Kosovo Human Development Report 2010 - UNDP Kosovo - United ...

of exclusion. Discriminatory policies
and practices limit the interactions
of groups and individuals with their
social, legal, and economic environments.
Discrimination is not limited to
race, religion and gender. It extends to
geographical areas, income, education
levels, health status and age. It happens
in highly industrialized nations as
well as in developing countries. Social
exclusion is more pernicious and damaging
than poverty alone. Its multiple
dimensions affect every area of life, including:
• Economic exclusion, which results
from inequalities in ownership of
assets, incomes and employment
opportunities;
• Exclusion from social services,
which results from inequalities in
access to a range of services – education,
health, housing, and social
protection;
• Exclusion from political participation,
which results from unequal
access to political opportunities,
justice, freedoms, institutions and
decision making mechanisms at
many levels (from national to community
level); and
• Cultural status exclusion, which
results from differences in recognition
and (de facto) hierarchical
status of different groups’ cultural
norms, customs and practices.
These dimensions of social exclusion
tend to reinforce each other. 22
Variables that induce social exclusion
tend to act together at various levels
and over time to produce the effects
that are commonly referred to as relational-based
deprivation. Excluded
groups and individuals have little access
to decision-making bodies and
little chance of influencing decisions
or policies that affect them. As they fall
down the social scale, they become
increasingly marginalized. While exclusion
may result from shocks during the
course of life or in periods of societal
transition, it is most frequently triggered
by circumstances of birth. Being
born into poverty or to relatively unskilled
parents, for example, inevitably
makes a child far more likely to be excluded
and to pass exclusion on down
the generations.
Social exclusion has three primary
drivers: (i) structures and institutions:
public and private sectors both contribute
to exclusion by either fostering
discrimination or failing to act to
protect the excluded; (ii) values and
behavioural patterns: these determine
discriminatory attitudes and cultural
practices that regulate norms in society
and among groups (including
forms of self-exclusion); and (iii) policies:
these reflect and respond to both
structures and values, codifying them
for long-term application.
Social exclusion is most likely to
occur where there are:
Discriminatory laws and inadequate
law enforcement. Discriminatory or inappropriate
legislation is a primary cause
and perpetuator of social exclusion. These
frequently spring from insufficient understanding
of the dynamics of vulnerability
and inadequate reflection of the needs of
socially excluded groups in policy instruments.
Existing policies promoting social
inclusion may not be effective in protecting
excluded groups due to their lack of
commitment, inadequate resources and
lack of policy enforcement and oversight.
In addition, where adequate legislation is
in place, poorly enforced laws can make
such legislation meaningless.
SOCIAL INCLUSION AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT - A CONCEPTUAL BACKGROUND
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