"T&T will not retreat under pressure." The words of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar in response to a warning sounded by the United Nations Development programme at the launch of its 2025 Regional Human Development Report. Among the areas of concern, is that human development levels have slowed down. Alicia Boucher has the details.
00:00The United Nations Development Program is concerned that crisis, whether by way of economic shocks, disasters relating to climate change, or geopolitical polarization, can wipe off decades of progress pertaining to human development in the region.
00:14It comes as data collected up to 2023 has been compiled and analyzed for the Regional Human Development Report 2025 titled Under Pressure, Recalibrating the Future of Development in Latin America and the Caribbean.
00:28The UNDP hopes that the report will be used to inform decisions to prevent the erosion of human development.
00:35UN Assistant Secretary General Michel Mouchet stresses the need to protect the freedoms of people, especially amid crisis, as being critical to development.
00:45The freedom to live healthy lives, to learn, to generate income, and to fully participate in society.
00:53UNDP Chief Economist for Latin America and the Caribbean, Almudena Fernandez, states that progress in human development slowed down and it is now almost at a standstill.
01:04While there was a reduction in poverty from 50% to 25%, she says there is a vulnerable group at about 31% standing just above the poverty line, and a crisis will push them back into poverty.
01:19According to Fernandez, it can create uncertainty and prevent people from envisioning a better future for themselves and their children.
01:26And we also see that this is manifesting in a deterioration of mental health across the region.
01:34We've seen a surge in cases of anxiety and cases of depression across the region in the last decade.
01:41And what we see in the Caribbean and in Latin America and the Caribbean in average is that this is even above global levels.
01:48The UNDP indicates that while up to 2023, political polarization was stable in the region, that is now changing.
01:57Prime Minister Kamala Passat-Bitsessa says the report is a warning for this country and the region.
02:03She says the message is clear that it is a call to action and her government will respond.
02:08We will construct institutions that embrace complexity and respond with agility.
02:15We will invest in infrastructure that empowers communities in Trinidad and in Tobago.
02:23We will create an environment where every citizen in every community feels safe, feels seen, feels heard.
02:34Passat-Bitsessa thanks the UNDP for its many decades of work in this country,
02:38which she says has helped to push digital transformation, build schools, strengthen governance, all towards a more resilient future.
02:47My pledge is this, that under pressure, TNT will not retreat.
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