Confused by all the fine words about global poverty? Perhaps I can help.

The scourge of world poverty does seem to be in the news more frequently. But is it all fine words? Gatherings of world leaders come and go and it is all too easy to be confused by what they announce. Are they promising new money or will it come out of an existing budget? I cannot claim to have a complete picture, but I hope the following facts will help to give you an overall picture of how things are progressing.

In September 2000 the United Nations General Assembly produced a set of Millennium Development Goals, with the year 2015 as the target for fulfilment. One goal is to halve the number of people living in extreme poverty (less than $1 a day) - about one quarter of the world’s 6 billion plus population. All charities and organisations concerned with world development are determined to hold world governments to these goals. They are a benchmark against which national and international decisions can be rated.

Three policy areas that can help poor countries to develop are debt relief, trade and aid. So what has been happening with each of these building blocks?

Debt Relief
The Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC) was launched in 1996 to reduce the debts of poor countries to sustainable levels. Thanks to the Jubilee 2000 campaign, HIPC was enhanced at the G8 summit in Cologne in 1999, with pledges to finance $100 billion of debt relief.

Sounds good, but. . . . this was only a third of the sum Jubilee 2000 considered essential, not all donor countries are meeting their pledges, and the initiative is failing to deliver “sustainable” levels of debt. Projected export earnings of the poor countries have been adversely affected by falling commodity prices and the global economic slowdown. Debt campaigners continue to say that calculation of the level of debt repayments for each country must embrace the social welfare needs ofthe country, not simply its export earnings.

This year’s G8 Summit acknowledged that HIPC has a problem and an additional $1 billion was pledged. But the initiative needs proper reform, not just a sticking plaster. It was always too little too late and continuing pressure is essential to rectify inadequate action at the outset. Jubilee Debt Campaign helps to mobilise this pressure here in the UK.

Contrast the progress of HIPC with that of US business legislation (cracking down on corporate fraud) that won speedy approval in Congress in July. Amazing what self interest can achieve!

Trade Rules
The double standards of the developed world in not practising what it preaches on free trade are becoming more widely known, thanks in part to the Trade Justice Movement. At the meeting of the World Trade Organisation in Doha last November a decision was taken to begin talks on phasing out Europe’s big subsidies through the Common Agricultural Policy and there was at least a token commitment to embrace poverty reduction in the new trade round.

Aid
Aid from donor countries is a good example of how targets often remain simply that! A United Nations target of 0.7% of gross domestic product for overseas aid has been in place for many years. In 1990 the overall average reached by donor countries was 0.33%. By 2000 it had fallen to 0.22%. Aid levels are rising again, but not by nearly enough. The global annual total (all donors) is about $50 billion; Oxfam has estimated that aid budgets will need to be trebled to $150 billion per annum if the world is to meet the millennium development goals by 2015.

To help put these sums of money in context, $35 billion a year is spent by the EU on farm subsidies and the Pentagon’s budget is $330 billion, with an extra $50 billion proposed for 2003.

My article started with a quote that mentions the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa. This year’s G8 Summit gave special consideration to Africa, pledging $6 billion extra aid a year to a plan called NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa’s Development). It commits Africa to guaranteeing the peace and stable rule that is essential if help from the West is to bear fruit. Quite an incentive for Africa’s leaders to get serious. Africa’s failure is due not only to the neglect or clumsy interference of the rest of the world, but to its own political failures and stagnation. People who care can press the leaders of the rich world to help African leaders make, NEPAD work.

This article has only scraped the surface of complex issues, but I hope it helps to get you thinking. Do please talk with me about any of the issues.

Source: Ann Peterken, The Spire Magazine - 2002 October

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