Oxfam: 45 Million Children Condemned to Death by Rich Countries

Over the next ten years up to 45 million children will die due to richer countries cutting back on the funds they are providing to tackle the problems of world poverty said Oxfam today.

The aid agency stated that children are being sentenced to death by policies that have seen overseas aid budgets cut by half since 1960.

Figures suggest that every day poorer nations are making debt repayments of £55 million, while at the same time up to 30,000 children under five are dying from preventable diseases.

Oxfam director, Barbara Stocking said, "As rich countries get richer, they’re giving less and less. This is a scandal that must stop. The world's poorest children are paying for rich countries' policies on aid and debt with their lives."

The astonishing figures come after the release of the Oxfam report entitled, 'Paying the Price', which indicates that rich nations have gone back on their pledge which was made in 1970 to increase their levels of overseas aid to 0.7% of the gross national income (GNI).

The USA has been targeted for the most criticism from aid agencies, as figures show that the world's leading power has reduced the amount it gives to aiding the rest of the world to just 0.14% of its GNI. The report bluntly points out that this figure, which represents £8 billion a year, still is only one tenth of what the country spent in the Iraq war.

Britain too has been exposed by the figures; only giving £3billion last year – equal to just 0.34% of its GNI. However, the government has recently expressed its commitment to doubling this figure by 2013.

America on the other hand will not reach the 0.7% level until 2040, and even more shockingly, Germany not until 2087, and Japan is said to be even further away than that.

Zambia and other similar poorer nations on the other hand are spending twice as much a year repaying debts than they do on education.

Figures show that one child in these desperate nations will die every 15 seconds from lack of safe water.

Oxfam has taken up the initiative to push the British government and in particular the Prime Minister Tony Blair to lead the world in the issue. The opportunity for this comes next year as Britain takes the presidency of the G8 group of countries next year.

The Oxfam report coincides with the Africa-aid Christmas single, 'Do they know it's Christmas?' reaching number one in the UK music charts, and the report stated, "For rich countries, this is not about charity, it is about justice."