Oxfam Make Poverty History

Make Poverty History is the UK component of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty, an international coalition of people and organisations from all sectors and walks of life who are uniting to tackle global poverty in 2005.

The Make Poverty History coalition is calling for three things:

1.) Trade Justice

You may not be aware of them, but trade rules control how countries do business with each other. They are agreed at international level, and are supposed to make sure nations compete openly and fairly. In reality they don't.

That's because the rules are rigged - loaded in favour of the wealthiest countries and their business interests. So no matter how hard people work in the developing world, or how much their countries produce, trade relationships benefit the rich world most.

The result is misery for hundreds of millions of people who just want the chance to make a living, feed themselves, send their kids to school and create a better future for the next generation. A handful of big international organisations set the rules and policies controlling the way we trade.

The problem is policies aren't decided democratically, but on the basis of who has the most economic clout. While paying lip-service to fairness, the richest countries, with their almost limitless resources, steer decision-making in their interests.
Poor countries lose out time and again.

Three main bodies combine to write the rules of trade:

World Trade Organisation (WTO)
World Bank
International Monetary Fund (IMF)

All three are dominated by the world's richest nations. Between them, they're forcing poor countries to open up their markets to foreign imports and businesses, and sell off public services like electricity - even when this isn't in their interest. They're also banning poor countries from supporting vulnerable farmers and industries, while wealthy nations continue to support their own.

All this is being done in the name of 'liberalisation' - and 'free trade' or leaving things to market forces.

It's simple really, change the rules. Now.

It's an obvious solution - challenge and change the rules so they work for poor countries. Re-write them in favour of the poorest countries so they can develop, build their own industries, grow stronger, and one day compete as equals.

Rich countries used trade rules to protect themselves as they developed - which is how they got where they are now. We consider it fair to use trade rules to end world poverty as we know it.


2) Debt Relief & Cancellation

Despite grand statements from world leaders, the debt crisis is far from over. Creditors have still not delivered on the promises they made seven years ago to cancel unpayable poor country debts. As a result, many countries still have to spend more on debt repayments than on meeting the needs of their people.
Rich countries and the institutions they control must act to cancel all the unpayable debt of the poorest countries. They should not do this by depriving poor countries of new aid, but by digging into their own pockets and providing new money. The task of calculating how much debt should be cancelled must no longer be left to creditors concerned mainly with minimising their own costs. Instead, we need a fair and transparent international process to make sure that human need takes priority over debt repayments.

International institutions like the IMF and World Bank must stop asking poor countries to jump through hoops in order to qualify for debt relief. Poor countries should no longer have to privatise basic services or liberalise their economies as a condition for getting the debt relief they so desperately need.

• Each year, Africa faces demands for over $10 billion in debt repayments.
• Little more than 10% of the total debt owed by the world's poorest countries has been cancelled.


3.) More & Better Aid

Poverty will not be eradicated without an immediate and major increase in international aid. Rich countries have promised to provide the extra money needed to meet the internationally agreed poverty reduction targets. This amounts to at least $50 billion per year and must be delivered now. Rich countries have also promised to provide 0.7% of their national income in aid and they must now make good on their commitment by setting a binding timetable to reach this target.

However, without far-reaching changes in how aid is delivered, it won’t achieve maximum benefits. Aid needs to focus better on poor people’s needs. This means more aid being spent on areas such as basic health care and education. It should no longer be conditional on recipients promising economic change like privatising or deregulating their services, cutting health and education spending, or opening up their markets. Aid should support poor countries’ and communities’ own plans and paths out of poverty.

An immediate annual injection of at least $50 billion is needed per year to allow countries to make progress towards the Millennium Developments Goals.

As much as $94 billion extra may be required if countries are to meet the targets in full. Without proper funding, 30,000 children will continue to die needlessly every day from causes associated with extreme poverty:

• 8 million lives could be saved every year if minimal healthcare was available in developing countries.
• One woman dies every minute as a result of problems in pregnancy or childbirth. Of these, 99% are in developing countries.
• A child dies every 15 seconds from water-related diseases.

The developed world has a responsibility to fund international development programmes. The UK previously committed itself to the 0.7% target (that 0.7% of its gross national income (GNI) would be spent on international development). The promise was made in 1970. Some 35 years later, we are still waiting for the promise to be kept.

In the 2004 Comprehensive Spending Review, the Chancellor committed to raising aid spending to 0.47% of GNI by 2007/08. That will mean a jump in aid of £1.5 billion by 2008. If growth continued at that rate the UK should finally reach its promised 0.7% target by 2013.

This new commitment is significant and welcome. Yet, by 2013, some 45 million people will be newly infected with HIV. 39 Only half of Africa's children will complete primary school and one in six will die before their fifth birthday. 40 With every month that passes without faster increases in aid, we drift further and further from achieving the MDGs.

Although UK aid is growing in volume, in historical terms it is not keeping pace with the leaps in British wealth. Britain gives a smaller proportion of its national wealth than it did in 1979, when 0.51% of British gross national income went on development assistance.

The UK can afford to reach 0.7% much sooner and in doing so would catch up with Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, all countries with economies significantly smaller than our own.

The UK is currently seeking support for a proposed 'International Finance Facility' (IFF). Gordon Brown has said that the facility could 'double the amount of development aid from $50-100 billion per year... double development aid to help us halve poverty'. The government's proposal for an IFF shows that it recognises that the MDGs are currently out of reach. This admission must lead to an immediate and major increase in the volume and efficacy of international aid, with or without international agreement on the IFF.

The UK has already shown significant leadership on aid volume. It must make a firm commitment to reach the 0.7% target and to do so before 2013. It should also provide its fair share of the additional money needed now to meet the MDGs, estimated to be at least $50 billion each year. Doing these two things would put it in a prime position to persuade other countries to contribute more to international aid.


The White Band

The white band is the global symbol of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty, of which Make Poverty History is a part. Across the world, people can show their support to tackle poverty, by wearing a simple white band.

During 2005 there will be special global white band days on July 1 (just before the G8 of world leaders) and September 10 (just before the UN summit) and 10 December before the World Trade Organisation meeting in Hong Kong. These are times when people will be asked to wear their white bands as a mark of solidarity and support the call for world leaders to take action to end poverty.

Oxfam is just one of more than 300 charities, faith communities, trade unions and campaigning groups that make up the Make Poverty History Coalition in the UK.


For more information on Make Poverty History please visit Oxfam's website by clicking here


[Source - Oxfam UK]