Since the G8 Gleneagles summit in 2005 – the year of Make Poverty History – there has been a consensus among UK politicians about the quantity of overseas aid. Certainly, both Labour and Conservatives have agreed to ring fence their commitment to meet the UN target of spending 0.7% of Gross National Income on overseas aid. Labour is proposing putting that commitment in law, and has certainly led the Conservatives in making commitments on the issue (Labour put a timetable of 2013 on achieving the UN target in their 2005 manifesto) but the Conservatives’ commitment would be difficult to break – and it is a commitment that only applies in one other area – health – so it would stand out if they did: basically that and the health commitment are key elements of the ‘nice not nasty’ imagery that David Cameron’s leadership has tried so hard to promote. However, Labour will be keen in the coming election to stress that the last Conservative government actually cut overseas development assistance. And the behaviour of right of centre governments in Canada and Ireland suggests that spending on overseas aid in the new global climate is once again becoming a left-right issue. Read more »

   Filed under: International development, Politics | No Comments »

The UN Secretary General’s office has just released a draft report on progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. It makes for sober reading.  Given the scale of the global financial crisis, “over 300 million new jobs will need to be created over the next five years” and that’s just to “return to precrisis levels of unemployment.”

Pre-crisis, some 633 million workers, or 21.2% of the world’s workforce, were struggling to feed their families on less than $1.25 per person per day. Thanks to the global financial crisis our planet is now home to an extreme 215 million workers living in absolute poverty. Read more »

   Filed under: Financial crisis, International development, unemployment | 3 Comments »

The Department for International Development (DFID) issues today its new education strategy, designed in particular to educate the 72 million children who currently don’t go to primary school, and the 300-400 million who get inadequate schooling. There are welcome proposals to build at least 15,000 classrooms a year; train at least 130,000 teachers a year (although the world needs another 10.3 million teachers by 2015); and raise DFID spending on education to over £1 billion a year.

But the strategy is almost all about the supply of education places and the quality of teaching – and access and quality are simply not the reason so many children currently don’t get an education. To tackle that would require a challenge to child labour: and as so often, DFID ignores the labour standards element of poverty reduction. Read more »

   Filed under: International development, Skills | No Comments »

Funny thing, journalism. The Daily Telegraph reports today that the Japanese Foreign Minister has backed the idea of a financial transactions tax – following up earlier reports of support from more junior ministers. It then says that the idea has failed to gain “major traction among leading governments”. And then cites other supporters of the idea – UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. So, no leading Governments there then! The Japanese coming on board of course puts the Robin Hood Tax on the table in a majority of the G7 richest nations on the planet. The USA remains to be persuaded, but campaigners there, including the AFL-CIO, are working on that.

   Filed under: Environment, International development, Public spending, Tax | No Comments »

Vulture funds are a particularly ‘unpleasant and unacceptable face of capitalism’, as Ted Heath might have said. And they’re based on abusing your generosity. An attempt to crack down on these sordid little operations passed its second reading in the Commons on Friday with all party support, but the Conservative front-bench have denied it the easy ride that would see it on the statute books before the election, and they have not promised to reintroduce the Bill if they win the election. The TUC backs the Debt Relief (Developing Countries) Bill, and urges MPs to do whatever they can to get it passed. What you can do is write to your MP, and get your union or branch to affiliate to the Jubilee Debt Campaign who are the main proponents of the Bill. Read more »

   Filed under: Globalisation, International development | No Comments »

As the Vancouver Winter Olympics come to an end, attention turns to the next Olympics – London 2012. And trade unionists around the world are turning their attention to the workers’ rights implications. The Maquiladora Solidarity Network worked closely with the Canadian Labour Congress to ensure that the workers who made the clothes associated with Vancouver 2010 were paid fair wages, worked reasonable hours and were protected from injury and disease. For London 2012, the TUC is working with a range of unions, Labour Behind the Label, Anti-Slavery International and War on Want under the banner of Playfair 2012: campaigning for a sweat-free Olympics. We want the multi-national corporations like Adidas, Nike and Pentland (makers of speedo) to guarantee workers’ rights in the supply chains for their sportswear.

   Filed under: Globalisation, International development, Multinationals, Trade | 2 Comments »

The Financial Times carries an editorial today about South African President Jacob Zuma’s visit to the UK next week. The FT says Zuma’s proposal that EU sanctions on the thugs who still share power in Zimbabwe is insufficient. On the contrary, it would be a dangerous mistake, and shows Zuma heading down the same route as his predecessor, Thabo Mbeki. Read more »

   Filed under: Human rights, International development | No Comments »

The Trade Union Advisory Committee to the Organisation on Economic Co-operation and Development (TUAC to their friends) have analysed three recent studies into transaction taxes published in Austria, France and the US. They’re interested in the potential of a Financial Transaction Tax in tackling what they’ve identified as a global public good resource gap – the difference between deficits as a result of the financial crisis and bailouts and international spending pledges to meet targets on poverty and climate change. Read more »

   Filed under: Environment, International development, Transactions tax | No Comments »

A few days ago, the European Union decided to retain sanctions against key supporters of President Mugabe’s regime in Zimbabwe which prevent them travelling to Europe. The TUC has welcomed the decision, and the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions has backed the decision too. ZANU-PF, not surprisingly, didn’t: they claim that the EU sanctions are an attack on Zimbabwe as a whole. But writing in response to a vitriolic attack on them in the Government-backing Sunday Mail, ZCTU General Secretary Wellington Chibebe said:

“The ZCTU is accused of agreeing to the imposition of the so-called sanctions or pretended to be neutral. Our position is very clear on the so-called sanctions – they are measures targeted at specific people numbering about 200 and specific companies or organisations. Obviously 200 people and a few companies are not ‘the whole of Zimbabwe’. This is our reading and you cannot convince us or the people of Zimbabwe otherwise with your cheap politicking. Zimbabwe is made up of close to 14 million people, the majority of whom are allowed to travel abroad subject to immigration laws of host countries. We also understand that the measures were as a result of the perceived or real rampant violation of human rights and acts of corruption by the targeted club of the elite.”

   Filed under: Europe, International development | 1 Comment »

Robert Mugabe’s cronies in Zimbabwe – clinging on to power and abusing as much of it as they still can, are furious that the European Union has maintained its sanctions on the elite of the country. They claim that the EU has sanctions against Zimbabwe in place, but in fact they are targeted on the people who used to run Zimbabwe as a brutal dictatorship. Trade unionists in Zimbabwe have welcomed the decision this week to keep up the pressure on Mugabe’s clique, not least because those still in positions of authority continue – a year into the power sharing agreement – to abuse that power. Read more »

   Filed under: Europe, Human rights, International development | No Comments »