Press conference on International anti-poverty day

 

(Issued on 15 October.)

In the lead up to next year’s mid-term review of efforts to implement the Millennium Development Goals, the observance of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty assumed added importance, correspondents were told at a Headquarters press conference this morning.

Jean-Marc de La Sabliere, the Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations, noted that as the Organization prepared for the major meeting of heads of States and governments next year, the International Day would focus attention on the first of the Millennium Development Goals, namely the fight against hunger and poverty.  In 2000, the international community had made the commitment to halving by 2015 the number of people suffering from hunger or living on less than one dollar a day.  The situation was more than alarming.  At the present rate, and if nothing were done, there would be no chance of achieving the goal, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.  That was the case in spite of the increase in official development assistance (ODA) agreed to at Monterrey.

Established by General Assembly resolution 47/196, the International Day has been observed every year since 1993 to promote awareness of the need to eradicate poverty and to remind people of the continued need to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of people living in poverty by 2015.

Joining Ambassador de La Sabliere was the Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane of Cape Town, South Africa, Marilyn Gutierrez, author of a study on the families living in poverty in six countries, and Joan Burke, Chair of the NGO Committee for Social Development.

“It is unthinkable that we should resign ourselves to that prospect”, Mr. de La Sabliere said.  The international community had to find the resources to honour its commitment.  That had been the intent of the initiative taken by the leaders of Brazil, France, Chile and Spain to identify new sources of financing to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.  An ad hoc working group had been set up and its report presented in early September.  The report proposed a series of options, which, while different in nature, were all economically sound and technically feasible.  That report had been discussed at a high-level meeting on 20 September to mobilize support for international action against hunger and poverty.

“We must not waste time”, he said.  There was still one year to act, and the international community had to take advantage of the months ahead to look at the various options and achieve consensus by next fall.  The stakes were considerable.  The fact that 1 billion people were prisoners of extreme poverty and hunger must be in everybody’s mind.

Archbishop Ndungane said one of the greatest challenges facing humanity today was the question of poverty eradication.  While he was grateful that the world’s leadership had joined hands in identifying the Millennium Development Goals, he was greatly disappointed in terms of implementation.  The goals were realizable.  One thing particularly close to his heart was education.  The fact that there were millions of children without access to universal education in an information age was grossly sinful and unacceptable.  While the world’s leadership had good intentions, political will was needed to drive them.

He welcomed the ATD Fourth World report on how poverty separated parents and children.  By focusing on parents and children, the report demonstrated how poverty destabilized the family, which was the foundation of society.  As this year was the International Year of the Family, strategies were needed to strengthen that unit in society.  He also endorsed the view in the report that poverty was not just an economic, but a human rights issue.  Human beings were created in God’s image with dignity and worth.  It was immoral that over 800 million people went hungry in a world with surplus.

Compounding the problem in Africa was the disastrous effects of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, he added.  Some 14 million children had lost both parents to the disease, and about 95 per cent of them were in sub-Saharan Africa.  That figure was expected to increase to 25 million by 2010.  As a pastor, it was traumatic to visit those children and wonder what would happen to them when they became parents, without the benefit of growing up in a loving home.  HIV/AIDS had compounded the problem of poverty.  Fighting poverty was a great challenge, and he hoped the world would take its commitments to meet the Millennium Development Goals seriously.

Marilyn Gutierrez said the study she had authored presented the cases of families from six different countries, including Burkina Faso, Guatemala, Haiti, the Philippines, the United Kingdom and the United States.  The report showed the different life struggles facing both parents and children.  It also showed how parents often had to face agonizing choices between giving the best for their children and keeping their families together.  The family relationship was an important element for fighting poverty.  Families from all six countries had expressed that, despite differences in culture and economic situations.  Without understanding family ties, it would be impossible for them to continue the fight against poverty.

Carrying out the study had helped her to understand in particular the importance of the role of fathers in the family, she said.  In the Philippines, fathers were respected members of the family.  Their importance had been overlooked.  For mothers, having a husband meant having an ally for the upkeep of the family.

Poverty had a human face for non-governmental organizations, Joan Burke said.  Living in Africa for most of her life, for her poverty meant people.  The individuals themselves were not poor.  Many were richly endowed as human beings.  Poverty was often the result of circumstances and geography.  Most poor people had great resources that had not been tapped.  Stressing the need to address the macroeconomic causes of the poverty, she said it was important to find ways to better structure a world, in which all people had human security, which was more important than military security.  It was possible to eradicate poverty.

Responding to a question on ways to eradicate poverty, Archbishop Ndungane welcomed Prime Minister Blair’s statement that, when the United Kingdom assumed the presidency of the European Union and the chair of the Group of Eight, it would make the issue of development a priority, focusing in particular on Africa.  He hoped that, by setting that tone, the Prime Minister would influence the developed world’s leadership in terms of implementing the Millennium Development Goals.  Related to that were macroeconomic issues, in terms of fair trade and agricultural subsidies.  Her Majesty’s Government had talked about an international financing facility to inject new money into development areas, in particular HIV/AIDS.  Political will was needed, not only in the leadership of the developed countries, but also in the developing world’s leadership, which had to recognize the value of the people who put them in power, most of whom were poor.

Citizens of the world had not only to look to governments, but to themselves for change, he continued.  In his diocese, Anglicans had decided to levy a percentage of their incomes to create a development fund.  People in the United States and the United Kingdom spent a lot of money on pet food, ice-cream and cosmetics.  People could do with less to make sure that the poor had at least the basics for living.  In the information age, every child had to be able to go to school.  In that regard, he called for a citizens human development fund to realize the objective of halving poverty by 2015.

Addressing the same issue, Ms. Burke stressed the need for participation of the poor and empowerment in education.  Development aid had to empower people to unleash their entrepreneurial spirit.  People living in poverty had tremendous creativity and could make something out of nothing.  Educating a child had a multiplier effect on families, as educated people were able to get jobs.  She also stressed the need to support governments in the South through already existing initiatives, such as New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), which needed a jumpstart of resources.

Also stressing the need for resources, Mr. de La Sabliere said the money should be well spent.  The World Bank had identified how much money was needed to implement the Goals.  Some countries had increased ODA and would continue to do so.  President Chirac had committed to that in Monterey.  New money had to be found.  Even if increased, ODA would not be enough.  The main question was how to find the money.  A mechanism to ensure that the money was well spent was also needed.  The first step was to mobilize the world community.  The meeting on 20 September had been a part of that effort.  There was close cooperation in Europe between France and the United Kingdom on the issue.  That mobilization had to be increased.

Continuing, he noted the need for more concrete mechanisms.  President Chirac had asked a group of experts, led by a French financial expert, to work on the question of international taxation.  He was happy that the Bretton Woods institutions no longer rejected the idea.   The challenge in the United Nations was to have ideas brought into the discussion for the meeting taking place next year.  He was encouraged that the question would be on top of the Group of Eight agenda.  “We have a plan”, he said.  The question was reaching the goal and finding consensus.

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