by: Khaled Mohamed
The United Nations: The Answer to Economic Equity in the World
Being able to have food and shelter; obtain an education; receive health care; and earn at least a living wage is – many would argue – a human right. So why do only some enjoy these human rights, while so many do not? According to the New York Times, “half the world, nearly three billion people, lives on less than two dollars a day” (Martin, 2). Ever since the United Nations (UN) was formed, over fifty years ago, one of its primary goals has been to “reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights…. and to promote social progress and better standards of life in a larger freedom”(Bender et al., 6). But the question remains, is there equality in the world? Clearly, the answer is no. Inequality in the world has actually grown since the UN was formed. Government policies have greatly contributed to widening the gap between rich and poor. Many of these policies are imposed on these governments by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank(WB) in the form of structural adjustment policies (SAPs). These governments as well as international institutions such as the IMF and WB must come up with better policies to reduce this unacceptable divide. It makes sense that the UN, an international body of countries around the world, makes sure that these countries and institutions are taking steps to decrease poverty and the rich-poor divide. For this to happen, the UN has to undergo structural changes that will give it the power to enforce polices on governments so that greater economic equity is achieved.
The UN is an organization that was established on June 26, 1945. Its main mission is to promote peace, freedom and equality. Throughout world history many human rights have been violated because of lack of democracy (e.g. African- Americans, Japanese-Americans, Arab-Americans etc.). As a result, the United States, Russia, and China (the allied nations of World War II) met to discuss the formation of an international organization that would replace the League of Nations in an effort to maintain world peace and economic freedom. After the end of World War I, in an attempt to prevent military conflict that might lead to global conflict, the League of Nations was created by United States President Woodrow Wilson. However, it was ineffective because Japan and Germany had withdrawn from the organization to form the Axis Powers of WWII. The UN was created by 51 countries and over the past 50 years the number of members has grown from 51 to 192 in 2006 (Bender et.al, 6). In 50 years of the UN’s existence, has greater equality been achieved? Well, “nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names” (New York Times, 2005). In addition, “640 million live without adequate shelter, 400 million have no access to safe water and 10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5” (New York Times, 2005).
These statistics show that there is still much work left to be done by the UN. The first step the UN needs to take is to recognize that the policies of governments around the world are to a large degree responsible for the rich-poor divide, even though, sometimes, these governments are under enormous pressure to accept those policies. The SAPs of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, accepted by many governments, are examples such policies.
In 1944, the IMF and World Bank were created by the United States and England to help repair European countries destroyed during WWII. Other developed countries such as, Japan, Germany, Canada, and Italy later joined them. In the 1970’s, the IMF shifted its lending help “Third World Countries” pay back their former debts from private banks. After the independence movements of the 1960’s, many countries used protectionism in an attempt to help their local economies grow and control trade between nations to achieve the political goal of independent nations. Many of these countries wanted to industrialize; therefore, they borrowed money from private banks. However, they were unable to pay back the loans. Needing more money and yet being unable to borrow more from these private banks, these already indebted countries looked to the IMF and the WB as an escape from former debts. In the eighties when interest rates rose, many developing countries were struggling with their payments. Wanting to pay back their old debts and strengthen their economies, these countries accepted conditions that came with new loans. These were the SAPs (Structural Adjustment Policies) which the IMF and the WB devised as a way of ensuring payments. Ironically, SAPs pushed debtor countries into more debt. Today their debt to the IMF and the World Bank reaches about $5.5 trillion. According to the Global Issues website, “[for Africa,] in 1970, it was just under $11 billion…by 2002, that was over half, to $295 billion” because of the interest rate. Because these countries owe so much to the IMF and the World Bank, they are able to dictate and manipulate the economies of these countries.
The IMF established structural adjustment policies (SAPs), conditions that were placed in the 1980’s on debtor countries, to ensure repayment of loans. However, this problem (debt) prevented many governments from spending money on their citizens, due to the restrictions that SAPs placed on the borrowing nations. The governments were inevitably forced to tax citizens to pay back the debt. However, if people do not have enough jobs and their wages are low, the people cannot pay the taxes. Another problem with SAPs is that governments have to cut social spending. That means that the government reduces expenditures on health, education, and public services. This results in higher medical fees and less quality treatment in medical centers. In addition, school fees increase so fewer people are able to afford it; therefore, there will be less educated people and, as a result, an unskilled generation is developed. This may be a surprise for some of us. Lee Ann is a female who struggles with poverty in Albany: “She did not have any money for food. She was down to 88 pounds. Several years ago Lee Ann had been hit by a drunk driver on Route 9W and the accident had shattered many bones in her body. [She had no insurance] and spent months in the hospital and when she returned home her husband divorced her.” ( HYPERLINK "http://www.rcda.org/PDF/sample story.pdf"
http://www.rcda.org/PDF/sample story.pdf) Even though she gets $60 a month in food stamps, she usually runs out towards the middle of the month. According to The Rich-Poor Divide by Tersa Garlake, “One person out of every five lives in absolute poverty.” (4) If this story occurred in the United States, the second richest country in the world, imagine how life is in other countries.
Even though governments created this problem of debt due to the competitive drive for wealth, they cannot solve it alone. When the IMF replaced protectionism with free trade, many farmers had to give up their land because they couldn’t keep up with the competition with foreign businesses. These foreign companies are equipped with technology that allows more efficient production. Those foreign companies were also not charged any taxes for importing their products. SAPs reflect this new economic trend. In addition, debtor countries mostly focus on paying back their debt. For example, “Latin America and other countries in Africa that lie south of the Sahara spend a quarter of money that they earn from their exports to pay off their debts. Until they have more money available, countries in the south will not be able to help their people” (Garlake, 53). Many governments had to accept those polices because they have no other place to borrow money from. Nevertheless, in the case of Argentina they were able to ally with Brazil and Venezuela to borrow money from them. If all countries decided to help each other we would be able to live in fulfilling life. Overall, the UN should lend a hand to government in the term of eliminating the debt that countries owe to the IMF. Perhaps the UN should give those countries time until the country gets back to its standard of living. The UN should be doing more to bring to an end to this problem.
Government should take action as well as the UN. Despite the fact that many countries came together and created the UN as way to solve this, poverty and inequality still exist. In fact, the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states “all human beings are born free and equal.” This means that the UN should focus on this issue rather than simply collecting data, which means absolutely nothing to those dying from starvation. Without the help of the government and the UN this problem will grow even worse.
According to the UN, global GNP grew 40 percent between 1970 and 1985, suggesting better life prosperity but the number of poor actually grew by 17 percent( HYPERLINK "http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/inequal/gates99.htm"
http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/inequal/gates99.htm ). This has to do with many factors and the national debt is one of them. On the other hand, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) reported in 1998, “that the world's 225 richest people now have a combined wealth of $1 trillion. That's equal to the combined annual income of the world's 2.5 billion poorest people.” Is this the equality of life that the UN promised us to have? The UN must live up to its promise but in order to do, there are many structural changes it must make. The UN’s Security Council is made up of 15 member states. They are divided into two branches: five permanent seats and ten temporary seats. The five permanent seats are China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. They possess the power to veto. Developing countries have no power to take any action in the UN, without the permission of those five developed countries. The UN must give all countries equal vote and equal ability to propose policies. No country should have a military other than the UN and the UN should have the power to enforce policies, not just propose them.
In conclusion, people may argue that there are many individuals who are contributing to this problem. However, the UN should take action to stop those foreign companies from expanding and taking advantage of those poor countries. According to The Rich-Poor Divide, by Tersa Garlake, “the poor are no more capable than the rich. They only need to be given the chance.” (56) Even though the people in those countries protests to stop this problem, those governments are stilling enforcing policies that make the rich get richer and poor get poorer. In 2001The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) made plans for the developing countries, as way of reducing the poverty and achieving objective. Even though those plan made in 2001 and hoping for it to be accomplished in 2010, statistics show poverty has since doubled from what it was in 2001. The mission of United Nations is so clear and could be so effective. It simply needs to enforce those policies.
Bibliography
Articles:
Martin, Andrew. “Fuel Choices, Food Crises and Finger-Pointing” (New York Times) published April 5 2008.
Books:
Bender, David. The United Nation: Greenhaven Press, Inc. (San Diego, California 1997) 10, 53.
Garlake,Teresa. The Rich-Poor Divide. New York: Thomson Learning, 1995.
Websites:
Ann, Lee (unknown) “Local Stories of Poverty & Hunger” Sample Stories: < HYPERLINK "http://www.rcda.org/PDF/sample story.pdf"
http://www.rcda.org/PDF/sample story.pdf >
Gates, Jeff (May 1999) “Statistics on Poverty and Inequality” Global Policy Forum: < HYPERLINK "http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/inequal/gates99.htm" http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/inequal/gates99.htm>
Shah, Anup (July 02, 2005) “The Scale of the Debt Crisis” Third World Debt:
< HYPERLINK "http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Debt.asp" http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Debt.asp>
Khaled Mohamed
Economic Research
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خـــالــد الـــخـــلاقي
