Social Watch E-Newsletter - Issue 297 - May 12, 2017

“Informal labor is not a marginal issue in Arab countries. It is a core component of modern Arab economies and the distribution of work therein and is doomed to expand under current policies,” explained Samir Aita, lead researcher of the Arab NGO Network on Development (ANND) at the launch of the 2017 edition of the Arab Watch on Economic and Social Rights, last May 8 in Beirut.
The report, launched publicly at the American University, concludes that the “highest percentages of lack of formality are in countries with the least strict laws and bureaucracies, and vice versa. This goes against the stereotype that says that informality is a result of strict laws and bureaucracies.” It also concludes that “informal labor in Arab countries is mostly waged labor, except in rare cases, which contradicts another idea that says that informal labor is a choice, as young people entering the job market have no choice but to find any type of livelihood, no matter how fragile or temporary.” Read more

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) involves specific targets to be achieved mainly by 2030. The Agenda seeks to "leave no-one behind" and claims roots in universal human rights. "Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2016: Taking on Inequality" is the World Bank's first annual report tracking progress towards the two key SDGs on poverty and inequality.
According to the Bank, with global economic growth slowing, reduction of income inequality will be necessary to ending poverty and enhancing shared prosperity.
The report focuses on inequality, which was generally neglected until fairly recently by most international organizations other than the UN itself. It provides some useful analyses of inequality, including discussion of its causes.
However, the report's policy recommendations are surprisingly limited, perhaps because it neither analyses nor proposes measures to address wealth inequality, which is much greater than and greatly influences income inequality. Read more

The Civil Society Financing for Development (FfD) Group, a very broad platform of civil society organizations, networks and federations from around the world, that followed closely the FfD process since its origins, facilitated civil society's contribution to the Third International Conference on Financing for Development, and continues to provide a facilitation mechanism for the collective expression of civil society. These general comments on the scope and direction of the zero draft is complemented by more detailed recommendations on the text of the zero draft currently being debated by member states. Read more.

Social Watch will again join forces with other NGOs and networks to publish in 2017 a new "Spotlight report" (as opposed to "shadow report") on sustainable development.
This report will be launched next July during the meeting of the High Level Political Forum of the United Nations that will review at ministerial level the Agenda 2030 and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
Almost two years after the adoption of this ambitious agenda, the 2017 report will look at how it is implemented. The Guidelines for the Social Watch national reports 2017 are available in English, French and Spanish.