Urgent Action: Save Dutch Leadership on International Aid
Today we’re asking our Dutch ONE members to take part in an urgent action:
The Netherlands has developed a strong and proud leadership position of helping the poorest countries in the world. It’s something to be very proud of.
But this could be destroyed in a matter of days.
International development aid is one of the budget issues under threat in the Dutch coalition agreement, which is about to be signed.
Please send an urgent email to negotiators Mark Rutte and Diederik Samsom to tell them not to let development aid fall through the coalition cracks:
An agreement which cuts development aid would have huge implications. Not only because of the direct impact on the poorest countries, but because of the signals it sends to other countries, encouraging them to lessen their contributions too. Millions of people will be affected by this.
This doesn’t need to be the way. Dutch aid is already having a huge impact. It’s working. We should keep it that way.
Please take action now and send an email:
http://act.one.org/letter/dutch_aid/
Please also spread the word by liking and sharing the action on Facebook, and sending a tweet to your social media networks.
Thank you for your help,
Stuart McWilliam, ONE.org
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About the Blog
The International ONE Blog is a daily log of the anti-poverty movement. The site is operated by ONE staff, with guest contributions from ONE volunteers, members and allies.
The content of each post and each comment represents the views of that author and does not necessarily reflect the views of ONE. ONE does not support or oppose any candidate for elected office, and any post expressing support or opposition for a candidate is not endorsed by ONE.
29/10/2012 at 4:56 pm
Instead of appealing to the Dutch government to keep donating hugh amounts of money -that honestly do not work- you could also try appealing to other countries to do their fair share.
Sorry, normally I wholeheartedly support all of your causes, sign every petition (just because they make sense) and write to every MP or EP that you ask me to (because it also makes sense), but this is one step too far for me.
You cannot honestly ask one government to do their utmost, when you fail to ask other governments do to the same. I am Dutch and for as long as I can remember we donate 0,7% of our GDP (Norway, Denmark and Luxembourg even donate 0,8%) but other European countries such as France, Belgium or the UK are stuck at 0,4% or even 0,3%. If they would also contribute 0,7%, you would be ABSOLUTELY RIGHT to ask The Netherlands to keep their contribution at 0,7%.
I’m not usually a person that vents an opinion on the internet and I’m sorry if I’ve offended anyone – that was never my intention.
30/10/2012 at 10:15 am
To Thea. I am not from ONE but I know that ONE and other NGOs are appealing to other countries to do their fair share. The fight to get countries to reach 0.7% and to avoid aid cuts is a fight that has taken place for years. That is also exactly why it is so key that the Dutch government does not go under 0.7% as it will be use as an excuse by others not to reach 0.7%. As long as the Netherlands and others are above 0.7 we can use these examples that respecting the aid commitments despite the European crisis is possible.
Just think about it: your argument is like we would tell to our children. “You are right, do not do your homework or get good grades because the rest of the class is not doing them. Once they start doing them, then do them. On the contraty we want to tell our child, do it because it is good for you and it should push others to follow”.
The same apply to wages, using your arguments our enterprises could say: “why should I have good wage while other European countries have low wage. If they increase their wage, then I will do so”
30/10/2012 at 10:17 pm
Dear Nicolas, you would be absolutely right IF THE NETHERLANDS WOULD STOP giving aid. However, that is not the case. Our government is cutting down to donating 0,55% i.s.o. 0,7%. That is still a lot more than most countries donate. Leading by example can also mean not having to be the best of them all, but trying to do the best you can.
We were promised by Mr. Samsom and Mr. Rutte just last night that as soon as it is possible (looking at the current economic state) we will be back at 0,7%, but for right now The Netherlands can only contribute 0,55%.
But what’s far more important to me is that just donating (like we have been doing for over 40 years) money is no longer the goal. Finally our government has realized small projects and direct small business loans work far better than just sending money. So let’s just hope all countries not donating 0,55% yet start doing so tomorrow (because of the good example ;o) and will rise their contribution to 0,7% just as soon as The Netherlands goes back to the ‘old status’ and more help will get to the people who need it.