NGOs Push Poverty Relief a Top Agenda at World Social Forum 2005

The 5th World Social Forum (WSF) has kicked-off on Wednesday 26th January in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Under the theme "Another World is Possible", 75,000 social activists from Brazil, United States, France, Italy and other countries in Asia have signed up for the event. Another 100,000 are expected to attend.

From 26th to 31st January, about 2,000 workshops on topics ranging from the environment to culture and finance will be offered, along with a dozen cultural events. This year the WSF will open more space for civil society campaigns to present their demands and proposals. Fair trade, world peace, opposing genetically modified foods, agrarian reform and environmental protection are the leading concerns that WSF has embraced.

The British aid agency Oxfam, believes the WSF is a unique platform where social movements, networks, NGOs, and individuals come together to debate, analyse and formulate alternatives for all these challenges. Of the uttermost importance, Oxfam would like to highlight the pressing need to take action against world poverty in 2005.

Since the New Year, "Make Poverty History" Campaign launched in London has posed significant influence over the policy formulation of the British politicians. For instance, the Chancellor Gordon Brown has urged the international communities to clear the debt of the tsunami-hit countries after the tsunami has raged many countries in South East Asia.

Katia Maia, from Oxfam International addressed today the organisation’s expectation to the WSF, "In 2005, the leaders of rich countries have the opportunity to lift millions of people out of poverty. The world has never been wealthier, yet rich nations are giving less and less. Across the globe, millions of people are being denied the most basic human needs – clean water, food, health care and education. People are dying while leaders delay debt relief and aid."

"Time is running out for millions living in poverty and rich countries must act now," she continued, "It is absolutely shameful that at the start of the 21st century, more than a billion people are living in abject poverty, and more than 100 million children don’t go to primary school."

Alongside with the WSF, the world wide Global Call to Action against Poverty coalition (GCAP) will be launched in Porto Alegre on Thursday 27th With the presence of Brazilian President Lula da Silva. Oxfam is part of it.

The GCAP will call on the leaders of G8 countries - Germany, France, Italy, Japan, UK, US and Canada and other rich countries - to make history in 2005 and help millions of people out of poverty by acting to cancel poor countries’ debt, increase aid, and take action to make trade fair.