World powers can find the money for war on Iraq in an instant but they are stuck when it comes to the poor, activists charged Sunday after global financial talks here.
”The speed with which political will and resources are mobilised to invade, bomb and possibily reconstruct Iraq stands in stark contrast to the willingness of the rich to tackle poverty in developing countries,” Oxfam International advocacy director Phil Tywford said.
World powers were falling behind on an internationally agreed set of targets, known as Millennium Development Goals.
The goals, measured between 1990 amd 2015, include halving global poverty rates, providing primary school education for all and cutting child mortality rates by two-thirds.
”Eighty-billion dollars can be found for war in Iraq in a second, but there is no sign of the 50-billion dollars needed to reach the Millennium Development Goals,” Tywford said.
”It is a clear case of money for the war but nothing for the poor.”
Activists vented their anger after a weekend of meetings of the Group of Seven industrial powers, and the 184-member International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
Policymakers of the IMF and World Bank, meeting here in a joint committee on Sunday, had repeated a commitment to finance education for all children in a select fast-track group of countries, Twyford said.
But there was no new money or timetable, he said.
”Rich countries are firing blanks in the war against poverty.”
Another group, ActionAid, said the weekend meetings were a wasted chance to help developing countries. ”The international community had the opportunity this weekend to inject fresh momentum into global efforts to reduce poverty and inequality and get the world on track for reachign the Millennium Development Goals,” said ActionAid policy adviser Patrick Watt.
”Instead, they have served up the usual fare of waffle, fudge and peanuts,” Watt said.
Donors had only raised one quarter of the $800-million needed to get all children in a fast-track group of 10 countries into primary school, he said.
”The fact that 80-billion dollars can be found for Iraq while 800-million dollars cannot be found for educating the world’s poorest children shows that money is available where the political will exists,” Watt said.
”Action on Iraq at the expense of action on poverty has exposed a massive credibility gap in the international community.”
IMF policymakers, meanwhile, had ignored the problems countries were having in getting debt relief from a so-called highly-indebted poor countries (HIPC) intiative.
The World Bank said the seven-year initiative to cut the debt of the poorest countries had so far agreed on relief amounting to $40-billion in 26 countries.
Watt noted that US Treasury Secretary John Snow had said the people of Iraq should not be saddled with the debts of a former dicator’s regime.
”ActionAid now calls on Secretary Snow and other Paris Club (sovereign creditor) finance ministers to extend the same principle to fledgling democracies in Africa,” Watt said. – Sapa-AFP