| 英语口译、笔译资料下载 中文版：歧视法律化代价高昂.doc Discrimination
by Law Carries a High Price 歧视法律化代价高昂
World Bank Group President Jim
Yong Kim 世界银行集团行长金墉
Washington
Post 《华盛顿邮报》
February 28, 2014 2014年2月28日
Growing up in Iowa, I was often
judged solely on appearance. In stores, strangers would make karate-chop
gestures at me, inspired by the popular TV series “Kung Fu.” When I played
quarterback for my high school team, opponents were not above slamming me to
the dirt and then piling on racial slurs.
我在爱荷华州长大，常常会单凭外观作出判断。在商店里，陌生人受热门电视剧“功夫”影响，朝我做空手道劈掌的动作。我在高中球队打四分卫时，对手不惜将我撞倒在地，用种族主义的语言辱骂我。
These incidents embarrassed me
and made me self-conscious. But they are trifling indignities compared with the
discrimination that many people around the world face based solely on their
sex, age, race or sexual orientation.
这些事件令我感觉不安和难堪，但与世界各地许许多多仅仅是因为性别、年龄、种族或性取向而受到歧视的人们相比，这些羞辱就不值一提了。
I raise this in light of the law
Uganda enacted this week, which could imprison for life those convicted of
homosexuality, and the increased violence against gays in Nigeria after an
anti-gay law took effect there this year.
我之所以提出这个问题，是因为乌干达本周颁布了一项法律，有可能将那些被定罪为同性恋的人判处终身监禁，另外在尼日利亚的反同性恋法律今年生效之后针对同性恋者的暴力事件不断增多。
These countries are in the news
now, but our focus should be much broader: 81 other countries – in the
Americas, Asia, Africa and the Middle East – have passed laws that make
homosexuality illegal. In the United States, although Arizona’s governor vetoed
a bill this week that would have allowed businesses to deny service to gay
people, nine states have laws that limit how public school teachers can talk about
homosexuality. More than 100 countries discriminate against women. And an even
greater number of countries still have laws that discriminate against minority
groups.
这些国家现在成了新闻，但我们的关注点还应当更广泛：另外还有81个国家——分布在美洲、亚洲、非洲和中东各地——也已通过法律宣布同性恋为非法。在美国，虽然亚利桑那州州长本周否决了一项允许商家拒绝为同性恋服务的法案，但是有9个州有法律限制公立学校的教师谈论同性恋问题。世界上有100多个国家歧视妇女。更多的国家还存在歧视少数民族的法律。
Institutionalized discrimination
is bad for people and for societies. Widespread discrimination is also bad for
economies. There is clear evidence that when societies enact laws that prevent
productive people from fully participating in the workforce, economies suffer.
制度化歧视不利于人民和社会。歧视现象的普遍存在也不利于经济。有明确的证据显示，如果社会制定法律阻碍有生产能力的人充分参与就业，经济就会蒙受损失。
Discrimination against women is a
case in point. A World Bank study last year of 143 economies found that 128
countries still have at least one legal difference in how men and women are
treated, which constrains women’s economic opportunities. These barriers
include laws that make it impossible for a woman to independently obtain an ID
card, own or use property, access credit or get a job.
歧视妇女就是一个很好的例子。世界银行去年对143个经济体做的一项调研发现，其中128个国家仍至少有一项法律男女有别，从而限制了妇女的经济机会。这些法律障碍包括阻碍女性独立取得身份证、拥有或使用财产、获得信贷或就业。
In 15 economies, husbands can
prevent their wives from working, although in the past two years Ivory Coast,
Mali and Togo have reformed such restrictions.
在15个经济体中，丈夫可以阻止妻子工作，虽然在过去两年科特迪瓦、马里和多哥对这种限制进行了改革。
The economic losses from such discriminatory
laws and practices are costly. A study last year found that women’s low
economic participation created income losses of 27 percent in the Middle East
and North Africa. The same study estimated that raising female employment and
entrepreneurship to male levels could improve average income by 19 percent in
South Asia and 14 percent in Latin America.
这种歧视性的法律和惯例所造成的经济损失是巨大的。去年的一项研究发现，在中东和北非地区，女性的经济活动参与率偏低，导致的收入损失达27%。同一项研究估计，在南亚和拉丁美洲地区，将女性就业率和创业率提高到男性同等水平，可以将这两个地区的平均收入分别提高19%和14%。
Discrimination based on other
factors, such as age, race or sexual orientation, has similarly bad outcomes.
Legislation restricting sexual rights, for instance, can hurt a country’s
competitiveness by discouraging multinational companies from investing or
locating their activities in those nations.
基于其他因素如年龄、种族或性取向的歧视，具有同样的恶果。例如，一个国家限制性权利的立法会影响跨国公司在该国投资或将经营活动本地化，从而损害国家的竞争力。
These recent anti-gay laws, and
many others that have been on the books for years, are acutely ironic. Just 15
years ago, a small band of gay men and women – largely in the United States but
also in Europe and parts of Africa – fought with all their intellect, energy
and creativity to expand access to treatment for all people with HIV/AIDS. In
2000, just 50,000 people in the developing world received AIDS treatment.
Today, largely thanks to the work of these gay activists and others, more than
10 million people are being treated with AIDS drugs – most of them African.
最近颁布的这些反同性恋法律，以及多年来已登记在案的许多其他此类法律，都有极大的讽刺意义。就在15年前，一群同性恋男人和女人——主要是在美国但也在欧洲和非洲部分地区——凭借他们全部的智慧、精力和创造力，争取扩大对全体艾滋病感染者的治疗。
在2000年，发展中国家只有5万人接受艾滋病治疗。而今天，在很大程度上归功于这些同性恋活动家和其他人的努力，超过10亿人正在接受艾滋病的药物治疗，其中大部分人在非洲。
At the World Bank Group, we will
have a full internal discussion over the coming months about discrimination
more broadly and how it would affect our projects and our gay and lesbian staff
members. My view is that the fight to eliminate all institutionalized
discrimination is an urgent task.
在世界银行集团，今后几个月我们将围绕广义上的歧视及其对影响我们的项目和同性恋员工会产生什么影响，充分展开内部讨论。我的看法是，消除一切制度化歧视的斗争是一项当务之急。
After all, the bottom line is
clear: Eliminating discrimination is not only the right thing to do; it’s also
critical to ensure that we have sustained, balanced and inclusive economic
growth in all societies – whether in developed or developing nations, the North
or the South, America or Africa.
毕竟，底线是明确的：消除歧视，不仅是正确的事情，也是至关重要的，唯此才能确保我们在所有社会——无论是在发达国家还是发展中国家、北方或南方、美洲或非洲——实现持续、均衡和包容性经济增长。 |
