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G8 SUMMIT: Don't Forget Asia
By Sanjay Suri
GLENEAGLES, Scotland, Jul 8, 2005 (IPS) - Leading campaigners have warned against forgetting Asia's poor in the campaign to eradicate poverty in Africa.
"There are about 500 million people living in absolute poverty in Asia, about twice as many as in Africa," ActionAid International Director John Samuel told IPS. Those are people whose income is less than a dollar a day.
"This is not to deny the need to help Africa," Samuel said. "Africa is the only region in the world where poverty has been growing for the last 15 years . Africa was a net exporter of food in 1960; now it is so dependant on others for food."
There is a genuine crisis in Africa in aid, debt and trade, he stressed. "Only 18 percent of international aid goes to Africa. From Japan, only seven percent of international aid goes to Africa." Of around 8,000 people dying of HIV/AIDS every day, the majority are from Africa, Samuels added.
But in this focus on Africa, "poverty in Asia, particularly South Asia, is being pushed under the carpet," Samuel said. "The GDP (gross domestic product) growth in South Asia is being used to paint a bright picture of the subcontinent. But this growth has helped less than 10 percent of the people, the upper class. It has not changed the face of rural poverty."
India is considered the most successful South Asian nation, "but the highest number of people living in absolute poverty in any country of the world are in India," he added.
John Hilary from the group War on Want said the Make Poverty History campaign has focused on Africa "but we have made it clear that millions and millions of people are living in grinding poverty in many other regions of the world, including Asia, Latin America, the Pacific and the Caribbean."
The campaign against poverty organised ahead of the G8 summit is "fully in solidarity with poor and oppressed people everywhere," Hilary said. But groups had focused on Africa because the host U.K. government had said it would make the continent a priority at the July 6-8 meeting, he added.
The other Group of Eight (G8) members are Canada, the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and Japan. India, China, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico are also at the summit, representing the developing world.
"We are not just calling for trade justice for Africa but for all developing countries," Hilary said.
Last week's Live 8 concerts, however, focused the Make Poverty History campaign exclusively on Africa, which may have done more than just distract attention from poverty elsewhere, campaigners say.
"By not addressing poverty per se, the campaign could be deviating from addressing the causes of poverty," Samuel said. "So in Africa everyone talks of the corruption." But there are historical facts in Africa, the complicity of others in corruption and other factors, he said. "Unless you know the history of poverty, you cannot make poverty history."
Another reason for the focus away from poor countries outside Africa may be the policies of those countries themselves, Samuel said. "For India, poverty is not on the agenda because it is seen as a growing country. There is a huge media focus on this growth and the IT (information technology) industry."
"The distance between New Delhi and New York may have been reduced, but the distance between New Delhi and the nearest village to it has increased."
This projection of growth "makes India look good, makes upper middle class Indians feel good. But this shining face of India makes hundreds of millions of poor people invisible. And it is in the interest of people getting a great deal out of globalisation," argued Samuel.
Asia will need a different approach, he suggested, because the kind of concerts organised by (Live 8 founder) Bob Geldof for Africa would be hard to sell in Asia. "A benevolent patronisation will be difficult to put together for a country like India, where the middle class will challenge it."
Where the rich countries show an increase in aid to Asia, the figures can be deceptive, Samuel said. Broad figures from the United States, for example, show a substantial increase in bilateral aid to South Asia. "But most of the aid has gone to Pakistan and Afghanistan in the name of the 'war on terror'," he added. "Which means buying arms."
After the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon, U.S. aid to Pakistan has risen almost three times, according to Samuel.
But it is necessary for all countries to pay more attention to poverty in South Asia, he said. This is not just the region with the largest number of poor people, "but the frontline in the 'war on terror'. And the greater the poverty here, the more insecurity there will be in the world."
(END)
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