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Tuesday, 31 October 2006 16:27 |
By JIM GENARO
After outlining some of the challenges facing women in the developing world at UNC Ashevilleës Reuter Center last Wednesday night, Dr. Roger Coate answered questions on the challenges ÇƒÓ as well as the positive trends ÇƒÓ for the United Nationsë efforts. About 40 people attended the lecture at the Western North Carolina Chapter of the United Nations Association of the U.S.A.
A woman in the audience told Coate that she "found it very heartwarming" to learn that the Nobel peace prize had recently been awarded to Bangladeshi economist Professor Muhammad Yunus, who invented the microfinancing system used by the U.N. to offer small loans to individuals in developing nations.
"Itës so simple, but the people at the World Bank donët think that way," Coate replied.
On
the topic of the World Bank, Coate said that he has been pleasantly
surprised by the performance of Paul Wolfowitz ÇƒÓ the controversial
neoconservative president of the institute who was appointed by
President Bush last year.
The appointment
of Wolfowitz ÇƒÓ one of the chief architects of the war in Iraq ÇƒÓ to lead
the bank was hotly contested by many in Europe, Coate noted.
However, by an
international agreement, the U.S. selects the head of the World Bank,
while Europe appoints the leader of the International Monetary Fund, he
added.
Another woman
said that while the U.S. is spending massive resources fighting
terrorism around the world, using even a fraction of those resources to
encourage farming and educational cooperatives in the developing world
could make a tremendous impact on womenës lives there. "Why canët ...
this country create a propaganda machine that works on that level?" she
asked.
Global poverty
simply does not receive the media attention that would be necessary to
mobilize the American public, Coate answered. Such stories are "not
newsworthy to most reporters," he added.
Furthermore,
political concerns affect the willingness of Congress to provide aid,
Coate noted.
Congressional funding for programs that foster womenës
health in developing nations are often hampered by opposition to
abortion by some lawmakers and their constituents, he said.
In addition, the
aid is often distributed unfairly for political reasons, he noted. As
an example, he cited the $15 billion in aid allotted by President Bush
a few years ago to combat HIV/AIDS in the developing world. Of that
amount, $14 billion went to countries such as Uganda, which have strong
political ties to the U.S., but also have significantly lower rates of
the disease than other nations in the region, he said. The remaining $1
billion was earmarked for abstinence-only sex education.
Another woman
noted that a Muslim woman convened the recent meeting of the U.N.
General Assembly in New York. "Is that an empowering thing that will
have an impact?" she asked.
"From my personal opinion, probably not," Coate answered.
He then pointed
out that President George Herbert Walker Bush was the most supportive
president in recent history in terms of working with the U.N.
However, Coate added, "His son ÇƒÓ Iëm sorry, but heës not on the same page.
"If we wanted to lead in an effective way, we could do it. Weëre the only country that has the resources."
A man asked about the role of technology ÇƒÓ particularly the Internet ÇƒÓ in furthering education efforts in the developing world.
"To what degree
can we hope that the cyber-sphere ... might help alleviate some of
these problems, such as literacy?" the man asked.
"Yes, Bill Gates could do this," Coate responded. "But you still have the other constraints that are still there."
Chief among
these constraints are the limitations imposed by the governments of
developing countries, he said. "I agree with Kofi Annan ÇƒÓ youëve got to
get the national and local governments involved."
Furthermore, Coate said, economic development through private investment is crucial to improving the lot of the poor.
"You canët sustain development in the long-run unless you can stimulate" investment, he noted.
"Are there any countries in Africa that are an example of doing better in this way?" a woman asked.
Uganda, Coate
replied, is one country that has experienced a significant economic
turnaround, despite serious political problems.
This is a
paradox for a country in which millions of its people are held in
"concentration camps,"
ostensibly for their own protection from warring
rebels, and thousands of people have been killed in fighting in the
Darfur province, he noted.
"Besides that, Uganda is the poster child of the World Bank," Coate added.
The country has
had significant success turning its economy around in the past decade
and has seen HIV/AIDS infection rates drop from 20 percent of the
population in the 1990s to its current rate of six percent.
Futhermore, Uganda has been one of the largest suppliers of food to its African neighbors during recent droughts, he said.
One man
suggested that a way to bypass resistance in some countries to efforts
at improving womenës conditions is to focus on childrenës welfare ǃÓ
which will inevitably have a beneficial impact on their mothers.
A woman then
commented that she has noticed a trend among evangelical Christians in
recent years to send more missionaries to developing countries.
To her remarks,
a man in the audience responded that demographically, Christianity is
not growing worldwide, except for "evangelical and counter-Reformation
Catholics," resulting in a generally conservative movement within the
religion.
"I donët think
itës new," Coate said of the missionary trend. Christians have made
inroads into many developing nations, he said, but their efforts have
been stymied in Muslim nations by perceptions of the U.S. there.
"I think the big
fault line is being frustrated by the rhetoric coming of the West ÇƒÓ the
anti-Islamic rhetoric," Coate told the audience. "This inhibits the
inability of the U.N. to operate."
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