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... global poverty, a challenge for the
Austrian EU-Presidency
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Imprint
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Foreword p|03
Eradication of extreme poverty in the world p|04
Poverty eradication as the Priority ofEuropean Development Policy p|06
Ensuring all policy areas conform to theobjective of poverty eradication p|08
Project manifesto p|10
Contact information p|11
Content
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AUSTRIAN EU-PLATFORM OF NON-GOVERNMENTALDEVELOPMENT ORGANISATIONSLaudongasse 40, A - 1080 Vienna, www.eu-platform.at
EDITOR: Austrian EU-Platform of Non-Governmental Development OrganisationsDESIGN: Aleka Zichy / www.deA-publishing.com; PRINT: Ploetz, Druck & Verlagshaus GesmbH
03
Foreword
THE FIGHT AGAINST POVERTY has been on the political agenda at least since
the adoption of the UN Millennium Goals in 2000. As early as its signing date,
though, doubts emerged as to the ambitiousness of the goal of halving absolute
poverty while consciously accepting that the other half cannot find a way out of
it. Today this question is even more urgent.
In most African countries that are continuously found at the bottom of the
Human Development Index, reaching the Millennium Development Goals is out
of the question. We shall wait and see if the EU Strategy for Africa will bring a
change. In any case, it has to be observed with scepticism since the driving
forces seem to be development together with security on an equal footing.
Rightly, people in developing countries demand dignity and respect for human
rights:The mother with no opportunity to educate her child, the family unable
to feed itself from its own fields, or the handicapped woman deprived of the
opportunity to live a life of equal rights.
These justifiable demands cannot be met by the governments of developing
countries alone. An adequate response by the donor countries is also needed, in
particular by the European Union and its Member States, as the world’s biggest
donors of development aid.
The response is straightforward if:
the European Union and its Member States genuinely put poverty eradi-
cation at the centre of their development policies
the European Union and its Member States pursue coherent foreign poli-
cies, i.e. no longer allow foreign, economic and trade policies to coun-
teract the efforts of their own development policies
people in the European Union determine their own actions, being aware
of the inequalities and discrimination experienced by people in develo-
ping countries.
I hope and demand that during “its” EU presidency,Austria will make a substan-
tial step forward, for more justice in our world.
Johannes TRIMMEL
Chairman of the Austrian EU-Platform
Indiap|3 Photo
MalawiCover
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> All inhabitants of the European Union, the US, Canada and Australia suffer from hunger. Together withthe whole population of Russia and Japan they live in absolute poverty on less than one Euro per day.Most of them have no access to clean water. In five days all of Oslo’s inhabitants die from hunger or its immediate con-sequences. Within another five days Dublin’s citizens die, within a week everyone in Vladivostok is dead, and within fiveand a half days all of those who live in Denver are dead.
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This is no horror story or fantasy – the figures are real, only the settings are different...
More than one billion people on earth live in absolute poverty on less than one Euro per day. More than 800 million suffer from hunger or do not haveenough to eat on a regular basis. Many also do not have regular access to clean water. Not taking into account the impact of natural disasters or imme-diate violence, every day about 100,000 people die. From hunger or its direct consequences.
Eradication of extremepoverty in the world
Malip|4 Photo
Rwandap|5 Photo
In 2000 the United Nations launched - with their Millennium Development
Goals - the most ambitious offensive to-date in the global battle against pover-
ty, disease and inequality. The heads of State and Governments of the UN
Member States who signed the Millennium Declaration committed to eradicat-
ing extreme poverty and hunger in the world.
By 2015, it was declared, the number of people living on less than a dollar a day
would be halved. And the number of people suffering from extreme hunger
would also be halved.
The European Union has been the forerunner in international development
policies – more than half of all international development funds come from EU
institutions and its Member States. This leading role has to be maintained and
responsibility assumed in global efforts to achieve the Millennium Development
Goals.
Therefore the Austrian EU-Platform urges all European Union and Austrian
politicians to focus their efforts for the eradication of extreme global poverty in
an even more effective and determined manner by:
Making poverty eradication the priority of European development
policy!
Ensuring that all EU policies conform to the objective of poverty
eradication!
06
> In spite of the fact that the terms “donor” and “donor countries” are commonly used, these expressionsdo not reflect reality.
The countries in the North are not donors, i.e. giving, but recipient countries. The development cooperation funds(around 60 billion US dollars a year) are only a drop in the ocean. Every year developing countries still lose about 700
Despite the fact that in 1970 most
Western European industrialised
countries accepted the need to
increase their respective “develop-
ment aid” budgets to 0.7% of GDP in
order to ensure that poverty was com-
bated efficiently and with sufficient
means, today only four EU Members -
the Netherlands, Luxembourg,
Denmark and Sweden – have met this
commitment. On the occasion of the
Millennium Declaration the 0.7% of
GDP demand was again raised. The
representatives of all European Union
Member States agreed to make avail-
able 0.7% of their respective gross
domestic product by 2015 for devel-
opment cooperation. In 2004, Austria
- the seventh richest country in the
world - was one of the worst per-
formers among the “old” EU Member
States (EU 15) with a contribution of
only 0.23%. This is not enough.
Concrete operational plans need to be
developed and put into practice.
Therefore it is necessary that
“fresh money” in the form of new,
untied funds is made available for
development efforts. Achieving the
0.7% target by including debt relief
does not provide developing coun-
tries with additional funds. Interest
and principal repayments made
already far exceed the amount of the
original loans. Between 1983 and
2001, developing countries repaid
386 billion US dollars more than they
received in new loans. Complete debt
relief would therefore substantially
improve the situation of the poorest
countries in the South.
Another problem is the way
funds are targeted. Currently only
about 50% of EU development aid
reaches the poorest countries in the
Poverty eradication asthe Priority of European Development Policy
Worldwide eradication ofextreme poverty - the stated objective ofEuropean development policy – can onlybe achieved if all development initiatives
are focused on poverty eradication.Our demand: More funds and better
programmes!
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did youknow?
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billion US dollars through trade impediments, i.e. quantity- and quality-based import restrictions. For example, sanitary standards for milk production inthe EU and third countries require that dairy products are manufactured from milk derived from cows that have been kept on farms and mechanicallymilked. India as one of the world’s largest producers of milk and dairy products cannot fulfil this criteria as most Indian smallholders milk their cows byhand. Therefore the majority of India’s milk output is being excluded from being exported to the EU.
world. Of the top ten recipient coun-
tries, only four - Ethiopia, Sudan,
Tanzania and Afghanistan – belong to
this category.
It is of particular importance
to invest funds in an effective and sus-
tainable manner, that is, to use them
for better programmes. At least 20%
of aid money should be used for basic
social services such as the provision of
basic health and education. In 2003
though, only 2% of the total EU devel-
opment budget was made available
for primary schooling. And still
770,000 children die from measles
each year - a disease that is considered
eradicated in Europe (with vaccina-
tions, providing life-long protection,
costing only 20 cents). < Also interesting:
5.5 billion US dollars wouldsubstantially improve thesituation of the 20 poorestcountries.
This equals approximatelythe construction costs ofEuro-Disneyland near Paris.
Eritreap|6 Photo, top
Malawip|6 Photo, bottom
East Africap|7 Photo, top
Nigerp|7 Photo, bottom left
East Africap|7 Photo, bottom right
08
> To combat poverty effectively, respect for human rights has also to be taken into consideration.
The right of association, i.e. the right to form trade unions or to join them, is treated with contempt by many who sub-contract to transnational companies in developing countries. Attempts to achieve a fairer salary and to live a life in dig-
The left hand promotes and supports,
the right one destroys and holds back.
Coherence means the exact opposite:
the two of them are complementary
and cooperative. The theme of coher-
ence in development cooperation was
highlighted and given legal substance
Ensuring all policy areas conform tothe objective of poverty eradication
East Africap|8 Photo
Perup|9 Photo, top left
Indiap|9 Photo, bottom left
Thailandp|9 Photo, top right
Ecuadorp|9 Photo, top far right
All development efforts focussing on poverty era-dication are in vain if the objectives of other poli-
cy areas such as trade, commerce, foreign affairsand finance undermine or contradict them.
Our demand: More coherence!
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did youknow?
09
nity by founding trade unions can end with instant dismissal for many employees. Because of their own history, the new EU Member States bring valu-able experience in this field – human rights, democratisation, strengthening of civil society.
This knowledge is useful for the EU’s development cooperation and should consequently be integrated into all areas.
by the EU in its Maastricht (1992)
and Amsterdam (1997) Treaties. Poli-
cy coherence demands that other po-
licies are scrutinised for their impact
in developing countries. Development
policy should not be subordinated to
other priorities. Yet in reality the pic-
ture often looks different.
Ensuring that all policy areas
conform to development objectives
gets particularly difficult when trade
and agricultural agendas come into
play, as here central EU interests over-
lap with development goals.
A prime example of this is
concerning agricultural subsidies. On
the one hand, European development
policies promote local and regional
economic structures. Yet on the other
hand, the European Union heavily
subsidises its own agricultural prod-
ucts and exports leading to the
destruction of agricultural sectors,
arduously built local markets and thus
the livelihoods of about 90% of the
population in developing countries.
In the Dominican Republic the
import of European milk powder
ruined the great majority of national
producers: after a strongly growing
demand for milk products in the 90s
and the Dominican Republic’s acces-
sion to the World Trade Organisation
(WTO) in 1995, the increased
demand was satisfied primarily with
cheap imports of milk powder from
the EU. The cost of imported, sub-
sidised milk powder from the EU was
25% below that of regionally pro-
duced fresh milk. In only five years
the Dominican Republic became the
fifth largest importer of milk powder
from the EU – thousands of
Dominican farmers had to give up
their farms thus losing their liveli-
hood. <
Also interesting:
Annual developmentexpenditure amounts to60 billion US dollars andeven though global militaryexpenditure is 15 timeshigher (around 900 billionUS dollars a year), it isbeing discussed to financesecurity measures to com-bat terrorism out of the aidbudget. Such an act woulddeprive developmentcooperation of indispensablefunds.
Well reflected security poli-cies support and promotepoverty eradication.
10
> Independent of formal political action, each of us, as individuals, has the potential to help
eradicate poverty.
Buying fair trade products (like coffee) for example, is a step towards improving working and living
conditions in developing countries.
POVERTY ERADICATION AS THE PRIORITY OF EUROPEAN
DEVELOPMENT POLICY
Worldwide eradication of extreme poverty - the stated objective of European
development policy – can only be achieved if all development initiatives are
focused on poverty eradication.
Our demand: More funds and better programmes!
ENSURING ALL POLICY AREAS CONFORM TO THE OBJECTIVE
OF POVERTY ERADICATION
All development efforts focussing on poverty eradication are in vain if the objec-
tives of other policy areas such as trade, commerce, foreign affairs and finance
undermine or contradict them.
Our demand: More coherence!
ManifestoThe Austrian EU-Platform urges all European Union and Austrian politicians tofocus their efforts for the ERADICATION OF EXTREME GLOBAL POVERTY in aneven more effective and determined manner:
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1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger2. Achieve universal primary education 3. Promote gender equality and empower women4. Reduce child mortality
6. Improve maternal health 7. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases7. Ensure environmental sustainability 8. Develop a global partnership for development
www.un.org/millenniumgoals/
RICH, POOR WORLD.Presidency project of the Austrian EU-Platformof Non-Governmental Development Organisations
Laudongasse 40 1080 Vienna
Tel +43 (0)1 / 40 555 15-320 or 329Fax +43 (0)1 / 40 555 19
www.richpoorworld.at
Bangladeshp|10 Photo, top
Nigerp|10 Photo, bottom
Nepalp|11 Photo
Contact information:
MILLENNIUMDEVELOPMENT
GOALS