What We’re Reading 2/12/10

Feb 12th, 2010 11:15 AM UTC
By Robyn Mitchell

The Washington Post: Aid groups fear Haitian relief diverts funds from other needs
According to the Washington Post, the U.S. government’s disaster-assistance program has committed more than half its annual budget to help earthquake-ravaged Haiti, raising concern among humanitarian groups that programs for the needy in countries such as Sudan or Somalia could face cuts. USAID officials denied Thursday that they have ordered any cutbacks, adding that they hope they will not have to do so. But that will depend, they said, on whether their disaster fund is replenished by a supplemental spending bill that Congress is expected to take up in the next few weeks. One USAID official said the organization had started prioritizing projects in different parts of the world in case the congressional funds are slow to arrive or are less than anticipated.

AFP: Halving world poverty by 2015 unlikely: UN
A UN report released in Ethiopia this week said the chances of reducing world poverty by half by 2015 are increasingly less likely owing to inadequate plans by states and the global economic crisis. Halving global poverty by 2015 is one of United Nations’ eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) aimed at improving livelihoods across the world. The report, entitled “Rethinking Poverty,” emphasized that “even before the onset of the current global financial and economic crisis, the world had not been on track to meet MDG 1 by 2015. Now the crisis is making attainment of that goal even more elusive.” The report did, however, note that the number of people living in extreme poverty — on less than 1.25 dollars daily according to the World Bank — had declined to 1.4 billion in 2005 from 1.9 billion in 1981.

IPS: U.N. Goals on Education Under Widespread Attack
IPS reports that the relentless attacks on educational institutions in war zones – along with growing threats against academics, teachers and school-going children – have jeopardized the U.N.’s Millennium Development Goal of providing education for all by 2015. According to a new report released by the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), more than 40 million children worldwide are missing out on primary school, particularly in conflict-affected fragile states, with many of the children missing school “due to direct attacks on their learning spaces, their teachers or even on themselves as learners.” Said one UNESCO official, “In situations of armed conflict and insecurity, deliberate attacks on, and threats against learners, academics, teachers and educational facilities are both a barrier to the right to education, and a serious protection issue.”

The Guardian: Forgiveness for Haiti? We should be begging theirs
Guardian journalist, Naomi Klein, argues that the very idea of Haiti as a debtor needs to be abandoned and that western countries should pay arrears for years of violations, including slavery, occupation, dictatorship and climate change. Klein calls for the international community to examine Haiti’s tumultuous history now because it threatens to repeat itself, highlighting the fact that Haiti’s creditors are already using the desperate need for earthquake aid to push for an increase in garment-sector production, some of the most exploitative jobs in the country. Klein concluded by saying that “a reckoning with the debts the world owes to Haiti would radically change this poisonous dynamic. This is where the road to repair begins – by recognizing the right of Haitians to reparations.”

The Economist: Give and take
The Economist explores the growing area of “cause marketing” – trying to win customers by ostentatiously doing good. According to the magazine, rather than try to make products that can be marketed as ethical in their own right, such as “fair trade” goods, firms are increasingly trying to take an ordinary product and boost its moral credentials with what one marketing guru calls “embedded generosity”. The fad for online competitions to award the handouts also appeals to another trend, whereby people are turning to the internet to give their consciences a boost with the click of a mouse. The magazine highlights a number of examples including RED, as well as Pepsi’s “Refresh Everything” campaign, which asked the public to vote online for charities and community groups to receive grants in lieu of advertising at this year’s Super Bowl.

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