In the context of the midterm review of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which will take place in New York in September, the European Parliament voted in June for a report presented by its Development Committee at the plenary session in Strasbourg.
The report quite rightly points at the fact that achieving the 8 Millennium Goals which has as its main objective the eradication of poverty and hunger by 2015 (broken down as follows: Reduce by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people, reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger), is – mildly speaking- not within reach.
It has become a farce. According to the World Bank an estimated 64 million more people will live on less than $1.25 a day in 2010 than would have been the case without the economic, social and financial crisis. The number of hungry people worldwide rose from 842 million in 1990-1992 to 873 million in 2004-2006 and to 1.02 billion people during 2009, the highest level ever. This was largely a result of reduced access to food because of high food prices and the global financial and economic crisis, which has lead to lower incomes and higher unemployment.
The Social Democrat group in the European Parliament put forward an amendment to the report which reads “Calls on all Member States to introduce a new client – optional ‘poverty charge’ on luxury goods to finance Millennium Development Goals spending”. One could think, every little bit helps to achieve the MDGs but the idea that one of the super rich people in the world buys, let’s say the luxurious Euphoria 168 yacht for a little less than US$40 and agrees to pay a “generous” client-optional ‘poverty charge’ of 10% to maybe feel better, makes me angry.
The time for giving alms should be in the past. The working class and the poor internationally deserve more than crumbs that fall of the table from the super rich.
It is time to go for the whole cake!
The 8 Millennium Development Goals:
Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
Goal 6: Combat HIV and AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development
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