The Drum Beat 204 - Base Line... Part 1

This Drum Beat is the first in a 2-part series which will review some of the interesting and often disconcerting facts and trends from the past 6 months of our Base Line section. This edition considers just some of the international and regional trends in issues of gender, children, poverty and rights. The second in this series will consider issues of health, environment, technology and security. Please access the source links listed below for further information. To search for additional statistics and trends, please see Base Line ().


GENDER


1. Afghan Women Want the Constitution Changed
Seeking a balance between women’s rights in international law and Islamic law, the AWN has made recommendations for the new constitution:

• Fathers and grandfathers should not be allowed to request marriages for girls under 16.
• Primary education should be compulsory for all Afghan children, particularly girls.
• The law allowing a woman’s in-laws to force her to marry the brother of her late husband should be eliminated.
• All clinics and health care facilities should be free for women...

2. Gender & Media in Southern Africa

• Women constitute 17% of news sources in the southern Africa media.
• Women constitute 52% of the population in southern Africa.
• Across the region women constituted a high of 26% of news sources in Angola and a low of 11% in Malawi.
• The only occupational categories in which female views dominate are beauty contestants, sex workers and home-makers.
• Gender specific news items accounted for 2% of the total - 50% of these relate to gender violence.
• There is a positive correlation between women journalists and women sources suggesting that more women journalists would increase women’s voice in the media...

3. Development Lessons

Reducing gender inequality can accelerate economic growth and have a powerful impact on poverty. Comparing East Asia and South Asia between 1960 and 1992, South Asia started with wider gender gaps in health and education and closed them more slowly. If gender gaps had closed at the same rate in the 2 sub-regions, South Asia would have increased its real per capita annual growth in GDP by 0.7 to 1.0%.


POVERTY


4. Poverty & the World's Population

• The proportion of the population in developing countries living on less than $1 a day decreased from 28.3% in 1987 to 23.4% in 1998.
• The percentages reflect population growth; absolute numbers have remained relatively stable at about 1.2 billion.
• More women than men live in poverty. This disparity has increased over the past decade, particularly in developing countries.
• At least half of women’s total work time is spent on unpaid work.
• The gap between rich and poor, globally and within countries, has been growing...

5. Poverty in Latin America
In 2002:

• The number of people living in poverty rose 7 million last year, 6 million live in extreme poverty.
• The total poor population now stands at 221 million, or 44% of the region's people...

6. Trade Regimes & Rural Poverty

• Basic grain imports into Mexico under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) doubled between 1994 and 2001.
• Mexico imports an average of 6 million tons of corn annually, compared to 2.5 million tons prior to NAFTA.
• The US exports wheat at 46%, and corn at 20%, below their production price.
• Mexico's increasing reliance on imports has led to actual prices to Mexican producers falling between 35% and 60%.
• Today, the price of corn for producers is $80 per ton though production cost is $120 per ton.
• The price reduction has not benefited consumers and the price of tortillas, the base diet of the majority of Mexicans, has risen from 0.80 pesos/kg in 1993 to 5.00 pesos/kg in 2002...

7. Trends in Global Employment

• It is estimated that the number of unemployed worldwide grew by 20 million since 2000 to reach a total of 180 million at the end of 2002.
• At the end of 2002, the number of working poor, or workers living on $1 or less a day, resumed its upward trend, returning to the level of 550 million recorded in 1998.
• To absorb new entrants into the labour market and reduce working poverty and unemployment, at least one billion new jobs are needed during the coming decade to get on track for the UN goal of halving extreme poverty by 2015...

Global videoconference on HIV/AIDS, Malaria & TB at the African Union Summit July 10, 2003

This is an attempt to bring together African heads of state and their international partners to seal a joint commitment in scaling up action against diseases that are major health, economic and social problems throughout Africa. The meeting will be open to be debated worldwide, from sites in Africa, Europe and the US, and broadcast internationally using the latest videoconferencing technology.

More than 20 sites in Africa will be able to view the videoconference live and a global audience can follow the proceedings live on the internet. WorldSpace radio will broadcast it throughout Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, and rebroadcasts will be done by the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association, with TV programming throughout Mozambique and Brazil.

The event will be webcast on the internet via IHN website on July 10 from 12:30-3:30pm British Summer Time. For further information, see the IHN website or the Exchange website.


CHILDREN


8. Many Children's Reality

• 150 million children in developing countries are underweight.
• Since 1990, over 2 million children have been killed and 6 million have been seriously injured in wars.
• Some 180 million children aged 5-17 are believed to be engaged in the worst forms of child labour - 1 child in every 8 worldwide.
• Every year, 1.2 million children are trafficked.
• 14 million children currently under 15 years old have lost 1 or both parents to AIDS...

9. Urban Children and Poverty
Aggregate statistics tend to show urban populations being better off than rural ones but...when poor urban settlements lack basic infrastructure and services they become among the world's most life-threatening environments. As of 2002 1 billion children - half of the world's child population - live in urban areas. Most - about 80% - live in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Many of these live in poverty...

10. Children in Iraq - Some Facts

• Population: 24.5 million, 50% under the age of 18
• 294 deaths for every 100,000 births
• 25% of children under 5 are chronically malnourished
• 24.7% of all children are born underweight
• The incidence of preventable disease has increased more than 100% since 1990...

RIGHTS


11. Women's Choice & AIDS

• 19.2 million women aged 15-49 years were living with HIV/AIDS as of Dec 2002.
• 2 million women were newly infected with HIV in 2002.
• 2.5 million of the 200 million women who become pregnant each year are HIV positive.
• Approx 19 million unsafe abortions take place each year, most of them in developing countries.
• 4.2 million unsafe abortions take place in Africa each year.
• 10.5 million unsafe abortions take place in Asia each year...

12. Impunity & Press Freedom

• Of the 523 journalists killed between 1992 and 2002, 374 were intentionally murdered...
  128 for their political opinions,
  67 for having exposed corruption,
  179 because they were in conflict areas but were killed despite having identified themselves as reporters.

13. Indigenous Peoples’ & Extractive Industries: Concerns

• Violation of basic human rights including repression and assassination.
• The invasion of territories and usurpation of resources.
• The undermining of communities and cultures.
• Forced relocation, impoverishment and disorientation.
• Engineering consent through bribery, threats, and moral corruption...

Pulse Poll

There is a contradiction between development by and for the most affected and international, large scale development initiatives.

Do you agree or disagree?

[For context, see Drum Beat 203.]

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This issue compiled by Chris Morry cmorry@comminit.com

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The Drum Beat seeks to cover the full range of communication for development activities. Inclusion of an item does not imply endorsement or support by The Partners.

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