New info: U.N. Report Urges Rich To Give More
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
From The Washington Post (headline is linked)
U.N. Report Urges Rich To Give More
Nations Have Not Met Pledges to World's Poor
By Colum Lynch
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 18, 2005; Page A13
UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 17 -- The United States and other rich nations need to increase their overseas development assistance this year by as much as $48 billion in order to achieve their commitment to slash in half global poverty for a billion people in the next 10 years, according to a United Nations report.
The 3,000-page U.N. report was based on the research of 265 scholars, scientists and poverty specialists. It recommends such practical measures as providing mosquito nets and building roads and ports to help lift people out of abject poverty.
Jeffrey D. Sachs, a Columbia University economist who oversaw the three-year U.N. Millennium Project, said he hopes the recommendations will prod governments to spend more on the world's poor and serve as a guide for countries seeking to channel money into anti-poverty programs. But he also noted that the distribution of international aid has been woefully inadequate in recent years, with only 30 cents of every aid dollar reaching the poor.
"We are in a position to end extreme poverty within our generation," Sachs said Monday in presenting the 13-volume report to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.
Sachs said most rich governments have fallen far short of their commitment at the U.N. Millennium Summit in 2000 to set aside 0.7 percent of their gross national product to fight global poverty. Development assistance from the world's 22 wealthiest nations averages about 0.25 percent, or $69 billion. The report recommends increasing it to 0.44 percent in 2006, or $135 billion, and 0.54 percent, or $195 billion, by 2015.
Only five countries -- Sweden, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Norway -- have met the goal, which was reaffirmed by President Bush and other world leaders at the 2002 conference on international finance at Monterrey, Mexico. Six others -- Britain, France, Ireland, Spain, Finland and Belgium -- have pledged to reach that level by 2015.
The United States, the world's richest country with an $11 trillion economy, provides 0.15 percent, or $16.3 billion, of its gross national product for overseas development assistance. It would need to spend $30 billion more a year to reach the 0.7 percent target.
The report's release comes just weeks after Jan Egeland, a senior U.N. aid official, said that the United States and other donor countries have been "stingy" in their development assistance.
... more at linked article
Yet more whining and crying from the U.N. for the U.S. and "other" rich nations to give, give, give more, more, more.
And please note yet again, The Washington Post writer (most of whom are not noted for their conservatism) references the calling of the U.S. and other donor countries as "stingy".
If these idiots ever learn to shut-up and be glad for the money we're giving them, all while being told by countries like Indonesia to "give us the goods and get the f--- out NOW" before we kill you, it'll be a total miracle. Of course, no amount is ever enough, at least not as long as we're a low tax nation that feeds the world. Bleh!
U.N. Report Urges Rich To Give More
Nations Have Not Met Pledges to World's Poor
By Colum Lynch
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 18, 2005; Page A13
UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 17 -- The United States and other rich nations need to increase their overseas development assistance this year by as much as $48 billion in order to achieve their commitment to slash in half global poverty for a billion people in the next 10 years, according to a United Nations report.
The 3,000-page U.N. report was based on the research of 265 scholars, scientists and poverty specialists. It recommends such practical measures as providing mosquito nets and building roads and ports to help lift people out of abject poverty.
Jeffrey D. Sachs, a Columbia University economist who oversaw the three-year U.N. Millennium Project, said he hopes the recommendations will prod governments to spend more on the world's poor and serve as a guide for countries seeking to channel money into anti-poverty programs. But he also noted that the distribution of international aid has been woefully inadequate in recent years, with only 30 cents of every aid dollar reaching the poor.
"We are in a position to end extreme poverty within our generation," Sachs said Monday in presenting the 13-volume report to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.
Sachs said most rich governments have fallen far short of their commitment at the U.N. Millennium Summit in 2000 to set aside 0.7 percent of their gross national product to fight global poverty. Development assistance from the world's 22 wealthiest nations averages about 0.25 percent, or $69 billion. The report recommends increasing it to 0.44 percent in 2006, or $135 billion, and 0.54 percent, or $195 billion, by 2015.
Only five countries -- Sweden, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Norway -- have met the goal, which was reaffirmed by President Bush and other world leaders at the 2002 conference on international finance at Monterrey, Mexico. Six others -- Britain, France, Ireland, Spain, Finland and Belgium -- have pledged to reach that level by 2015.
The United States, the world's richest country with an $11 trillion economy, provides 0.15 percent, or $16.3 billion, of its gross national product for overseas development assistance. It would need to spend $30 billion more a year to reach the 0.7 percent target.
The report's release comes just weeks after Jan Egeland, a senior U.N. aid official, said that the United States and other donor countries have been "stingy" in their development assistance.
... more at linked article
Yet more whining and crying from the U.N. for the U.S. and "other" rich nations to give, give, give more, more, more.
And please note yet again, The Washington Post writer (most of whom are not noted for their conservatism) references the calling of the U.S. and other donor countries as "stingy".
If these idiots ever learn to shut-up and be glad for the money we're giving them, all while being told by countries like Indonesia to "give us the goods and get the f--- out NOW" before we kill you, it'll be a total miracle. Of course, no amount is ever enough, at least not as long as we're a low tax nation that feeds the world. Bleh!