Drnovsek Urges World Leaders to Take Action against Poverty
President Janez Drnovsek has reminded world leaders of the responsibility that developed nations in particular have in taking action to eliminate imbalances that keep millions of people worldwide in poverty. It is an illusion to think there will be no wars if these imbalances continue, he said in his address to the UN Summit on Thursday.
Drnovsek said the summit marking the 60th anniversary of the United Nations, was "both an opportunity and our duty to take a close and critical look at the reality of humanity's situation today and the effectiveness of United Nations operations, and to assess the progress made in achieving the Millennium Goals."
"The findings of experts...are frightening. World poverty is not diminishing, but is in fact growing; more than a billion people live below the threshold of absolute poverty," he stressed in his address to world leaders.
According to him, this is because "access for developing countries to rich and developed markets, and their access to financial institutions, to new technologies or medicines is still being prevented or at least significantly limited."
Drnovsek therefore called for fairer trade relations within the World Trade Organisation, and criticised the agricultural policies of developed nations. "The pressures of agricultural policy...are such that they are literally destroying agriculture in the developing countries."
He also decried financial relations, labelling them as "extremely unfair." "Developing countries today are paying enormous sums just to service the interest on debts," he said, adding that this has made poor countries even poorer.
"The recent writing off of multilateral debt for the poorest countries of the world is welcome, but not enough," he thought.
The president underlined that poverty is not "the only danger that burdens the world." He mentioned global warming as a serious danger, and urged global cooperation to find "more effective, more determined solutions and to contribute to raising the general awareness of people, and especially politicians."
Drnovsek concluded by saying that international organisation have to play a key role in eliminating the imbalances. "There is an extraordinary responsibility of all of us participating today," he stressed.
"If we wish to hand down a more just, sustainable and humane world to the next generation, we must be prepared to significantly alter our habits and beliefs. Equally, we must strengthen our sensitivity towards the vast number of people around the world who are suffering unnecessarily," Drnovsek concluded.
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