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Arab study cites development blocks
Rare study blames education, repression, treatment of women
By Karen DeYoung
THE WASHINGTON POST
July 2 — Lack of political freedom, discrimination against women and inadequate education systems have led to a substantial development gap between Arab countries and far poorer regions of the world, according to a new, Arab-written report on the subject.
THE Arab Human Development Report, compiled under United Nations auspices and scheduled for release today in Cairo, describes a region of great, but largely unrealized potential.
“Given the political commitment, Arab countries have the resources to eradicate absolute poverty in less than a generation. Commitment, not resources, is the binding constraint,” the report said.
Researched over the past 18 months by scholars and experts from 22 Arab countries, working with a team of regional policymakers, the report is the first of its kind written by Arabs themselves. It follows the template of the annual U.N. Human Development Report, which indexes all the countries of the world according to their levels of “human opportunity,” including broad categories of government, economy, health, education and human rights.
“The report aims to start a dialogue in the region. It won’t make many friends there, but that wasn’t the intention,” Rima Khalaf-Hunaidi, head of the Arab section of the United Nations Development Program, said at a London news conference yesterday.
The report praises Arab countries for significant gains in literacy, an increase in life expectancy of about 15 years and sharp falls in infant mortality in recent decades. Yet in virtually every measurable area of opportunity described by the report as crucial to future growth and development, the Arabs fall short.
On international measurements of government accountability, civil liberties, political rights and media freedom, Arab countries score lower than any other region in the world. While per capita income exceeds the rest of the developing world, except for Latin America and the Caribbean, only sub-Saharan Africa has had a lower rate of income growth.
POOR EDUCATION CITED
Although it does not directly address the question of religious education, which the Bush administration has criticized for creating fertile ground for potential terrorists, the report concludes that most Arab countries are providing both too little education and the wrong kind. Only South Asia has a lower adult literacy rate.
‘The challenge is far more than overcoming the under-supply of knowledge to people. Equally important is overcoming the under-supply of knowledgeable people.’
— ARAB HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT
“The challenge is far more than overcoming the under-supply of knowledge to people,” the report said. “Equally important is overcoming the under-supply of knowledgeable people.” It described “a major mismatch” between what Arab education systems are teaching their youth and the needs of their own labor markets.
“There are lots of [school] buildings around, but what’s in them is highly questionable,” said UNDP’s Zahir Jamal. “It goes to the heart of what many people consider a fundamental question in the region — education influenced by [religious] fundamentalism has produced a rote learning, memorizing culture.”
“While the Arab world likes to see itself in many respects as an advanced, developing region in terms of 21st-century knowledge, it’s trailing,” Jamal added.
Arab countries have the world’s lowest level of information “connectivity” — the percentage of people who use the Internet and those with access to a personal computer. Investment in research and development is around 0.5 percent of gross national product, well below the world average.
More than half of Arab women are illiterate and “the utilization of Arab women’s capabilities through political and economic participation remains the lowest in the world, in quantitative terms,” the report said. Unlike many other regions, little correlation was found between development levels in individual Arab states and their empowerment of women. While Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates were the most developed overall, Iraq, near the bottom on the development index, scored highest in women’s empowerment.
ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT
The report overview included five paragraphs on the impact of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the region. In addition to stunting Palestinian development, it said, Israeli occupation provides most Arab states with “both a cause and an excuse for distorting the development agenda, disrupting national priorities and retarding political development.
“At certain junctures it can serve to solidify the public against an outside aggressor and justify curbing dissent. ... In all these ways, occupation freezes growth, prosperity and freedom in the Arab world.” |
