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Decisive and Urgent Action to Alleviate Poverty

23 June 2005

"This level of deprivation, unconscionable in today's world, is accompanied by diseases, ignorance, conflict and grotesque evidence of man's inhumanity to man. But hope without the sustenance of action soon dies."

World leaders should take decisive actions to help alleviate poverty, Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General Winston Cox has reiterated. The groundswell of public opinion in support of pro-poor development, plans for debt relief discussed at the recent G7 Finance Ministers Meeting, and expressed commitment by many industrial countries to meet the target of 0.7 per cent of national income for overseas development assistance are factors that can move the process along.

Mr Cox said this at a media roundtable discussion on 'The 2005 International Development Agenda: What's in it for the Media?' The event took place in London, UK, on 22 June 2005, organised by the Overseas Development Institute in collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat.

The Deputy Secretary-General stated: "The support is rooted not only in a yearning for social justice, a characteristic in human decency in both rich and poor countries, but also in the enlightened self-interest of the rich, as they recognise that it is also to their peril if they ignore poverty, disease, ignorance and the abuse of human rights in poor countries."

Mr Cox expressed hope that discussions on the Doha Development Round at the World Trade Organisation meeting in Hong Kong in December 2005 would produce a truly developmental round.

"All countries acting together must negotiate rules for international trade that put development at the head of the agenda. For such an outcome, the rich and powerful countries in approaching the negotiations have to lay aside the asymmetries of power and influence and concentrate on the asymmetry of need.

"We often ignore the link between trade and debt: countries that can sell their goods and services in the international market by and large can also pay their debts. Countries with improving terms of trade will grow out of poverty, will transform their economies and will experience increasing levels of economic participation; countries with unfavourable terms of trade will enjoy none of these benefits; they will sink further into poverty and all that accompanies it."

The Deputy Secretary-General noted the urgent call for action on Africa which he said should be carried forward at the G8 Summit in Gleneagles, UK, on 6-8 July 2005. Mr Cox stated that the achievements of the Millennium Development Goals will be hollow if they were achieved without Africa's involvement. Eighteen African states are members of the Commonwealth; and in Sub-Saharan Africa, the number of extremely poor almost doubled from 164 million to 313 million in 2001.

"This level of deprivation, unconscionable in today's world, is accompanied by diseases, ignorance, conflict and grotesque evidence of man's inhumanity to man. But hope without the sustenance of action soon dies. On the one hand, action requires that industrial countries follow through on their commitments to increase aid to forgive debt. On the other, it requires developing countries to improve governance and remain committed to social and economic policies that target poverty reduction and that promote participation and equity, including gender equity."

 

CNIS - the Commonwealth News and Information Service Issue 240, 22 June 2005