MSI+5

High‐Level Meeting – 

5 year Review of Progress made in Addressing Vulnerablilities of SIDS through Implementation of the Mauritius
Strategy for Furthr Implementation (MSI) of the Barbados Programme of Action (BPOA).
source: Dominican Republic UNDP Country Report

The State of Latin American and Caribbean Children 2008 report: Child Survival

The report outlines broad priorities that are required to accelerate progress on child and maternal health in general,and to reduce inequality in health-care provision and health outcomes in particular. Although the region is well on track to meet Millennium Development Goal 4, which seeks to reduce the under-five mortality rate by two thirds between 1990 and 2006, and other health-related MDGs, it is clear that many communities and groups – differentiated by income, ethnicity, gender and geographic location in particular – are at risk of remaining excluded from essential quality primary healthcare services.

Adolescent pregnancy: a cause for concern in the Dominican Republic says the 2008 report. Rates of adolescent childbearing are high in Latin America and the Caribbean, particularly in Bolivia, Colombia, the Dominican Republic,Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua and Peru. The dangers of early pregnancy to both mothers and infants are significant, and the continued occurrence of a relatively large number of adolescent pregnancies, despite falling fertility rates in the region, is a significant concern.

Dominican Republic MDGs Report 2004 (Spanish)

Source: Government of Dominican Republic and the United Nations

Crime, Violence, and Development: Trends, Costs, and Policy Options in the Caribbean.
March 2007
Deaths and injuries from youth violence constitute a major public health, social and economic problem across the Caribbean, including in the Dominican Republic. Youth are overrepresented in the ranks of both victims and perpetrators in the Dominican Republic, and this pattern has become more stark over time, as rates of crime and violence overall have increased. A wide variety of risk factors contribute to the prevalence of youth violence, including poverty, youth unemployment, urban migration, drug trafficking, a weak education system, ineffective policing, the widespread availability of weapons, drug and alcohol use, and the presence of organized gangs. Nonetheless, youth violence is preventable; a broad range of viable strategies for preventing and reducing youth violence exist. Most highly effective programs combine components that address both individual risks and environmental conditions, building individual skills and competencies, training parents for greater effectiveness, improving chances for poor youth to access and complete their secondary education, improving the social climate and safety of school, and providing “second chances” to those who have dropped out of the formal schooling system, including school equivalency programs, job and life skills training, and apprenticeships.
Source: UNODC & The World Bank

Close to Home: The Development Impact of Remittances in Latin America.

October 2006.
The World Bank is devoting significant attention to the topic of remittances and is stepping up efforts to better understand how migration and remittances can contribute to poverty reduction.
Close to Home: The Development Impact of Remittances in Latin America, a report in the Regional Studies Series of the Office of the Chief Economist for Latin America, is a further effort in this direction and should be viewed as an integral part of the Bank’s program on migration and remittances.

The report analyzes the characteristics of households that are remittance recipients and how these characteristics affect the poverty-reducing impact of observed remittances flows. It also devotes significant attention to the macroeconomic impact of these flows, and explores policies and interventions aimed at enhancing the development impact of remittances in the region. On the whole, the main messages that emerge from Close to Home are quite positive. Even though the estimated impact is moderate in most cases and country heterogeneity is very significant, higher remittances inflows tend to be associated with lower poverty levels and with improvements in human capital indicators (education and health) of the recipient countries. Remittances also seem to contribute to higher growth and investment rates and lower output volatility. Against this background, remittances are to be welcomed and actions that lower the cost of remitting and therefore attract additional flows should be encouraged.

World Bank and IADB propose action plan to ensure pro-poor growth

Financial crisis pushes 1.5 million Dominicans into poverty. High years of growth do little to help the poor.
Santo Domingo, June 8, 2006
One and a half million Dominicans fell into poverty as a result of the financial crisis of 2003-2004 and 700,000 were forced to reduce their consumption of basic food below minimum subsistence levels, according to a new report released today in the country.

By the first half of 2004, 42 out of 100 Dominicans were poor and 16 of them were living in extreme poverty, according to the Report on Poverty in the Dominican Republic: Achieving More Pro-poor Growth, prepared by the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, in collaboration with staff from the Technical Secretariat of the Presidency, the National Planning Office, and the Central Bank.
source:World Bank

2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices (Western Hemisphere)

All men and women desire and deserve to live in dignity and liberty. As President Bush said: "The advance of freedom is the great story of our time." Promoting human rights and democracy is a worldwide phenomenon and there is a growing global discussion of democracy and the universal values protected by democratic governance.

By defending and advancing human rights and democratic principles, we keep faith with our country’s most cherished values and lay the foundation for lasting peace. Fulfilling the promise of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and building vibrant democracies worldwide will take generations, but it is work of the utmost urgency that cannot be delayed.
Source:US Dept. of State

International Narcotics Control Strategy Report for 2006

Illicit Drugs Shipped Through Caribbean Nations to U.S., Europe

The report cites Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Jamaica as major transit points. As a result of their geographic location, many nations of the Caribbean are utilized as transit countries to shift cocaine, marijuana and other illicit drugs from South America to the United States, Europe and elsewhere, according to the U.S. State Department's International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) for 2006.
Source:U.S. Department of State