NEW YORK -- The political hypocrisy of major Western powers is surpassed only by their economic doublespeak.
At a political level, the veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council subscribe to the old dictum: do as we say, not as we do.
The sins of the big powers -- whether in Afghanistan, Iraq, Chechnya or Tibet - are routinely glossed over, with no one courageous enough to challenge them at the United Nations.
Last week, the US, UK, France and Germany led the cry for a recount of the presidential elections in Iran prompting even Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to faithfully follow the Western herd and cast doubts on the authenticity of the Iranian polls.
But neither the UN nor Western European nations cried foul -- or called for a recount -- when George W. Bush won a disputed 2000 US presidential election. A newspaper headline at that time said it all: "How Bush lost Florida but Won in the Supreme Court and the Media." Still, many in the US believe that Al Gore was cheated of a presidential victory at that election.At the economic level, we see the hypocrisy of Western donors who cry poverty as an excuse to cut down on development aid -- even while they raise trillions of dollars to rescue their beleaguered financial institutions.
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| NEW YORK - JUNE 24: President of the General Assembly of the United Nations Miguel d'Escoto Brockman (R) listens as United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (L) opens the United Nations conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis June 24 at the United Nations in New York City. AFP |
The global financial crisis has been touted as one of the reasons why industrial nations have to trim their development budgets and their assistance to the world's poorer nations.
But the UN Millennium Campaign, which is battling to help eradicate extreme poverty and hunger worldwide, points out the flaws in the argument.
Since the inception of overseas development assistance almost 50 years ago, donor countries have given some $2.0 trillion in aid.
And yet over the past year, $18 trillion has been found globally to bail out banks and other financial institutions. "The stark contrast between the money dispersed to the world's desperately poor after 49 years of painstaking summits and negotiations and the staggering sums found virtually overnight to bail out the creators of the global economic crisis makes it impossible for governments to any longer claim that the world can't find the money to help the 50,000 people who are dying of extreme poverty every day", says Salil Shetty, director of the Millennium Campaign.
Addressing the three day UN summit on the global financial crisis last week, the Secretary-General reinforced the same argument. The annual aid to the crisis-stricken continent of Africa, he said, was at least $20 billion below the promises made by the leaders of the industrial world in Gleneagles, Scotland back in 2005.
"Surely, if the world can mobilize more than $18 trillion to keep the financial sector afloat, it can find more than $18 billion dollars to keep commitments to Africa?"
And that's $18 trillion with a T and $18 billion with a B. But would it?
The challenge to the industrial world will come up once again at a summit meeting of the G8 countries - the United States, Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Canada and Russia - in L'Aquila, Italy July 8-10.
"We need clear priorities," the secretary-general told the UN summit, "That is why I have just sent a letter to G8 leaders urging concrete commitments and specific action to renew our resolve."
A 16-page outcome document, adopted by world leaders Friday, says the evolving crisis, which began within the world's major financial centres, has spread throughout the global economy, causing severe social, political and economic impacts.
"This crisis is negatively affecting all countries, particularly developing countries, and threatening the livelihoods, well-being and development opportunities of millions of people."
The bottom line: millions of people all over the world are losing their jobs, their income, their savings and their homes.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says the economic meltdown has resulted in 100 million more people going hungry, with the total number of the world's starving population reaching over one billion this year.
The World Bank projects a finance gap of up to $700 billion, desperately needed by developing nations, with the possibility of a "lost generation", resulting in added deaths of 1.5 to 2.8 million infants by 2015.
Asked why rich countries keep ignoring the pleas of the world's poorer nations while they continue to bail out banks and other financial institutions, Shetty of the UN Millennium Campaign said: "The leaders in rich countries don't face any short-term political consequences by not acting on the needs and aspirations of poor people living in poor countries".
He said the only long-term solution is to build public support through sustained public education on these issues in rich countries.
"The decision-makers in rich countries don't see the same self-interest and mutuality as they now see in climate change, swine flu/pandemics, the so-called war against terror and to a lesser extent in trade on which the need for multilateral action has become painfully clear".
Shetty pointed out they did realize the possible consequences in the case of Eastern Europe, where they live physically next to poor countries. "They forget that there is less than 10 miles of water separating Europe from Africa. |
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