Project Peru

Democracy in Peru
2006 was election year in Peru and, although Latin American elections and leaders have been newsworthy during the year, in Peru democratic principles and attitudes have not been a highlight. Alan Garcia, a previous President, was elected and took over on 28 July 2006. The United Nations Development Programme [UNDP] carried out a survey of attitudes, nationwide and for all sectors of Peru's population, towards democratic institutions. It demonstrated a lack of faith in their representative institutions, the weakness of political organisation at grass roots level, and pessimism especially among the poor about future prospects for themselves and their children. 50% of the population still lives in poverty; inequalities in society have increased; initial ideas for reform by the previous government were not effective and there is a fear of more of the same. See www.pnud.org.pe for the UNDP report on 'La democracia en el Peru'; and email for a Peru Support Group report to info@perusupportgroup.org.uk on 'The 2006 Elections; Parties, Participation, and the Human Rights Agenda'.

Make Poverty History
The Make Poverty History campaign was designed to influence decisions at the July 2005 Group of Eight (G8) summit . It brought together a number of issues. These included reform of the world trade system, the reduction in the burden of third world debt, and the re-configuring of aid flows to make them more efficient. The overall objective was to make it more likely that developing countries would meet the Millennium Development Goals, set down by the UN.

Each of the three 'prongs' of Make Poverty History is linked to the reduction of poverty. They are all things that the international community could and should be pressing for. Latin America, and Peru in particular, must not be left out amid all the concern for Africa. To the three prongs could be added the improvement of corporate social responsibility by international investors, and the adoption of ethical codes of practice on the part of transnational companies.

Each prong still has a direct relevance for Peru, a country that seems ever further from meeting many of the Millennium Development Goals, especially those related to reducing poverty and inequality:

• Peru is hampered by unfair trade rules, especially with respect to agriculture (the sector in which many of Peru's poorest citizens are employed). The unfairness is exemplified by the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that has now been agreed with the United States. Unwilling to counter the United States and desperate to maintain its textile exports in the US market, the Peruvian government was willing to sign up to the FTA whatever the conditions imposed by Washington. The US wants to prise open markets for its farmers, and Peru will therefore have to contend with a flood of cheap, subsidised US grains.
  
• Peru's debt remains very substantial, and as a 'Middle Income Country' Peru gets none of the benefits of the Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) initiatives. Around a quarter of Peru's government revenues are destined to service external debt, which means that spending on social welfare programmes is reduced as a consequence.
  
• Peru's share of international aid has declined in recent years. The most recent programme to close is that of the UK's Department for International Development (DFID), whose office in Peru closed its doors at the end of March 2005. The DFID programme showed how even limited aid funds could be used in innovative ways that benefited poor people. By far the largest donor left in Peru is USAID (US Agency for International Development), whose main rationale is to fight 'the war on drugs', not 'the war on poverty'.
  
• If we add to this the need to improve on corporate social responsibility, there is also a long way to go. The international community can really help the country meet the stated objectives of reducing poverty, inequality and social
  exclusion. These are not just problems for Africa.

If you would like to find out more about the ongoing campaign go to www.makepovertyhistory.org.

Wake up to Trade Justice!
The international community is coming together to send a strong message to decision makers. Their message is that current trade rules are unjust and imposed on poor countries. They want to bring about the universal access to food, a livelihood, water, health and education. The US claim that the U.S.-Andean FTA will benefit the Andean nations by locking in more permanently the special access to the U.S. market that Andean nations currently enjoy under the Andean Trade Preference Act, which is set to expire in 2006. Critics say that the current US-Andean FTAs under negotiation would raise prices of essential medications that are already unaffordable for millions of Andeans, with a potentially catastrophic impact on disease control, including HIV/AIDS. These kinds of bilateral agreements undermine the international consensus reached at the World Trade Organization (WTO) and give the US the ability to make trade agreements without appropriate balance between the protection of private intellectual property and the protection of public health. The Trade Justice Movement is spearheading the overwhelming international support for a fundamental change to unjust trade rules. If you would like to get involved visit www.tjm.org.uk.

Social impacts of free trade: how can childhood poverty be reduced?
In December 2005 Peru, already a member of the World Trade Organisation, concluded a free trade agreement [FTA] with USA.  FTA will threaten Peruvian agriculture through opening up imports of subsidized US food, for example. Though FTA may have several positive long term  economic effects it will have consequences for children experiencing  poverty, since children will be further discouraged from attending school, or older ones  will  have to take on care responsibilities since female  caregivers will be encouraged  to take jobs outside the home; health of children will suffer anyhow and increased costs of medicines will result from dearth of free health services for the poor, and increased costs due to intellectual property rights being enforced.

The social impacts of trade liberalisation.

With its plans for post-war reconstruction in deep trouble, the Bush administration has redoubled its attempts to get other countries to shoulder the economic burden. Anxious to please, the UK government has promised to help.

The problem is that most of the money is coming from commitments already made elsewhere. In spite of previous denials, it became known in early November 2003 that the Department for International Development (DfID) was cutting many of its aid programmes to so-called 'middle-income' countries'. Quite a few of these are in Latin America, and among them Peru.

Middle-income countries are those countries that have a higher national income per capita than the poorest countries, most of which are in Africa and southern Asia.

Such distinctions are often arbitrary and fairly meaningless. They take no account of the degree of poverty in a country, albeit one with higher average incomes. Many of the middle-income countries are middle- income only by virtue of the fact that they have relatively large and wealthy elites.

It is therefore the existence of these, not the extent or degree of poverty that pushes up average incomes. Latin America is not the poorest region of the world but, as a recent World Bank Study confirms, is still by far the most unequal region. In Peru, as elsewhere, ostentatious wealth cohabits with poverty that is both widespread (more than half the population) and, in some areas, of African proportions in its depth.

DfID in Peru has had an influence out of all proportion to its relatively small budget. It has built up a first-class reputation among development practitioners in the last few years for the quality of its programme. One of its key contributions has been to enhance the level of thinking about poverty and the most effective policies for reducing it. The focus on 'pro-poor' growth has brought a host of important new ideas to the policy debate, not least the importance of people being able to exercise their full political rights in demanding change. It has also played an acknowledged role in the defence of democracy and human rights in the country.

All this is now to end. The DfID programme in Peru is to be wound up in 2005. All its ongoing activities are to be suspended. Programmes in other Latin American countries, like Bolivia, will also be badly affected, although they will continue on a reduced scale. The decision has been greeted with dismay in Lima and elsewhere.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission
"Aspirations: the Truth and Reconciliation Commission" reported in August 2003. It aimed to clarify and analyse the process, facts and responsibilities of the human rights violations committed during the years of political violence, 1980-2000.

The report examined the actions of those, both subversive organisations and state agents, who carried out the violations, and those who gave the orders.

The armed insurgency of Sendero Luminoso was the direct cause of the tragedy. Unlike other Latin American conflicts where responsibility for deaths has mostly been attributed to state groups, Sendero was responsible for the majority of deaths, an alarming 54%. However, the armed forces were responsible for 30%, local defence committees (Rondas Campesinas) 4%, MRTA 1.5- 1.8%, and ‘un-determined’ 10.2%. The report describes and condemns the extreme violence and "terrorist methodology" used. It also refers to the dangerous personality cult of the Sendero leader. However, the armed forces and the national police were neither logistically, operatively nor psychologically prepared, causing a number of crimes against humanity committed by state agencies.

Political leaders were also responsible for the violence as they failed to control the situation and could have avoided such crimes but did not.

The report also details the terrible conditions, racism and social factors that made the subversive war possible. It stressed that the indifference of the majority in Peru was a major factor and advises that each and every Peruvian should recognise and accept their responsibilities.

The commission's final overwhelming estimate of those killed or disappeared was 69,280. The majority of the victims (75%) were indigenous Quechua speakers who got caught between the warring sides.

The report is available online at www.cverdad.org. The Peru Support Group has produced a version in English. For more information click here.

Economy

In April 2002 the national statistics institute, Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática (INEI), released the latest poverty findings for 2001. They make alarming reading. They show that of a total population of 26.6 million people, 14.6 million live in conditions of poverty. The annual household survey (ENAHO) covered a total of 18,824 households, the largest ever sample. It was conducted with assistance from the French 'Institut de Recherches pour le Developpement' (IRD).

The findings distinguish between those living in poverty and in extreme poverty. Those living in poverty are defined as those whose income was insufficient to buy a basket of basic consumer items. Those living in extreme poverty lacked the income to buy a basic basket of essential foods. The monthly figure for the former varies between 147 soles (in the rural jungle) and 260 soles (in Lima), depending on the cost of living. For the latter, the figure varies between 95 soles (in the rural jungle) and 121 soles in Lima. (3.5 soles is roughly $1, and 5 soles is roughly £1).

The figures show that 54.8% of the population lived in poverty at the end of 2001, up from 48.4% a year earlier. Those living in extreme poverty constituted 24.4% of the population, compared with 15% in 2000.

For the first time, the INEI figures also distinguish between poverty levels in different departments. The five departments with the highest levels of poverty were Huancavelica (88%), Huánuco (78.9%), Apurímac (78.0%), Puno (78.0%), and Cajamarca (77.4%). The five departments with the highest levels of extreme poverty were Huancavelica (74.4%), Huánuco (61.9%), Cusco (51.3%), Cajamarca (50.8%) and Apurimac (47.4%).

These figures roughly correspond with the other main set of data published on the basis of a different survey by Cuanto, using a World Bank methodology. In previous years, the growing discrepancy between the official INE figures and the Canto ones led many to believe that the information on poverty was deliberately massaged by the Fujimori administration. It is worth remembering that the Fujimori government in 1996 set itself the task of halving the numbers living in extreme poverty by 2000. Far from being halved, the numbers of those in extreme poverty increased sharply.

United nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Indicators 2003: a tool for national policy debate, placing human development at the forefront of the national political agenda.

Children in Peru

In Peru according to official statistics, 28.6% of children between  6-17 already receive wages or are paid in kind. Around 90% work in the informal sector for more than 45 hours per week, not including children involved in domestic work, so work in many cases competes with schooling.  In rural areas children are an important source of household labour so children in jungle and highland areas always stand to be further marginalised.

For more on children in Peru see "Young Lives",  a  major project including a longitudinal study on childhood poverty in 4 countries: Peru, India, Ethiopia, & Vietnam.

Women in Peru

• Women represent almost half of the population of Peru, but they do not have equal access to resources or power.
• Traditional assumptions and misconceptions often obstruct access by women to influential roles in both the public and private sectors.
• Due to Peruvian society's prejudice and discrimination, women historically have suffered disproportionately from the country's pervasive poverty and unemployment
• Although human rights issues affect many sectors of the population, there are some violations which are gender-based, or affect women to a greater extent due to prevailing patriarchal systems.
• Illiteracy affects 12.8% of the population. However, female illiteracy constitutes 73% of this total and is concentrated in rural areas of extreme poverty, and among women who do not speak Spanish.
• The average number of children born per woman in Peru is 3.5 compared with 3.1 for Latin America in general and 2 for the U.S.
• The rate is 6.2 children for Peruvian women who have little or no education, and 7 children for those who live in rural areas.
• This compares with a rate of 1.7 children for women who have at least a university or college education and 2.8 for urban residents of all educational levels.
• The reduction of poverty, social and political inequality, access to education and unequal income distribution must be addressed in order to ameliorate the situation of women in Peru today.
• Only with the equality of women in public and private life will women be able to enjoy their full human rights.

(with acknowledgements to Peru Support Group)

Latin America – Migration to the Cities

Extract from case study in “Refugees and the Environment-the forgotten element of sustainability” by Jean Lambert MEP-Greens in the European Parliament.

...Latin America is just one region where we can see the links between development, the environment and forced migration. Many migrants in Latin America are what can be called ‘environmentally displaced people’, where the environment is one factor which has led them to move. Poverty has increased dramatically since the 1970s in Latin America. One significant trend is the rising ‘urbanisation of poverty’ as people migrate to the cities. Out of 37 million new poor created between 1986 and 1998, 31 million were urban. Migration to the cities occurs for a variety of reasons, one of which is rural poverty, due to the mixture of socio-economic and climatic reasons (e.g. drought, landslides). The World Bank has stated that "Migration is essential for rural poverty alleviation-on average, rural areas will see 7% of their population to migration every year in the next 25 years”. But urban poverty is not pretty either, and these millions of migrants must be given a chance to build a new life. Up to 25% of urban dwellers (90 million) in Latin America live in slums... in very precarious situations, due to insecurity of tenure and the poor quality of land, which is illegally settled...

Migration to cities creates enormous pressure on already stretched urban infrastructures – in most cities piped drinking water and sewage services are not available to everyone. The effects of climate change on cities are often magnified due to overburdened urban areas. Many cities in Latin America have begun to suffer from the impacts of sea level rise, adverse weather and extreme climate conditions, and their indirect effects on water supply, sanitation, energy supply and so on. In shanty towns established in the drainage valleys of rivers and streams, flooding is already becoming more frequent as a result of climatic variability and might be exacerbated by global warming...