Amartya Sen awarded international Catalonia Prize

Indian economist and activist Amartya Sen, defender of economic, social and civil rights, has been awarded the international Catalonia Prize, and the $100,000 prize money, for his pro-democracy, liberty and human rights efforts.

The jury, led by Jordi Pujol, head of the autonomous government of Catalonia, praised Sen's commitment and unflagging efforts to improve the situation of the world.

His most important works cover issues such as economy and hunger, the family economy and gender divisions, capital, its growth and distribution, development, education planning and political, legal, moral and ethical philosophy.

In one of his main texts, The Missing Women, the economist discuss the difference between the number of women born and those who reach adulthood, explaining that more women than men are born in the world, and that infant mortality is higher amongst males.

Why then are there more adult men than women? he asks.

And the answer is clear. While not overlooking the deaths from ill-treatment and murder, he said the basic cause could be found in discrimination and the inequality of health treatment and childhood opportunities, especially in the poorer countries.

This discrimination means that little by little, as the age pyramid progresses, men begin to outnumber women - and especially serious phenomenon in the less developed southern nations.

Sen, born in Bengal in 1933, a Calcutta graduate who completed his doctorate in the British University of Cambridge, was described by Nobel economics prizewinner, Robert Solow, as ''The conscience of the profession.''

He taught economy in the universities of Delhi, India and Oxford, Britain, and has been working in Harvard, United States, since 1987.

Sen is a great defender of political freedom, which he claims allows citizens to demand more from their governors.

''Where there are no elections nor opposition, the governments do not need to concern themselves with the political consequences of failure in the prevention of hunger,'' said Sen, supporting his argument by pointing out that serious famines rarely occur in democratic and independent countries.

In Botswana and Zimbabwe, countries which have elections, famine was avoided, but in Ethiopia and Sudan it could not be stopped.

This ''Proves the importance of political participation and democracy in the satisfaction of the basic needs of the people,'' he said.

The Integrated Theory Of Rights is Sen's main principle, as he believes that economic and social rights, like the right to work, to health and education must be complemented by political and human rights, including the freedom of speech, which is the most important.

He said democracy is not a product of economic development, but that equity is only possible with liberty, whereby it is important to fight poverty and combat the shortages affecting the majority of the world's population.

The jury noted that ''Mr Sen's tendency towards distribution distances him from those inclined towards the absolute sovereignty of the market.'' But ''also his idea of reconciling equality and diversity divide him from the more egalitarian lines'', as he sustains equality is a crucial part of effective freedom.

''All people must have the same possibilities for choice, even if they don't have the same means,'' said Sen.

This proposal led the jury to honour him ''For his links with the world of philosophy and ethics and for his humanist theories on economic liberalisation.''

In the previous years the prize had been awarded to the philosopher Karl Popper, the Pakistani physicist Abdus Salam, the French oceanographer Jean Cousteau and Czech President Vaclav Havel.

UNI