How Curious

How curious that Helen Clark has just been appointed Chief of the United Nations Development Programme whose tasks  include reducing poverty.  Whilst Clark was Prime Minister of New Zealand, her government refused to honour the agreement her government made and signed at the 2002 Monterrey Conference and again at the 2002 Johannesburg Summit to make concrete efforts towards giving 0.7% of New Zealand’s national income in aid to poor countries.  It remained at just .27%.

Her new employer, The United Nations estimates that when the 22 countries who agreed to assist did actually honour their agreement of the 0.7% goal, that this would raise  $195 billion each year which is estimated to be enough to effectively end hunger and extreme poverty in the world.

In fact the Clark government even refused to offer a schedule as to how they might reach the 0.7% goal. So out of 22 countries, New Zealand was one of only 6 who didn’t offer such a schedule.  And now she is heading up the UN department charged with halving poverty by 2015 through the Millenium Development Goals?   Interesting.

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