Arab Human Development Reports 2003 from the UNDP. http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/8A0F4D05-A9B1-4556-89A9-6F3175A2253B.htm The report went on to explore the shortage of three essentials. The authors state that lack of freedom, knowledge and women's rights hold the Arabs back from greater development and from reaching their full potential in comparison to more advanced nations.
"This freedom deficit undermines human development and is one of the most painful manifestations of lagging political development," the report says.
The global wave of democracy has barely reached the Arab states
In many Arab countries, poverty and illiteracy have reached staggering levels; health care has deteriorated significantly in some countries; human rights abuses are widespread; jails swarm with "prisoners of conscience"; freedom of expression is confined to empty promises; when positive change takes place, it is slow and insufficient.
The report concludes that "the global wave of democracy has barely reached the Arab states".
Land and faith
The authors avoid making the Arab-Israeli conflict either a cause of, or an excuse for, the region's failings.
However, the report contains references to the circumstances of the Palestinians living under occupation or as refugees, and its overview contains a section that refers to the paralysis of political and economic life across the Arab world due to the conflict.
On another delicate topic, the role of Islam in Arab human development, the report presents two views; the first affirming Islam as championing justice, peace, tolerance and all good things in society.
The second claims that previous reaches into Islamism, either by governments (carefully avoiding names) or societies, had so far created counter-productive consequences between inflexible and stifling authority and disempowered publics. -- Michael Pugliese