INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The facts about global
poverty are stark:
- Over a billion people - a fifth of the world''s population - live in extreme poverty;
- 800 million people are permanently hungry;
- Tens of thousands of people die from preventable diseases every day; and
- A child contracts HIV every minute.
Our shared humanity demands action.
Liberal Democrat international development policy is built on two foundations. First, we believe that this country has the wealth to help those much poorer than ourselves, and should do so. Second, we believe that we all benefit from achievement of sustainable development in the poorest countries in the world.
This country has never lived up to the promise it made long ago to devote 0.7 per cent of its annual income to aid; it is time that it did. The response of the British people to the Asian tsunami disaster was extraordinarily generous - but every day millions of families around the world are caught up in similar tragedies of famine, drought, war and terrible poverty. So it is time Britain lived up to its promises, to build the sustainable development to end such poverty once and for all.
The Prime Minister and the Chancellor deserve credit for the focus of the British Presidency of the G8 on development, specifically for Africa. Some progress was made at the Gleneagles Summit. The deal on debt cancellation was a serious step forward for those countries included. And the promises to increase aid by 2010 should also be welcomed. But these were the minimum required to claim any kind of success and serious deficiencies remain.
Much of Africa is not part of the new debt-relief initiative. And the increase in aid of $50bn by 2010 includes a lot of money previously pledged. Oxfam has calculated that only $16bn of this represents new money over and above existing commitments and trends. Set this against the sums which it is calculated are needed to meet the UN millennium development goals - some $50bn more a year rather than the current commitment over a five year period - and it is clear that Gleneagles can only be seen as a small first step.
Ultimately the Gleneagles agreement will be judged not by how much was promised, but by how much is delivered.
International development is not just about aid. For example, opening European markets to the products of the poorest countries helps their economies and lifts them out of poverty. Stopping subsidised European food being dumped helps their farmers prosper and grow more. Neither policy would cost a penny.
We need to reform international institutions to make them more responsive to developing country needs; make aid more productive; make trade fairer; and take action to promote good governance, the rule of law and human rights.
Liberal Democrat priorities for international action were set out in more detail in our G8 Communiqué: Priorities for Action document. These include:
- Press for a liberal, pro-poor outcome of the Doha round of trade negotiations;
- Eliminate agricultural production and export subsidies in all G8 countries by 2010;
- Reach the UN target of 0.7% of GNP spent on aid by 2012, or 2015 at the latest;
- Ensure at least 70% of aid is allocated to low-income developing countries;
- Increase funding to combat HIV/AIDS, to achieve universal access to treatment for all by 2010;
- Extend cancellation of multilateral debts to a greater number of poor countries;
- Work towards the elimination of child labour;
- Commit to substantial CO2 emission reductions and take the lead on negotiations for the next set of targets for emissions, with the inclusion of developing countries, on the basis of the long term goal of ''contraction and convergence'': the sustainable population-related allowance for emissions.
The people of this country have an outstanding record of helping those in
need around the world. It is time for our government to match their
commitment.
