Sustainable Development and International Business Law - Term Paper Example

CREATION OF SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT IN MATUNE Executive Summary: Matune has experienced low economic development and this has affected the growth of business in the country. However this low economic development began long time ago after independence, when the British handed over the country the natives, opening a new chapter for the country through democracy and reforms. This was due to low GDP, increased crime rates, high percentage of poverty and limited infrastructure that made the country incapable of building schools and hospitals. This has remained the case till date and has limited the development of the business and transactions in the country. The above three factors according to my view were somehow interconnected. Low GDP automatically led to poverty which for the poor to sustain there life, engaged themselves into criminal activities. Therefore correcting low GDP was like eradicating poverty and reducing crimes. Some factors also arisen within the government that worsened the economy of the country. These factors were brought forward by the organizations that were towards the provision of aids to the country. These organizations experienced some difficulties providing these aids which were caused by the government and citizens of Matune. There were instances of Child labor and women slavery, corruption within the government and excess Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. However various approaches can be taken to come up with solutions to these issues to open way for the development of the economy. Low GDP, poverty and high rates of crime should be eradicated for a country to achieve high level of development. In my opinion, in order to reduce these factors, there would be need for the government to provide employment opportunities for the citizens to increase there income. Once there is a source of income, people will think of other methods of increasing there income and this will open ways for most venturing into businesses and hence increased levels of transactions. Creation of jobs by way of industries will require the need for labor and this will cut off slavery as they will be needed to work in the industries. The Facts Matune was a country limited to the highest level of poverty stated to be 90%. Once in poverty of that high the country development usually remain stagnant and this calls for foreign aids. However, the country had some resources that were never exploited, since they did not have the technology to exploit such resources. This opened doors to foreign investors and other international organizations. However, carrying out activities in Matune, some concerns were risen that were dangerous to the economy of Matune. Foreign investors discovered the use of child labor in the industries of Matune by the business people. Child labor therefore resulted in school dropouts as the boys and girls spend most of there time working in the industries. There was also the concern of women trade which had negative effect on women and girl child education. Other concern was brought forward by the International Environment Protection Agency. The agency complained of lack of law enforcement by the Matune government to control carbon dioxide emissions in the country. Carbon dioxide had adverse effects on the climate which later affected agricultural practices. Evidences were also brought forward by recent report given by the United Nations which showed that there were high corruption levels within the government. Funds that were provided to carry out various projects were misused by the government officials for their selfish gains. It was therefore difficult to carryout the projects to their levels of completion. Discussions Child Labor and Women Slavery This concern was raised by the foreign investors. Child labor involves putting children to work that they are not suppose to be doing due to their young age. In Matune, children were engaged in manufacturing labor, domestic service, construction, begging on streets and scavenging. These child labor forms were harmful and reprehensible morally, violating child’s freedom and rights. These children had there life at risks. Some were not even paid and only food and a place to sleep were provided. These children especially in the informal sector received no payment when injured or ill and were unable to seek protection if they undergo any form of violence or mistreated by the employers. Elimination of child labor was vital for the development of the economy of Matune. Child labor undermined the human nature roots and rights. It also threatened the future social of Matune and also its economic progress. This limited the growth of business in Matune as the employers were unable to come up with a real profit margin. They were unable to know how much they spent on labor as the child labor was not paid, to see whether the business were working on a loss or profit so as to compete in the international market. Child labor in Matune was enhanced by poverty. Poor households were spending most of there income on food and therefore they saw that income from their children was vital for their survival. However, poverty should not be a factor to justify child labor in Matune. There are countries that are equally poor and yet they have relatively low child labor levels. Matune had limited facilities to develop schools. Education was therefore unavailable to children. Parents who never went to school did also not value the importance of education. Children were therefore sent to work in the industries or farms. The culture and tradition of most communities in Matune also led to the development of child labor. Parents had the cultural norm of seen labor as the most things a child can do in his free time. Employers also get to see children as cheap source of labor as compared to the adults. Child labor in Matune was also brought about by the income shocks that occurred in the households. Households that were not in the position to deal with natural disasters, agricultural crisis, and economic crisis or HIV/AIDS impact were resolving to child labor. Matune government had poor legislation and policies that were protecting children. Child labor was therefore persistence in the country (Bachman, 2000) Matune had no law enforcement to guard women rights. Women had no say in the constitution of Matune. They were therefore misused as materials for slavery trade with some business men exchanging them for precious items. They were seen as those who should look after there homes and children and also sexual materials. The women were made more susceptible to forced labor practices due to unemployment, crime, poverty and corruption. Slave trade affected the women both physically and psychologically. Some were raped and even made pregnant and others placed in adverse environment. Most Matune did not see the advantages of employing women in there industries. They could not see that these women would work more or lee the same as the men. This led to gender inequality which the government of Matune find is hard to eradicate. Lack of Law to Monitor Carbon dioxide Emissions In Matune, emission of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was severe. There were no laws to monitor these emissions thus affecting the climate of the country hence negative effects on the agricultural practice. These emissions scared away investors as they feared for there health. The costs, competition and the decisions for planning of these investors were affected. The healthcare costs of the investors that persisted in the carrying out of businesses increased. This was due to increase in mortality rates and illness related to heat and climate in the health sector. The industries energy expenditure was affected with high cooling in summer and minimum heating during winter. The property insurance of many investors went up due to increased droughts and floods, and strong storms all caused by changes in climate from the effect of excess carbon dioxide. The business located along the coast experienced increased transportation costs. These were businesses that depended on the water ways for transportation which costs depended on the sea levels that rises due excess emissions. The investors in the agricultural sectors could not compete favorably as their competitor experienced favorable climatic changes than them. The same effect applied in a business related to forestry. Global warming created social and economic destructions that affected various businesses. This called for long term business planning that considered the changing nature of Matune. The investors were scared away and moved to invest into the other countries. This maintained the low economic development of Matune. They were still unable to utilize the available resources which remained unexploited till date. The government revenue therefore remained low. Severe Levels of Corruption in the Government The economic development and business transactions were worsened by high levels of corruption that took place within the government of Matune. Due to high poverty level, foreign aid came in to eradicate poverty. Projects were started to create employment for the citizens of Matune. Most of the projects were controlled by the government officials who had the projects’ money deposited directly into the country’s account. Other than using the money for the projects, the officials diverted most of the money to increase their life standards, living the citizens of Matune flourishing in total poverty. The projects went uncompleted, discouraging the investors from starting new projects. This corruption practices brought about inefficient resources to effectively run the projects of the businesses and maintains its operation levels. Development of Matune was also weakened as the government officials were asking for bribes from various investors to allow them to carryout projects in Matune. This corruption also led to increase in crime as black market activities became common in Matune. Technology advancement stimulus was low. Investors had no faith in the government protection on their inventions as they could easily take bribes to disrupt such inventions. Insufficient resource allocation and uneven wealth distribution were common as the haves advanced more than the have-nots. Having known high level of corruption in Matune, it became less attractive to new foreign investors and international trade stagnating economic development as low quality healthcare and education was provided (Lawal, 2007). Recommendations To promote the development of Matune, several recommendations were to be put in place. These recommendations should be towards eradication of the above key issues that limited the economic development. To eradicate child labor, the government of Matune is supposed to enforce laws and start social programs that are towards protecting children against labor. Minimum age for irregular work is supposed to be increased to at least 14 years. Amendments of Labor and Child acts were necessary to ensure their consistency and application to children laboring in all sectors. There is need of adoption and implementation of reports that identifies dangerous child labor in Matune. Government of Matune should establish and increase programs that prevented and removed children from child labor sectors. To end women slavery the government is suppose to form laws that protests human rights. There should be development towards promotion of gender equality, especially in the government. Minimization of carbon dioxide emissions also required legislations. These laws are supposed to be embarked on the industries as they form the major source of gas emissions. Delocalization of the industries was important as localization had concentration of emissions on one area hence adverse effects to the health of the residents. There is need for Matune to employ energy efficiency and practices of conservation. Industries are suppose to apply carbon free resource use and resources of reduced carbon energy. Recycling was also important towards reduction of carbon in the atmosphere. Misappropriate management of the project funds in Matune maintained high poverty level and stagnant economic growth. There is therefore the need of the government to liaise with the international organizations in the fight against corruption. This collaboration should be towards assistance of the country to come up with institutions that are transparent, capable and accountable. There was also the need of the country to expand on the partnership in the projects with bilateral and multilateral development institutions. Civil society and the private sectors are supposed to come together in the fight against corruption in Matune. There was need to minimize corruption in the foreign owned projects through assessing risks of corruption in project upstream. Active investigation of allegations of corruption and fraud and improvement on project onsite supervision is vital. Conclusions In my conclusion economic development to allow for sustainable business and transaction in Matune is possible. Government only needs to eradicate the critical issues above that forms barriers to the economy. The above recommendations form the basics of what is supposed to be done in Matune. Due to its small size, Matune can easily achieve development level of the developed countries which are usually bigger in size. The government only needs to reorganize the constitution to have it directed towards economic development. It would therefore be easy to fight corruption and to eradicate poverty. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bachman, S. L. Business Economics [2000] "The political economy of child labor and its impacts on International business." 30, 35. Lawal, G., Humanity and Social Sciences Journal [2007] Corruption and development in Africa: Challenges for political and economic change 1, 2. Read More