[asia-apec 654] Gap keeps growing

[ALARM (APEC Labour Rights Monitor)]

Gap keeps growing between rich and poor
by Chen Yanni
China Daily, September 10, 1998

THE gap between rich and poor countries continues widening regardless of
the burgeoning consumption of goods and services globally.

This undermines the possibility of sustainable human development
internationally, 
suggests the United Nations Development Programmme's (UNDP) Human
Development Report. 

Global consumption of goods and services will reach US$24trillion this
year, six times
higher than in 1975, notes the report.

The UN released the document yesterday in The Hague and in more than 100
nations' capitals, including Beijing.  The UNDP has commissioned the report
exploration of major global issues by experts - every year since 1990.

One billion people still go without basic necessities - food, water and
proper housing - while 86 per cent of the world's output is used by 20 per
cent of the population, the report adds.

This group uses 58 per cent of the world's energy, 45 per cent of the meat
and fish, drive 87
per cent of the motor vehicles and use 74 per cent of the telephones,
reveals the report.

Three-fifths of the world's 4.4 billion people in developing countries live
in communities without basic sanitation; one-third do not have safe
drinking water; one-fourth lack  adequate housing; one-fifth are without
modern health care; one-fifth of the children do not advance beyond fifth
grade; and one-fifth of the children are malnourished, the report notes.

"The report looks beyond per capita income as a measure of human progress,
by assessing it against such factors as average life expectancy, literacy
rates and people's overall well-being," note UNDP officials.

This year the report focuses on consumption of goods and services and
examines how this advances or hinders human progress. 

Canadians ranked first for overall health, general level of education and
the average standard of living. France and Norway placed second and third
respectively.

This is the fifth consecutive year Canada topped the report's list, a
distinction the UNDP says is "unmatched by any other nation."

China ranked 106 out of the 174 nations, up from 108 out of 175 last year.
The UNDP implemented its China Human Development Report 1997 two months
ago, the agency's first report on China.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson on a 10-day visit to
China, praised the nation, during her speech at the ceremony, for its
efforts in eradicating poverty.

"A half century after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, China can
be commended for efforts to eliminate poverty, and to meet the basic needs
of all," Robinson said.

"But the full realisation of human rights, like development, is a process,"
she said.