New York, July 22: The lack of human rights, political and social justice as well as a stable environment has prevented individuals in Arab countries from improving, the UN Development Programme said Tuesday.
The UNDP said human security is a prerequisite for human development. But the widespread absence of security in Arab countries has reduced the ability of an Arab person to make good choices for his or her life.
In a report, the UNDP estimated that two in five Arabs live in poverty while large segments of the Arab population in low-income countries live in deprivation. The number of Arabs suffering from malnutrition has increased from 19.8 million in 1990-1992 to 25.5 million in 2002-2004.
“Human security in Arab countries is often threatened by unjust political, social and economic structures, by competition for power and resources among fragmented groups, and in some cases, by the impacts of external military intervention,” UNDP said in releasing its 2009 report on Challenges to Human Security in the Arab Countries.
Amat Al Alim Alsoswa, UNDP director for the regional bureau for Arab states, said human security is not only threatened by military conflict and civil unrest. It is also threatened by environmental degradation, discrimination, unemployment, poverty and hunger.
“Only if these sources of insecurity are addressed in a holistic manner will the people of the Arab region be able to make progress in human development,” he said.
UNDP offered the concept of human security as a way to revamp development policy in Arab countries so it can have the greatest impact on human well-being. It called for strengthening the rule of law to guarantee each person’s rights to freedoms and opportunities.
The report cited six Arab countries, without naming them, for strictly banning political parties. Other Arab countries restrict political activities and civic organisations. The imposition for security reasons of emergency law has become a pretext to suspend basic rights.
“The civil state ruled by laws that respect human rights is the best guarantor of human security,” said Madawi al-Rasheed, a professor of religious anthropology at London’s Kings College.
The report called for the protection of the environment in Arab regions where desertification is threatening roughly one-fifth of the entire region and its population of 330 million.
It called for safeguarding women’s rights, tackling poverty and ending hunger, and boosting public health.
The report called for ending military occupation, armed conflict, and military intervention, events which resulted in human suffering and destruction of economic development. Violent conflict has forced over 17 million people in the Arab region to become refugees.
The report called for a more diversified economy in the Arab region because countries there are exposed to the fluctuations of oil prices. Oil accounts for 70 per cent of the region’s exports to the world.
The unemployment rate in Arab states stood at 14.4 percent compared with the world’s average of 6.3 percent, the report said. It said Arab countries need to create 50 million jobs by 2020 to accommodate the growing workforce as a result of increased population, which is expected to be 385 million by 2015, from the current 330 million.
–IANS–