BBC NEWS: Oxfam raps rich nations over aid
‘In real terms, the aid budgets of rich countries are half what they were in 1960, the charity claims.

“As rich countries get richer, they’re giving less and less. This is a scandal that must stop,” Oxfam director Barbara Stocking said.

If the present trends continue, the agency warns that 45 million more children will die needlessly in the next 10 years. “The world’s poorest children are paying for rich countries’ policies on aid and debt with their lives,” Ms Stocking said.

Oxfam says rich countries such as the US, Germany and Japan have broken a pledge made in 1970 to make available 0.7{a9f0d31f6175b3e4775e11a66c07db268fb74408d6095f6b46eeec420c0e9f62} of their gross national incomes in aid. In 2003, the average aid budget of wealthy countries was just 0.25{a9f0d31f6175b3e4775e11a66c07db268fb74408d6095f6b46eeec420c0e9f62} of national income, and just 0.14{a9f0d31f6175b3e4775e11a66c07db268fb74408d6095f6b46eeec420c0e9f62} for the US. “Making this finance available… is a both a moral obligation and a matter of justice,” it says.

It also claims that aid is being used as a political tool, with some nations making combating terrorism an explicit aim of their aid programmes.’

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