World Poverty Update

[Paragon]

World Poverty Update.

 

• Every day more than 30,000 children around the world die of preventable

diseases, a total of over 11 million a year.

• The richest 5 percent of the world’s people have incomes 114 times those of

the poorest 5 percent. The richest 1 percent receive as much income as the

poorest 57 percent.

• 2.8 billion people live on less than $2 a day, with 1.2 billion of them

subsisting on less than $1 a day.

• In 1997–9 an estimated 815 million people were undernourished.

• During the 1990s the number of people in extreme poverty in Sub-Saharan

Africa rose from 242 million to 300 million.

• By the end of 2000 almost 22 million people (now updated by the UNDP to

24.8 million) had died of AIDS, 13 million children had lost their mother or

both parents to the disease and more than 40 million people were living with

HIV. Of these, 90 percent were in developing countries and 75 percent were

in Sub-Saharan Africa.

• There are 100 million ‘missing’ women who would be alive but for infanticide,

neglect and sex-selective abortion.

• Every year there are 300 million cases of malaria, 90 percent of them in Sub-

Saharan Africa.

• More than 500,000 women die a year as a result of pregnancy and

childbirth.

 

Source: United Nations Human Development Report 2002 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), pp.10–30. These figures are used by Steve Smith in his ISA 2002 address. See his article ‘Singing Our World into Existence**: International Relations and September 11’, International Studies Quarterly, forthcoming, June 2004.

 

** Read: Singing our world into existence: International Relations and September 11

[underdog]

HOW THE WEST STAYS RICH THROUGH UNFAIR TRADE

The existing trade system dominated by the West is indefensible and unsustainable. It has generated intolerable extremes of prosperity mostly in the West and poverty elsewhere.

 

 

 

1. In May 2001, OXFAM published a 27-page report, Rigged Trade and Not Much Aid: How Rich Countries Help to Keep the Least Developed Countries Poor. Oxfam Senior Policy Adviser Kevin Watkins says: 'On trade, the industrialised countries have operated a policy of highway robbery masquerading as market access preferences.' The efforts of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to combat poverty have been 'systematically undermined' by Northern governments.

In their rhetoric, governments of rich countries constantly stress their commitment to poverty reduction. The United States and Canada are identified as the 'worst offenders', with Bangladesh losing $7 from trade restrictions for every $1 it receives in US aid and five times that for every dollar it receives from Canada.

 

2. Trade restrictions imposed by rich countries are costing the poorest countries 'a staggering $2.5 billion a year in lost foreign exchange earnings', says Oxfam, in a report released in May 2001. There are very high tariffs in sectors of most relevance to poor countries. Tariffs on some agricultural products are more than 300% in the EU and, in the case of groundnuts, over 100% in the US,' it says. The Oxfam report concludes that the rich countries' performance on aid has been 'derisory'. In 1990, the OECD countries pledged to increase aid and reach a target of 0.20% of their gross national product (GNP) to the LDCs in development assistance. Since then, they have cut around $3.5 billion from their aid flows, which are now at their lowest level in per capita terms since the early 1970s.

 

3. At the same time, the rich OECD countries spend $1 billion per day on farm subsidies - roughly equivalent to the gross domestic product (GDP) of all the LDCs combined. The resulting surpluses are dumped on world markets, undermining the livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers in poor countries. While many LDCs are eligible for debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative, the report says, that many will emerge in an unsustainable debt position. Preliminary studies by Oxfam show that at least 13 LDCs - including Zambia, Niger and Senegal - will emerge from the HIPC Initiative spending more than 10% of government revenue on debt,'.

 

4. Keeping the Third World poor

A mere 1% increase in share of world exports by Africa, East Asia, South Asia, and Latin America would result in income rise that could lift 128 million people out of poverty. In Africa alone, this would generate $70bn - approximately five times what the continent receives in aid.

 

While rich countries keep their markets closed, poor countries have been pressurised by the Western dominated institutions, International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, to open their markets at breakneck speed, often with damaging consequences for poor communities.

Powerful transnational companies (TNCs) have been left free to engage in investment and employment practices which contribute to poverty and insecurity, constrained only by weak voluntary guidelines. In many countries, export-led success is built on the exploitation of women and girls.

Many of the rules of another west dominated body, World Trade Organisation (WTO) on intellectual property, investment, and services protect the interests of rich countries and powerful TNCs, while imposing huge costs on developing countries. This bias raises fundamental questions about the legitimacy of the WTO.

 

Reform of world trade is only one of the requirements for ending the deep social injustices that pervade globalisation. It is ironic that while the rich states heartlessly exploit the poor countries (many of them former colonies), it is left to western NGOs and charities to press their own governments for decent trade rules, ethical practices in foreign policy, etc.

Oxfam is campaigning to change world trade rules so that trade can make a real difference in the fight against global poverty.

More in www.maketradefair.com

 

 

 

5. Globalisation tightens poverty trap

 

On 19 June 2002, the Guardian under the heading '100m more must survive on $1 a day' reported an in-depth UN study just published into the world's 49 poorest countries.

 

The study rejected claims that globalisation is good for the poor. It said the poorest countries are being left behind: as western trade barriers shut out lucrative markets, their survival depends on cash crops but prices for these have crashed over the last two decades. Living standards in these countries are now lower than 30 years ago. "Persistent poverty in poor countries is not due to insufficient trade liberalisation - for many LDCs external trade and finance arrangements are an integral part of the poverty trap."

 

 

 

The 23 poorest countries have an unsustainable debt burden, says the World Bank. Servicing the debt swallows up foreign aid which therefore cannot be used for development. The study calculates that 307 million people live on a dollar a day and this number is set to rise to 420m over the next 15 years. In Africa, 65% of the population live on less than $1 a day, in Asia (mostly South Asia) 23%. In 1998, the major capitalist countries had a average income of $27,400 per head, in all developing countries, this was $1260 and in the poorest it was $287.

[Passion_4_Fashion]

do you 2 have to get this serious? Poverty n sh!t

 

for goodnes sake it's FRIDAY ppl! :rolleyes:

[Paragon]

^^^ lol

 

Underdog, sxb thank you. The state in which majority of the people live is depressingly and extremely perilous. All the poor peoples are better-off searching for alternatives within themselves than from outside, I guess. May God help us poor, aamiin.

[underdog]

Originally posted by sweeter_than_your_tea:

do you 2 have to get this serious? Poverty n sh!t

 

for goodnes sake it's FRIDAY ppl! :rolleyes:

Sorry to bust up your "party on!!!" state of mind, but maybe after Salaatul Jumaa you might wanna throw a prayer towards the less fortunate ones.

[sheherazade]

^easy now.

 

Thanks J11. It reminded me of something.

[underdog]

Sheh,

In retrospect, that sounded angry....but I assure you it was said in a calm way.

[sheherazade]

Hokey dokey.

 

Now that she's feeling all guilty I doubt she'll throw a prayer their way. Probably blow it to them with a kiss.

 

I've seen people who were so poor it made me want to throw up every morsel of food I had eaten in distraction. It shakes you out of your wordly thoughts.

[Passion_4_Fashion]

ud- u think that I don't think of the less fortunate ppl? :rolleyes: I'm not even gonna go there with you...but for your information I know that I am truly one of the blessed ones and yes I do count my blessings but just because after long day at uni I am not in the mood to talk about poverty does not mean that I don't think about the poor people....don't read between the lines ud.

 

salaama

[underdog]

STYT,

is deji abaayo. difaac xoog aah aa gashey. If you get home after a Long day of Uni and are not in the mood for "Poverty n sh!t" waa ujeeda topica magaciisa, maxaa kusoo geliye hawadaan.

 

Markaas aa inta soo gashey aa indhaha noo warwareegisey :rolleyes: . Its an informative topic, abaayo. If you know, there's people out there who don't. Xumaan ha uqaadanin laakin if you can't say something postive about the topic don't knock it then come back and ask me not to read between the lines.

[Legend of Zu]

^^^ LOL UD..according to STYT...Friday night parties are more important than the World Poverty... or May be just becoz she is tired and feeling not to talk about the poor ppl of the world..so shouldn't we!!! ...

 

Cheers

[Passion_4_Fashion]

ud- hadii aan bilaash isku difaacaayo that means adna bilaash baad seefta la booday which makes this conversation bilaash. Soo ma'aha? anyway caadiyoos waaye

[sheherazade]

Bringing that Friday feeling back..last night I dreamed I was shopping in an exotic market; can't remember if I bought anything. We got to one end of the market and my friend wandered into an area which looked dirty. I was about to tell her to get back out of there when I saw her reach out and take some food that was being offered to her by a hand.

 

She took the food and put it into her mouth. I looked further down and saw stall after stall of poor people. I don't know why they were there but one of these poor people was sharing food with my friend. I turned back into the nicer part of the market and bought apples, then some oranges(for the poor people); the seller was being weird with me..

 

..I woke up and realised I hadn't given anything to someone in need for a while. For shame.

 

Going to do something about that, inshallah.....

[NoVa]

Originally posted by J'maal11:

World Poverty Update.

 

• Every day more than 30,000 children around the world die of preventable

diseases, a total of over 11 million a year.

• There are 100 million ‘missing’ women who would be alive but for infanticide,

neglect and sex-selective abortion.

• More than 500,000 women die a year as a result of pregnancy and childbirth.

Damn walaahi' that's scarrrrryyyy state of livin...not 2 mention so sad...i'guess some part of the world'things like poverty is norm...man' oh man...what a World we' livin'...i'just can't imagine how'they must go throught everyday'...unbeatable, unimaginable'...May Allah help those that are indeed....we take so'much things for granted dat we never reflect of how other's live without basic needs of living like food and shelter's...oh'boy, such a lifestyle that' is and we'live in the millinuem'where things like this'r capable of bein' prevented....This reminds me of the sayin'...'the poorer get'poorer and the richer'get richer everyday'....