In UN-world, North Korea looks great. Especially compared to Canada

[Locutus]

One month ago, a wayward bureaucrat (or rapporteur as he is styled) found himself in Canada and decided to tear a strip off our country on the topic of food security. Yes, while Canada sends billions of food aid to developing countries, the UN came to criticize us for how available food is to poor and aboriginal communities. Canada is 6th on the human development index, and while poverty and famine grip other regions such as the horn of Africa, the scant resources of the UN were used to study Canada.

Today, we learned of a trip by World Health Organization chief Margaret Chan to North Korea, where she praised that country for its health system and said that it should be the “envy” of the developing world,

“Based on what I have seen, I can tell you they have something that most other developing countries would envy,” [the head of the UN's health agency] told journalists, despite reports of renewed famine in parts of the country.

“To give you a couple of examples, DPRK has no lack of doctors and nurses, as we see in other developing countries, most of their doctors and nurse have migrated,” the director general of the World Health Organisation said.

She also highlighted its “very elaborate health infrastructure” extending to a district network of household doctors, she added.

Chan visited the closed communist nation Monday through Wednesday at the regime’s invitation.

She met senior ministers and visited health facilities in the capital Pyongyang, as well as a rural hospital about an hour’s drive away.

Her visit to Pyongyang came amid reports of a severe food crisis in North Korea.

Good Friends, a Seoul-based welfare group with contacts in the North, said in February that 2,000 people had starved to death there this winter.

A growing number of North Koreans have fled their homeland, which has relied on outside aid to help feed its people since a famine in the 1990s killed hundreds of thousands.
​

North Korean officials offer stage-managed propaganda tours for visiting tourists and dignitaries that is so predictable, the same stops (and sanctioned photo essay) unfolds for any outsider that visits: statues, monuments, the metro, and empty dining halls with lots of food. When tours go off-script, they are noted as a newsworthy aberration.

It’s no surprise that the article describing the UN tour of North Korea ended with this concession,

Chan later accepted that what she saw in Pyongyang “might not be representative of the rest of the country.


Stephen Taylor: In UN-world, North Korea looks great. Especially compared to Canada | Full Comment | National Post



God Bless the UN.
​

 

[Niflmir]

I recently had a conversation with a Dutch friend about her trip to Vancouver where I asked her what the biggest cultural difference she noticed was. This is a great question because normally all you notice is that things are "different" but you cannot put your finger on it exactly, it is a lot of little things.

She said that she was surprised by the number of homeless people.

This is definitely the case. Paris, Berlin, Munich, Amsterdam, the Hague, and other cities I've been too throughout Europe definitely have a much better grip on the homeless problem.

It is not because a country is great that it will not have faults, it is not because a country is bad that it will not do some things right. That attitude is just jingoism.

 

[CDNBear]

This is definitely the case. Paris, Berlin, Munich, Amsterdam, the Hague, and other cities I've been too throughout Europe definitely have a much better grip on the homeless problem.

How is that? Just out of curiousity.

 

[gore0bsessed]

Harper laughs at homeless people and is unconcerned with solving the issue of homelessness and poverty in Canada.

 

[Niflmir]

How is that? Just out of curiousity.

How they take care of it? By distinguishing unemployment insurance and welfare it seems. Every person is guaranteed some meager amount of money a month. Even if they have been out of work for decades.

After a few months of unemployment, where the unemployment agency is actively getting you interviews, they will start to give you interviews for jobs beneath your qualifications. As you refuse more and more of these offers, they decrease the amount of the employment insurance payment and lower the bar you for the interviews they send you to. Eventually you wind up on welfare.

On welfare, they pay for your apartment directly and give a few hundred euro for food a month, while continuing to send you interviews. It is barely enough to live on. There are a bunch of other conditions as well related to moving and such.

 

[captain morgan]

How they take care of it? By distinguishing unemployment insurance and welfare it seems. Every person is guaranteed some meager amount of money a month. Even if they have been out of work for decades.

After a few months of unemployment, where the unemployment agency is actively getting you interviews, they will start to give you interviews for jobs beneath your qualifications. As you refuse more and more of these offers, they decrease the amount of the employment insurance payment and lower the bar you for the interviews they send you to. Eventually you wind up on welfare.

On welfare, they pay for your apartment directly and give a few hundred euro for food a month, while continuing to send you interviews. It is barely enough to live on. There are a bunch of other conditions as well related to moving and such.

I wonder if a program like that would be accepted in North American society. I think that the opportunity to use that (suggested) program for political points would be too attractive for some and would scuttle any progress on such a program

 

[CDNBear]

I wonder if a program like that would be accepted in North American society. I think that the opportunity to use that (suggested) program for political points would be too attractive for some and would scuttle any progress on such a program

Which would be a shame, given it sounds like a pretty progressive program.

 

[Niflmir]

I wonder if a program like that would be accepted in North American society. I think that the opportunity to use that (suggested) program for political points would be too attractive for some and would scuttle any progress on such a program

I knew an Italian girl who decided to leave science. Took a few months of employment insurance (in the Netherlands!) while looking for work and finally took a nice job at the Netherlands defense department. She did of course pay all kinds of taxes (to the government of the Netherlands) in the years preceding.

Nobody wants to be on welfare though. That is too extreme.

 

[CDNBear]

Nobody wants to be on welfare though. That is too extreme.

I've met people over the years that have made a business out of collecting welfare though.

There's always exceptions.

 

[Niflmir]

I've met people over the years that have made a business out of collecting welfare though.

There's always exceptions.

Indeed, but in the view of most Europeans, it is better to have such a social delinquent off the streets than panhandling on the corner. I agree with that idea; I am more than willing to pay to keep such people from needing to beg.

There will always be a few beggars of course.

 

[CDNBear]

Indeed, but in the view of most Europeans, it is better to have such a social delinquent off the streets than panhandling on the corner. I agree with that idea; I am more than willing to pay to keep such people from needing to beg.

It makes good sense.

I'd be interested in seeing if it has created inescapable ghettos, or aided in the betterment of the disadvantaged people.

 

[Niflmir]

It makes good sense.

I'd be interested in seeing if it has created inescapable ghettos, or aided in the betterment of the disadvantaged people.

There are cultural ghettos throughout Europe. Strangely, in Berlin everybody wants to live in the Turkish districts, maybe because they are more lively? There are similar things that occur in the suburbs of Paris.

Because the government is usually willing to pay for your rent for whatever apartment you are living in, so long as you don't move (then they force you to take public apartments), they seem to be able to stave off these problems.

In general, unemployment will not destroy your family, just your pride. Most people would prefer gainful employment.

 

[CDNBear]

In general, unemployment will not destroy your family, just your pride. Most people would prefer gainful employment.

I like to think so.

 

[captain morgan]

I knew an Italian girl who decided to leave science. Took a few months of employment insurance (in the Netherlands!) while looking for work and finally took a nice job at the Netherlands defense department. She did of course pay all kinds of taxes (to the government of the Netherlands) in the years preceding.

Nobody wants to be on welfare though. That is too extreme.

The example outlined relative to the Italian woman, in my opinion, represents the spirit of what EI was intended for.

There is a big difference between a hand-up as opposed to a hand-out

 

[Niflmir]

The example outlined relative to the Italian woman, in my opinion, represents the spirit of what EI was intended for.

There is a big difference between a hand-up as opposed to a hand-out

I think you will never be able to eliminate free riders. Its best just to shuttle such anti-social people off and forget about them.

 

[captain morgan]

I think you will never be able to eliminate free riders. Its best just to shuttle such anti-social people off and forget about them.

Understood and agreed.

That said, it's not so much the issue of enabling the free-riders, but it is sad to know that there these folks may never come to realizing their individual potential in life (for the benefit of themselves and family). It's almost like some have simply given-up and that is a depressing thought

 

[Niflmir]

Understood and agreed.

That said, it's not so much the issue of enabling the free-riders, but it is sad to know that there these folks may never come to realizing their individual potential in life (for the benefit of themselves and family). It's almost like some have simply given-up and that is a depressing thought

That is the sad thing indeed.

I am not saying you need a six figure salary, but doing something you can be proud of, having a home you can be proud of, living a life as full as you can, these are all things that seem like innate human aspirations to me. It boggles my mind that some people can aspire to be welfare recipients.

 

[Machjo]

One month ago, a wayward bureaucrat (or rapporteur as he is styled) found himself in Canada and decided to tear a strip off our country on the topic of food security. Yes, while Canada sends billions of food aid to developing countries, the UN came to criticize us for how available food is to poor and aboriginal communities. Canada is 6th on the human development index, and while poverty and famine grip other regions such as the horn of Africa, the scant resources of the UN were used to study Canada.

Today, we learned of a trip by World Health Organization chief Margaret Chan to North Korea, where she praised that country for its health system and said that it should be the “envy” of the developing world,

“Based on what I have seen, I can tell you they have something that most other developing countries would envy,” [the head of the UN's health agency] told journalists, despite reports of renewed famine in parts of the country.

“To give you a couple of examples, DPRK has no lack of doctors and nurses, as we see in other developing countries, most of their doctors and nurse have migrated,” the director general of the World Health Organisation said.

She also highlighted its “very elaborate health infrastructure” extending to a district network of household doctors, she added.

Chan visited the closed communist nation Monday through Wednesday at the regime’s invitation.

She met senior ministers and visited health facilities in the capital Pyongyang, as well as a rural hospital about an hour’s drive away.

Her visit to Pyongyang came amid reports of a severe food crisis in North Korea.

Good Friends, a Seoul-based welfare group with contacts in the North, said in February that 2,000 people had starved to death there this winter.

A growing number of North Koreans have fled their homeland, which has relied on outside aid to help feed its people since a famine in the 1990s killed hundreds of thousands.
​

North Korean officials offer stage-managed propaganda tours for visiting tourists and dignitaries that is so predictable, the same stops (and sanctioned photo essay) unfolds for any outsider that visits: statues, monuments, the metro, and empty dining halls with lots of food. When tours go off-script, they are noted as a newsworthy aberration.

It’s no surprise that the article describing the UN tour of North Korea ended with this concession,

Chan later accepted that what she saw in Pyongyang “might not be representative of the rest of the country.


Stephen Taylor: In UN-world, North Korea looks great. Especially compared to Canada | Full Comment | National Post



God Bless the UN.
​

So because North Korea is terrible in some areas, we must therefore censor any of its accomplishments just in case some stupid people might think an endorsement of its health care system might confuse simple minds into thinking it's a bastion of democracy.

 

[captain morgan]

So because North Korea is terrible in some areas, we must therefore censor any of its accomplishments just in case some stupid people might think an endorsement of its health care system might confuse simple minds into thinking it's a bastion of democracy.

The OP is not so much about bashing North Korea as much as it is about the sheer stupidity, duplicity and politicization that the UN represents.

 

[Niflmir]

The OP is not so much about bashing North Korea as much as it is about the sheer stupidity, duplicity and politicization that the UN represents.

The politicization of the UN doesn't bother me as much as its anti-democratic structure bothers me. It is after all a political body.