贫困问题

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Billions of people across the globe live in squalid conditions of hunger, disease, and desperation. This pandemic poverty represents the world抯 most pernicious and deadly scourge. Yet for the privileged minority, the horrors of poverty seem to be a natural, inevitable part of the geopolitical landscape. Leaders in the developed world profess their commitment to poverty eradication,? but none are willing to address the systemic causes of poverty. Furthermore, the political and corporate elites at the helm of the world economy have a powerful interest in maintaining the economic status quo.
Multilateral institutions devoted to development? overwhelmingly adhere to neoliberal growth oriented strategies of capital accumulation, privatization, and investment. These institutions, including the World Bank, consistently ignore evidence that growth does not necessarily alleviate poverty and may, in fact, exacerbate it. Many concerned NGOs promote small-scale social development programs in poor countries, but as long as systemic economic and social policies continue to favor the rich, global poverty will remain a stark reality for the majority of people in the world.
The number of people infected with HIV in 2002 soared to 40 million. An astonishing three-fourths of those live in sub-Saharan Africa, but the epidemic is growing in Eastern Europe and Asia at an alarming rate. The AIDS epidemic is not only a health issue but also a socio-economic and security issue. AIDS has killed millions of adults, reducing the workforce, exacerbating famine, impoverishing families and orphaning millions of children in the regions hardest hit.
International aid provides a key element of development financing. For many of the poorest countries, official development assistance (ODA) represents the largest source of external financing. ODA can support a country抯 education, health, public infrastructure, agricultural and rural development. But only a handful of rich countries meet the UN target of giving 0.7% of their gross national product in international assistance. Further, donors often 搕ie?aid by requiring that it be spent on exports from the donor. Aid also often has political strings attached and it may be used to promote local business interests of the donor, not the real development needs of the recipient. This page posts articles on these and other aspects of international aid and development.
Most of the world抯 nations lack investment funds that could promote economic development ?funds needed to build roads, schools, clinics and factories. As a result, their economies languish and their populations remain poor. In March 2002, the United Nations held an International Conference on Financing for Development to address this problem. The conference focused on six different sources for development funds - domestic resources (such as savings and taxation), foreign direct investment, international trade, international aid, debt relief, and finally systemic reforms. NGOs and others independent voices proposed alternative sources of financing, including especially global taxes and fees. They also asked fundamental questions: who should receive the financing, and for what kind of development? Furthermore, they asked, can poverty be erased if power and wealth are increasingly concentrated in the global economic system? This page contains information on the different ways to mobilize finances for development, and provides information on the international conference on financing for development, its preparation, and follow-up.