Applicants wait to meet potential employers at a Manhattan job fair in New York City (AFP Photo / Mario Tama)Global unemployment is at a record high in the wake of the financial crisis, says a UN report. A rise in joblessness of 5.1 million is expected in 2013, impacting the world’s youth hardest in a climate of stifling austerity and economic instability.U
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N agency, the International Labor Organization (ILO) released its annual report on worldwide employment on Tuesday, marking a significant worsening in unemployment trends. The report states that approximately 197 million people were out of work in 2012, a rise of 4.2 million. Guy Ryder, director-general of the ILO, stated at the press conference accompanying the release of the report that “inadequacy of policy to counter” unemployment was largely to blame for the slump in investment and hiring.“This has prolonged the labor market slump in many countries, lowering job creation and increasing unemployment duration even in some countries that previously had low unemployment and dynamic labor markets,” he added. Ryder stressed the numbers did not convey the full extent of the crisis because “labor force participation has fallen dramatically…masking the true extent of the jobs crisis.”Over 39 million people dropped out of the global job market last year because of the increasingly bleak outlook. The economic climate in the eurozone has been earmarked as one of the worst areas for the job market, indicative of a “piecemeal approach” to the crisis.“The global nature of the crisis means countries cannot resolve its impact individually and with domestic measures only,” he declared.‘Global youth missing out on vital skills’The document reported that young people are worst-hit by soaring unemployment and are losing valuable experience as a result of difficulties in getting onto the employment ladder in the first place.”The crisis has dramatically diminished the labor market prospects for young people, as many experience long-term unemployment right from the start of their labor market entry,” the UN agency said, stressing that such a phenomenon had not been witnessed during previous downturns.At present there are around 73.8 million people aged between 15 and 24 out of work worldwide and “the slowdown in economic activity is likely to push another half million into unemployment by 2014.”The ILO signaled that, perhaps most worrying of all, in advanced economies around 35 per cent of unemployed young people had been jobless for more than six months. This extended period of time out of work has a detrimental impact on their future career prospects, depriving them of the necessary skills needed to compete in the job market.“Many of the new jobs require skills that jobseekers do not have,” Mr. Ryder informed.The ILO signaled that employment prospects varied from region to region, emphasizing that Eastern Europe, East and South-East Asia and the Middle East would see youth joblessness on the rise in the coming years.Growth of the global jobs market trailed off in 2011, writes the report, adding that many countries were also experiencing “a worsening in job quality.” … Read More
Worldwide unemployment soars, young workers most vulnerable – UN report
UK refuses to sign UN internet treaty
The UK has joined the US and other key nations in refusing to sign a UN global telecommunications treaty over … Read More
Internet remains unregulated after UN treaty blocked
People use computers at an internet cafe in Beijing. Photograph: Diego Azubel/EPA A proposed global telecoms treaty that would give … Read More
‘Sanctions have little effect on North Korea’
A North Korean soldier stands guard in front of an Unha-3 rocket at Tangachai -ri space center (AFP Photo / Pedro Ugarte)Despite international condemnation and threats of “an appropriate response” over its past rocket launches, Pyongyang found ways around UN sanctions on ballist
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ic missile tests, North Korea expert Rudiger Frank told RT.North Korea successfully launched a long-range ballistic rocket on Wednesday morning, which Pyongyang says put a scientific satellite into orbit. The UN Security Council has strongly condemned North Korea and is considering to impose harsh sanctions. North Korea has carried out four previous unsuccessful rocket launches, the most recent one eight months ago.The UN, US and neighboring countries consider these tests a threat to international security, though Pyongyang claims it has a peaceful space program.RT talked to Professor Rudiger Frank, an expert on North Korea from the Vienna University, about Pyongyang’s attitude towards UN sanctions and possible threats for neighboring countries.RT: How effective would fresh sanctions on North Korea be do you think? Given that such measures in 2006 and 2009 haven’t really succeeded in ending its rocket launches.Rudiger Frank: Sanctions are of course an appropriate means to show your political dissatisfaction, but in terms of being effective they are almost useless in terms of N.Korea. Sanctions have been implied for decades; N. Korea had enough time to find ways around the sanctions. There are humanitarian concerns, that is the alliance with China. So I think sanctions have more or less a symbolical function, but they will have little actual effects on N.Korea.RT: But N. Korea is banned isn’t it from conducting ballistic missile tests by the UN and even its ally China criticized its move today. Why is it so defiant against the international community?RF: I think it is easy to understand exactly why for example China is against tests, because N.Korea depends a lot on China economically and by now having this missile capability N. Korea again, gains some distance from China, some upper ground if you like. Regarding the UN resolution there are various interpretations. I’m no legal expert, but I know that N. Korea definitely doesn’t believe that this resolution is enough to prohibit missile or rocket launches for peaceful purposes. So we again as in so many other cases have contrasting interpretations of UN Security Council resolutions. RT: Two days ago N. Korea said that the launch could be delayed due to technical problems. S. Korea media reported that the rocket was being dismantled. Looks like the North is trying to wrong foot its opponents. RF: I don’t know if they’re doing it deliberately. The point of misunderstanding is very telling regarding the quality of our information about N. Korea. Despite all the satellites we have and the c
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lose observation of the launching site all those predictions about the launch being delayed or actually called off all turned out to be wrong. And I think this means that we should do a bit of soul-searching on our side: how reliable our information is on which we at the end of the day base our policies on N. Korea.RT: That being the case Pyongyang says its developing a peaceful space program; some critics say its testing technology to mount a nuclear warhead or a long-range missile. How big a threat in reality is N.Korea to its neighbors and the US in your opinion? RF: Whether it’s a rocket or missile its definitely a question of interpretation from a political perspective because technically both devices would be the same. Its just the difference is that if you put a satellite on top if it’s a rocket, you put a nuclear warhead on top it’s a missile. But basically it’s the same thing. South Korea is threatened by North Korea through its conventional weapons, Japan to certain degree as well. I think the biggest threat if it really exists is to the US, to China perhaps , also to Russia. Frankly speaking I don’t really believe that N. Korea intends an attack on its neighbors. This program including nuclear program has purely defensive and deterrence purposes. Of course you can never exclude once they have their tool it’s dangerous. And of course there is a question of proliferation, which I think is the biggest concern of the international community.RT: You mentioned US and S.Korea, and they recently reached a deal to extend the South’sballistic missile range, making Seoul capable of hitting any part of the North.With that kind of approach how achievable is peace on the Korean peninsula? RF: Well we do have peace on the Korean peninsula if you briefly forget about a few very unfortunate military incidents. It’s in no side’s interest to have war because if we have war in Korea both Koreas will suffer a lot. As long as the regime is stable in N. Korea- and that is actually the key question- I think we shouldn’t be concerned, but there is no immediate danger of a war breaking out. … Read More
Mozilla rallies for opposition against secret Internet treaty
AFP Photo / Eric Piermont Add another name to the list of critics concerned with attempts to rewrite the International Telecommunication Union to give governments control of the Internet: Silicon Valley’s Mozilla now officially opposes the ITU.Mozilla, the makers of the highly successful Firefox Web browser for Macs, PCs and smart phones, have come out to condemn a top-secret meeting in Dubai this week that could lead to changes with how the world is wired to the Internet. The details of the closed-door discussions being held between members of the United Nation’s World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) this week in the United Arab Emirates remains a secret, and that’s exactly why Mozilla is speaking up. In a plea posted on Mozilla.org, the developers write, “The issue isn’t whether our governments, the UN or even the ITU should play a role in shaping the Web. The problem is that they are trying to do it behind closed doors, in secret, without us.”“The Web lets us speak out, share and connect around the things that matter. It creates new opportunities, holds governments to account, breaks through barriers and makes cats famous. This isn’t a coincidence. It’s because the Web belongs to all of us,” insists Mozilla. “We all get a say in how it’s built.”Now in order to raise awareness of what the WCIT can do by rewriting the ITU, Mozilla has released an “Engagement Kit” in order to get people around the globe talking about what could happen to the Web without their input ever being considered. “Mozilla has made it our mission to keep the power of the web in people’s hands,” the developers say.Mozilla now joins a list of major Internet names opposed to the ITU talks, which in recent days has added both Vint Cerf and Sir Tim Berners-Lee, two computer scientists widely regarded as instrumental figures as far as getting the world online goes. Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, spoke openly against the ITU just recently while attending the WCIT, warning that rewriting the international treaty to put Internet regulation in the hands of government is not just unnecessary, but would cause a “disruptive threat to the stability” of the Internet as we know it.”A lot of concerns I’ve heard from people have been that, in fact, countries that want to be able to block the Internet and give people within their country a ‘secure’ view of what’s out there would use a treaty at the ITU as a mechanism to do that, and force other countries to fall into line with the blockages that they wanted to put in place,” Berners-Lee said.Leaked documents from the WCIT meeting suggest that shot-callers from across the globe have floated the idea of adopting a new standard for the Internet that will implement deep packet inspection, or DPI, essentially allowing all traffic sent across the Web to be reviewed by a governing body. “It’ll be the biggest power grab in the UN’s history, as well as a perversion of its power,” blogger Arthur Herman wrote of the proposal. … Read More
U.S. now ‘totally unified’ in opposition of U.N. Internet governance
In a historical moment of unanimous agreement — an eye-opening 397-0 vote — the U.S. House of Representatives voted today to … Read More
