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Johannesburg, August (GYRP) – “One penny out of every ten dollars from the rich world could save eight million lives a year,” the United Nations Secretary General’s Advisor, Jeffrey Sachs, told the media gathered here for the World Summit on Sustainable Development.
“If there are no new financial commitments, the Summit will be a disappointment,” he added.
A single word was enough to define the World Summit, he said: “Accountability, accountability to the promises governments have already made.”
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has played an active role in making a serious assessment of how much is really needed to achieve the set of agreed goals.
“It will take a lot more money from the rich countries to help the poor countries,” his advisor told a news conference.
The obvious question then is: “Are the rich countries willing to pay up?”
The common target is the Millennium goal: reducing poverty by half by the year 2015, but this is already in doubt.
“We are not on track to make this goal,” said the representative from the UN, the official goal keeper.
The rich world has a USD 25 trillion economy. If they gave a penny for every ten dollars, that would mean a 25 billion dollar contribution. “It is not something the rich should do for the poor; it is something they should do for themselves,” said Sachs. “The ills of the world have to be fought together”.
Partnerships are encouraged, and responsibility is given to the donors to come with plans and to provide the necessary resources. The number of actors needed is small, but they are unique and indispensable: the United States, Europe and Japan. They must show commitment to match their words.
These countries should not complain and demand good governance from the poor, they should show good governance themselves, and this means showing responsibility with the rest of the world.
In the stark words of Jeffrey Sachs: “The rich world has not done its homework; it’s the arithmetic of life and death.”
© GLOBAL YOUTH REPORTERS PROGRAMME
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