The Regional Human Development Reports for Latin America and the Ambiguities Present in Their Diagnoses and Prescriptions

Abstract

Regional  Human  Development  Reports  (RHDRs),  focused  on the Latin American reality, are documents commissioned, dis- seminated and sponsored by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). They communicate intentions, interests, stra- tegies, ideologies, proposals and agendas that form a forward-looking approach to the continent’s possibilities for moving towards human development. The objects of this study are the diagnoses and the prescriptions contained in these materials that outline several strategies to demonstrate that the extreme inequalities prevailing in Latin America cannot be taken as unal- terable. Although social inequalities block social improvement policies that lead to the expansion of freedoms, rights, income and access to education, health and adequate housing, the pro- cessors of these agendas insist on the construction of strategies by Governments, civil society organizations and international organizations to expand human security. Through documentary research, it is sought to understand the political meanings of the recommendations contained in these RHDRs.