DEVELOPMENT: U.S. Declines to Make Firm Pledge to Boost Aid

By Thalif Deen Reprint | | Print |

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 23 2002 (IPS) - The United States has declined to make a firm commitment to increase its official development assistance (ODA) despite an appeal by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urging rich nations to double their help to developing countries.

U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte says domestic resources, not aid, are “the basic foundation for a country’s development” and urges that this be a major theme of the upcoming International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD).

The conference is scheduled for Mar. 18-22 in Monterrey, Mexico. Negroponte and other U.S. negotiators are among delegates from around the world hammering out a draft plan of action during preparatory talks here that are due to conclude Friday.

Last week, Annan urged rich nations to double their ODA from the current average of 50 billion dollars to 100 billion dollars annually. Annan said this may sound ambitious but it would still be well short of the recognised goal of 0.7 percent of gross national product (GNP) mandated for all donor nations.

“Why don’t we take that extra 50 billion dollars as an immediate, short-term target, to be announced in Monterrey, and achieved within two or three years”? he said.

A coalition of more than 50 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) said Tuesday it was deeply concerned about the direction of deliberations by the preparatory committee.

The NGOs said the proposed plan of action – called the ‘Monterrey Consensus’ – lacked firm commitments and time-frames on issues ranging from debt cancellation to poverty eradication.

“It is clear that the rights of poor and working people have become secondary as governments negotiate the Monterrey Consensus,” the coalition said. It includes the Women’s Environment and Development Organisation (WEDO), Third World Network, African Women’s Economic Policy Network, and the Campaign to Reform the World Bank.

In its statement Tuesday, the coalition said early commitments to reform the international financial and economic system are being whittled away as governments cling to the policies of the ‘Washington Consensus’: de-regulation, privatisation, cutbacks in social services, and trade and financial liberalisation.

These failed policies, the coalition said, have led to massive job losses, increasing environmental degradation, and the escalating impoverishment of millions, “while a very few are becoming richer than ever.”

Argentina’s economic crash, it said, is merely the latest example of a national economy destroyed by these policies.

“The NGO community calls on governments to urgently change the course of this meeting to deliver equitable and sustainable policies to eradicate poverty, and to create a consensus based on justice, international cooperation, the realisation of human rights and dignity, and development within secure and sustainable communities,” it said.

The coalition is urging donor governments to establish a timetable for meeting the 0.7 ODA target, established years ago and since reiterated at the United Nations and the wealthy states’ Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). “They should start with the Secretary-General’s challenge to double contributions to 100 billion dollars within the next two to three years in order to reduce by half the numbers of people living in extreme poverty, by the year 2015.”

The NGOs also want governments to ensure the broad participation of civil society, particularly of women, in economic decision- making.

The FfD conference, they say, also must establish the primacy of the United Nations in addressing the lack of institutional democracy in the international financial and trade institutions, namely the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

The coalition has also urged governments to ensure that trade rules are fair, people-centred and gender sensitive. In particular, governments must reverse the trend that protects businesses at the expense of workers.

“We also call for the immediate cancellation of the debt of the most impoverished countries, and the establishment of a fair arbitration process for the future,” the NGOs said.

Roberto Bissio of the Third World Institute said the road to Monterrey should lead to alleviating the debt problem and advancing a solution.

He pointed to the recent developments in Argentina, in which workers’ retirement savings had been used to pay multilateral creditors in a last desperate attempt to head off default.

Bissio also said referred to the recent default of the U.S. energy giant Enron where employees’ money had been similarly drawn down.

He said the FfD conference should discuss issues related to the world’s 40 million poor, the mobility of capital, and the granting of rights to corporations without demanding countervailing obligations.

Bissio challenged governments not to come to Monterrey “empty handed”. “They should come with concrete promises and commitments to reduce bilateral debt, increase ODA, and ensure that social spending was secured and poverty eradicated.”