New Directions in Development Assistance

Notes spoken by the Hon. David Kilgour,

Member of Parliament for Edmonton Southeast

and Secretary of State (Asia-Pacific) to the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

November 17, 2003

Room 356-S, Centre Block , House of Commons, Ottawa

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Permit me to open with a couple of quotes over the weekend in Toronto from two important voices in the development field:

Paul Martin

In his acceptance speech to 10,000 or so Liberals, our new leader Paul Martin said in part:

"Our foreign policy must always express the concerns of Canadians about the poor and underprivileged of the world; the frightened and helpless victims of the battles-torn societies ; the sick and vulnerable without adequate health care and education..."

It seems to be little known that Martin considered working in the so-called developing world before opting to go into business. I believe he intends to increase our O.D.A., with highest priority being given to education, environmental protection, poverty reduction and better governance programs. In the '90s as our Finance Minister he led an international effort to establish the G-20 forum, which, as you know, brings together finance ministers from the most populous nations and some of the richest and poorest countries.

Bono

Bono, the mega rock star from Dublin:

"If you follow through on this promise (to relax our patent legislation so that inexpensive generic drugs can be made available to Africans hit by the AIDS pandemic), other countries will have to follow."

On almost the same day that India revealed that it has about 4 1/2 million nationals suffering from HIV/AIDS, Bono reminded Canadian Liberals that 6500 Africans are now dying every day from the AIDS scourge.

"This is an emergency. That's why I'm here. Africa is going down in flames...If we really believed, deep down, that Africans were equal to us, really deep down, we would not allow this to happen."

It is also dismaying that Roméo Dallaire - the Canadian probably most admired around the country and world today for his bravery, kindness and humanity - recently released his account of what happened during the Rwandan genocide in 1994. He concludes that the entire UN system and governments must never again rank some people "as more human than others, a mistake that the international community endorsed by its indifference in 1994."

HIV/AIDS

Let me offer a couple of further thoughts on the HIV/AIDS reality today, which is possible the greatest challenge human beings have ever faced:

If current trends continue, the present 13 million AIDS orphans around the world will evidently reach more than 43 million by 2010.
Approximately 40 million people are HIV positive today. Nature magazine last year estimated that if current conditions continue there will be one billion AIDS-infected persons on earth by 2050. This crisis makes, of course, terrorism insignificant in comparison.
Empowering youth in peer education about HIV/AIDS is vital in this struggle. One of the brightest students in the best high schools in the capital of a sub-Saharan country visited Canada recently to speak in some high schools. I'm told that she thinks HIV/AIDS is not caused by what you and I know cause it - she evidently thinks it's part of a conspiracy by the North to incapacitate Africa.

Wouldn't it be a step forward if Europeans and Canadians schools could begin partnering with their peers in Africa/Asia to help keep those under 12 years an AIDS-free generation? Such AIDS prevention programs could have tremendous impact on the next generation.

Canada in the World

Two further references to the weekend party conference. Jennifer Welsh of Oxford University and Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia made some interesting comments to a panel on Canada in the World.

Welsh

Canadians are doing a host of excellent things around the world and this country must pull its weight as a model world citizen. In her view, this includes imposing more conditionality in developing assistance to promote human rights around the world.

Sachs

Sachs, who among many other things is a special advisor to the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, stressed to the same session:

The US government is currently spending forty-five times as much on defense as on development assistance
The international community needs to get off the current path to expanding wars. Five percent of the world's population in the US cannot run against the rest of the world's multilateral concepts.
The government of Canada must raise its O.D.A. to the 0.7% of GDP goal set by Lester Pearson in the '60s.
Canada can help advance to UN Millennium Development Goals by 2015, including halving poverty and reducing world hunger by half.

Thank you.