MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY - the UK's Hope in World Poverty

Background
Poverty is a common worry for the world, especially in the Third World where many people are dying because of poverty. Statistics have shown that poverty kills 30,000 people every day. Many world politicians are not very optimistic to face the challenge and often back away from confronting the problem full-on. TUC (Trades Union Congress) General Secretary Brendan Barber commented it was "too difficult to deal with".

MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY represents the hope of UK's faith groups and charities to make a radical change to the deadlock in 2005. It hopes to raise the UK's political voice in the international arena.
2005 will be marked by a number of key moments including:
April
The Commission for Africa Report by the British Prime Minister Tony Blair will be published
July
The UK hosts the G8 Summit
July
20th anniversary of Live Aid
July - Dec
The UK holds the presidency of the European Union
Sep
UN Millennium Development Goals Special Summit

Who
The strongest ever coalition of faith groups, charities, non-governmental organisations and trades union in the UK, including ActionAid, BOND, CAFOD, CARE International UK, Christian Aid, Church of Scotland Board of World Mission, Jubilee Debt Campaign, OXFAM, Tearfund, TUC, United Reformed Church, World Vision UK and Y Care International, etc.

Aim
MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY urges to eradicate world poverty from the root. The three leading reasons for world poverty are the critical areas it urges to work on:

Trade Justice
- End subsidies to farmers in rich countries to export agricultural products to poor countries, so as to ensure the farmers in poor countries can live on their stable crops and trading.

- Stop the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) forcing poor countries to open their markets to trade with rich countries.

- Make Laws that stop big businesses profiting at the expense of people and the environment.

Drop the Debt
The unpayable debts of the world’s poorest countries should be cancelled in full, by fair and transparent means.

More and Better Aid
- All donors must provide 0.7% of national income in international aid, and make aid work more effective for poor people
- Aid should no longer be tied to goods and services from the donor, so ensuring that more money is spent in the poorest countries
- Aid should support poor countries and communities’ own plans and paths out of poverty

Action
Saturday 2nd July 2005
Thousands of people will form a human chain on the streets of Edinburgh in advance of the G8 meeting in Scotland to insist that the leaders of the world's richest nations should take up the challenge to MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY.

More information about the poverty situation in the Third World is presented in a video. Please visit the website: www.makepovertyhistory.org for details.