DR-CAFTA and Worker’s Rights: Moving from Paper to Practice

This study analyses the “White Paper” projects and initiatives taken by the US government to improve labor rights practice in DR-CAFTA countries. Based on a three year study, WOLA has concluded that U.S. funding for projects to strengthen the enjoyment and enforcement of labor rights in the DR-CAFTA countries is insufficient to address institutional weakness and pervasive impunity. In this report WOLA defines labor law reforms needed in the six participating countries and recommends implementation methods

Society of St. James the Apostle vocation brochure

Brochure created to promote Society of St. James the Apostle (Diocesan Priests Serving in Latin America)https://ecommons.udayton.edu/imri_stokes_vocation/1017/thumbnail.jp

The Erasure of Sex: The Global Capture of Policies on Sex by Gender Identity Activists and the Effects on the Rights of Women and Girls

This article reviews the goals, history, and impact of the new gender identity politics. Based on the Yogyakarta Principles, these new ideas and policies will profoundly affect the rights of women and girls worldwide. The Principles are a document from an international meeting about sexual orientation and gender identity in 2006. In 2017, the document was updated to the Yogyakarta Principles Plus 10. The Principles recommend legal changes by states worldwide, resulting in the erasure of sex as a legal and cultural category. These principles have been widely used to lobby for legal changes resulting in profound structural changes that lead to undermining and eliminating protections for women and girls from sex-based discrimination and state obligations to achieve de facto sex equality. One of the most far-reaching recommendations is “States [national governments] must abolish all legal records of sex from all legal documents, including birth certificates and passports.” These recommendations are being implemented globally, although they have never been discussed or adopted by member states or any international organization, nor were any official women’s organizations consulted. This article was written by a collective of many feminist activists, researchers, and specialist service providers from Europe, Asia, North America, Latin America, and Africa who met every week at the Women’s Declaration International (WDI) sessions. They collected evidence and collaborated on creating this document from 2019 to 2022

The Making of a Latin American Global Economist

This paper provides some background for considering the future of these two traditions by looking at global Latin American graduate economic programs. It reports the findings of a survey of Latin American global economics programs and discusses the debate between global economics and traditional economics, arguing that there is a role for both, with global economics concentrating on the science of economics, and traditional economics concentrating on the applied policy "political economy" branch of economics--which is much broader than the applied policy training that graduate students get in global economics.

Handbook for estimating the socio-economic and environmental effects of disasters.

Taken from Introduction: Disasters have a major impact on the living conditions of the population, the economic performance of the countries or regions affected, and on environmental assets and services, with consequences that go beyond the short term and in some cases even irreversibly impact economic and social structures and the environment. In the case of industrialized countries, disasters caused huge damage to the large stock of accumulated capital, whereas losses of human life are limited thanks, among other factors, to the availability of effective early warning and evacuation systems as well as better urban planning and the application of more strict building codes and standards. In developing countries, on the other hand, the number of deaths is usually high because of greater vulnerability brought about by the lack or inadequacy of forecast and evacuation programs; and although losses of capital might be smaller in absolute terms when compared to those in developed countries, their relative weight and overall impact tend to be very significant,1 even affecting sustainability. Disasters may have natural origins or be man-made. However, their consequences derive from a combination of both processes; that is to say, from human interaction with nature and her cycles or systems. Not only do disasters occur frequently around the world, but it would seem that their incidence and intensity have been increasing in recent years. They cause the loss of many lives, directly and indirectly (primarily or secondarily), affect large segments of the population, and cause significant damage to the environment and large-scale economic and social harm

The Bolivian State in Transition

This paper will look into some structural features of the Bolivian state-society complex, highlighting the changes now taking place under the government of Evo Morales. Particular attention will be paid to the degree to which the older Liberal-Prebendary state form is actually been replaced by a new state form. Utilizing a framework that looks at long-term historical and structural changes, the author will explore the actual content and current course of the Bolivian transition toward a “socialist horizon”, as Vicepresident Alvaro García Linera recently announced. While still preliminary, the results of this macro-analysis of Bolivian reality will serve as a basis for further research

Precarization, Genderization and Neotaylorist Work: How Global Value Chain Restructuring Affects Banking Sector Workers in Brazil

The transnationalization of financial markets impacted on the fragmentation and recomposition of value chains which induced comprehensive processes of outsourcing and the commodification of bank services. This paper explores how this translates into the sectoral and internal reorganization of Brazilian banks and how work organization and social relations are affected. The case of (bank-owned as well as outsourced) call center not only reflects changes in the importance and form of service relations but also shapes a neotayorist reorganization of the labor process and the respective modes of control. As a result, a complex process of precarization and segmentation of the work force can be observed which impacts on new lines of inequality related to categories like gender, class and race. The analysis is based on a theoretical approach which refers to Michael Burawoy’s concept of the “politics of production” and categories of Pierre Bourdieu’s social theory like symbolic violence. This allows an analysis of power relations which also includes the dimension of identities. Thus a more fine-grained insight can be gained on how transnational restructuring affects redistribution on a macro, meso and micro level

2004 Labour Overview: Latin America and the Caribbean

[Excerpt] In summary, and as discussed in the corresponding section of the 2004 Labour Overview, several countries experienced labour progress in 2004, while progress stagnated in others and declined in a few. It is therefore a year marked by advances and setbacks, with favourable projections for 2005 as long as the positive perspectives for economic growth persist, the growth of the labour supply remains at moderate levels and economic and social policies are applied that make quality employment a core objective. In addition to the analysis of the labour market situation during the first three quarters of 2004 and projections for 2004 and 2005, this edition of Labour Overview includes three feature articles. The first feature is a summary of the proposals for decent work and employment policy that the ILO presented at the MERCOSUR Regional Employment Conference in April 2004. The second feature summarizes the conclusions of a recent ILO study on the microeconomic factors that have an impact on labour productivity. The third feature article discusses a recent ILO study on the magnitude and characteristics of child labour to be abolished (labour prohibited by law in the respective countries) in the region. In addition, three boxes included in the report present key labour issues, such as recent minimum wage trends in the region, the sectoral composition of urban employment and social security contributors as well as the situation and trends with regard to freedom of association in the region. The 2004 Labour Overview also contains the Statistical Annex, and for the first time presents current information on labour market performance in Canada and the United States