Dear UK political leaders,
There are moments in history that define us. 2015 is one such moment.
It is the most crucial year in global decision making since the turn of the new millennium; a moment where we could set the path to finally eradicate extreme poverty everywhere.
Extreme poverty is simply an injustice.
Imagine a world where everyone has access to a toilet instead of a gutter. A world where pregnancy isn’t Russian roulette, and no child dies needlessly at the hands of a preventable disease. A world where corporations pay their fair share of taxes so that developing countries have the resources they need, resources that are rightfully theirs, to lift citizens out of extreme poverty.
I want to live in that world.
More has been accomplished in the last 15 years in the fight against extreme poverty than ever before; people are living longer, getting healthier and escaping poverty. But the challenge ahead will be the toughest yet.
You’re in a unique position. You and your new government have the power to decide the future and the fortunes of the 1.2 billion people who still live in extreme poverty.
As Nelson Mandela so eloquently put it -
“Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural, it is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great. YOU can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom.”
As global citizens in the UK we urge you act in three key areas during the first 100 days of office; making decisions that will change the world:
Water and Sanitation
It sounds unbelievable, but it’s true. In 2015, 1 in 3 people in this world still don’t have access to a clean, safe toilet. That means over 500,000 children die from preventable diseases like diarrhoea every year...
As a global citizen, I am calling on you to:
- Immediately commit to doubling bilateral spending on water and sanitation from 2% to 4% of the UK’s aid budget, with a view to increasing funding for water and sanitation to 10% by 2020.
- Push for a dedicated Sustainable Development Goal on Water and Sanitation.
- Make a renewed commitment to tackling open defecation throughout the world.
If we do this, we will save the lives of thousands of children. Access to clean, safe toilets reduces the spread of preventable diseases, and improves the environment. By taking a step that reduces health problems in young people, we will also be freeing up health resources to better tackle other causes of child death.
We will increase the impact of education investments across the world, as girls are less likely to drop out of schools if they are provided with dignified sanitation, and all school children will have improved ability to attend school, and to concentrate, through improved nutrition and reduced illness. Women and girls will also be less vulnerable to sexual assaults that happen when they have seek a remote place to relieve themselves.
The combined effects of these health improvements for children, and reduced diseases and wasted time for adults, will contribute to greater productivity in the economies of developing countries, particularly supporting expanding towns and cities to be engines of growth rather than hotbeds of disease.
Maternal and Child Health
Children’s chances to survive and thrive have significantly improved over the past 15 years, with child mortality rates dropping by almost 50% since 1990. Still, every day 17,000 children die before their fifth birthday, and 800 women die in the process of giving life. Most of these deaths are preventable by ensuring universal and free access to basic health services before, during and after birth.
Greater investment in strong domestic health systems is needed to ensure that every child and every women is in reach of a trained and well-equipped health worker. The devastating impact of weak domestic health systems ill-equipped and under resourced to provide basic services and to contain disease burden has been further highlighted by the prolonged Ebola crisis in West Africa.
As a global citizen, I am calling on you to:
- Secure strong commitments to end preventable child and maternal deaths by 2030 at the G7 Summit by supporting financial and political commitments to continue the great work on MNCH started at the G7 5 years ago to address persistent inequalities in access to health care.
- Increase bilateral funding to rebuild and strengthen domestic health systems, especially in those countries affected by the Ebola outbreak
- Adopt a post-2015 development agenda that positions reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health at its centre based on the principles of universal health coverage
If we do this, we will save the lives of millions women and children, and we will put the right mechanisms in place to prevent another global health emergency in the future. Protecting and furthering the progress achieved in improving maternal and child health is key to enable communities and nations to move from poverty to prosperity. When mothers are healthy and educated, they are more likely to have healthy babies. Healthy babies are more likely to grow into healthy children, who are more likely to stay in school and become productive, fulfilled members of society. It is estimated that increasing health expenditure by £3.25 (US$5) per person could result in economic and social benefits worth up to nine times the investment by 2035.
Tax Avoidance and Innovative Finance
Every year, Africa loses twice as much in tax avoidance as it receives in aid. We all pay our tax, but some big corporations are getting away with not paying their fair share. Every year the UK loses billions of pounds to corporate tax dodging, while developing countries lose an estimated $160 billion a year.
As a global citizen, I am calling on you to:
- Get serious about fairness and transparency in tax. Introduce a new Tax Dodging Bill in the first 100 days after the election to fight poverty in the UK and developing countries.
- Support and implement the Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) in the UK, generating billions of pounds to fight poverty and climate change in the UK and abroad.
If we do this, we will generate around £23.6 billion more a year in tax revenue in the UK every year, which should be used to fight domestic and international poverty and climate change. The Tax Dodging Bill will stop millions of pounds going into offshore tax havens and divert back to the developing countries where it belongs, creating much needed domestic resources for school, hospitals and employment.
A Tax Dodging Bill will make it harder for big companies to dodge UK taxes and ensure they’re not getting unfair tax breaks, and make the UK tax regime more transparent and tougher on tax dodging. It also has the power to ensure that UK tax rules don’t encourage big companies to avoid tax in developing countries.
Smart development...and the end of extreme poverty by 2030.
If you make these commitments, using a smart combination of aid, policy and domestic resource strengthening, we can play an increasingly effective role in releasing 1.2 billion people from the prison of poverty, and unleash their power as global citizens to the benefit of us all.
And if you do, we commit to work with you to implement these changes - be it building mass public support or working with you to increase investment from other donors.
We are calling on you to make 2015 the moment we make the end of extreme poverty our generation’s greatest legacy.
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