The Human Capital Index 2020

                 This post is a summary of the book with the title above published in 2021 at   https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/34432

                        The Human Capital Index (HCI) is an international metric that benchmarks key components of human capital across economies. The HCI was launched in 2018 as part of the Human Capital Project, a global effort to accelerate progress toward a world where all children can achieve their full potential. Over the past decade, many economies have made important progress in improving human capital. Today, however, COVID-19 pandemic threatens to reverse many of those gains. Urgent action is needed to protect hard-won advances in human capital, particularly among the poor. Human capital consists of the knowledge, skills and health that people accumulate over their lives. Human capital also enables people to realize their potential. The five components of the HCI do not cover all the important aspects of the accumulation and productive use of human capital. In particular, the index is silent on the opportunities to use accumulated human capital in adulthood through meaningful work. In many economies, a sizable fraction of today's young people may not find employment in jobs in which they can use their skills and cognitive abilities to increase their productivity. By bringing salience to the productivity implications of shorfalls in health and education, the HCI has not only clarified the importance of investing in human capital but also highlighted the role that measurement can play in catalyzing consensus for reform. What explain these variations in human capital outcomes? Despite a strong correlation between the HCI and GDP per capita, human capital does not always move in lockstep with economic development. Economies like Burundi, Estonia, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam have HC outcomes that are higher than predicted by their GDP per capita. Conversely, in a number of economies HC is lower than per capita income would suggest. Among these are several  resource-rich countries in which HC has not yet matched the potential that one would anticipate, given these economies' wealth. The HCI is based on outcomes that typically change slowly from year to year. Some of them, such as stunting and educational tests scores, are measured every three years. Health, education, social protection, and other complementary policies informed by rigorous measurement can take countries' human capital beyond the levels previously achieved, opening the way to a more prosperous and inclusive future. The Human Capital Project is a global effort to support human development as a core element of countries' overall strategies to increase growth. The main objective is progress towarda world in which all children can achieve their full potential. For that to happen, children need to reach school well-nourished and ready to learn, attain real learning in the classroom, and enter the job market as healthy, skilled and productive adults. The resulting HCI quantitatively illustrates the key stages in a child's human capital trajectory and their consequences for the productivity of the next generation of workers, with three components: 1) survival from birth to school age, measured using under-5 mortality rates.   2) Expected years of learning-adjusted school, combining information on the quantity and quality of education.   3) health.  Ceará is a northeastern state in Brazil that improved its education outcomes much faster than the rest of Brazil. Almost all of Ceará 184 municipalities had low levels of quality in teaching and had very limited resources, spending about one-third less in per-student education than wealthier states such as São Paulo. Among these municipalities is Sobral (with 200,000 inhabitants), which in the late 1990s suffered from a highly fragmented school system, with many poorly maintained small school, most in rural areas and with multigrade classes. Despite a reorganization of the school system, a 2005 diagnostic found that 40% of grade 3 children were not able to read. and 21% of lower-secondary school students dropped out. Between 2005 and 2015, Sobral managed ro achieve remarkable progress in educational outcomes. It ranked first among 5,570 municipalities in the country in both primary and lower-secondary education. Ceará's approach was driven by a mix of the following elements, whose effectiveness is supported by international evidence: the provision of fiscal and nonmonetary incentives for municipalities to achieve education outcomes; technical assistance to municipal school networks to enhance teacher effectiveness and achieve age-appropriate learning; the regular use of a robust monitoring and evaluation system, following by adequate action; and giving municipalities autonomy and accountability to achieve learning. Sobral organized its education policy under four pillars: continuous use of student assessment, a focused curriculum with a clear learning sequence and prioritization of foundational skills, a pool of well-prepared and motivated teachers, and a system of autonomous and accountable school management with school principals appointed through a meritocratic technical selection process. Continuity of commitment and effort over successive governments is key to reaching any long-term goals, but especially in growing human capital, which can take decades. HCI 2020 arrives at a time when policy makers across the world face urgent choices. Strategic decisions made now have the power to protect and strengthen countries' human capital and, with it, their economic future. Below the HCI 2020 from the highest score to the lowest, the list in the left is for PanAmerican countries and in the right for the rest of the world. Again, for no reason my post is being messed up. The letter became smaller and the two vertical lists that I did as I did on the GDP growth post is totally mixed. 

PanAmerican Countries                                         Rest of the world

Canada   0.80                                                                Japan   0.80                                                              U.S.A.    0.70                                                                 South Korea   0.80                                                   Chile   0.65                                                                   Sweden   0.80                                                          Costa Rica   0.63                                                            Ireland   0.79                                                          Mexico   0.61                                                                  U.K.   0.78                                                             Peru   0.61                                                                      Norway   0.77                                                       Argentina   0.60                                                              Australia   0.77                                                       Uruguay   0.60                                                              Portugal   0.77                                                        Colombia   0.60                                                               France   0.76                                                          Ecuador   0.59                                                                Germany   0.75                                                      Brazil    0.55                                                                    Italy   0.73                                                          Paraguay   0.53                                                              Spain   0.73                                                        Nicaragua   0.51                                                          Vietnam   0.69                                                  Panama   0.50                                                             Russia   0.68                                                   Guyana   0.50                                                                Turkey   0.65                                                    Dominican Republic   0.50                                                      China   0.65                                                   Honduras   0.48                                                               India   0.49                                                    Guatemala   0.46                                                              South Africa   0.43 

140th Birthday of Lima Barreto - Part II

      The tribute to Lima Barreto carries on. This post is a summary of three article. The first was published at   https://repositorio.ufsc.br/xmlui/handle/123456789/95708. The second was published at   https://repositorio.unesp.br/handle/11449/204384. The third was published at https://www.revistas.usp.br/linguaeliteratura/article/view/115700/113228

                 This thesis aims at questioning the possible relations between Lima Barreto personal writings and chronicles with Vida e Morte de Gonzaga de Sá, (1919) his last published novel. Though widely considered as minor genres, the private writings and chronicles are here seen as points of connections and development of his fictional work, but they also can sometimes be seen as potential works of fiction. The social micro reading, which is typical of Lima Barreto is clearly seen in his personal writings and chronicle. In Vida e Morte de Gonzaga de Sá it determines the novel structure with its uneventful plot, composed of insights into everyday life and of memory recollections. It is not a denunciatory novel as Recordações do Escrivão Isaías Caminha (1909) and neither a realist novel as Triste Fim de Policarpo Quaresma (1015). Thus, the train, the cars, the stamps, and fashion are trails of the modernization process that Brazil was going through and they become the subject of the aleatory conversation between Gonzaga de Sá and Augusto Machado.                                                                                                                                                                                                     Lima Barreto points out in his literary production problems faced by the vulnerable population in the new social conformation that appeared in the period called First Republica (1890-1930).Dedicating himself to reporting dramas of the excluded, the writer becomes an important source to understand dilemmas occurred during Belle Époque age. In a simple language, acquired as a journalist, he will assume a combative role against remaining and deep injustices, creating an engaged and criticism literature. We approach how Lima Barreto saw these problems and how his engagement in literature was formed and intensified over the years in different works and chronicles. Discussing countless subjects happening in a country with intense transformation, we will try to address, in addition to the influences Lima Barreto received and shaped him as a writer, themes such as women, racism, disorderly growth throughout the city and people exclusion. City of Rio de Janeiro is important in his works, which show us how poor people were taken to the city outskirts, detailing a difficult social drama to solve.                                                                                                                      Lima Barreto's attitude toward the inclusion and balance of environmental factors and individual tendencies is a kind of thesis of the literary tradition, which preceded him. He favored a return to the sensitivity, idealism, and to the importance of human values, which had been lost in Realism and Naturalism, which had attached excessive attention to the outside world. Lima Barreto was attracted and dreamed of writing a naturalistic novel, but it would be a more psychological one, that is, one which granted more attention and dignity to the individual. He also thought that the excesses of fantasy which were observed in Romanticism should be avoided, that the work of art should be plausible, and reflect reality. Another explanation accounting for Lima Barreto's moralistic attitude toward society was the influence he suffered from the positivistic philosophy of Auguste Comte. He accepted the necessity of a moral transformation before a social reorganization for the better could take place. The latter would be carried out with the help of science.Lima Barreto places literature at the service of sociology. This would help bring about the eventual change in society that he longed for so much. In reference to the moral reformation that must precede any social upheaval, however, Lima Barreto seems to have faith in literature as a self-sufficient force. For him the mission of literature was to break down the barriers of incomprehension between men of different races, epochs, beliefs, social classes by explaining one to the other and showing them the bond they all have in common: sorrow and suffering. Lima Barreto anticipates the movement in world literature called "literatura comprometida" which Guilhermo de Torre states began after World War I. He believed that every writer should be committed to resolving the outstanding social problems of his time. Much of what Lima Barreto says with regard to the moral purpose of literature, the concern for contemporary problems, had been said more than thirty-five years earlier by Eça de Queiroz who in turn took most of his ideas from Proudhon, the French philosopher. Lima Barreto believed that an author must not allow the pressure of professional groups to determine his own opinion. He must constantly struggle against those suppressive elements in his environment, in order to be outspoken and personal in what he writes. Though the society which surrounds him will necessarily be reflected in his works, his attitude towards that society must be original, a result of his own experiences and independent meditation. Lima Barreto hoped to reform society in a moral sense. He wanted all classes, all races, all nationalities to understand and love each another in the humanitarian sense. He wished also to reveal the evils by making his public aware that they exist. Lima Barreto thought that all individual, having become aware of the bad things and in themselves and of the things they had in common with all human beings, would perhaps act to improve society.                                                                                   

140th Birthday of Lima Barreto

                Ten days ago, precisely on May 13, the Brazilian writer Lima Barreto would complete 140 years old, so this post is a tribute to him.The contemporaneity of his works make us to reflect about what is holding Brazil's potential. We all have to fight injustice, political exclusion, abuse of power, mediocrity in the governments, lack of good education for all, and corruption, as he did with his novels.  This post is a summary of three articles. The first was published at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lima_Barreto  file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads   . The second was published at Texto%20do%20artigo-24923-1-10-20190417%20(1).pdf.                                                The third was published  https://bdtd.ibict.br/vufind/Record/UEL_e1653315e0addbe87fe934cf1ccaf3c5

                Afonso Henriques de Lima Barreto (1881-1922) was a Brazilian novelist and journalist. A major figure in Pre-Modernism, he is famous for the novel Triste Fim de Policarpo Quaresma, a bitter satire of the first years of republica in Brazil. His father was a typographer, who had close connections to Afonso de Assis Figueiredo, the Viscount of Ouro Preto, Barreto's godfather.  Barreto's mother died when he was very young, and he was subsequently sent to study at a private school. He entered the Escola Politécnica do Rio de Janeiro, but was forced to abandon it in order to take care of his brothers, since his father's mental health was starting to deteriorate. Barreto used to write for newspaper since 1902, but he achieved fame in 1905, writing a series of articles regarding the demolition of Castle Hill. In 1909 he published his first novel, Recordações do Escrivão Isaías Caminha, a scathing and semi-autobiographical satire of the Brazilian society. However, his masterpiece is generally considered to be Triste Fim de Policarpo Quaresma, which was published in 1911. During the last years of his life, Barreto was attacked by heavy bouts of depression, which led him to alcoholism and many visits to psychiatric hospitals. Barreto was a very satirical author. His favoured target of criticism was the perceived mediocrity of the Brazilian government and the commercial and military authorities. Barreto adopted a more simple style in his book which was more accessible to a majority of the Brazilian people. This provoked an increasing number of criticisms against the author, who was persecuted by the elite for his non-classical style. For the antagonists in his books, Barreto explores their hypocrisy, ignorance and indifference to the suffering of others. The Tragic Fate of Policarpo Quaresma, tells the story of Policarpo, a radical Brazilian patriot. His dream is to see Brazil as one of the world's most powerful nations. The story can be divided in three distinct parts. A collection of tales that Barreto published in newspaper during the period of 20 years, it tells the life of the people of Bruzundanga, an imaginary country that represents Brazil. In the book, tale by tale, Barreto tells of the corruption present in every sector of the nation's life. Barreto decided to create a new country to represent Brazil in order to escape from politician and any other authority's persecution. In fact, it is a great allegory to Brazilian famous personalities and public institutions.                                                                                                The objective of this research is to analyze the representation of the social context and values of the carioca society from the end of the 19th century in the novel "Sad End of Policarpo Quaresma" by Lima Barreto, especially because of the cult of appearances in the microcosm of the plot. As several critics have pointed out, such as Antonio Candido, one of the main concerns of Lima Barreto is the analysis of the society which he is inserted in. Policarpo Quaresma sought to subvert the social system, which afflicted him, by reading, studying and expressing indignation at the barriers imposed by a proud and flattering minority. This criticism is only possible by the contrast between the idealistic path of the main characters of both the work cited and its closest interlocutor. Through this research, it is intended to enphasize the importance of the work of Lima Barreto for the Brazilian Literature not only in social criticism and in the critical aspect of a society that lives by appearances but also in the contrast with extreme idealism and patriotism.                                                                                                                                                                                             The utopian thought has configured in Lima Barreto novels. It is assumed that the novelist had a posture of a revolutionary or utopian romanticism, according to the ideal types described by Michel Lowy, as evidenced in critical texts dissatisfaction with the current time, but it demonstrates hopes in the society transformation. Lima Barreto, to make these changes, used the literature, because for him, literature should not be only contemplative, but must also have a social function, with solidarity  and human relations having the role of improving the social intercourse among citizens. He demonstrated a vision beyond his time. As the philosophers, according to Nietzsche's conception, represented the "misdeed awareness of his time." The study of Barreto's literature is relevant, since it enables reading on a critical sociological perspective, when searching in the structure of writer novels the utopic question. In addition, it was possible to review the criticism of his works, because that was broken down for many years, marginalized by literary scholars of that time who did not realize the modernity and richness of his texts. The analysis of Barreto's novels showed that utopian thought is present when the humanity feeling is revealing the injustices, the discrimination of the underpriviliged and the abuse of power. It was proved that the utopian thought is present in the fight against the exclusion of the underprivileged, in the representation of the underprivileged groups, in the presence of protagonists who failed, but had ideals of social transformation, as Policarpo Quaresma, Gonzaga de Sá, Clara dos Anjos. It was verified that, through literature, Lima Barreto tried to transform society so to be more fraternal, solidary and fair.

World Press Freedom Day 2021 - Part II

                    This post is a summary of four articles. The first was published at https://rsf.org/en/rsf-2020-index-latin-americas-dark-horizon-press-freedom. The second was published at     https://www.icij.org/inside-icij/2021/05/press-freedom-has-deteriorated-in-the-face-of-a-global-pandemic-journalists-share-on-world-press-freedom-day/. The third was published at   https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2021/country-chapters/brazil. The fourth was published at https://latamjournalismreview.org/articles/at-least-seven-journalists-killed-for-their-work-in-latin-america-in-2020-mexico-deadliest-country-for-profession-in-the-region/

                     The environment for journalists in Latin America is increasingly complex and hostile. Many journalists covering sensitive subjects have experienced an increase in harassment, violence and intimidation. At the same time, the media have been subjected to major smear campaigns in most of the region's countries. Aside from two notable exceptions, Costa Rica now ranked 7th in the index after rising three places, and Uruguay, which has held on to its 19th place. The Index is characterized by an overall decline in respect for press freedom in Latin America. Harassment and stigmatization of the media, fed by online disinformation and attacks, have increased in scope. This has been the case in Ecuador (down 1 place to 98th), where protests by the part of the population that feels betrayed by President Lenin Moreno have been accompanied by attacks on journalists that have often made it impossible for them to work. So too in Chile (51st) which has fallen another five places after the previous year's eight place fall.Where violent protests triggered by a hike in Santiago Metro fares led to a wave of agression and targeted attacks against journalists and media outlets throughout the country. Bolivia (down 1 at 114th) also saw many cases of harassment and attacks on journalists during demonstrations throughout the election campaign. Even if it continues to be one of the region's better behaved countries, Argentina (64th) has fallen seven places in the 2020 Index. In Brazil (107th), The effects of Jair Bolsonaro's installation as president in January 2019 is the chief reason why the country has fallen two places for the second year running. Feeding a climate of hate and mistrust towards news providers and journalists are increasingly vulnerable in this fraught environment and are constantly attacked by hate groups and Bolsonaro supporters, especially on social media. In Venezuela (147th), president Maduro's authoriatarianism continues to grow and his government's constant persecution of the independent press takes many forms, including arbitrary arrests, violence by police and intelligence officers, depriving critical radio and TV stations of broadcast frequencies, internet cuts, and blocking of social media, and expulsion for foreign journalists. Cuba continues to be Latin America's worst ranked country. The Cuban regime maintains its near total monopoly of news and information, and the constitution continues to ban privately-owned media. Arrests and imprisonment of troublesome journalists increased in 2019.                                                                                                                                                       In the last year, more attacks and threats against journalists by some Latin American governments have emerged. High impunity rates for crimes against journalists, restrictions to access public information, attacks during the coverage of public events, intimidation, threats and anti-journalist social media campaigns, have generated a hostile environment for the press from several countries in the region. More than 20 journalists and media workers were killed in Latin America in 2020 according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Mexico remains one of the deadliest countries for journalists in the world. Journalists have faced government intimidation and discrediting campaigns in Brazil, Guatemala and Venezuela. The Brazilian National Federation of Journalists registered 428 attacks on journalists and the press. Defamation suits have also been used in an attempt to censor journalists in several countries, including Argentina, Venezuela, and Panama. At least 594 journalists from Latin America have died from COVID-19, according to the Press Emblem, with journalists in Brazil, Peru and Mexico being worst hit.                                                                 In March, President Bolsonaro suspended deadlines for government agencies to respond to public information requests during the COVID-19 emergency and prevented citizens from appealing declined requests. The Supreme Court overturned these orders. Since taking office, President Bolsonaro, political allies, and government officials have lashed out at reporters more than 400 times, according to Article 19. The government asked the Federal Police to investigate alleged defamation by two journalists and a cartoonist who criticized the president. The Justice Ministry prepared confidential reports on almost 600 police officers and three academics it identified as "antifascists." The Supreme Court ordered the ministry to stop collecting information about people exercising their rights to freedom of expression and associate. Brazil's Senate passed a "fake news" bill that threatens the right to privacy and free speech. It was pending in the Chamber of Deputies at time of writing.                                                                                                                            At least seven journalists working were killed in Latin America in reprisal for their work and two more while on a dangerous assignment, according to an annual report from the Committee to Protect Journalists. This represents one third of all journalists murdered globally for their work. Natalie Southwick, program coordinator for Latin America, told. "Local reporters covering politics, crime and corruption face some of the greatest risk, with criminal groups responsible for the majority of murders. Sadly, the common thread across the region is impunity. At least four journalists were targeted and killed in Mexico in 2020, additionally, reporter Israel Rangel was shot in Salamanca while reporting on the discovery of human remains. CPJ defines his death as occurring on a "dangerous assignment." At least two journalists were killed in Honduras for their work. TV host German Vallecillo and freelance journalist Luis Almendares while broadcasting via Facebook live. In Paraguay, Brazilian journalist Lourenço veras, editor of Porã News, was killed near the border of the two countries. Journalist Leonardo Pinheiro was killed while conducting an interview in the state of Rio de Janeiro on May 13th and another Brazilian journalist Edney Menezes was killed in his car in the state of Mato Grosso on November 15th.

World Press Freedom Day 2021

                This post is a summary of four articles. The first was published at   https://www.un.org/en/observances/press-freedom-day. The second was published at   https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/sr/news/world-press-freedom-day-2021. The third was published at   https://www.news18.com/news/lifestyle/world-press-freedom-day-2021-history-significance-and-theme-3701426.html. The fourth was published at  https://www.euronews.com/2021/05/03/world-press-freedom-day-which-are-europe-s-lowest-ranked-countries-for-journalistic-freedo

                  This year's World Press freedom day theme, "information as a Public Good," serves as a call to affirm the importance of cherishing informaqtion as a public good, and exploring what can be done in the production, distribution and reception of content to strengthen journalism, and to advance transparency and empowerment while leaving no one behind. The theme is of urgent relevance to all countries across the world. It recognizes the changing communications systems that is impacting on our health, our human rights, democracies and sustainable development. To underline the importance of information within our online media environment, World Press Freedom Day 2021 will highlight three key topics. 1) Steps to ensure the economic viability of news media.  2) Mechanisms for ensuring transparency of internet companies.  3) Enhanced media and Information Literacy capacities that enables people to recognize and value, as well as defend and demand, journalism as a vital part of information as a public good. World Press freedom Day was proclaimed by the U.N. General Assembly in 1993, since then, 3 May, is celebrated worldwide. After 30 years, the historic connection made between the freedom to seek, impart and receive information and the public good remains as relevant as it was at the time of its signing. May 3 acts as a reminder to governments of the need to respect their commitment to press freedom. It is also a day of reflection among media professionals about issues of press freedom and professional ethics. It is an opportunity to: 1) celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom.  2) assess the state of press freedom throughout the world.  3) defend the media from attacks on their independencia.  4) pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the line of duty.                                 The U.N. General Assembly proclaimed 3 May as Press Freedom Day in 1993 as a mean to celebrate the freedom of the press and to raise awareness of its importance in the world. The day is an occasion to evaluate the state of press freedom in the world, to make a stand for independent journalism and to commemorate the journalists who have lost their lives due to their commitment for a free press. The data goes back to a UNESCO conference in Namibia in 1991 that endedon 3 May with the adoption of the Windhoek Declaration for the Development of a Free, Independent, and Pluralistic Press. Thus, 2021 marks the 30-year anniversary of this declaration, which is as relevant as back then, especially in times of misinformation being spread about the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, World Press Freedom Day 2021 is celebrated under the theme "Information as a public good" and aims to raise awareness for the fact that more and more local news media around the world face extinction. This is only worsened by the current pandemic situation.                                                                                                                                                                                  Hailed as the fourth pillar of democracy, the press, its reporters, editors and photographers, have always risked their lives for the truth behind events. Such tasks require a degree of freedom which is guaranteed by the constitutions of democratic nations and the Universal  Declaration of Human Rights. The day is celebrated to ensure the protection and safety of the press in the face of attacks its independence, to discuss journalistic ethics and to celebrate journalists who gave their lives in the pursuit of truth. There are ten nations: China, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Eritrea, Djibouti, Turkmenistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran and Cuba, where press freedom is severely limited. The theme for this year is "Information as a Public Good." It is especially significant for the press, which deals with information on a global scale, to effectively use and disseminate it to the world citizenry while empowering journalists.                                     The world of journalism faces "drastic losses", the U.N. has warned, as it highlights the importance of 'information as a public good' on World Press Freedom Day. The intergovernmental organisation says the current coronavirus crisis has forced closures and job cuts within the industry, while other media outlets are facing "political capture". The result is more "creeping news deserts" in countries where journalists are unable to get accurate information out to the public. In April, the journalism NGO Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) released its global index of press freedom, highlighting how the pandemic has given authoritarian regimes an excuse to crack down on journalism. To mark World Press Freedom Day, take a look at the state of press freedom in the 10 countries with the worst ranking in Europe. Belarus - a country that has been labelled 'the last dictatorship in Europe', Belarus is the worst ranked in the continent for press freedom. Many journalists faced arrest and detention for attempting to document the widespread protest movement against the regime of the only man to have held the presidency in the 26 years since the country's independence from the Soviet Union. The authorities also cut off access to the internet, from June 2020 to the present day, there are regular interruptions. The complete internet shutdown, including mobile internet, started on election day till on August 12. Belarusian Association of Journalists showed police deliberately used violence against reporters, with aim of gagging the media.  Turkey - holding the record of being the world's biggest jailer of journalists as recently as last year, journalists continue to face crackdown on work critical of the government of Erdogan. RSF says the government has been eliminating opposition media.  Russia - has cracked down further on freedom of the press amid not only the coronavirus pandemic, but also as part of its fight against Alexei Navalny. And more than 5,000 arrested across Russia as tens of thousands protest. Along with protesters being arrested, associates of Navalny, and opposition journalists have been detained by authorities. Meanwhile media fought for months to report on the COVID-19 pandemic and the government's response, which saw they acknowledging the death toll was three times the original figure.  

GDP Growth 2020

                 This post is a summary of the book with the title of, "World Economic Outlook - Managing Divergent Recoveries." Published in April 2021 at  https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/Issues/2021/03/23/world-economic-outlook-april-2021

                It is one year since COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, a year of terrible loss of lives and livelihoods. The rising human toll worldwide and the millions of people that remain unemployed are grim markers of the extreme social and economic strain that the global community still confronts. Yet, even with high uncertainly about the path of the pandemic, a way out of this health and economic crisis is visible. Thanks to the ingenuity of the scientific community, we have multiple vaccines that can reduce the severity and frequency of infections. In parallel, adaption to pandemic life has enabled the global economy to do well despite subdued overall mobility, leading to a stronger-than-anticipated rebound, on average, across regions. We are now projecting a stronger recovery in 2021 and 2022 for the global economy compared to our previous forecast, with growth projected to be 6% in 2021 and 4.4% in 2022. Multispeed recoveries are under way in all regions and across income groups, linked to stark differences in the pace of vaccine rollout, the extent of economic policy support, and structural factors such as reliance on tourism. Although medium-term losses for the global economy are expected to be smaller than in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, the cross-country pattern of damages is, however, likely to be different this time, with low-income countries and emerging markets suffering more compared to the fallout from the crisis a decade earlier. Because the crisis has accelerated the forces of digitalization and automation, many of the jobs lost are unlikely to return, requiring workers reallocation across sectors. Once the health crisis is over, policy efforts can focus more on building inclusive and greener economies, both to bolster the recovery and raise potential output. The priorities should include investing in green infrastructure and strengthening social assistance to arrest rising inequality, introducing initiatives to boost productive capacity and resolving debt overhangs. For those with limited fiscal space, improved revenue administration, greater progressivity in taxation, and reorientation of expenditures will be essential. Even while all eyes are on the pandemic, countries should cooperate on climate change mitigation, digitalization, modernization of international corporate taxation and on measures to limit cross-border profit shifting, tax avoidance and evasion.                                                                                                                                                                                                           Below the GDP growth in 2020 from the greatest growth to the lowest of each list. The first list is for countries in the Americas and the other is for the rest of the world. Thanks to beginning of its oil exploration, a South America country had the biggest GDP growth of the world last year and probably will be the same this year. I hope corruption does not disrupt its path to development. What has happened in many other countries with the oil exploration. I don't know why in the final part of this summary and in the last paragraph with my commentary the letter became small, I wrote the whole text with the same letter size, as I always do, but something happened that became it impossible this time. Another problem I have had for many months is with the paragraphs, every summary I finish I spend a lot of time doing the paragraphs, because they are not the same when I am doing the text and after I publish. I think this problem started last year and I really don't understand how and why they are happening. Another problem that has happened every year with the lists below. I always do two lists parallel and when I publish they are mixed together. I think the correct would be they stayed the same way that I did before I published. This happens when the text is translated to Portuguese.

GDP 2020 in PanAmerican countries                                 Rest of the World

Guyana   43.4%                                                                       Ethiopia     6.1%          

Paraguay   -0.9%                                                                    Vietnam     2.9%

Guatemala   -1.5%                                                                    Ireland    2.5%

Nicaragua   -3.0%                                                                   China     2.3%                                         

  U.S.A.    -3.5%                                                                       Turkey    1.8%

Brazil   -4.1%                                                                              Iran     1.5%

Costa Rica   -4.8%%                                                                Tanzania     1.0%

Canada    -5.4%                                                                        Norway     -0.8%

Uruguay   -5.7%                                                                  South Korea      -1.0%

Chile     -5.8%                                                                          Australia      -2.4%

Colombia    -6.8%                                                                     Sweden      -2.8%

Ecuador    -7.5%                                                                         Japan      -4.8%

Bolivia     -7.7%                                                                        Germany      -4.9%

Honduras     -8.0%                                                                   Portugal       -7.6 % 

Mexico      -8.2%                                                                       India     -8.0%

Argentina     -10.0%                                                                France      -8.2%

Peru        -11.1%                                                                        Italy      -8.9%

Panama     -17.9%                                                                        U.K.     -9.9%

Venezuela    -30.0%                                                                   Spain     -11.0%

Resistance, Liberation Technology and Human Rights in the Digital Age - Part II

                   This post is a summary of the same book from last summary. The book with the title above published in 2013  at https://cryptome.org/2013/03/hacking-digital-dissidence.pdf

                At the end of an important expert meeting on human rights and the internet held in Stockholm in 2010, chairmen remarked six fundamental issues that can be assumed as a logical starting point to analyze the complex relationship between the digital world and the human rights landscape. These six points are: 1) Importance of the internet in the modern age: the internet must be regard as the greatest enabler for freedom of expression and other human rights since Gutemberg's press.  2) Challenges and risks: internet poses, at the same time, challenges to the protection of human rights, perhaps most notably the right to privacy, as well as the values of democracy.  3) Freedom, security, accessibility: ensuring a free, secure and accessible internet has therefore emerged not only as a fundamental right challenge, but as the key to global economic development, prosperity and development of internet itself.  4) Freedom of expression as a pivotal right in the digital age: common ground must be the reaffirmation of the right to freedom of expression and the need to protec this right from restrictions.  5) New forms of human rights issues: it is important that existing human rights standards are upheld and strengthened on its own terms. Therefore, it is not sufficient to rely on existing norms, but there is need for clarification of the scope of human rights law in the internet context. 6) States responsibilities: states have committed to, and are responsible for, the protection of human rights and therefore have the responsibility to address these issues. Right to privacy on the internet regards national legislation on privacy (states must establish, implement and enforce comprehensive legal frameworks to protect the privacy and personal data of citizens) privacy policies and settings, standards of confidentiality and integrity of IT systems. In 2007 a joint statement from Italy and Brazil announced the launch of a new and truly laudable project, championed by the Italian academic Stefano Rodota, aimed at creating an Internet Bill of Rights, a sort of "constitution" for the internet, containing a list of unalienable rights in the digital era, and above all, seeking to identify the best methods to further develop and enforce these rights. The North American scholar Jeff Jarvis proposed last year a document called "Bill of Rights in Cyberspace". This attempts to identify and establish some fundamental freedoms of internet that must be protected against abridgment by governments, companies, institutions, criminals, subverters or mobs. A 2011 study concerning how internet can help to advance human rights and capacities through providing new opportunities for citizens to share information and ideas and to participate in public life, outlined a sort of "human rights approach" to the internet that is very interesting. Premises of this study are that mobile phones facilitate instant and ubiguitous communications, thereby increasing the power of citizen journalism, crowdsourcing, and other forms of expression, and help to bridge the digital divide for people who do not have access to computers and fixed-line connections. There are, indeed, challenges that need to be addressed in order to harness the full potential of the internet for universal human rights and citizen empowerment. There are a number of rights that are affected by the access to the network and the use of communication media. Freedom of expression is the most obvious of these, including the right to seek, recieve and impart information and ideas, but also rights to education, to associate freely with others, to participate in government. Last but not least, media and tech should be accessible to all, and function in ways that empower citizens to aprticipate in public debate and decision making, and control their own lives. The evolution and spread of the internet presents exciting new opportunities for the effective implementation of human rights. In Latin America, with the exception of Cuba, there have been no reports of systematic technical filtering. There is, however, a body of laws, especially with regard to the activities of journalists, that is restrictive. Despite Cuba's recent declaration of internet as a fundamental right, connections require government authorization and are closely supervised by the Ministry of Computer Technology and Communication. Despite the fact that the highest number of internet users are located in China, this is also the country with the world's most sophisticated censorship systems, which place it on the list of the top ten Internet Enemies published by Reporters Without Borders. For the legal scholar, drawing firm conclusions with regard to the relationships between internet and the state of human rights, their protection in the digital environment, the national and international legal frameworks that regulate both human rights and the digital world, the techs used by dissidents, independent media and political opposition to circumvent limitations, is not easy, especially in an environment so prone to rapid change and swift development. Technology that is increasingly suited to protest, oppose, and resist, providing a new era for the ideas of those early hackers, is leaving an indelible mark on our modern age, and this legal framework is increasingly interwined with political movements and social upheavals which are transforming the worldwide political and social arenas. As the early hackers foresaw, computers and technology have indeed changed the world, and rendered every single one of us more powerful and more able to participate in every aspect and at every level of government. Moving ahead from the present and seeking to envisage the future is, for the legal observe, a truly fascinating challenge: never before, having a keen understanding of the past, and sharp ability to foresee the future, has been so important.