FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BAND-AIDS FOR FINANCIAL CRISIS WILL FAIL UNLESS STRUCTURAL CAUSES OF POVERTY ADDRESSED, WARNS ANTI-POVERTY ALLIANCE

The Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) alliance is warning that the economic meltdown which has spiralled in past days will have a devastating effect on people living in poverty and requires a sustained and structural approach to ensure short-term fixes do not lead to long-term damage.

2008-10-02

In a week when both Indian and Brazilian heads of state warned that developing countries and emerging economies should not be punished for the poor financial management of the rich, GCAP has called for a regulatory framework that leads to a financial and fiscal systems that work for the rights of all so that the Millennium Goals can be met.
 
“Back in January we already warned that the poorest communities and women in particular will be hit first and worst by an economic slowdown.  Since then, the cost of food has escalated and the several cash injections made were just band-aids and compared to what is being spent on stabilizing the US banks now.  We need longer lasting solutions that work for all people and not just an elite handful like the current bailout proposals,” said Kumi Naidoo, Co, Chair of the Global call to Action Against poverty (GCAP)

The market fluctuations of past months and days are having a dramatic impact on people who already experience poverty as they are least able to cope with such economic shocks.  If only a few percent of the massive spending on the global and national financial systems in the last year was used to build the capacity of local communities to grow their own food and have health and education, the crisis would not be so far reaching.

Worldwide, GCAP coalitions have been responding to the instability with concern. Central American countries for example, so dependent on the US, have noted effects on employment, salaries and consumption. Also remittances, which have sustained millions of families across the region, are being affected as immigrant workers in the US fail to make the money necessary to send this vital cash home.
 
“The crisis in the US will no doubt increase poverty in our region, so many families who were living off remittances and considered themselves not poor will now move into this category,” said Jiovanni Fuentes, GCAP Coordinator for Latin America and Caribbean. ‘We need to build regional autonomy increasing internal development capacity so we are less dependent on the US.” he added.

Other members of the GCAP alliance include the trade union movement, which reacted this week with disgust at how the taxes of working people were being used to bail out those whose greed, irresponsibility and abuses have brought the world's financial markets to the brink of collapse and raised the spectre of global recession.

“Only by breaking the habit of hanging on the coat tails of financial interests, abandoning their complicity in the generation of massive and growing inequality, and ending their underwriting of corporate greed and excess, can governments reconnect with the realities of the lives of working families, and begin to provide the leadership and the answers they demand,” said Claire Courteille, ITUC and member of the GCAP Global Council.

As the financial crisis grips, GCAP and partners are building to an unprecedented mobilization on October 17-19 when more than 67 million people, or 1% of the world’s population are expected to Stand Up and Take Action against poverty and inequality. Information on www.standagainstpoverty.org

For more information or to book an interview with a GCAP spokesperson around the world contact;

Ciara O’Sullivan, Media Coordinator, GCAP
Cel + 34 679 594 809
Ciara.osullivan@civicus.org

Notes to Editors

The Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) is a civil society alliance of social movements, international NGOs, trade unions, community groups, women’s organizations, faith and youth groups, local associations and campaigners working together across more than 100 national coalitions/platforms. GCAP is calling for action from the world’s leaders to meet their promises to end poverty and inequality. In particular, GCAP demands solutions that address the issues of public accountability, just governance and the fulfillment of human rights; trade justice; more and better aid; debt cancellation; and gender equality and women’s rights. For more information, visit www.whiteband.org.

The ITUC represents 168 million workers in 155 countries and territories and has 311 national affiliates. To read the full ITUC statement on the financial crisis go to; http://www.ituc-csi.org/

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