Test of society's humanity

Last week the European Parliament adopted a report on the EU's progress towards meeting the UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) drafted by Michael Cashman MEP, in preparation of the next UN high-level meeting in September. This report, approved by a large majority, with Socialist, numerous EPP, Liberal and Green MEPs all backing it, must serve as a reminder to us to fulfil our commitments to the world's poorest nations.

The MDGs were agreed in September 2000, focusing on eight different policy areas. The MDGs are comprehensive and a humanitarian necessity. They range from halving, by 2015, the proportion of people living on less than $1 a day and those suffering from hunger, to guaranteeing primary schooling for boys and girls. They aim at reducing by two thirds the under-five mortality rate and the maternal mortality rate by 75 per cent; halting the scourge of HIV/AIDS and malaria and providing treatment and medicines to all who need it; halving the number of people who live without safe drinking water and sanitation and delivering a fairer trading and financial system.

Notwithstanding the progress made on some MDGs, all eight are currently off-target. Some EU countries are actually scaling back their aid budgets, meaning that the EU is currently €20 billion short of its spending commitments. Many of the least developed countries in the world are set to meet no MDGs.

The Parliament's report on the MDGs presents a stark warning that we must take action now, and that achieving the MDGs must remain one of the EU's most important objectives.

Firstly, we must ensure that EU member states do not use the financial crisis as an excuse to slash aid budgets. Not only would this lead to greater third world poverty, but it would also lead to higher levels of economic migration and a "brain drain" from the world's countries who can least afford to lose their brightest and best. Consequently, the EP report calls on all member states to meet their promise to provide at least 0.7 per cent of their budget for aid.

With regard to trade policy, the negotiation of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with developing countries is crucial. In these negotiations, we must not pressure poor countries into opening up their markets to our companies, when they are unable to compete fairly on the global stage. It is also important that we finally complete the Doha Round of international trade negotiations, since it is trade, not aid, that will ultimately help developing nations to increase their exports and GDP levels.

On the issue of health and education MDGs, the report demands that member states and the Commission allocate at least 20 per cent of all development spending to basic health and education and to combat AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. It also recommends that spending be prioritised to maternal health and tackling infant mortality.

I agree with the report's emphasis on increasing investment in farming and food security to guarantee freedom from hunger. It also, rightly, calls on the Commission to strengthen property rights and facilitate easier access to credit for farmers, small business and communities, as this will help promote land ownership.

Of course, this is all well and good, but without good governance in developing nations, we will still fail to meet the MDGs. Management of aid, promoting gender equality and enhancing democracy - both in terms of national parliaments but also local government and civil society - are vital to achieving this.

Fortunately, most politicians, NGOs and the Church recognise that the gap between developed nations and the world's poorest is both unnecessary and morally wrong. Indeed, as Pope Benedict points out, "the material resources available for rescuing peoples from poverty are greater than ever before, but they have ended up in the hands of people from developed countries".

That this has happened, that hundreds of millions suffer from extreme poverty, deadly diseases, higher infant and maternal death rates, is the result of political and economic choices that we are all responsible for.

If we purport to be a civilised and humane society we cannot allow these injustices, which blight our planet, to continue.

Prof. Scicluna is a member of the European Parliament.