SEVILLE: A UN conference aiming to rally fresh support for development aid began in Spain on Monday with the sector in crisis as US-led funding cuts jeopardize the fight against poverty.
\nAt least 50 world leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron, Kenya\u2019s William Ruto, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen and UN head Antonio Guterres are gathering in the city of Seville for the June 30-July 3 meeting.
\nSenegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, Ecuador\u2019s Daniel Noboa, Angolan leader Joao Lourenco and Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan also joined more than 4,000 delegates from businesses, civil society and financial institutions.
\nBut the United States is snubbing the biggest such talks in a decade, underlining the erosion of international cooperation on combating hunger, disease and climate change.
\nA blistering heatwave that is scorching southern Europe welcomed the delegates to the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, an example of the extreme weather that scientists say human-driven climate change is fueling.
\nUN sustainable development goals set for 2030 are slipping from reach just as the world\u2019s wealthiest countries are withdrawing funding for development programs.
\nUS President Donald Trump\u2019s gutting of his country\u2019s development agency USAID is the standout example, but Germany, Britain and France are also making cuts as they boost spending in areas such as defense.
\nInternational charity Oxfam says the cuts to development aid are the largest since 1960 and the United Nations puts the growing gap in annual development finance at $4 trillion.
\nMore than 800 million people live on less than $3 a day, according to the World Bank, with rising extreme poverty affecting sub-Saharan Africa in particular.
\nDisruption to global trade from Trump\u2019s tariffs and ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine have dealt further blows to the diplomatic cohesion necessary for concentrating efforts on helping countries escape poverty.<\/p>\n
Among the key topics up for discussion is reforming international finance to help poorer countries shrug off a growing debt burden that inhibits their capacity to achieve progress in health and education.
\nThe total external debt of the group of least developed countries has more than tripled in 15 years, according to UN data.
\nCritics have singled out US-based bulwarks of the post-World War II international financial system, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, for reform to improve their representation of the Global South.
\nPainstaking talks in New York in June produced a common declaration to be adopted in Seville that only went ahead after the United States walked out.
\nThe document reaffirms commitment to the UN development goals such as eliminating poverty and hunger, promoting gender equality, reforming tax systems and international financial institutions.
\nThe text also calls on development banks to triple their lending capacity, urges lenders to ensure predictable finance for essential social spending and for more cooperation against tax evasion.
\nCoalitions of countries will seek to spearhead initiatives in addition to the so-called \u201cSeville Commitment,\u201d which is not legally binding.
\nBut campaigners have criticized the text for lacking ambition and have rung alarm bells about rising global inequality.
\n\u201cGlobal development is desperately failing because… the interests of a very wealthy few are put over those of everyone else,\u201d said Amitabh Behar, executive director of Oxfam International.
\nHundreds of demonstrators braved the sizzling heat in Seville on Sunday to demand change in international tax, debt and aid policies.
\n\u201cGlobal south countries will never be able to decide how they want to do development if they are bound to the new colonial debt,\u201d protester Ilan Henzler, 28, told AFP.
\n\u201cWe are here to fight for the abolition of this illegitimate debt.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SEVILLE: A UN conference aiming to rally fresh support for development aid began in Spain on Monday with the sector in crisis as US-led funding cuts jeopardize the fight against poverty. At least 50 world leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron, Kenya\u2019s William Ruto, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen and UN head Antonio Guterres […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487500,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-487488","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n