Latin America and the Caribbean is world’s most unequal region – UN report shows

Jul 27, 2010 News

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Populations in Latin America and the Caribbean have the world’s highest levels of differences in wealth and income, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) says in a new report that calls for social policies which tackle the problem of inequality in the region.
“This inequality is persistent, self-perpetuating in areas where social mobility is low and it poses an obstacle to progress in human development,” UNDP said in its first Development Report for Latin America and the Caribbean, entitled Acting On The Future: Breaking The Intergenerational Cycle Of Inequality.
Ten of the 15 most unequal countries in the world are in the region, according to the report, which was released on Friday. The report also finds that it is possible to reduce inequality through the implementation of public policies that lift the region out of the inequality trap.
The policies must have an impact on people, address the set of constraints that perpetuate poverty and inequality, and empower people to feel they are in charge of their development destinies, according to the report.
“This report reaffirms the critical importance of the fight against poverty, while indicating that it is necessary to go further,” said UNDP Regional Director Heraldo Muñoz.
“Inequality is inherently an impediment to progress in the area of human development, and efforts to reduce inequality must be explicitly mainstreamed in the public agenda,” he said.
For UNDP, “equality is instrumental in ensuring meaningful liberties; that is to say, in terms of helping all people to share in meaningful life options so that they can make autonomous choices,” he added.
Women, indigenous populations and those of African descent are the groups hardest hit by inequality. Women in the region are paid less than men for the same work, they have a greater presence in the informal economy and they face a double workload, the UNDP report pointed out.
Compared to those of European descent, twice as many members of indigenous and African descended populations, on average, live on $1 per day.
“Inequality is a source of social vulnerability. For that reason, as the report shows, it’s critical to advance knowledge of the factors explaining inequality in human development in Latin America and the Caribbean and its persistence from one generation to the next,” said Rebeca Grynspan, UNDP’s Associate Administrator.
“That would allow the proposal of a strong framework for development of targeted policies that drive a more equality-based development,” she added.
According to the report, the most common public policies in the region have focused on specific aspects of combating poverty without considering the deep-seated nature of deprivation and its systemic relationship to inequality.
It also shows that income and education levels are some of the factors responsible for continuing inequality in human development.
There are also structural causes of political and social origin that reflect historical factors of social inequality, including lack of equal opportunity and lack of empowerment that result in marginalisation, oppression, and domination.
“The success of government action depends on the deployment of information like that offered in the report.
Continuity of inequality across generations presents us with a critical factor in human development, one that demands our special attention,” said the President of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla, who presided over the launch of the report in San José with Ms. Grynspan and Mr. Muñoz.
“This report highlights that inequality in itself is a concern. We must therefore make it an issue and a policy matter in the development agenda of the region and its countries. It is our obligation that the fruits of development contribute to the general well-being and not only to that of a few,” the President added.
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Couple claims Doctor’s negligence killed their twin boys

A couple is currently mourning the loss of their first born twin boys. But to compound the situation they are blaming negligence on the part of the doctor who did the Caesarian surgery to deliver the babies.
Tandica Williams said that on Monday last, at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation when she went to deliver her babies, during the examination she was told that she would have to undergo surgery as the placenta (afterbirth) was before the children.
She said that whilst she was a bit afraid given that it was her first pregnancy she did consent and signed the necessary documentation.
Williams said that as she was regaining consciousness she heard one of the babies crying and she overheard the Doctor telling a nurse that one of the babies was going to live and the other was going to die.
She said that the nurse retorted, “One must dead and you cut it.”
From all reports the doctor allegedly forcibly did the surgical incision and slashed the baby’s head in the process. The other baby, according to Williams, was taken to an incubator.
She said that the following day she went to feed the child but the officials tried to keep her away.
She said that the baby was taken out of the incubator and placed on a table while they were giving him blood and he started bleeding through his navel until he died.
The children’s father, Ray Hinds, said that he has been given the royal runaround as the officials proffer several different explanations as to how the children died.
He said that he was told that one of the baby’s did not develop a brain, another explanation spoke of a heart condition and collapsed ribs among a host of other explanations.
Hinds said that officials who spoke to him in confidence said that it was a direct result of the doctor’s actions that both babies died.
He said that when he was shown one of the babies at the mortuary he examined and found a huge slash on the head and the brain was protruding.
Hinds said that he was told that no post mortem examinations were performed on the children.
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Cocaine in wig….
Woman jailed for four years
– fined $595,800

A 57-year-old woman was yesterday sentenced to four years’ imprisonment and fined $595,800 after she pleaded guilty to a single count of trafficking in narcotics.
The woman, Diana Bourne, a mother of two, admitted that on Saturday, at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport she had in her possession 662 grams of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.
Police Prosecutor Shellon Griffith, told the court that Bourne was an outgoing passenger to Antigua on the day in question.
The prosecutor stated that Bourne was subjected to a search by a police officer. Griffith said that it was during that search the female officer touched the woman’s wig and felt something hard.
Bourne, according the prosecutor, was ordered to remove the wig and three packets of the suspected narcotic were found.
The prosecutor said that after the drugs were found Bourne allegedly told the police “Corporal, I tek a chance”.
Attorney at law, Peter Hugh who represented the woman said that since the woman was arrested she has fully co-operated with the police.
He said that Bourne did not waste the court’s time and as such he implored that the Magistrate imposed the minimum sentence possible.
Hugh further told the court that his client is a trader who had fallen on “hard times”. “My client only went to this extreme because of financial difficulties”.
The lawyer added that prior to this charge his client had an unblemished record.
The Magistrate in imposing sentence told Bourne that she was too mature to make such a foolish decision.
Furthermore, the Magistrate said that if indeed she was having financial problems, she could have gotten a loan from the bank. “You’re a trader…I’m sure the banks could have given a loan”.

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