The right of children and adolescents to a healthy environment. A diagnosis from Latin America and the Caribbean

Healthy environment: unresolved debts that affect childhood and adolescenceIn this new edition, we point out the right of children and adolescents to live in a healthy environment with emphasis on adequate access to drinking water and sanitation, including diagnosis as well as policy perspective. It is our contribution to the challenges set out by the Millennium Development Goals and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Child malnutrition in Latin America and the Caribbean

A particularly crucial issue.In the context of the Millennium Development Goals, we dedicate this second edition of Challenges to the issue of child malnutrition in Latin America and the Caribbean.Likewise, the President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, as Chief of State and Paediatritian, sets forth arguments calling on governments and citizens to mobilize for children's rights to adequate nutrition.

The right to education: An unfinished task for Latin America and the Caribbean

The right to education.Our newsletter once again takes on the challenges set forth by the Millennium Declaration and the human rights approach embedded in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In this issue, we will examine the right of children and adolescents to education.

ECLAC Notes Nº 30

The Economy of Latin America and the Caribbean Posts Modest Recovery Changes in Latin America and Caribbean Countries' Economic Policy Opinion by Alicia Bárcena, ECLAC's Deputy Executive Secretay. Financial Innovation and the Millennium Targets Highlights. Export Competitiveness and the Real Exchange Rate Indicators Inflation Declines and Employment Rises Recent titles and calendar of events

ECLAC Notes Nº 40

Region Will Meet Some Millennium Goals, But Antipoverty Fight Lagging Education Remains a Challenge Opinion by José Luis Machinea: There's Still Time to Meet the Millennium Goals by 2015 Highlights. Information and Communications Technologies: Tools for Development with Equity within Regional Integration Approaches Indicators Price of Copper Reflects Scarcity Recent Titles Calendar

ECLAC Notes Nº 55

Region is on Track to Fulfil the Millennium Development Goal of Reducing Extreme Poverty by Half. ECLAC Calls for More Pro-Active Policies to Reduce Inequality in Educational Systems. Three Considerations on Fighting Poverty and Indigence in Latin America. Op-ed by ECLAC's Executive Secretary, José Luis Machinea. Highlights. At the Tipping Point, by Ban Ki-moon, United Nations' Secretary-General. Indicators Against Gender Violence and for More Active Participation of Women in Peacekeeping Operations. Recent titles. Calendar of events

ECLAC Notes Nº 21

Mutual Confidence and Transparency in Defence Spending Between Chile and Argentina Education and the Labour Market: Latin America is Falling Behind Op-ed of ECLAC's Executive Secretary, José Antonio Ocampo: Lessons from the Argentine Crisis Highlights. Financial Volatility and Investment: Latin America at the Start of a New Millennium Indicators Time for a World Environmental Organization Recent titles Calendar of activities

Carta Circular de la Red de Cooperación en la Gestión Integral de Recursos Hídricos para el Desarrollo Sustentable en América Latina y el Caribe N° 39

Editorial.-- Discusión abierta: Políticas tarifarias para el logro de los ODM ; Recursos naturales en UNASUR ; El derecho humano al agua y al saneamiento.-- Reuniones: Políticas Tarifarias y Regulatorias ; Cooperación en Aguas Transfronterizas ; Latinosan III.-- Noticias en la RED: Estrategia Nacional de Recursos Hídricos ; Desarrollo hidroeléctrico en Chile.-- Noticias sobre Internet y WWW

Políticas tarifarias y regulatorias en el marco de los Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio y el derecho humano al agua y al saneamiento

Incluye bibliografía.

Informe del trigésimo quinto Período de Sesiones de la CEPAL. Lima, 5 a 9 de mayo

Asistencia y organización de los trabajos .-- Temario .-- Desarrollo de la reunión.-- Resoluciones aprobadas por la CEPAL en su Trigésimo Quinto Período de Sesiones. 676(XXXV) Calendario de conferencias de la CEPAL para el período 2015-2016 .-- 677(XXXV) Conferencia Regional sobre la Mujer de América Latina y el Caribe .-- 678(XXXV) Conferencia Estadística de las Américas de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe .-- 679(XXXV) Respaldo a la labor del Instituto Latinoamericano y del Caribe de Planificación Económica y Social (ILPES) .-- 680(XXXV) Comité de Desarrollo y Cooperación del Caribe .-- 681(XXXV) Conferencia Regional sobre Población y Desarrollo de América Latina y el Caribe .-- 682(XXXV) Establecimiento de la Conferencia Regional sobre Desarrollo Social de América Latina y el Caribe .-- 683(XXXV) Admisión de San Martín como miembro asociado de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe .-- 684(XXXV) Prioridades y Programa de Trabajo de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe para el bienio 2016-2017 .-- 685(XXXV) Actividades de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe en relación con el seguimiento de los Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio y la aplicación de los resultados de las grandes conferencias y cumbres de las Naciones Unidas en las esferas económica y social y esferas conexas .-- 686(XXXV) Aplicación del Principio 10 de la Declaración de Río sobre el Medio Ambiente y el Desarrollo en América Latina y el Caribe .-- 687(XXXV) Dimensión regional de la agenda para el desarrollo después de 2015 .-- 688(XXXV) Comité de Cooperación Sur-Sur .-- 689(XXXV) Lugar del próximo período de sesiones.

Status of Implementation of the Almaty Programme of Action in South America

Includes bibliography.

Report of the thirty-fifth session. Lima, 5-9 May 2014

Attendance and organization of work .-- Agenda .-- Summary of proceedings .-- Resolutions adopted at the Thirty-Fifth Session of the Commission: 676(XXXV) ECLAC calendar of conferences for the period 2015-2016 .-- 677(XXXV) Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean .-- 678(XXXV) Statistical Conference of the Americas of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean .-- 679(XXXV) Support for the work of the Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Economic and Social Planning .-- 680(XXXV) Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee .-- 681(XXXV) Regional Conference on Population and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean .-- 682(XXXV) Establishment of the Regional Conference on Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean .-- 683(XXXV) Admission of Sint Maarten as an associate member of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean .-- 684(XXXV) Programme of Work and priorities of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean for the 2016-2017 biennium .-- 685(XXXV) Activities of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean in relation to follow-up to the Millennium Development Goals and implementation of the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields .-- 686(XXXV) Application of Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean .-- 687(XXXV) The regional dimension of the post-2015 development agenda .-- 688(XXXV) South-South Cooperation .-- 689(XXXV) Place of the next session .-- 690(XXXV) Lima Resolution .-- 691(XXXV) Ministerial Conference on the Information Society in Latin America and the Caribbean.

UNASUR: un espacio de cooperación e integración para el desarrollo

Prólogo de Alicia Bárcena y Ernesto Samper

UNASUR: Fostering South American integration through development and cooperation

Today, six years after the signature of its Constitutive Treaty and 14 years after the first Meeting of the Presidents of South America, the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) stands as a union of 12 member States dedicated to the integration and long-term economic and social development of South America. With a view to achieving these aims, the Secretary-General of UNASUR has proposed three agendas: a social agenda based on the principle of inclusion, an economic agenda geared towards competitiveness and a political agenda directed towards deepening democracy and public safety. This document, UNASUR: Fostering South American integration through development and cooperation, was prepared by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) at the request of the General Secretariat of UNASUR. In follow-up to the earlier reports published in 2009 and 2011, it offers provide national authorities, academics and students, as well as the general public, an overview of some key issues on the development agenda of the nations of South America.

The employment situation in Latin America and the Caribbean: Advances and challenges in measuring decent work

At 6.4%, the unemployment rate for the Latin American and Caribbean region overall was the lowest for the past few decades, down from 6.7% in 2011. This is significant, in view of the difficult employment situation prevailing in other world regions. Labour market indicators improved despite modest growth of just 3.0% in the region’s economy. Even with sharply rising labour market participation, the number of urban unemployed fell by around 400,000, on the back of relatively strong job creation. Nevertheless, around 15 million are still jobless in the region. Other highlights of 2012 labour market performance were that the gender gaps in labour market participation, unemployment and employment narrowed, albeit slightly; formal employment increased; the hourly underemployment rate declined; and average wages rose. This rendering was obviously not homogenous across the region. Labour market indicators worsened again in the Caribbean countries, for example, reflecting the sluggish performance of their economies. The sustainability of recent labour market progress is also a cause for concern. Most of the new jobs in the region were created as part of a self-perpetuating cycle in which new jobs and higher real wages (and greater access to credit) have boosted household purchasing power and so pushed up domestic demand. Much of this demand is for non-tradable goods and services (and imports), which has stimulated expansion of the tertiary sector and hence its demand for labour, and many of the new jobs have therefore arisen in these sectors of the economy. This dynamic certainly has positive implications in terms of labour and distribution, but the concern is whether it is sustainable in a context of still relatively low investment (even after some recent gains) which is, moreover, not structured in a manner conducive to diversifying production. Doubt hangs over the future growth of production capacity in the region, given the enormous challenges facing the region in terms of innovation, education quality, infrastructure and productivity. As vigorous job creation has driven progress in reducing unemployment, attention has turned once again to the characteristics of that employment. Awareness exists in the region that economic growth is essential, but not in itself sufficient to generate more and better jobs. For some time, ILO has been drawing attention to the fact that it is not enough to create any sort of employment. The concept of decent work, as proposed by ILO, emphasized the need for quality jobs which enshrine respect for fundamental rights at work. The United Nations General Assembly endorsed this notion and incorporated it into the targets set in the framework of the Millennium Development Goals. This eighth issue of the ECLAC/ILO publication “The employment situation in Latin America and the Caribbean” examines how the concept of decent work has evolved in the region, progress in measuring it and the challenges involved in building a system of decent work indicators, 14 years after the concept was first proposed. Although the concept of decent work has been accompanied since the outset by the challenge of measurement, its first objective was to generate a discussion on the best achievable labour practices in each country. Accordingly, rather than defining a universal threshold of what could be considered decent work —regarding which developed countries might have almost reached the target before starting, while poor countries could be left hopelessly behind— ILO called upon the countries to define their own criteria and measurements for promoting decent work policies. As a result, there is no shared set of variables for measuring decent work applicable to all countries. The suggestion is, instead, that countries move forward with measuring decent work on the basis of their own priorities, using the information they have available now and in the future. However, this strategy of progressing according to the data available in each country tends to complicate statistical comparison between them. So, once the countries have developed their respective systems of decent work indicators, it will be also be important to work towards harmonizing them. ECLAC and ILO are available to provide technical support to this end. With respect to 2013, there is cautious optimism regarding the performance of the region’s labour markets. If projections of a slight uptick —to 3.5%— in the region’s economic growth in 2013 are borne out, labour indicators should continue to gradually improve. This will bring new increases in real wages and a slight drop of up to 0.2 percentage points in the region’s unemployment rate, reflecting a fresh rise in the regional employment rate and slower growth in labour market participation.