UNICEF urges new effort against global poverty

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UNICEF urges new effort against global poverty

Wednesday, 2 July 1997: The resources needed to eradicate the worst aspects of global poverty are less than generally thought, and are well within the means of governments willing to earmark as little as 0.7 per cent of their Gross National Product for development, UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy, told a high-level United Nations economic gathering in Geneva today.

"There is no economic issue more pressing than poverty," Ms. Bellamy told a meeting of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) that included the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and top officials of the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

"We meet at a time when abolishing poverty has never been so economically feasible -- or so politically challenging," she told the meeting, billed as a "high-level dialogue on economic issues."

Ms. Bellamy said that, with overall aid levels plummeting amid a steady increase in the absolute numbers of severely impoverished people, some 650 million of them children, "it is clear that the mission of UNICEF -- indeed, that of the entire UN System -- is more relevant and urgent than ever."

She hailed as "heartening" last week's announcement by the new UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair, that his Government was committed to meeting the UN aid target of 0.7 per cent of Gross National Product (GNP) as part of a renewed drive by his country to combat global poverty, especially in severely under-developed regions of Africa and other areas. Mr. Blair said Britain would strive to cut extreme poverty in the world by 50 per cent by the year 2015.

If the majority of developed countries were to make the same commitments, "enormous strides" could be made against poverty in a relatively short time, Ms. Bellamy said.

She said that the estimated additional $80 billion a year over 10 years it would take to provide basic social services and alleviate income poverty for the "poorest of the poor" could be raised handily if all countries were to match the 0.7 per cent pledge for Official Development Assistance (ODA). Only four countries -- Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden -- currently meet or exceed the ODA target was established by the UN more than 25 years ago.

Although a large part of the monies needed for poverty alleviation would be expected to come from developing countries, Ms. Bellamy said that $95 billion in ODA could be raised if the 0.7 per cent target was met by donor governments -- well over the additional $80 billion that the 1997 Human Development Report estimates would be needed each year over 10 years. The HDR figure is about 1 per cent of developing country income -- and about 0.2 per cent of total world income.

She said the $95 billion represents the difference between the current 0.27 per cent ODA total of $58.8 billion and the $153 billion that would be raised if countries met the 0.7 per cent target.

Of the estimated $80 billion a year needed, $40 billion would cover the cost of basic education for all, basic health and nutrition, reproductive health and family planning and low-cost water supply and sanitation. The other $40 billion would raise the annual income of the poor high enough to bring them out of extreme poverty.

Ms. Bellamy noted that the data on poverty in the 1997 Human Development Report, an annual study prepared for the United Nations Development Programme, "show that for all the solemn commitments and the on-the-ground gains, progress in eliminating the worst aspects of poverty has been anything but steady -- and there are ominous countervailing trends."

Yet, she said, "it is more apparent than ever that the task itself is well within our power."

The Economic and Social Council session started yesterday and will end on 25 July. The Council, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, coordinates the economic and social work of the United Nations as well as of that of its Funds, Programmes, specialized agencies and other institutions.

Please email media@unicef.org with comments or requests for more information, quoting CF/DOC/PR/1997/26.