Middle East / North Africa and the Millennium Development Goals ...

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Global partnership for development (MDG8)
Markus Loewe
MDG8 consists of a large number of targets, most of which fall under the
primary responsibility of the industrialized countries. Some of them,
though – as in the case of MDGs 1–7 – are mainly the responsibility of the
developing countries. This goes above all for (i) improvement of economic
and political governance at the national level, (ii) reduction of youth unemployment,
(iii) access of the population to medicines, and (iv) access of
the population to modern communications and information technologies.
The economic governance of the MENA countries continues to be poor.
These countries use a mix of numerous legal regulations and informal barriers
to seal off their goods and financial markets to potential new market
entrants from abroad, but also to competitors of established domestic suppliers.
Those interested in investing or producing here are forced endure
protracted, costly, and too little transparent approval procedures without
any predictable outcome. And when it comes to legal disputes, it is very
difficult to say how courts will decide. Intellectual property rights are not
given adequate protection, competition laws (assuming they exist in the
first place) are either poorly crafted or regularly ignored by the competent
authorities.
Political governance in the MENA region is in an even worse state. No
other world region (with the possible exception of Central Asia) suffers
from comparably large deficits with respect to political participation, government
accountability, civil rights, and other liberal freedoms of the inhabitants.
As to transparency and the rule of law, the MENA region does
not rank much better. But worst of all – and in contrast to the situation in
all other parts of the world – not even the smallest improvement has taken
place in these regards in the MENA countries over the past fifteen years.
And since 1990 the MENA countries have also made as good as no progress
in reducing youth unemployment. In Egypt and Bahrain, for example, youth
unemployment ratios have even increased drastically. Although there are no
data available for the other countries of the region, they have generally been
faced with rising unemployment, and the actual rates are far higher then the
official figures indicate. In other words, it is safe to assume that youth unemployment
rates have increased as well. This goes in particular for the Palestinian
Territories, Yemen, Algeria, Libya, Morocco, and Lebanon.
German Development Institute