Examples like these demonstrate the effects of global poverty and can go on and on. But they also illustrate how important global efforts to fight poverty are and what they can achieve. Today, also because of the situation triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, they are more important than ever.
With resolution 2626 of the General Assembly of the United Nations on October 24, 1970, states with high per capita incomes committed themselves to spending at least 0.7 percent of their gross national income on official development cooperation. The goal set for global poverty reduction should be achieved in 1975, at the latest in 1980. But most economically privileged states miss the 0.7 targets.
The declaration of commitment will be 50 years old in a few days. Only a few countries, including the UK, Sweden and Norway, have reached the UN benchmark of 0.7 percent. Many high-income countries with large economies such as the USA, Japan and, unfortunately, Germany are not among them.
In comparison to economic power, the German contribution lags considerably behind the average performance of other European donor countries. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Germany has made substantial increases in the course of the supplementary federal budget, which means that around 77% of the international target level for development cooperation has been achieved. However, that is not enough to meet the current global challenges. The achievement of the sustainable development goals was already a long way off before Corona and it is imperative that the target of 0.7 percent be met promptly – especially by the economically richest nations such as Germany.
According to the Organization for Cooperation and Development (OECD), the German financial contribution in the context of development cooperation is currently 0.6 percent of economic output.
The problem with the OECD calculations, however, is that domestic costs for refugees, university places and administration as well as loans taken out from the capital market are taken into account, which are usually given to middle-income countries with an interest premium and cannot be used for human development in disadvantaged countries . The extensive use of loans taken out on the capital market as credit for financial services in development cooperation is only practiced by Germany and a few other countries, which is why this practice is to be viewed particularly critically, since Germany is setting a bad example here.
If you subtract both these lending and the domestic costs from the German amount, Germany will not provide the 0.6 percent put forward by the OECD in 2019, but only 0.43 percent of its own economic power for development cooperation. For this method of calculation, it is already becoming apparent that the 0.7 UN benchmark will not be achieved by the German side either this year or in 2021.
In order for the goals of the 2030 Agenda to be achieved, it is essential that Germany also fulfills its commitments. Otherwise, as a global community, we run the risk of failing to implement the 2030 Agenda in many countries – with far-reaching negative consequences for millions of people as well as nature and the environment. The underperformance of Germany and other economically privileged states represent an essential brake block for the full realization of the agreed goals.
The fact that 50 years after the declaration of commitment we still have to remember what is actually taken for granted is a failure that is unacceptable.
Link to the presentation of an analysis of Germany’s financial efforts for official development cooperation from 1970 to today: https://ots.de/9jCxnT
Press contact:
Peter Wiessner Tel: +49 (0) 30 53 67 998 44 Mob: +49 (0) 163 456 85
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