The World Bank’s second chance in South America

The World Bank annual meeting in Lima, Peru this weeks offers a unique opportunity. While China’s massive investments in infrastructure are much-needed, they come with huge risks. The World Bank can reduce those by working with these new efforts—with all their capital—to apply the Bank’s experience in protecting the environment and local communities.

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Preview of UNHRC 30 and predictions on how Latin American countries will vote

The United Nations Human Rights Council opened this week, and on its agenda are the heated topics of Sri Lanka, Ukraine and Syria. The region has historically split in votes on these issues, with a majority, led by Argentina and Brazil, supporting the protection of human rights. On the other side, Cuba and Venezuela have helped to lead the movement to prioritize national sovereignty over the human rights.

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Tolerance of LGBT Rights-A Mixed Bag in the Americas

How tolerant are citizens across the Americas of LGBT political rights and marriage equality? While support for political rights is higher than support for the rights of LGBT couples to legally wed, the results track largely with levels of economic development in the region, with two notable exceptions.

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The BackYardistas

Those who stoke fear every time an extra-hemispheric rival to the U.S. gains influence in the Western Hemisphere are missing the real challenges. While these “BackYardistas” exercise their Cold War reflexes over growing Chinese, Russian and Iranian influence in Latin America, the broader challenge is how those powers are remaking the global liberal order.

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Militarizing the Police Undermines Democratic Governance

Across the hemisphere a majority of citizens support a greater role for the armed forces in domestic security—with over 80 percent of citizens in El Salvador, Honduras and Ecuador supporting the militarization of police duties. The policy, though, comes with huge risks. It also has not worked.

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Corrupto-landia

Donald Trump was right on one thing: corruption in Mexico and Latin America is unbelievable. As the series of scandals from Chile to Brazil to Mexico have revealed, the region still has a corruption problem that not only reduces the effectiveness of government but also increases the economic insecurity of its citizens. And those citizens are fed up.

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UNASUR action on medicines and the right to health

Can southern regional organizations strengthen the bargaining position of less-developed countries and their societies’ needs in health care? By bringing together South American countries, UNASUR is advancing a broader rights agenda in access to medicines and attention to developing country demands.

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How does the region stack up in women in political power?

Latin American and the Caribbean have made incredible strides in electing women heads of state and in implementing gender quota laws for national legislative elections. But how well represented are women in current national congresses and parliaments? Not as well as you may think.

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