2001 presented by Jill Shankleman & Sarah Selby of ERM Social Strategies] (Resource Centre for the Social Dimensions of Business Practice)

Bush move on climate treaty 'a disaster for the developing world,' says Christian Aid (Christian Aid, 2 Apr. 2001)

Wolfensohn chides rich nations for not meeting aid target (Inter Press Service, 2 Apr. 2001)

Pro-Poor Tourism Strategies: Making Tourism Work For The Poor - A review of experience (Caroline Ashley, Dilys Roe, Harold Goodwin; Centre for Responsible Tourism, Overseas Development Institute, and International Institute for Environment and Development, Apr. 2001)

Economic, Cultural and Social Rights only 'Goals', says US (Chakravarthi Raghavan, South-North Development Monitor, 30 Mar. 2001)

Local control vital for reducing poverty, say African ministers (U.N. Development Programme, 30 Mar. 2001)

BP Announces World's Largest Solar Project (BP, 30 Mar. 2001)

New World Bank Study Says Aid Cannot Buy Economic Reforms (Gumisai Mutume, Inter Press Service, 27 Mar. 2001)

Tides Shift on Agrarian Reform: New Movements Show the Way (report, Peter Rosset, co-director of FoodFirst, in Backgrounder, winter 2001)

A route out of poverty: Industrialised countries should follow the EU's lead in giving greater market access to the poorest nations (UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in Financial Times, 4 Mar. 2001)

The Knowledge Gap (Avinash Persaud, Foreign Affairs, Mar./Apr. 2001)

Digitally Empowered Development: The Growing Gap (Allen L. Hammond, Foreign Affairs, Mar./Apr. 2001)

Trading in Illusions: Advocates of global economic integration hold out utopian visions of the prosperity that developing countries will reap if they open their borders to commerce and capital. This hollow promise diverts poor nations' attention and resources from the key domestic innovations needed to spur economic growth. (Dani Rodrik, Professor of International Political Economy, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, in Foreign Policy, Mar.-Apr. 2001)

Financing for the Future: Women involved in the UN Financing for Development (FfD) process are saying that economic growth is not synonymous with sustainable development and it’s time to rethink the current economic policies that aggravate poverty and gender inequity. Even though they constitute the majority of the world’s poor and are the first to feel the brunt of negative development policies, women worldwide have so far been excluded from defining the development process (Rajyashri Waghray, Women's Environment and Development Organization, Mar. 2001)

Trading in Illusions (Dani Rodrik, Foreign Policy, Mar. 2001)

Multiple monitors to monitor the monitors - But who monitors the oil-companies? [regarding the Chad/Cameroon pipeline and the World Bank monitoring structure] (Inside Cameroon, Mar. 2001)

Open letter to the President of the World Bank regarding the Chad/Cameroon pipeline, expressing concern about the terms of reference of the International Advisory Group [monitoring group established to advise the World Bank and the two governments on overall progress in implementing the project] (written by representatives of human rights, environmental, labour and development NGOs in Chad and Cameroon, 28 Feb. 2001)

World Bank Appoints International Advisory Group on the Chad-Cameroon Petroleum Development and Pipeline Project: It will advise the World Bank Group and the two governments on overall progress in implementing the project, including the key objective of reducing poverty in Chad. In particular, the IAG will identify potential problems in the use of public revenues, the adequacy of civil society participation, progress in building institutional capacity, and more generally issues of governance, environmental management and social impacts. The IAG will recommend actions to the World Bank Group and the Governments of Chad and Cameroon to address such problems. (World Bank, 21 Feb. 2001)

NGOs Can Make Rules but Governments Control the Money (Sebastian Mallaby, International Herald Tribune, 27 Feb. 2001)

Health Policies in the Global Economy (Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General, World Health Organization, 10 Feb. 2001)

INDIA: UNDP Launches Development Project With Industry Federation (UN Wire, 9 Feb. 2001)

Globalisation: friend and foe (Catherine Matheson, Executive Director, War on Want, in Guardian [UK], 8 Feb. 2001)

The Foundations of Economic Development? (Robert J. Samuelson, Foreign Affairs, Feb. 2001) 

Should Countries Promote Foreign Direct Investment? (Gordon H. Hanson, University of Michigan Department of Economics and School of Business Administration, G-24 Discussion Paper Series, paper no. 9, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Feb. 2001)

Honey pot: A Singapore investment fund with ethics is helping poor families beat the poverty trap - Unlike many ethical or socially responsible funds, this global-equities vehicle contributes one-third of its annual management fee of 1.5% toward Unifem projects...the United Global Unifem Singapore Fund--invests only in companies whose corporate practices are women- and family-friendly. (Trish Saywell, Far Eastern Economic Review, 11 Jan. 2001)

The Great Divide in the Global Village: Incomes are Diverging (Bruce Scott, Foreign Affairs, Jan./Feb. 2001)

Power to the people: Corrado Clini describes how renewable energy is a key resource for combating poverty and protecting the environment (Corrado Clini, Director General of the Italian Ministry of Environment, in Our Planet, published by U.N. Environment Programme, 2001)

It’s not just, pollution - Robert D. Bullard describes the struggle for environmental justice in the United States and worldwide over the last two decades...The environmental justice movement emerged in response to environmental and social inequities, threats to public health, unequal protection, differential enforcement and disparate treatment received by the poor and people of colour. It redefined environmental protection as a basic right. (Robert D. Bullard, Professor of Sociology and Director of the Environmental Justice Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, in Our Planet, published by U.N. Environment Programme, 2001)

Answering poor health: Gro Harlem Brundtland outlines the links between poverty, health and the environment and recommends practical action (Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General of the World Health Organization, in Our Planet, published by U.N. Environment Programme, 2001)

Breaking the cycle of poison - Sarojeni V. Rengam reports how excessive pesticide use traps farmers in poverty, and outlines some solutions (Sarojeni V. Rengam, Executive Director of Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Asia and the Pacific, in Our Planet, published by U.N. Environment Programme, 2001)

Everything connects - Thorbjørn Jagland describes the intimate interlinkages between poverty, health and the environment and sets out priorities for action (Thorbjørn Jagland, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Norway, in Our Planet, published by U.N. Environment Programme, 2001)

World Bank Special: Double burden - Ian Johnson and Kseniya Lvovsky show how the health of the poor suffers most from both traditional and modern environmental hazards (Ian Johnson, Vice President of the World Bank, and Kseniya Lvovsky, Lead Environmental Economist in the World Bank’s South Asia Region, in Our Planet, published by U.N. Environment Programme, 2001)

In Focus 2: The executive summary - Understanding the poverty business interface: experiences from Tanzania - Summary (Jill Shankleman & Sarah Selby, ERM Social Strategies, Resource Centre for the Social Dimensions of Business Practice, 2001)

Exploring the economic policy divide: why do officials and NGOs disagree on poverty analysis? (Ravi Kanbur, Department of Economics, Cornell University, 2001)

The Development Context: What is the impact of HIV/AIDS? (extracts from a study by Mirta Gonzalez, Oxfam/Community Aid Abroad [Australia], 2001)