The latest OECD foreign aid statistics are out, and in addition to showing that the G8 have reneged on their promises and betrayed the world's poor, they also paint a rather unflattering picture of our own contribution. New Zealanders like to think of themselves as generous, but in reality we are one of the least generous in the OECD, giving a mere 0.27% of gross national income. This is below the OECD average of 0.46%, well below the government's international commitment under the Millenium Development Goals to increase aid to 0.7% of GNI by 2010, and below even their target of increasing aid to 0.35% by 2010.
Peter Dunne calls this "pathetic", and like Bob Geldof, he is entirely right. We can, and should, do better.
2 comments:
Yep, it is pathetic and we shouldn't be as self-satisfied as we all seem to be. We'd rather spend our money on really important things, like new rugby stadia and rich boys' yachting competitions in Spain.
Posted by Anonymous : 4/05/2007 01:05:00 PM
So what is the good Mr Dunne's position on this, exactly? Other than the "any time is a good time to put the boot into Labour" one, that is. I have not seen him or his party prominently promoting their 0.5% of GDP policy. Maybe I missed that?
Hmm, from their web pages, The Greens are on 0.7%, National were last seen on 0.24% and thinking about increasing it, NZ First want to review it, the Maori Party and the Progressive party don't have policies, and ACT don't have a target at all.
This is an interesting overview of the last election: http://www.cid.org.nz/advocacy/party-policies.html
Posted by Moz : 4/05/2007 04:44:00 PM
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