Women are often victims of hunger. They also have a crucial role to play in defeating hunger. As mothers, farmers, teachers and entrepreneurs, they hold the key to building a future free of malnutrition. Here are ten reasons why empowering women is such an important part of WFP’s work.
- In developing countries, 79 % of economically active women spend their working hours producing food through agriculture. Women are 43% of the farming work force.
- Yields for women farmers are 20-30 percent lower than for men. This is because women have less access to improved seeds, fertilizers and equipment.
- Giving women farmers more resources could bring the number of hungry people in the world down by 100 - 150 million people.
- Surveys in a wide range of countries have shown that 85 - 90 percent of the time spent on household food preparation is women’s time.
- In some countries, tradition dictates that women eat last, after all the male members and children have been fed.
- When a crisis hits, women are generally the first to sacrifice their food consumption, in order to protect the food consumption of their families.
- Malnourished mothers are more likely to give birth to underweight babies. Underweight babies are 20 percent more likely to die before the age of five.
- Around half of all pregnant women in developing countries are anaemic. This causes around 110,000 deaths during child birth each year.
- Research confirms that, in the hands of women, an increase in family income improves children’s health and nutrition.
- Education is key. One study showed that women's education contributed 43% of the reduction in child malnutrition over time, while food availability accounted for 26%.
Извор: WUNRN – 11.12.2013
Access to information is crucial for everyone, including those living in poverty. It empowers them to:
• exercise their political and socio-economic rights
• be economically active
• learn new skills
• hold their governments to account.
What we believe:
• Access to information should be central to the post-2015 development agenda.
Governments, the private sector, civil society and global institutions should make an international commitment to ensure that everyone has access to, understands, and is able to use and share the information that is necessary to promote sustainable development.
Access to information has been recognised by the High Level Panel (HLP), the UN Secretary General and many other stakeholders as an essential component of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This recognition should be fully incorporated into the post-2015 development agenda.
• A clear focus on the right to information would be transformational. It would:
• promote participatory development, empowering all people to exercise their rights and address their own development challenges
• make all governments, regardless of their level of economic development, more accountable for meeting commitments made as part of the post-2015 development agenda
• provide a means to promote progress on accountability, transparency, good governance, participation and empowerment
22/11/2013 - The international community has taken new steps to strengthen transparency and boost the comprehensive exchange of information between governments worldwide.
Members of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes took significant steps during a 21-22 meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia to implement a global call for greater international co-operation against tax evasion. Actions taken include:
- Publication of new compliance ratings for 50 countries and jurisdictions on practical implementation of the Global Forum’s information exchange standard. Eighteen jurisdictions are rated Compliant [i], 26 jurisdictions are rated Largely Compliant [ii], two jurisdictions are rated Partially Compliant [iii] and four jurisdictions are rated Non-Compliant [iv]. Fourteen additional jurisdictions [v] were not given compliance ratings, pending further improvements to their legal and regulatory frameworks for exchange of information in tax matters. (see full compliance ratings)
- Establishment of a new Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) Group, open to all interested countries and jurisdictions, to prepare the move towards AEOI implementation. Italy was elected chair of this group.
- Agreement for further work aimed at strengthening the definition of beneficial ownership and the availability of this type of information.
- Agreement that the Forum continue monitoring implementation of the transparency and information exchange standard, while further developing its Terms of Reference and review processes.
Those seeking to buy sex in France will now face a 1,500-Euro ($2,000) fine, while the act of soliciting itself will no longer be punished
PARIS (Reuters) Dec 4, 2013 - The French lower house of parliament passed a reform of prostitution law on Wednesday imposing fines on clients, a shift to tougher rules which has split the country and angered some sex workers.
Lawmakers voted 268 in favor and 138 against to give France some of the most restrictive legislation on prostitution in Europe - a radical switch away from the nation's traditionally tolerant attitude.
Those seeking to buy sex in France will now face a 1,500-euro ($2,000) fine, while the act of soliciting itself will no longer be punished.
Women's Rights Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, who has championed the reform, argued that prostitution in any form is unacceptable and said the aim of President Francois Hollande's Socialist government was to suppress the trade altogether.
Proponents of the reform point to rising human trafficking as a reason for tightening rules. Some 90 percent of France's estimated 20,000 to 40,000 prostitutes are victims of Nigerian, Chinese and Romanian trafficking networks, the government says.
02/12/2013 - Hundreds of thousands of elected sub-national governments worldwide provide services and levy taxes on residents and companies. The trend towards decentralisation over the past 20 years has increased their capacity to affect the economic and fiscal course of their country, while the global economic crisis has created new challenges for balancing budgets at all levels of government.
Fiscal Federalism 2014: Making Decentralisation Work, says that better collaboration between all government entities is needed to rein in budget deficits, improve the efficiency of taxation and spending and bring about a fair sharing of fiscal burdens.
The report will be presented during the 3-5 December meeting of the International Tax Dialogue, in Marrakech, Morocco, on Tax and Intergovernmental Relations. It provides an overview on recent trends in inter-governmental fiscal relations and points out the uneven developments seen in the decentralisation process.
