| [ |
mood |
| |
 determined |
] |
A child dies completely unnecessarily as a result of extreme poverty every three seconds. That’s 72 000 innocent children dying every day. The sad thing is all of these deaths are avoidable.
Today is World Poverty Day. This week is Global Action Week. What are you doing to help?
"We are the first generation that can look extreme poverty in the eye, and say this and mean it – we have the cash, we have the drugs, we have the science. Do we have the will to make poverty history?" Words of Bono in September 2004.
Make Poverty History in nine words: TRADE JUSTICE. DROP THE DEBT. MORE AND BETTER AID.
The gap between the world’s rich and poor has never been wider. Malnutrition, AIDS, war, conflict, illiteracy, and discrimination are a daily reality for millions. Three quarters of the world’s population are poor. Half of these are from Africa. World statistics show that these people live on less than 1 dollar a day. It is not chance or bad luck that keeps these people trapped in bitter and unrelenting poverty. It is man-made factors like the unjust global trade system, a debt burden so great that it suffocates any chance of recovery for developing countries, and insufficient and ineffective aid.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
Nearly five years ago, all members of the United Nations committed to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to meet minimum targets to reduce hunger, illiteracy, discrimination, and environmental degradation. They promised to halve poverty by 2015.
Almost five years later, the world is failing dismally to reach those targets. The pace of action is too slow and the poor will pay the price.
It is time for real action. This year offers an exceptional set of opportunities to make a change. In 2005, campaigns to end poverty have been launched world wide. The G8 gathering of powerful world leaders in July, the election for the presidency of the European Union (EU) for the second half of the year, the UN Millennium Summit in September, and the World Trade Organization meetings in December provide the perfect opportunity for leaders to pick up the pace and start accomplishing the Millennium goals.
The International Policy Review will lead to a new approach in foreign policy. The government will be listening to the voices of citizens. We must tell them what we want. If everyone who wants to end poverty speaks at the same time, world leaders will be forced to listen.
They have the power and we can make them use it.
Two million children have died as a result of poverty while the talking continues.
The clock is still ticking. It’s time to MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY.
Check out the following sites for more information and expect me to be going on about this for a long time to come.
In the UK: http://www.makepovertyhistory.org
In Canada: http://www.makepovertyhistory.ca
In the US: http://www.one.org
Everyone watch: http://www.makepovertyhistory.org/video5.html and http://www.sun.com/one/
|
artistic