Hunger in New Caledonia Tied to Unemployment Rates

New Caledonia is a French territory island off the coast of Australia that retains almost full autonomy. There have been strong pushes to keep the nation as a whole from suffering from any significant diseases, but there are still people living below the poverty line, which has meant hunger for those who cannot afford food. This hunger in New Caledonia poses an issue for France and the local government that needs to be remedied.

In 2009-10, France sent more developmental aid here than any other territory, and the results are obvious. With a 96.9 percent literacy rate, 100 percent access to sanitation facilities, and 98.5 percent having access to improved water sources, it is obvious that France is taking the care of its people seriously. But this does not mean that the nation is not having issues with poverty.

New Caledonia had a significant unemployment rate of 14.7 percent in 2014, rising slightly from 14 percent in 2009, despite having strong service and industrial sectors. Along with 17 percent of people living under the poverty line in 2008 (the most recent data), this shows that not everyone who is employed can earn enough to bring themselves out of poverty or feed themselves.

Having a large segment of their economy based on mining and exporting nickel has disadvantages at times because the prices rise and fall, leaving the people at the mercy of an unstable market. The government has tried to find ways to combat this fluctuation.

New Caledonia set up a Nickel Fund to aid its biggest and most unstable industry when prices fall. In 2016, the first ever payments to come out of the Nickel Fund were dispersed when nickel prices plummeted. However, of the $23 million in the fund, the less than $1 million dispersed barely reached 500 employees, because a majority of the businesses involved in nickel mining are covered by this contingency. Still, even though it is early in the process, it shows an attempt to provide a safety net for its people to help fight against poverty and hunger.

France’s continued involvement in New Caledonia’s progress saw French Prime Minister Manuel Valls confirm $500 million in continued support for 2016-20 to continue to develop New Caledonia. This money will help create contingency plans with industries to help people out of poverty and to be able to afford all that they need.

Though there is no new data on the poverty rates, the slightly increasing unemployment shows that there is room for improvement. However, it is clear that between France and the government of New Caledonia, there have been significant efforts to raise the status of the small territory’s status in its continuing development efforts. There is little doubt that they will be able to stamp out hunger in New Caledonia in the years to come.

– Rebekah Covey

Photo: Google

Yemen’s Human Trafficking Crisis

Amid the continued civil unrest and armed conflicts, the Republic of Yemen’s human trafficking crisis is continuously getting worse. The weakening of Yemeni government control over a significant portion of territory, following the 2011 uprising, has allowed human trafficking to thrive. Now, NGOs are reporting that vulnerable populations are at an increased risk of falling victim to the human trafficking network.

Yemen’s human trafficking crisis has not been properly addressed since 2006. According to the U.S. State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons report, released in 2014, Yemen was demoted from a Tier 2 to a Tier 3 rating. Tier 2 recognizes that a nation does not comply with Trafficking Victim’s Protection Act’s (TVPA) standards but is making efforts to achieve compliance.

Yemen’s current Tier 3 rating (since 2011) means that Yemen is not complying with the TVPA and that it has ceased making significant efforts to improve. That same year, the United Nations Refugee Agency reported over 103,000 new arrivals in Yemen, having been smuggled or trafficked to the country.

As of 2017, Yemen’s human trafficking crisis has not changed for the better. Due to the tenuous political circumstances, the government faces serious obstacles in combatting trafficking. Yemen is dealing with substantial internal security threats, weak institutions, widespread corruption, economic dilapidation, limited territorial control and a poor law enforcement capacities.

However, the greatest threat is the inherent increased risk for human trafficking due to the nation’s failure to implement and enforce any anti-trafficking laws. The lack of government control has also resulted in little oversight or activity in the courts. Without the government to prosecute, convictions and punishments are not being sought.

Allegedly, some officials willfully ignore the trafficking crimes in their regions. The most vulnerable to Yemen’s human trafficking crisis are migrant workers who attempt to flee poverty by finding work in the Gulf states and are unaware of the situation. As they travel to their destination, they are caught in large crowds, pushed overboard, and taken hostage by the smugglers.

Locals are also at risk. A common practice known as “sex tourism” (described as brief marriages between visitors and young Yemeni girls) has largely resulted due to rising poverty levels in rural areas.

The criminal networks do not stop at Yemen’s borders, but rather extend to Ethiopia, Djibouti and Saudi Arabia. As the smugglers continue to move victims internationally and Yemen further develops into a place of origin and transit, the chances that victims are recovered and returned to their families decreases.

By combatting poverty in Yemen, many of the workers who desperately search for opportunities and fall prey on fraudulent job offers would decline. However, until people can provide food and basic necessities for themselves, they may have no choice but to accept any work they can. Unfortunately, smugglers will exploit this. Thus, by combatting poverty, Yemen’s human trafficking crisis can be addressed, too.

– Taylor Elkins

Photo: Flickr

Indian Government Approves Bullet Train Project

India’s first-ever high-speed rail (HSR) network, the bullet train project, has been approved by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi, along with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, will be laying the foundation stone for the first track between Ahmedabad and Mumbai.

The train will reach top speeds between 320 and 350 kilometers per hour, making the 508-kilometer route between Ahmedabad and Mumbai five hours shorter than the usual seven-hour trip. The bullet train’s first route will contain 12 stations, four being in Maharashtra and eight in Gujarat, with about 92 percent running on an elevated track.

The bullet train will start underground with a station at the Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai, which will then run 27 kilometers through a tunnel in the sea until it pulls into the over ground station in Thane.

India has received about 85 percent of its funding for the bullet train project from Japan, according to Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu. In return, the Japanese E5 Series Shinkansen train will serve as the bullet train in India.

Prabhu and his ministry have drawn extensive maps for high-speed corridors on various routes between Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Mysuru and Bengaluru. These trains will also have the potential to reach a maximum of 350 kilometers per hour. Other routes – including Chennai-Hyderabad and Chennai-Mysuru – will have trains traveling at around 160 to 250 kilometers per hour.

Although the bullet train project has been undergoing feasibility testing since 2009, the project is just now in the soil-testing stage. The foundation stone is expected to be laid by both Indian and Japanese Prime Ministers in September of this year. Construction will follow in early 2018, and the launch of the first section’s operations is scheduled for 2023.

Once the track is completed, the bullet train will have the capacity to seat 731 passengers – 698 standard class and 55 business class. In addition, the train has an extended long nose to prevent damaging tunnel boom – the loud noise made when the train exits a tunnel at high speeds – which is due to uneven air pressure.

With luxury leather seating, adjustable reading lamps and foldable dining tables, the trains were designed with passenger comfort in mind. Additionally, the trains are fully accessible and equipped to serve any passengers with disabilities.

In the next six years, the bullet train system will make India a lot more manageable to get around for locals, business professionals and other travelers. The Indian government is also hopeful that the bullet train will lead to more opportunities to form deeper ties with Japan and eventually China, too.

– Kassidy Tarala
Photo: Flickr

Poverty in Taiwan

The calculation of poverty in Taiwan is a bit different. Families are considered poor if their monthly income is below a threshold set by the city or province. This means only 1.78 percent of the population, or about 130,000 people, are considered poor.

Each city in Taiwan has a different monthly income that is considered as a minimum. For example, while a family’s minimum income should be $171 to meet their basic needs in Kinmen County, the minimum is $337 in Taipei City.

The low percentage of poverty in Taiwan is not a coincidence, but rather is the result of efforts of the Taiwanese government alongside with various civic organizations, private foundations and academic institutions. For example, in 1999 the government spent $5.08 billion on social welfare programs.

However, there are problems in the government’s standards for calculating poverty rates. In 2004, the Taipei Times reported an interesting example. In Taiwan, low-income households are provided 13 benefits and services by the government such as living subsidies, medical grants and emergency funds.

These services are given on an “all or nothing” basis, so if a family rises slightly above the poverty threshold, they lose their rights to all of these services. The article reports, “Given this ‘all or nothing system,’ low-income households do not wish to rise above the poverty line, for if they do, they would really fall into poverty.”

In 2011, the government raised the poverty line. With this, an additional 588,000 people became eligible for social assistance and subsidies. The article “Changing Times Force Taiwan to Raise Welfare Spending” notes the tradition of taking care of one’s elders, which means taking care of them financially, as a reason for the necessity of raising the poverty line.

Looking at it from a cultural perspective, the article points out that the tradition of extended families living altogether (usually three generations under one roof) is starting to break down. “The family are no longer as close-knit as they once were. Grown children, for example, do not necessarily care for their elderly parents,” reports Cindy Sui.

Despite some of these structural problems with the government subsidies, many NGOs are working to help those who are not regarded as poor but who nevertheless are barely getting by.

One of the most prominent organizations is the Taiwan Fund for Children and Families. Promoting and advocating for the well-being of children, youth, and underprivileged families, the organization was formed in 1950 and now has a force of 8,000 volunteers.

Although the percentage of those in poverty is very low, Taiwanese are worried that the poverty line is not high enough. Looking at the cultural and financial conditions, there are definitely areas that need improving.

– Dilara Alemdar

Photo: Flickr

Mexico’s Poverty Rate Increases

The number of Mexicans living in poverty increased by two million between 2012 and 2014, according to Reuters. These figures of Mexico’s poverty rate highlight the challenges President Enrique Peña Nieto is facing in meeting pledges to help millions in need.

President Enrique Peña Nieto Struggles with Mexico’s Poverty Rate

“With his six-year term half over, Enrique Peña Nieto is trying to rally public confidence in his government’s economic plan amid lackluster growth projections,” said International Business Times.

While his efforts have focused on making Mexico a competitive nation, “the government is flailing in its battle against staggering income inequality and poverty rates that have remained virtually unchanged over the past 20 years,” according to International Business Times.

In 2014, Mexico’s poverty rate increased from 45.5 to 46.2 percent, corresponding to 55.3 million people in the country of approximately 120 million, said a spokesperson for the government’s social development agency.

According to Oxfam Mexico’s executive director, “while the wealth of Mexican multimillionaires is multiplied by five, 48 percent of state schools have no access to sewage, 31 percent have no drinking water, 12.8 percent have no bathrooms or toilets and 11.2 percent have no access to electricity.”

Under Peña Nieto’s administration, the problem has only worsened. While many Latin American countries have diminished their levels of poverty, Mexico’s have continued to increase.

Peña Nieto recognizes that income inequality, global economic turmoil and corruption have prevented Mexico from both an economic boost and a diminished poverty rate.

Jonathan Foxx, a political science professor at American University in Washington, D.C. suggested that “neither inequality nor poverty reduction have been major priorities of this administration, nor the previous administrations.”

The government has been criticized for being too focused on attracting foreign investment and strengthening large-scale private industries, rather than concentrating on reducing its poverty rate.

Professor Foxx added that Mexico’s poverty rate remains the largest concern, regardless of wide income disparities. “If the government was more effective at reducing poverty, then people would worry less about inequality,” he said. “But since neither is getting better, it’s hard to disentangle.”

A major shift in focus and strategy is needed if Mexico is to succeed in combating its increasing poverty rate.

– Isabella Rölz

Sources: International Business Times, Reuters, World Bank
Photo: Flickr