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globalisationjuly'08 Globalisation is defined as the breaking down of geographical, financial, trade and information barriers that exist between different countries which should create more opportunities for everyone in a modern world of instant communications. And the process appears irreversible. But while the richer countries in the North are able to take advantage of globalisation, too often, the poor countries of the South are left marginalised in what can only be described as GLOBAL-ISOLATION. Everywhere we turn in the North there are reminders that we live in a global village. We can now book our foreign holidays online, we can purchase goods from the other side of the world in our local supermarkets and for entertainment we can download our favourite music onto personal stereos. Through the medium of television we can watch 'The Simpsons' from the US and/or 'Neighbours' from Australia or watch round the clock global news from CNN, Sky or the BBC all of which adds to the view that English is fast becoming the global language. Then, having packed our suitcases and set-off on holiday in another part of the global village, we are met almost everywhere by international brands such as Starbucks, Coca-Cola, BP, HSBC and Microsoft all of which underlines the fact that we live in just 1 world! But in the South the situation is very different. There the global village is literally the village you live in because the next village is probably difficult to get to over a rutted, overgrown track; there people see at first hand the problem of global warming as the creeping footprint of the desert expands relentlessly devouring their pastures and there they view global companies as making mega-profits from third world commodities whilst coffee growers and their like struggle to survive. As for the news local gossip is all the news they need or want. Thanks to a combination of the dismantling of trade barriers and the ubiquitous micro-chip globalisation has played a large part in raising living standards in high and middle income countries in the last 30 years. However, for one or more of the following reasons, globalisation has barely touched the world's poorest countries :- most people living there are still subsistence farmers living on less than $1 per day, electricity supplies are often either not available or eccentric, AIDS is decimating many in the professional classes, illiteracy is widespread, impure water and inadequate sanitation spread diseases, and incompetent and corrupt governments stifle enterprise. Conflicts, too, rage in many poor nations which largely tend to be ignored by the international community. Caught up in the middle of them people can suffer unimaginable hell on earth as rampaging militias raid towns and villages at random often raping the women and plundering food, clothing, money and weapons leaving nothing but devastated lives in their wake. And it is this carnage, the desperate struggle to make ends meet and the lack of freedom found in many poor countries which has now begun to rebound to affect countries in the North. For one country's war becomes another's asylum seekers, one country's illicit crop growing becomes another's drug problem and one country's terrorist threat becomes another's security problem. It must be common sense then for all countries, rich and poor, to start to work together to try to forge a better quality of life for the world's poorest people so that peace, prosperity and reconciliation can spread throughout the globe. And it is the only way many countries in sub-Saharan Africa are going to get anywhere near reaching the UN Millennium Development Goals by 2015. (see below) Perhaps a start could be made in re-defining globalisation. If globalisation
is to be truly universal in its scope then the definition of the word
must be expanded to mean 'all countries of the world working together
to help raise the quality of life everywhere so that the breaking down
of geographical, financial, trade and information barriers that exist
between different countries leads to freedom and opportunities for all
in a modern world of instant communications'. That means constructive
engagement, partnership and co-operation in what Bill Clinton would call
'sharing the benefits and shrinking the burdens.' For that is the real
challenge for globalisation at the start of the 21st century. In order to qualify for this support, governments in developing countries would have to agree to pursue policies which lead to sustainable economic growth and good government and to uphold civil liberties. With those in place a joint plan for advance could then be drawn up taking into account the views of civil society. Concentration at first could focus on the provision of adequate amounts of food, increasing the supply of clean water and better sanitation and the building of schools and medical centres. The total cost of these projects plus providing expert advice and co-operation would be borne by countries in the North through their ODA budgets. And these rich countries could even go further and offer to provide the opportunities for nationals of poor countries to train in rich countries in various fields of development. Even with these agreements in place, however, the journey to sustainable growth and poverty reduction will be long and hard for people in the least developed countries. But there is no alternative. For there is no question - poor countries will remain poor if they do not embrace the benefits globalisation has to offer; rich countries will continue to sow the seeds of future problems if they do not start to engage practically with poor countries so that the people who live there at last will be able to enjoy the necessities of life which we all take for granted. ================================================== UNITED NATIONS MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS In September 2000 the world's leaders adopted the United Nations Millennium Declaration committing their nations to stronger global efforts to reduce poverty, improve health and education and promote peace, human rights and environmental sustainability. To this end EIGHT GOALS were set out to which were attached Eighteen Measurable Targets for advancing development and reducing poverty by 2015. These goals and targets were reaffirmed in the Monterrey Consensus at the UN Financing and Development Conference in March 2002, the September 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development and at the launch of the WTO Doha Development Round of world trade talks. And collectively they are now the basis for tackling poverty and encouraging sustainable economic growth in the developing world. The Millennium Development GOALS and targets are listed below:- 1. ERADICATE EXTREME POVERTY AND HUNGER a) halve
between 1990 and 2015 the proportion of people whose income is less than
$1 per day (currently 1.2 bn) 2. ACHIEVE UNIVERSAL PRIMARY EDUCATION a) ensure that by 2015 children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling 3. PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY AND EMPOWER WOMEN a) eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005 and in all levels of education no later than 2015 4. REDUCE CHILD MORTALITY a) reduce by 2/3 between 1990 and 2015 the under 5 mortality rate 5. IMPROVE MATERNAL HEALTH a) reduce by 3/4 between 1990 and 2015 the maternal mortality rate 6. COMBAT HIV/AIDS, MALARIA AND OTHER DISEASES a) have
halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS 7. ENSURE ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY a) integrate
the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes
and reverse the loss of environmental resources 8. DEVELOP A GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP FOR DEVELOPMENT
For more on the UN www.una-uk.org |
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just1world@just1world.org |
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The
best way to effect the former US president's call is to send to poor countries
what they really need - experts in the fields of economic advancement
i.e. engineers, scientists, agronomists, hydrologists, infrastructure
and power experts along with administrators. 
a)
develop
further an open rule-based predictable non-discriminatory trading and
financial system ( this includes a commitment to good governance, development
and poverty reduction - both nationally and internationally)