Digital Dialogues - EYP Talk - Have your say on Europe's future - More and better aid? - Comments

Response

Barbara Stocking — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 12:54:50 +0000

Richard Royal asks why the EU should spend money on tackling global poverty – particularly in Africa – when there are poor people in Europe. Sophie Stewart asks if we can manage simultaneously to alleviate poverty today whilst acting to prevent the future poverty that climate change will cause. Both are important questions. I believe that there is an urgent imperative to tackle global poverty and inequality – in both rich and poor countries – and in 1996 Oxfam established the UK Poverty Programme, bringing our experience of working with poor communities around the world to help in finding innovative and effective solutions to tackling poverty at home. At the same time as tackling poverty, the world’s leaders need to take bold and adequate steps to stop global warming. Poor countries, and especially poor rural communities, are already suffering impacts associated with climate change – such as changes to weather patterns and extremes of drought and flooding. The poorest are hit hardest, and they have the least ability to cope. So, doing one and not the other is not an option. We have to do both, and we also have to ensure that adequate funds are made available to poor countries to adapt to the changes that are happening. What is at issue is not whether or not the European Union and other rich countries can afford to tackle poverty and climate change, (they can!), it’s whether they have the political will to do so: to deliver long-promised aid to poor countries, to tackle poverty and inequality in their own countries, to truly work to make trade fair, and to agree to cut their greenhouse gas emissions and take other steps to tackle global warming. We need to keep up the pressure on politicians and governments around the world to do all of this. This brings me to AHardman’s question – is there anything that young citizens of Europe can do? To which I say a resounding, ‘Yes!’ There is a lot which you can do – you could send an email to the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, write to or visit your own MP or MEP, sign a petition, or take part in a demonstration or a local event. Oxfam is one of many campaigning organisations in the EU, and you can find out more about the sort of things you could do on our special websites: www.oxfam.org/generationwhy and www.oxfam.org.uk/changeminds If you are outside the UK you can visit http://www.oxfam.org/en/index.htm to find details of an Oxfam near you.

Poverty and Climate Change

Sophie Stewart — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 18:22:02 +0000

Going back to the point made by Caroline Lucas about environmental degradation, it could be argued that whilst fighting to eradicate poverty now is certainly a priority, perhaps we should be focusing our efforts on combating climate change by significantly reducing our carbon dioxide (amongst other) emissions, investing in renewable energy scheme, following the lead of nations within the EU such as Denmark. It is a difficult question of balance - yes, people experience dire poverty today, but this poverty will only be worsened and become more widespread in the future if we do not act now to reduce the impact of climate change and the devastating effects that it will have. Can we manage simultaneously to alleviate poverty today and at the same time act towards preventing the poverty of the future with equal force?

More and Better Aid

Caroline Lucas — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 11:52:50 +0000

Richard Royal asks why we should focus on poverty in Africa when there are many people in the EU who live below the poverty line. Fair question. But the EU in general, and the UK in particular, are certainly rich enough to do both - one doesn't have to be at the expense of the other. As ever, it's a question of political will. Moreover, through some of our economic policies, we are actually exacerbating poverty in parts of Africa - and that clearly needs to stop. Finally, the world has never been so interconnected as it is today. Apart from the moral arguments to support poverty eradication, it's also clear that a world without poverty would be a safer world for all of us. A. Hardman asks what individuals can do to make a difference. There are some really exciting organisations to join - apart from big NGOs like Oxfam, there are also smaller ones like People and Planet, for example, which can help you organise some great campaigns in schools and colleges. Second, buying fair trade products can also really make a difference. And while it might not sound much, writing to your MP or MEP, asking them what they're doing to advance this agenda, is another useful way of building up pressure for long overdue action.

Why should we be spending

RichardRoyal — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 19:04:43 +0000

Why should we be spending European Union money on global poverty when there are those within the Union itself who live below the poverty line, perhaps we should be concentrating on urban regeneration schemes rather than funding another continent, after all, what has African aid got to do with us?

Can we help?

AHardman — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 17:24:22 +0000

I would like to pose a question to both Caroline and Barbara. Aside from hoping for greater political intervention on the topic of tackling global poverty, is there anything that you believe we, as young citizens of Europe can be doing to help? Are there organisations we can join, petitions we can sign or people we could write to? It is all too easy (and often common) to be aware of a problem but to feel that there is very little that you, as one single person, can do to help a situation 'beyond your control'. What steps, if any, do you feel we can individually take to begin tackling this situation?

More and better aid

Barbara Stocking — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 14:41:57 +0000

In the twenty-first century, it is a scandal that anyone lives without the most basic of human rights – safe drinking water, proper sanitation, access to medical care and education. And yet millions of families still go without. Access to essential services should not be the preserve of the few, and it doesn’t have to be so. Aid works. It really does. In my role as Director of Oxfam GB I witness aid making a difference to poor people’s lives the world over. The European Union is the world’s largest donor, so it clearly has a major role to play in tackling global poverty. Whilst more is still needed, the EU’s commitments to increase aid volumes and to improve aid efficiency have been welcome – the key thing now is for the EU member states and the European Commission to deliver on these promises. They should also ensure that developing countries can spend the aid in accordance with their national development plans and priorities. The EU has agreed a joint consensus on development policy, which states that the overarching focus of European Community and member states’ aid should be the eradication of poverty. It is vital that this is the priority, and tackling poverty requires other actions from the EU as well. Trade and agriculture policies should be coherent with development objectives. Sadly this is not the case. The World Trade Organisation talks are supposed to reform global trade rules to benefit development, but the proposed deal on the table last year would have failed to meet this aim. The EU has the chance to show leadership in promoting a global trade agreement that works for development, and by not pushing other trade agreements which would prise open developing country markets and even demand more than the trade rules at the WTO would do. The irresponsible sales of weapons fuel conflict, poverty and abuses of human rights in the developing world. The EU’s support for an Arms Trade Treaty was important, and now the EU should to continue its support for a global Arms Trade Treaty, as well as for conflict prevention efforts – and efforts to make and keep peace if conflicts do occur. Climate change is another key issue impacting on the lives of poor people, and the EU needs to show strong leadership to tackle it.

More and better aid

Caroline Lucas — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 14:39:41 +0000

Development remains the greatest challenge facing us today: the process of tackling the grinding poverty and growing inequality faced by billions around the world. According to UNICEF, today – and every day - 30,000 children will die due to poverty. This dark reality is a humanitarian disaster, which diminishes us all. But the biggest scandal is that it is entirely preventable. Were there sufficient political will globally, it would not be difficult to rid the world of such poverty. More and better aid, properly targeted, and with a particular focus on women, is certainly part of the answer – but only part. Bigger aid budgets will be of little consequence if, at the same time, the EU continues to pursue global economic policies which undermine the benefits which aid might bring. EU trade policies are all too often about maximising profits for European corporations rather than about the needs of our trading partners in the South. We urgently need to stop forcing open the markets of some of the world’s poorest countries, and attacking their legitimate domestic regulation as “non-tariff barriers”. Trade justice, based on fair trade, not free trade, should be the way forward. But it is perhaps environmental degradation – principally driven by climate change – which poses the biggest threat to development of all. It is a cruel irony that the poorest countries will be amongst those hardest hit by the effects of climate change, even though they have contributed least to the problem. That means that we, in the North, have a major responsibility to dramatically reduce our emissions. People living in poverty deserve justice – and we all have a role to play in ensuring they get it.

More and better aid?

Graham — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 14:36:28 +0000

More and better aid? What should be the EU’s priorities in the fight against global poverty?

The panellists in this discussion are:

Barbara Stocking
Director, Oxfam GB

Barbara Stocking is the Director of Oxfam GB – a development, relief, and campaigning organisation that works with others to overcome poverty.

Caroline Lucas MEP

Dr Caroline Lucas is Green Party MEP for South East England, and is a member of the European Parliament’s International Trade and Environment Committees. She was first elected in 1999, and before that worked as head of trade policy for a major development agency.