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| Friday, 22 October 2004 |
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The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in association with the International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES) launched the Human Development Report 2004, at the Sri Lanka Institute of International Relations. Minister of Constitutional Affairs and National Integration D.E.W. Gunasekara was the chief guest. The Report was presented by Bradman Weerakoon, with comments by Dr. Ambika Sathkunanathan, Senior Researcher, ICES. Sri Lanka, in the current Report, is ranked ninety-six in the Human Development Index. This is the median of middle-income countries. The Human Development Report (HDR), an independent study commissioned annually by UNDP, provides new measurement tools, innovative analysis and pioneering policy proposals. This year's theme is 'Cultural Liberty in Today's Diverse World'. The Human Development Report 2004 presents a wide-ranging analysis of identity issues in scores of communities and nations. It reviews many different policy approaches to multicultural nations and communities, from bilingual education and affirmative action plans to innovative systems of proportional representation and federalism. The Report advocates the right of all people to maintain their ethnic, linguistic, and religious identities. It further contends that the adoption of policies that recognize and protect these identities is the only sustainable approach to development in diverse societies. Economic globalisation cannot succeed unless cultural freedoms are also respected and protected - and xenophobic resistance to cultural diversity should be addressed and overcome, a press release said. The Human Development Report was first launched in 1990. The Human Development Index is a composite index that measures the average achievements in a country in three basic dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, as mentioned by life expectancy at birth; knowledge, as measured by the adult literacy rate and the combined gross enrolment ration for primary, secondary and tertiary schools; and a decent standard of living, as measured by GDP per capita in Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) US dollars. |
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