Good evening and welcome to another edition of EENR For Progress, cross-posted from EENRblog.com. This evening, I want to focus on poverty, particularly global poverty and children. So often during a presidential campaign year, Americans tend to focus inward, to look primarily or at times exclusively at the issues and problems we have here at home. It's not completely surprising, particularly this year when we know we will be facing so many self-inflicted problems next year regardless of who wins the election in November. While we focus inwardly, however, the crippling oppressive poverty faced by children living in poverty around the world will continue unabated -- in large part because of a lack of will from countries such as the United States.
"It's simply wrong that billions of people around the globe live on less than $2 per day. Fighting global poverty is the moral thing to do - and it's also the smart thing to do for America, because it will make us safer and more secure. ONE Vote '08 has taken an important step to bring attention to this issue and to rally support for fighting global poverty.
"We don't have to accept a world where billions of people are struggling to survive and instability and extremism thrive. By taking bold steps to reduce global poverty, like those in the plan I laid out in March, we can help to replace hopelessness and radicalism with education, opportunity, and democracy." John Edwards, 6/11/07
Look, I'll be up-front here. My candidate for the Democratic Presidential nomination dropped out of the race some time ago. Since then, I've stayed and will stay completely agnostic on the race. But lest I be accused of thinking that only John Edwards spoke out about global poverty, I know that both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are also concerned about this important issue:
"With billions of people living on just dollars a day around the world, global poverty remains one of the greatest challenges and tragedies the international community faces," said Senator Obama. "It must be a priority of American foreign policy to commit to eliminating extreme poverty and ensuring every child has food, shelter, and clean drinking water. As we strive to rebuild America's standing in the world, this important bill will demonstrate our promise and commitment to those in the developing world. Our commitment to the global economy must extend beyond trade agreements that are more about increasing corporate profits than about helping workers and small farmers everywhere. Barack Obama, 2/13/08, about Global Poverty Act (S.2433)
America has a long and proud history of fighting poverty and encouraging economic development around the world. But that commitment has lagged relative to our own wealth, and in comparison with other prosperous nations. We need again to reclaim this great tradition, which is a testament to the kindness, generosity, and wisdom of the American people. America has long represented the ideal of opportunity. We must once again reclaim our leadership in promoting opportunity around the world. We do this first and foremost because it is right. And we do it also because it is smart. Gnawing hunger, poverty, and the absence of economic prospects are a recipe for despair. Globalization is widening the gap between the haves and the have-nots within societies and between them. Today, there are more than two billion people living on less than $2 a day. Hillary Clinton, 11/29/07, Global Poverty Agenda
Here's the deal though. The Democrats are being chased on this issue by none other than John "W" McSame who has, on more than one occaion, recognized the work of the ONE Campaign and the young people involved in this global effort.
Senator McCain walked out and immediately recognized us in our ONE shirts. He stopped to thank us for coming as he shook our hands. Before he started his speech, he took a moment to recognize us as he said: "As I always do, I’d like to recognize our young people from the organization called ONE [...] the epitome of what young America is all about." On his way out, McCain stopped to thank us for coming. Overall, it was a great experience and I was proud to represent the ONE Campaign. from the ONE website blog May 28, 2008
All of these words and attention are wonderful, as long as they lead to real efforts and real results. Here is some information about what the real results of global poverty have on the children of world. These facts are not alright, they are not acceptable, and we must not look the other way.
Children and Poverty {Information from www.CARE.org}
Of the 57 million people worldwide who died last year, 10.5 million of them were children less than five years old. The majority of these children — some 98 percent — were in developing nations.
Treatable illnesses, such as pneumonia, malaria, diarrhea and malnutrition, become life-threatening when combined with poverty, war, poor sanitation, inadequate health care and insufficient preventive measures.
For those who survive childhood, the path to a secure and happy future is still filled with obstacles. Children in developing nations have limited access to education, which limits opportunity and reduces potential.
Economic, social and cultural factors keep some 121 million children, especially girls, from attending school. Faced with difficult choices, parents often take girls out of school to care for younger siblings, help with household chores or work outside the home to contribute to family income. In the world's least developed countries, only 14 percent of secondary school enrollment is female.
Health and Disease
* Measles, malaria and diarrhea are three of the biggest killers of children — yet all are preventable or treatable
* More than 30 million children in the world are not immunized against treatable or preventable diseases
* 95 percent of all the people who get polio are under the age of 5
* HIV/AIDS has created more than 14 million orphans — 92 percent of them live in Africa
* Six million children under five die every year as a result of hunger
Education
* 134 million children between the ages of 7 to 18 have never been to school.
* Girls are more likely to go without schooling than boys — in the Middle East and North Africa, girls are three times more likely than boys to be denied education
* For every year of education, wages increase by a worldwide average of 10 percent
* Educated mothers tend to send their children to school, helping to break the cycle of poverty
Exploitation
* In the last decade, more than 2 million children have died as a direct result of armed conflict
* More than 300,000 child soldiers are exploited in armed conflicts in over 30 countries around the world
* 2 million children are believed to be exploited through the commercial sex trade
* Approximately 246 million children work
* 171 million children work in hazardous conditions