Make Poverty History
from
Seán O' Leary M.Afr
2005 has been earmarked as a year of incredible opportunities to make a difference for the millions of people living in abject poverty throughout the world. This new initiative comes from Great Britain where charities, trade unions, campaigning groups, celebrities, churches and faith groups have joined forces to create a year of action which just might, actually, change the face of world poverty. The fact the UK government will chair the G8 and take up the presidency of the EU in 2005, is seen as an integral part of the campaign that has become known as the Make Poverty History campaign.
The facts speak for themselves and are simply not acceptable in a world that has the capacity to do much more than is being done. Poor countries account for 2/5 of the world's population but only 3% of the world income, whereas rich countries have 15% of the world population but 80% of the world income. 16 of the 21 poorest countries in the world are African. The average European cow receives $2 a day in subsidies, while nearly half the world's population (2.8 billion people) live on less than $2 a day. According to Oxfam, 900 million people in poor rural areas, the majority from Sub-Saharan Africa, live on less than $1 a day. 30,000 people die daily from the effects of extreme poverty and disease; a silent holocaust of death.
Aid to Africa had halved from $33 per person in 1980's to $19 per person
today.
We spend as much subsidising agriculture in the EU as the whole income of
the 689 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa taken together. Tony Blare argues
that "Africa is the scare on the conscious of the world". There
is general consensus that the increasing division between rich and poor is
no longer acceptable something has to be done. To quote Bono from U2: "
Africa makes a fool of our idea of justice; it makes a farce of our idea of
equality; it mocks our piety; it doubts our concern; it questions our commitment
because there is no way we can look at Africa and if we're honest, conclude
it would ever be allowed to happen somewhere else"!
The question is can Africa find a gentle transition out of poverty, banish
the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, and end the stark divisions between the
rich elite and the millions of urban and rural poor? Nelson Mandela says Yes:
On a recent visit to Britain he had this to say: "Poverty is not natural.
It is man made and can be overcome". The world now has the financial
resources and know-how to end extreme poverty. All that is lacking is the
political will to do so! So what will it take to lift 1.2 billion people out
of poverty? Governments in the North and South have promised to do their part
to accomplish this by agreeing in 2000 on eight Millennium Development Goals
to be achieved by 2015. (see Petit Echo article…..)
At the present rate of implementation of the Millennium Development Goals poverty eradication for all, will not happen in 2015 but 2130; 115 years too late; Primary education for all, will not take place by 2015 but in 2150; 135 too late and the reduction of infant mortality will happen in 2165 and not 2015; 150 years too late at the present rate of implementation (Gordon Brown CAFOD Speech London December 8th 2004)
President Bush likes to speak about the 'axis of evil' being Iraq, Iran and North Korea but the real 'axis of evil' are insufficient aid; crippling debt and unjust trade; the restructuring of which can lift millions out of poverty. This is the bases of the Make Poverty History campaign, which rotates as I have said, on three calls.
The First Call: Insufficient Aid: Rich countries as far back as the 1970s set themselves a target of allocating 0.7% of national income to overseas aid. Not one of the G8 countries has met this target. Lowest on the list is America, which spends 0.15% of national income on aid. Britain says it will increase from 0.34% (March 2005) to 0.7% by 2013. The French, German and Italians have agreed but the Americans have rejected the proposal saying it is incompatible with US budgetary rules. There is currently a $54 billion gap in overseas aid that is needed for developing countries to reach the Millennium Development Goals. The commitment of 0.7% of national income for overseas aid will have an enormous impact on world poverty. However, to date, the fight against poverty is littered with broken promises and grand gestures that lead to very little; the rhetoric is impressive but the delivery is very poor indeed! The Make Poverty History campaign intends to hold politicians responsible for the pledges they have made by exposing what is not carried out.
The Second Call: Debt Relief. In 1999 in Cologne, world leaders promised $100 billion worth of debt relief. Six years on, we are still waiting for 2/3 of that relief. Many countries are still spending more on debt repayments than on health care and education. In 1980, loan inflows of $9.6 billion to Africa were comfortably higher than the debt repayment outflow of $3.2 billion. But by 2000, only $3.2 flowed in while $9.8 billion was repaid, leaving a net financial flows deficit of $6.2 billion. Debt repayment is literally crippling many African economies. At a G7 Finance Summit (the G8 minus Russia) in London in February 2005, economic ministers agreed to work towards 100% debt cancellation for some 37 countries. The G7 countries have recognised that there is not enough money in the aid system. Crippling debt can be cancelled in full by fair and transparent means in the world's poorest countries. Although not all the money is owed to the IMF; IMF gold (there are considerable reserves) could be used to fund the cancellation! The total Third World external public debt is about 3% of all the money owed in the world; a sum of about $160 billion; in no way would cancelling it endanger the global financial system. In comparison the US's public and private debt is about $30,000 billion.
The Third Call: Trade Justice. Increase aid can alleviate poverty and debt relief can reduce poverty but increasing Africa's share of world exports by one per cent would work towards eradicating poverty. The best evidence of rich countries willingness to end poverty in the developing world will be the reform they offer at the World Trade Organisation summit in Hong Kong in December this year. The latest round of trade liberalisation talks have been stagnating thanks to rich trading powers like America and the European Union refusing to open up their markets to poor countries while forcing the Third World to open their markets to cheap subsidised imported goods. The World Bank estimates that the trade negotiations could deliver 144 million people out of poverty. The International Development Bank reckons that rich countries agreeing to cut agricultural and manufacturing tariffs would generate $400 billion in additional income for poor countries. Therefore, the call is for trade justice and not simply free trade; the lifting of protectionism in the rich countries and the promoting of protectionism in poorer countries. Protectionism is the difference between free trade and trade justice. The call is to open up markets and enhance the possibility to compete more fairly.
These three together; increasing Aid, reducing Debt and Trade Justice are the three cornerstones on which the Make Poverty History campaign is built. The campaign targets those who have the power to make the changes necessary and vows to expose those who make empty promises. It offers a glimmer of hope in what is a depressing state of affairs!
Seán O' Leary
London April 2005
A Step Closer to Making Poverty History
from
Seán O' Leary M.Afr
In the previous article I wrote about a bold initiative of politicians, trade unions, non-government organisations, churches, faith groups, celebrities and individuals in Great Britain; to collectively work together to make poverty history. The campaign has spread to numerous other countries and is slowly beginning to show results. The campaign rotates on three axis: aid, debt relief and trade and it is in the area of debt relief that some progress has been made.
In early June (2005) the Group of Eight (G-8) industrialised nations agreed to write off more than $40 billion - the debt of 18 of the word's poorest nations - 14 in sub Saharan Africa in a drive to free Africa from the cycle of debt relief, poverty, under-development, hunger and disease. The agreement provided 100% write-off to multinational lenders for the 18 countries straight away, with more countries to qualify later. The onus is now on debt-free poorer countries to put the money saved to good use. From the side of those who benefit, the call is for good governance, the tackling of corruption, political responsibility and transparency, which could lead eventually to a total debt relief package of more than $55billion with a further 38 mostly African countries benefiting as well. The recent sacking of the South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma, on suspicion of major corruption, though not charged in a court of law, spells out what good governance actual means.
The agreement in return for debt relief is that it goes towards primary health care, hospitals, education, schools and improving infrastructure. Aid agencies welcomed the deal and said it would save the 18 countries an average total of $1.5 billion a year in debt repayments. Nations in sub-Saharan Africa alone owe about $68billion to international bodies.
The deal still falls short of the ambitious targets set by the British government when they declared 2005 as the year of Africa. However, the deal it is hoped, will pave the way for progress toward a separate deal on aid and trade for Africa at international meeting later in the year . The hope is that aid to poorer countries will be doubled from the present $50 billion a year to $100 billion; by issuing bonds using rich nations' development budgets as collateral.
Everyone wants to take the credit and there is no doubt that the politicians and in particular Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown desires credit but no one can estimate the contribution made by the wellspring of popular public support in the name of the Make Poverty History campaign; in achieving this milestone victory in the name of the poorest of the poor. Much has been done but much more needs to be done; the campaign goes on. As a postscript the other countries to benefit are Bolivia, Guyana, Honduras and Nicaragua.
Sean O'Leary
Pretoria June 2005,
1 Benin, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique,
Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
2 The Group of Eight industrialised nations meeting in Scotland in July and
the World Trade Organisation meeting in Hong Kong in December.