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The world
leading nations must understand and accept the
imperative of fair engagement on the issues
before us and, beyond that, of common effort
toward shared goals. We must be prepared to go
to work on the global agenda and to do so in a
way that we may emerge better off and more
secure than before. We must recognize the
complex and vexing character of this troubled
world. "If a free society cannot help the many
who are poor, it cannot save the few who are
rich" said President John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
Our world is divided between the rich countries
in the north and poor countries in the south. It
is a serious problem and must be recognized and
addressed. According to the most recent study:
1300 million people in this world do not have
access to drinking water - as a result 80
percent of illnesses are caused by contaminated
drinking water. In Sub-Sahara Africa, 40 percent
of primary-age children have no opportunity for
schooling. Around the world, there are currently
125 million children who have never, at any
time, seen the inside of a classroom. The
distribution of wealth in the world is terribly
unjust. 15 percent of the population own 79
percent of the world's wealth and 85 percent of
the population own the remaining 21 percent. The
World Bank defines extreme poverty as living on
less than $1 per day, and moderate poverty as
less than $2 per day, estimating that "in 2001,
1.1 billion people had consumption levels below
$1 a day and 2.7 billion lived on less than $2 a
day."
Looking at the period 1981-2001, the percentage
of the world's population living on less than $1
per day has halved. The 2007 World Bank report
"Global Economic Prospects" predicts that in
2030 the number living on less than the
equivalent of $1 a day will fall by half, to
about 550 million. An average resident of what
we used to call the Third World will live about
as well as do residents of the Czech or Slovak
republics today. However, much of Africa will
have difficulty keeping pace with the rest of
the developing world and even Jeffrey Sachs,
Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia
University and Special Advisor to UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon, outlines what action the
wealthy nations must take to end poverty and
retain credibility.
The Millennium Development Goals are the world’s
agreed goals to cut poverty, hunger, and
disease. They were established in 2000, with
targets for 2015. We are at the half-way point
to meet the goals. So far, the rich countries
are not meeting their part of the bargain,
despite endless words from the rich countries
about increasing their aid to the poor
countries. When new donor countries such as
China enter the scene, the US and Europe tend to
complain, as if their monopoly over low-income
Africa and Asia is being broken. The political
standing of the wealthy countries in the world
will plummet if it is unable or unwilling to
follow through on its word. The aid should be
directed at building roads, power grids,
schools, and clinics, and at training teachers,
doctors, and community health workers. Yet all
of that investment requires plans and years of
implementation. Aid needs to be committed in
clear terms over a period of several years, so
that recipient countries can use it sensibly and
accountably.
In the final analysis it is the rich countries
responsibility to address these serious problems
confronting our world, and it must be resolved
sooner than later. It’s high time for the
wealthy nations of the world accountable for
what they have pledged but not delivered and to
stop giving lectures to the poor, and instead to
follow through on their own words. Progress in
the fight against poverty will contribute not
only to survival and human dignity, but also to
peace.
About the writer:
Professor Waris Shere, formerly of Patna and
presently living in Canada, is the author of
eight books. His work on critical issues of
International Affairs has been published
globally. Professor Shere's recent publication
"THE STRUGGLE FOR PEACE" has been recently
published.
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