UNDP Human Development Report 2002 launched [Archives:2002/34/Reportage]

BY MUJAHED AL MUSSAABI
Y T STAFF
Under the Auspices of Mr Ahmed M. Sufan, minister of planning and development, the UNDP held on August 17, the launching ceremony of the global Human Development Report (HDR) 2002. The Ceremony was attended by Mr. James Rawley, the UNDP Resident Representative, Mr. Abdulrahaman Tarmoom, vice minister of planning and development as well as many diplomats and Ambassadors to Yemen.
In his speech, Mr. Rawely said that this the 13th HDR which was issued this year under the theme Deepening democracy in fragmented world, to ensure the significance of the political freedom as a goal for obtaining Human Development. He added that the report stressed on the importance of allowing ordinary people to be involved in designing the national and International policies. The report aims at creating and mobilizing dialogue between decision-makers and ordinary people in order to getting the best way to deal with the urgent challenges to improve Human Development.
Mr. Tarmoom also delivered a speech on the contents of the HDR saying that Yemen remains in the low Human Development countries, ranking 141 among 173 countries classified in the Global HDR 2002 while it ranked 70 among 90 poor countries according to the human poverty index. He said that the HDR 2002 indicates that development policies have focused since early 1980s on the economy and markets, while political development remained the forgotten dimension of HD.
However, the Report presents the progress achieved by democracy in the 20th century and the impact on developing countries and poor, emphasizing that democracy is an integral part of the HD process. Furthermore, the report shows that 47 out of 81 countries adopting democracy during the last quarter of the last century have become real democracies, while the rest returned to a totalitarian regime or to quasi-democratic system.
The GHD of 2002 reconfirms that calling for good governance does not imply the elimination of corruption only, but also empowering people with rights, means and capabilities to participate in taking decisions that effect their lives as well as holding their government accountable. It is worthwhile mentioning that ceremony was followed by a press conference which witnessed a wide debate on the content of the UNDP report.
 

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