Poverty, unemployment setbacks to 2030 Agenda in Latin America

Poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean has escalated since 2015, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Eclac) reported. In 2017, over 187 million people still lived in extreme poverty. The ordeal earns the region the status of most unequal in the world.

The number of jobless people stood at 22.8 million in 2017. Women are the most severely affected. In 2016, the urban unemployment rate reached 7.9% for men and 10.2% for women. Individuals of African descent and indigenous background also have to cope with unemployment, as well as limitations stemming from discrimination, Eclac reported.

Poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean has escalated since 2015

The figures can be found in the Second Yearly Report on the Regional Progress and Challenges for the 2030 Agenda for the Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, made public on Wednesday (Apr. 18), during the Forum of Latin American and Caribbean Countries on Sustainable Development.

The assembly, held at the Eclac headquarters, in Chile, brings together representatives from governments, international institutions, the private sector, academia, and civil society to discuss the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in the region. The event kicked off today and is slated to end on Friday (20).

Goals

The Agenda was adopted in 2015 and lists the so-called Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)—goals that should guide policy making and international cooperation among the 193 United Nations (UN) member states.

Among the 169 goals are eradicating poverty, reducing inequalities, achieving gender equality, adopting sustainable production and consumption standards, ensuring the existence of sustainable cities, promoting the sustainable protection and use of oceans and ecosystems, and bringing about inclusive economic growth.

However, the 2030 deadline for what Eclac terms an agenda for civilization change may not be enough to bring about actual transformation. “In the coming years, with the uncertainties still hovering regarding the performance of the global economy and in light of the region’s recent low dynamics (growth rates stand at around one percent), the challenge of meeting the sustainable development goals becomes more difficult,” the report reads.

Faced with this landscape, Eclac Executive Secretary Alicia Bárcena warns that inequality must be fought. “Inequality is the face of privileges. The privilege culture is what brings and naturalizes inequality. And this is what has to be broken,” she said at the opening ceremony of the meeting.

Bárcena went on to argue that the states should develop policies that help making the goals materialize. “The only level of poverty acceptable is zero—that’s what the 2030 Agenda says,” she noted. In this connection, Eclac’s report says that key initiatives in the fields of tax collection, redistribution, and strengthening of institutions and innovation in public policies must be developed.