The journey started last year in Edinburgh has only just begun..

Published on Saturday 1 July 2006 11:49

AS Archbishop of Edinburgh, I had the honour of welcoming over 250,000 people to the Make Poverty History march a year ago. They came from all over Britain and further afield to ask for more and better aid for the world's poorest countries, cancellation of their unpayable debts and trade rules that will help their economies grow. Acts not of charity, but of justice.

One year on, important gains have been made and lives have been changed. But the journey that started in Edinburgh last year has only just begun.

The G8 leaders promised aid increases of $50 billion each year by 2010. They conceded important principles - that there should be 100 per cent debt cancellation and that poor countries should have the right to decide their own trade policies. And they vowed to "substantially reduce" the harmful agricultural subsidies that damage the livelihoods of poor communities around the world.

These decisions will go some way towards making poverty history. In Burundi, for example, removal of education fees has already brought 300,000 children into school, while in Zambia, debt cancellation has given 4000 teachers the chance of work. And a million people living with HIV/Aids now have access to the drugs that can help prolong their lives. But the G8 could have done much more.

The promised aid increase, much of which is actually money from debt relief double counted as aid, came too late for 11 million children who have died since the G8 met last year. And it will be too late to save 50 million children who will die of poverty by 2010.

Even once the aid increases are implemented, we will still see the awful inequity of a child dying every 3.5 seconds for no other reason than that they are poor.

I am reminded of a young girl I met when I travelled to Ethiopia with the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund last year. She asked me a simple question - why can't we give more?

The answer is not that we can't give more, but that we choose not to - and we must continue to impress on our governments that this has to change. The historic recognition that certain countries need 100 per cent debt cancellation was a good first step, but it was far from sufficient.

It is estimated that 60 countries need full debt cancellation if they are to meet the Millennium Development Goals and halve poverty by 2015. Only 18 poor countries will qualify this year.

And despite the G8's promises not to force economic policies on poor countries, debt cancellation comes with harmful strings attached.

Many countries have to privatise their services and make budget cuts, and pay for debt relief through reduced aid. This means they have less to spend on education and healthcare.

The G8 has yet to live up to its promises. Current negotiations at the World Trade Organisation provide a unique chance to make trade rules fair. But, to date, rich countries have refused to do so.

Instead, they subsidise agricultural production on the one hand, while promoting the benefits of free trade and pushing for increased access to developing country markets on the other.

As Pope Benedict XVI reminds us, trade liberalisation should be seen not "as an end in itself but as a means for achieving . . . the reduction of poverty".

Pope Benedict's words echo a key insight of Catholic Social Teaching, the "option for the poor". It measures policies by the impact they have on the poorest people of the world. When viewed from this perspective, the G8's promises on aid, debt and trade fall far short of what is needed.

If we are to make poverty history, the pressure created in 2005 must be maintained. In the course of my work I meet many senior politicians. I will do all I can to hold them to account for the promises they made, and for a much greater commitment to ending the scandal of poverty which condemns over a billion of our sisters and brothers to live on less that 60 pence a day.

We have a long way to go, but we are on the right road.

• For information about SCIAF - the official overseas aid and development agency of the Catholic Church in Scotland - and its campaigns, or to make a donation, call 0141-354 5555.