ARE THERE NO PRISONS...ARE THERE NO WORKHOUSES?

Rich nations breaking aid promises (Aljazeera, December 6th, 2004)

About 45 million children around the world will die in the next decade because rich countries have failed to meet their aid promises, according to humanitarian agency Oxfam.

In a report titled Paying the Price released on Monday, the British aid agency said countries such as the US, Germany and Japan had reneged on pledges made in 1970 to give 0.7% of their gross national incomes (GNI) in aid.

As a result, up to 45 million children will die by 2015, Oxfam director Barbara Stocking said. "The world's poorest children are paying for rich countries' policies on aid and debt with their lives.[...]

For rich countries this is not about charity - it is about justice," Stocking said. "As rich countries get richer, they're giving less and less. This is a scandal that must stop."

Oxfam knows very well how ineffective and even disastrous foreign aid has generally been and how little correlation there is between aid and the reduction of poverty. But it is no longer a charitable venture that strives to feed and clothe the poor. It has now grown up into an NGO that exists to protect its prominence in the heady, corrupt political world of the UN and to compete in the anti-Western rhetorical Olympics. It merits a gold medal for this one.