Week Ahead: UN World Data Forum
Week Ahead: UN World Data Forum
UN World Data Forum Starts Monday, 24 April, in Hangzhou, China. Listen to my interview with Francesca Perucci, Assistant Director of the UN Statistics Division in New York
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UN World Data Forum Starts Tomorrow
24 to 27 April, Hangzhou, China
Interview with Francesca Perucci, Assistant Director, UN Statistics Division
I interviewed Francesca Perucci, Assistant Director, Statistics Division at the UN in New York, to speak about the UN World Data Forum. The 2023 Forum will take place in China, from 24 to 27 April, at the Hangzhou International Expo Center.
Organisers are expecting government representatives, policymakers, private sector, data and statistics experts to address the data gaps in development. They will also identify data partnerships and showcase innovation in data gathering and analysis to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The event is hybrid and over 20,000 attendees have registered to participate online and 2000 in-person, from all regions of the world. This is the fourth UN World Data Forum and the first one in the Asia-Pacific region.
You can find more info and register to attend online here.
Interview
Presented by Microsoft
The World Needs Cybersecurity Experts
Microsoft Expands Training Programs for Women in 28 Countries
By Kate Behncken, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Philantropies
Demand for cybersecurity skills has grown by an average of 35% over the past year. And in some countries, like Brazil, demand has grown as much as 76%.
In addition to expanding the skilling program to more countries Microsoft is also focusing on helping historically underrepresented populations enter the cybersecurity workforce.
The opportunity for women to work in cybersecurity is huge. Today, women make up only 25% of the global cybersecurity workforce so it’s more important than ever to encourage and empower women to pursue these careers. Full article here.
Learn more about Microsoft’s engagement with the UN here.
UNFPA: State of the World Population Report 2023
Exercising control over their reproductive health – particularly decisions about if and when to have children – is critical to ensure that women can plan and space childbearing and protect their health.
Inequities related to income, education, race or ethnicity further increase risks for marginalized pregnant women, who have the least access to essential maternity care but are most likely to experience underlying health problems in pregnancy.
UN Population Fund, State of the World Population Report, 2023
Interview with Birgit Van Hout, Director, UNFPA Office in Brussels
Maya Plentz: What the report points-out to, in terms of the growing elderly population worldwide, and what policies are in place to address this demographic shift?
Birgit Van Hout: Fertility levels everywhere have fallen over the last decades and all countries have seen notable improvements in life expectancy.
This means that population ageing is happening everywhere, even in countries that still have relatively high population growth, and it is a truly global phenomenon.
Sure, the share of older persons in the total population is highest in the most advanced countries, which is associated with a relatively high median age, but the increase in the number of older persons is often higher in the developing countries.
Too often countries ignore the demographic trends and projections, and one day they wake up to an older population, and some refer to population ageing even as a new population bomb that threatens social and economic structures. However, there is nothing inherently explosive, unexpected and sudden about demographic change.
Countries can anticipate demographic change with a great degree of confidence over the next few decades, and they can theoretically plan for it. Many don't do that because it might mean making decisions today that are unpopular in order to address a challenge that will materialize only in years from today.
UNFPA supports countries in their efforts to consider and understand demographic changes. This begins with the collection and use of reliable population data, and includes the analysis of the implications of demographic change. Furthermore, UNFPA supports countries in their ambition to promote active and healthy ageing, and UNFPA helps countries address age-based discrimination.
In this context it is critical to realize that active and healthy ageing does not magically start with the measures we take when we turn 60, but starts even before birth with the nutrition of mothers to be. It also includes maternal, newborn and child health, as well as sexual and reproductive health, and healthy habits throughout the life course.
Maya Plentz: Are there other aspects on the greying of the population that are noteworthy? Like gender, women who have smaller retirement pensions or in some countries no social protection mechanisms, how does it compare from country to country within Europe?
Birgit Van Hout: Indeed, owing to the fact that care work for children and ailing parents still largely falls on women, women tend to participate in the economy for shorter periods than men, and therefore many women will ultimately draw a smaller pension than men. Female labor force participation varies widely around the world, and within Europe at large, it is essential that we offer better care services for children and older persons, promote a better work life balance, and also promote gender equality more broadly. In some countries, women are still largely responsible for housework in addition to care work, and women find it increasingly difficult to balance these responsibilities with demanding jobs.
Maya Plentz: Are there best practices to be emulated from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands?
Birgit Van Hout: All countries mentioned here, and many others, are doing good things in response to population ageing; however, no country has a really comprehensive, integrated, positive and forward looking response. Population ageing is a truly transformative phenomenon which affects all aspects of society. It has implications not only for pension funds and health care systems, which many countries have reformed or are seeking to reform in response to this demographic trend, but also has implications for life-long learning, transport, housing, political culture, and many other things.
The European Care Strategy is a positive development and we hope that EU member States will heed its recommendations for investing high-quality, affordable and accessible care services with better working conditions and work-life balance for carers. Women still bear the main brunt of care responsibilities, with 90% of the formal care workforce made up of women, and 7.7 million women in the EU out of employment because of care responsibilities.
Currently, most countries deal with the challenges of an ageing population in a creative manner, and as they pop up. They fix the pension system when it needs fixing, they reform health care when necessary, they expand working age. However, few of this is guided by a positive and comprehensive vision of how countries can empower older persons to better engage in society, and how countries might reap even a second demographic dividend that can come with population ageing.
For example: Postponing retirement age is not enough, we must create much more flexible ways for older persons to engage in the economy, and society, maybe even on a part time basis and maybe in completely new roles with new responsibilities. And of course, we must make sure that the possibility to engage does not become an obligation to engage to make ends meet.
Read the UNFPA State of the World Population full report here.
Human Rights Council
The UN Open Ended Working Group on the Rights of Older Persons met in New York from the 3 to the 7 of April to discuss the draft document that will pave the way to a legally binding document to protect the rights of older people.
A Legally Binding Instrument to Protect the Rights of the Elderly
Interview with Dr. Claudia Mahler, PhD, SR for the Rights of the Elderly
What is violence against older persons?
In Human Rights Council Resolution 33/5, violence against older persons is described as “a widespread phenomenon that includes discrimination in the public sphere, linguistic and employment discrimination, lack of access, isolation, neglect, financial exploitation, physical and psychological violence and the withholding of basic needs, and physical attacks”. In this resolution, the Council already called for “the need to combat the various forms of violence against older persons”.
Violence and abuse against older persons take different forms and occurs in all types of settings, including within families and at home, in care and health settings, at the workplace, in public spaces, in the media, in the digital space, and in emergency and humanitarian settings.
A wide range of actors, including family members, caregivers, legal guardians, health professionals, government workers and financial representatives may be identified as perpetrators. In many instances, such violence and abuse often remain unnoticed and unspoken, as taboo in many societies.
Dr. Claudia Mahler, presented her thematic report on violence, abuse and neglect of older persons to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva a couple of weeks ago, and will present another report at the General Assembly in October on the impact of extreme weather events and climate change on the well-being and rights of the elderly.
In the report she presented at the OEWG last week she examined the existing international and regional legal protection standards applicable to the issue of violence against older persons, analysing the manifestations and forms of violence, abuse and neglect, faced by older persons.
It also identified good practices to combat violence and abuse of older persons. She analysed the issue from an intersectional perspective, exploring the interactions with other social factors such as gender, sex, race, ethnicity, indigenous identity, disability, religion, social status, place of origin and immigration status.
The report provides recommendations for ways to protect older persons from violence and upholding their human rights, and ensuring that victims have access to justice, remedies and reparations.