UN Secretary-General urges G20 not to forget the Poor by Reuters 11:42am 15th Nov, 2008   13 Nov 2008    U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appealed to leaders meeting at a financial summit in Washington this weekend not to let the global crisis become a "human tragedy" for people in poor countries.    In a letter to leaders of the G20 -- the Group of Seven top industrial democracies and other key economies -- Ban warned that throwing hundreds of millions of people out of work could have major political and security implications.    "The poorest and most vulnerable everywhere, but particularly in the developing countries, will be the most affected" by the world growth slowdown now being predicted, he said in the letter released by the United Nations on Thursday.    "We need most of all to join forces to take immediate action to prevent the financial crisis from becoming a human tragedy."    Ban, who will attend the Washington meeting, said he would try to speak for the more than 170 countries that will not be represented there.    "If hundreds of millions of people lose their livelihoods and their hopes for the future are dashed because of a crisis they have absolutely no responsibility for, the human crisis will not remain just economic," the U.N. chief said.    "It will assume new and difficult political and security dimensions that could overwhelm the ones we are already facing."    Ban urged that the meeting "show solidarity toward the neediest" and called on the wealthy countries to maintain aid commitments they had made before the global credit crisis, sparked by a U.S. mortgage crunch, struck in September.    Institutional reforms could not be restricted to financial sector regulation and also must deal with broader challenges such as climate change, conflict prevention and eradication of poverty.    Investing in new technologies and "green jobs" to combat climate change would both fight the short-term crisis and lay the foundation for long-term growth, said Ban, who has made the environment a central plank of his policy.    He also called on countries to resist protectionism and quickly resolve issues holding up the Doha trade round.    Separately, the U.N. Millennium Campaign called on the G20 summit to assign $300 billion in extra aid and debt relief to poor countries, to make up for gross domestic product it said they would lose because of the crisis over the next two years.    The campaign was set up by Ban"s predecessor, Kofi Annan, in 2002 to press for governments to achieve the Millennium Development Goals -- a set of U.N. targets for slashing poverty, hunger and disease by 2015.    Oct 2008    The world is currently at a critical juncture in global development, UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro warned today, noting that the financial turmoil, combined with the food crisis and climate change, threatens efforts to halve poverty and other social and economic ills by the target date of 2015.    “We are facing a financial crisis of epic proportions. No one knows for certain, at this stage, how this will unfold,” Ms. Migiro said.    “The impact of the present turmoil, compounded by the food shortages and the effects of climate change, could very well derail the prospects of attaining the MDGs across the board,” she added, referring to the global anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals.    All of these challenges are interrelated, she said, pointing out that rising temperatures will threaten agricultural productivity and exacerbate food insecurity, and therefore deepen poverty.    “Both climate change and food security compel us to address people’s vulnerabilities. They are both integral parts of our efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals,” Ms. Migiro told the meeting.    She stressed the need to work together at the global, regional and sub-regional levels, to find common solutions to these challenges.    U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has warned the global financial crisis jeopardized everything the United Nations has done to help the world"s poor and hungry.    "It threatens to undermine all our achievements and all our progress," Ban told a meeting of U.N. agency chiefs devoted to the crisis. "Our progress in eradicating poverty and disease. Our efforts to fight climate change and promote development. To ensure that people have enough to eat."    Ban said "It could be the final blow that many of the poorest of the world"s poor simply cannot survive," he added, in one of his bleakest assessments of the impact of the financial turmoil.    Ban stressed the crisis should not be allowed to hit hardest "those least responsible" - the poor in developing countries. World leaders must give priority to addressing the challenges of developing countries," he said.    Ban said it was important that, despite the world economic downturn, the United Nations continue to pursue the Millennium Development Goals.    He also said the world must persist with efforts to tackle climate change through two major conferences over the next 15 months, and he called on rich countries to keep up their overseas aid despite domestic financial trouble"s.    Oct 12, 2008    Credit crisis should not hurt poor, or be used as excuse to renege on aid promises to poor countries. (Reuters)    Major economies should not use the global credit crunch as an excuse to renege on aid promises to poor countries whose problems may worsen due to the crisis that began in the West, world finance leaders and development officials said on Sunday.    During weekend meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington, African finance ministers pointed to the speed with which the U.S. and Europe have raised billions of dollars for faltering banks but are behind in aid commitments to poor countries.    Higher food and fuel prices have added to the budget burdens of poor countries. The World Bank has created a watch list of 28 countries facing financial strains, which spans from Jordan, Lebanon, Cambodia, Sri Lanka to Jamaica, Haiti, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Malawi, Nepal, Fiji and Ivory Coast.    European Union officials also worry. "The credibility of the donor community as a reliable partner is clearly at stake," Louis Michel, the European Union"s aid chief, told the IMF and World Bank development committee.    "This is already self-evident when the fledgling pace with which aid for the poorest is increased is compared with the speed with which aid for the richest is mobilized," he added.    The U.S. Treasury Secretary urged the World Bank and IMF to make every effort to ease the impact of the financial crisis on poorer countries because he said they ultimately will be affected.    "Financial market developments are having an acute impact on advanced countries, and we can expect the crisis to have major ramifications for emerging markets and the poorest countries as well," he said.    Developed countries promised to double aid to Africa by 2010 at a leaders summit in 2008, but have failed to make good on the pledges. Strains on poorer countries have become especially acute as prices for food and fuel have risen sharply.    Rising food prices have caused 75 million more people to go hungry, the Food and Agriculture Organization said. Similarly, the World Bank has said food price increases have swelled the ranks of the world"s poor by over 100 million people. Nearly one-third of the newly poor are in Africa, the region most severely affected by the current rise in prices.    * The Universal Rights Network notes the double standards in evidence in this crisis, and once again draws attention to the fact that 3 billion people live on less than $2 a day, who are being directly impacted by rising food prices.    At the recent UN Development Summit only $16 billion of the urgently requested $30 billion was made available, yet trillions of dollars have instantly been made available for the World"s Banks.    Financial speculators have been bidding up the prices for food staples that the world"s poor rely on to survive. Substantial financial support must be made available to fund the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation food security programs in the over 50 identified most at risk countries, to offer real support to developing world farmers.    The United Nations outstanding development funding ($14 billion) should be immediately supported, as part of the global financial bailout.    Developed World Leaders and other relevant international actors must remember they have a global responsibilty to also act on behalf of the World"s Poor. That"s at least 3 billion people who are right now, living on less than $2 a day.
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