Survival and Human Dignity

By Prof. Waris Shere

Apr. 23, 2008

The world leading nations must understand and accept the imperative of fair engagement on the issues before us and, beyond that, of common effort toward shared goals. We must be prepared to go to work on the global agenda and to do so in a way that we may emerge better off and more secure than before. We must recognize the complex and vexing character of this troubled world. "If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich" said President John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

Our world is divided between the rich countries in the north and poor countries in the south. It is a serious problem and must be recognized and addressed. According to the most recent study: 1300 million people in this world do not have access to drinking water - as a result 80 percent of illnesses are caused by contaminated drinking water. In Sub-Sahara Africa, 40 percent of primary-age children have no opportunity for schooling. Around the world, there are currently 125 million children who have never, at any time, seen the inside of a classroom. The distribution of wealth in the world is terribly unjust. 15 percent of the population own 79 percent of the world's wealth and 85 percent of the population own the remaining 21 percent. The World Bank defines extreme poverty as living on less than $1 per day, and moderate poverty as less than $2 per day, estimating that "in 2001, 1.1 billion people had consumption levels below $1 a day and 2.7 billion lived on less than $2 a day."

Looking at the period 1981-2001, the percentage of the world's population living on less than $1 per day has halved. The 2007 World Bank report "Global Economic Prospects" predicts that in 2030 the number living on less than the equivalent of $1 a day will fall by half, to about 550 million. An average resident of what we used to call the Third World will live about as well as do residents of the Czech or Slovak republics today. However, much of Africa will have difficulty keeping pace with the rest of the developing world and even Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and Special Advisor to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, outlines what action the wealthy nations must take to end poverty and retain credibility.

The Millennium Development Goals are the world’s agreed goals to cut poverty, hunger, and disease. They were established in 2000, with targets for 2015. We are at the half-way point to meet the goals. So far, the rich countries are not meeting their part of the bargain, despite endless words from the rich countries about increasing their aid to the poor countries. When new donor countries such as China enter the scene, the US and Europe tend to complain, as if their monopoly over low-income Africa and Asia is being broken. The political standing of the wealthy countries in the world will plummet if it is unable or unwilling to follow through on its word. The aid should be directed at building roads, power grids, schools, and clinics, and at training teachers, doctors, and community health workers. Yet all of that investment requires plans and years of implementation. Aid needs to be committed in clear terms over a period of several years, so that recipient countries can use it sensibly and accountably.

In the final analysis it is the rich countries responsibility to address these serious problems confronting our world, and it must be resolved sooner than later. It’s high time for the wealthy nations of the world accountable for what they have pledged but not delivered and to stop giving lectures to the poor, and instead to follow through on their own words. Progress in the fight against poverty will contribute not only to survival and human dignity, but also to peace.

About the writer:
Professor Waris Shere, formerly of Patna and presently living in Canada, is the author of eight books. His work on critical issues of International Affairs has been published globally. Professor Shere's recent publication "THE STRUGGLE FOR PEACE" has been recently published.
 

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