Labour

The World is Losing the Battle Against Child Labour

By Daniel Gutman
The IV Global Conference on the Sustained Eradication of Child Labour,  which drew nearly 2000 delegates from 190 countries to the Argentine capital, left many declarations of good intentions but nothing to celebrate.

Are Prospects of Rural Youth Employment in Africa a Mirage?

By Raghav Gaiha and Vani S. Kulkarni
Many recent accounts tend to dismiss productive employment of youth in rural areas in Africa as a mirage largely because they exhibit strong resistance to eking out a bare subsistence in dismal working and living conditions. We argue below on recent evidence of agricultural transformation that this view is overly pessimistic, if not largely mistaken.

“Refugees Are Nothing but Commodities”

By Daan Bauwens
As countless refugees arriving on Italy’s shores report torture, extortion and forced labour in Libyan detention centers, many say they never intended to make the journey to Europe until the chaos in Libya left them no other choice.

A New Global Compact on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration

By Prasad Kariyawasam
At this crucial juncture of international migration, where numerous push and pull factors have engendered unprecedented migration flows across the globe, the ongoing discussions at the United Nations must lead to meaningful and practical outcome.

Kashmir’s Farmland Plowed Under in Wave of Urbanization

By Umar Manzoor Shah
In central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district, 40-year-old Javaid Ahmad Hurra remembers vividly how his small hamlet used to be lush and green when he was a child. It is now subtly turning into a concrete jungle, with cement structures dominating the scenery.

Innovation for Climate-Smart Agriculture Key to Ending Hunger in Kenya

By Siddharth Chatterjee
Some parts of Kenya are reeling from the effects of probably the worst drought in the last 20 years. With nearly 3.4 million people food insecure, Kenya’s food security prognosis looks gloomy, with climate change and natural resource depletion set to pose even greater risks in the long term.

Austrian Elections: The Crisis of Europe Continues

By Roberto Savio
The Austrian elections show clearly that media have given up on contextualising events. To do that, calls for a warning about Europe’s future, as a vehicle of European values is required. Europe has been weakened by all the recent elections, with the notable exception of France. Common to all, France included, were some clear trends, that we will hastily, and therefore maybe imperfectly, examine.

Zimbabwe’s Diaspora Could Help Revive Ailing Economy

By Sally Nyakanyanga
At the dawn of the millennium, Sheila Mponda, 60, waved goodbye to her four children, who were leaving Zimbabwe for the United Kingdom in search of greener pastures. Mponda had just lost her husband and had been a housewife all her life.

New Villages Bloom in the Shadow of a Mountain’s Wrath

By Kafil Yamin
Repeated volcanic eruptions of Mount Sinabung since 2010 have displaced thousands of people, leaving villages around the mountain deserted, with volcanic ash, lava and mud covering the soil, trees and empty houses.

International Day of Rural Women

By Michel Mordasini
On this International Day of Rural Women, the world celebrates women and girls in rural areas and the critical role they play in enhancing agricultural and rural development, improving food security and eradicating rural poverty.

Can the Kenyan Lion Kick High Enough to Be the South Korean Tiger of Africa?

By Mary Kawar and Siddharth Chatterjee
In 1953 South Korea emerged from the ravages of a debilitating war, yet the total gross domestic product in nominal terms has surged 31,000 fold since 1953.

Land Settlement Empowers: Bangladesh Sets an Example

By Shahiduzzaman
History was made for 400 landless families in the remote char lands of Noakhali district. On 4th October, they all received land titles from the government for which they had waited for over two decades. In Bangladesh, as in other countries, the title is a permanent legal ownership document.

World Bank Must Stop Encouraging Harmful Tax Competition

By Anis Chowdhury and Jomo Kwame Sundaram
One of the 11 areas that the World Bank’s Doing Business (DB) report includes in ranking a country’s business environment is paying taxes. The background study for DB 2017, Paying Taxes 2016 claims that its emphasis is “on efficient tax compliance and straightforward tax regimes”.

Alternative Financing Strategies to Boost Small Businesses in Africa

By Franck Kuwonu
A few years ago, more than half a century after the concept was first proposed, the government of Côte d’Ivoire completed construction of the Henri Konan Bédié Bridge, a span over the Ébrié Lagoon linking the north and south of Abidjan, the country’s main city. The project became a reality after the government received development bank and private capital financing.

Ghana Aims to Regain Top Spot in Cocoa Production

By Kwaku Botwe
Ghana is home to the world’s favourite cocoa beans. They’re bigger in size, have a higher butter content and superior flavour – all qualities which make Ghana’s cocoa the world standard against which all cocoa is measured.

Why American Overseas Aid Should Focus on SDGs?

By Bjorn Lomborg
The average American believes the US spends a whopping third of its federal budget on foreign aid. Consequently, a majority of people think that too much is spent on foreign aid. That is one reason US President Donald J. Trump, who has campaigned on putting the needs of Americans first, has proposed deep cuts to foreign aid in his 2018 budget.

Greater Cooperation To Strengthen Taxation

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
Since the 1950s, there has been a popular dance called the ‘limbo rock’, with the winner leaning back as much as possible to get under the bar. Many of today’s financial centres are involved in a similar game to attract customers by offering low tax rates and banking secrecy.

A Taste of India in Australia’s Hinterland

By Neena Bhandari
Julmat Khan migrated from the seaside resort town of Digha in West Bengal, India, about 14 years ago to the coastal tourist town of Broome in Western Australia. He is amongst a small proportion of international migrants to have settled in a regional town instead of Australia’s popular metropolises of Sydney and Melbourne.

Merkel’s Defeat Confirms Dismal Trend for Europe

By Roberto Savio
Generally, media have failed to analyse why the result of German elections is the worst possible. Merkel is not a winner, but a leader now in a very fragile position, who will have to make many compromises and pay now for her mistakes. Let us make at least the most important four points of analysis.

More Public Spending, Not Tax Cuts, for Sustainable, Inclusive Growth

By Anis Chowdhury and Jomo Kwame Sundaram
The Trump administration’s promise to increase infrastructure spending should break the straightjacket the Republicans imposed on the Obama administration after capturing the US Congress in 2010. However, in proportionate terms, it falls far short of Roosevelt’s New Deal effort to revive the US economy in the 1930s.

Even in School, More Than Half of All Children Aren’t Learning, Says UNESCO

By Roshni Majumdar
Six out of ten children in the world are not achieving basic proficiency in reading and mathematics, a new report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) shows.
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