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United Nations Daily Highlights, 98-09-24United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The United Nations Home Page at <http://www.un.org> - email: [email protected]DAILY HIGHLIGHTSThursday, 24 September, 1998This daily news round-up is prepared by the Central News Section of the Department of Public Information. The latest update is posted at approximately 6:00 PM New York time. Latest Developments HEADLINES
The number of unemployed and underemployed workers around the world has never been higher and will grow by millions more before the end of the year as a result of the financial crisis in Asia and other parts of the world, says the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in its latest World Employment Report issued on Thursday in Geneva. "The global employment situation is grim, and getting grimmer," says ILO Director-General Michel Hansenne. Noting that beyond the current financial turmoil, many countries are suffering from long-term employment problems that can be solved only through the combined action of governments, trade unions and employer organizations, Mr. Hansenne stressed the need to give greater prominence to the critical role of a high-quality, educated and skilled workforce. According to the report, some one billion workers -- one third of the world's labour force -- remain unemployed or underemployed, a figure that is largely unchanged from last year's estimate. Ten million unemployed have been generated this year due to the financial crisis in Asia alone. In addition, 25 to 30 per cent of the world's workers - or between 750 million and 900 million people -- are underemployed. The global employment picture contained in the 1998-99 report contrasts sharply with developments expected since the last World Employment Report was issued in 1996, when the ILO said that a number of encouraging signs heralded a global economic revival and would cut unemployment and underemployment worldwide. "The first half of 1998 has actually seen economic growth in many parts of the world," Mr. Hansenne said. "However, this revival, which we anticipated would spur higher jobs growth in all parts of the world, has only cut unemployment and underemployment in the United States, and to a lesser degree in the European Union." As for ways of resolving the problem, the ILO said that nations facing rapid globalization and competitive pressure need to invest in skills development and training in their workforce. "Training and education were at the heart of Southeast Asia's economic miracle and could well provide a way out of under-development and poverty for millions of workers in other parts of the world," the report said. The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, Denis Halliday, on Thursday said "the devastation of the Iraqi education system requires much more help than the current [oil-for-food] programme allows." United Nations Spokesman Eric Falt told reporters in Baghdad that overcrowding is a very serious problem, and more than 300,000 new school desks are immediately needed. According to the Iraqi Ministry of Education, some 8,000 school buildings must be rehabilitated throughout the country, while 5,000 new schools were needed simply to meet the needs of the ever- growing Iraqi population. Lack of maintenance as well as the discontinuation in the supply of textbooks, stationary, teaching aids and paper had also made it impossible to maintain teaching standards, Mr. Falt said. The current oil-for-food plan envisages up to $100 million country-wide for education, including, for the first time, higher education. Mr. Falt said that because oil revenues were much lower than anticipated, the programme would fall far short of its target. On the positive side, the Spokesman announced that in northern Iraq, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) had received 83 truckloads of materials which would be used for manufacturing some 47,000 school desks. Senior government officials from African countries and representatives of international organizations are meeting in Mauritius Thursday and Friday for an international conference on African Development organized in part by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Conference participants will examine international and national policies which can accelerate growth and investment in Africa and translate the continent's recent economic recovery into sustained development. According to UNCTAD, the African economic recovery which began in 1994 has given grounds for renewed optimism, both within and outside the continent. However, the recovery has not been underpinned by a strong investment performance, and it is highly vulnerable to a downturn in commodity prices, such as has recently taken place. Moreover, Africa continues to receive minimal flows of foreign direct investment. The room for manoeuvre by African governments is still severely limited by States' foreign debt overhang. In this context, UNCTAD states, a rethinking of international and domestic policy approaches is required in order to translate the current recovery into stronger and sustained growth. This is not a matter of re-inventing the wheel, but rather of promoting pragmatism, drawing lessons from experience gained during the adjustment programmes as well as from the earlier drive for national development. The Conference has been organized by UNCTAD in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade of Mauritius, with the support of the Government of Japan. The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) has unveiled an ambitious package of reform measures to meet the demands of the twenty-first century. The restructuring which streamlines ESCAP's programmes structure is the final phase of the reform process that began in January 1996, to comply with the overall UN reforms effort and the provisions of a Commission resolution, said ESCAP's Executive Secretary Adrianus Mooy. He stressed that the secretariat restructuring was aimed to conform to the crux of the reform exercise which was to ensure conformity among various structures of ESCAP to enable it to respond more effectively to the evolving economic and social needs of members and associate members through multi-disciplinary and intersectoral action. "We hope to improve our ability to meet the priority needs of region effectively and efficiently", said Mr Mooy. Most of the revised secretariat structure came into immediate effect July 1998, while some have been slated for 1 January 2000. The reorganization has been welcomed by many Member States who met in New York in July for the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) meeting which scrutinized the role of the Regional Commissions in socio-economic development by looking at their reform efforts. In a report to that meetings, Secretary General Kofi Annan reaffirmed the Regional Commissions' role as outposts of the UN that help to improve the overall effectiveness and efficiency of the UN. For information purposes only - - not an official record Return to From the United Nations home page at <http://www.un.org> - email: [email protected]United Nations Daily Highlights Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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