EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 84/44

(2004/C 84 E/0050)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3036/03

by Niall Andrews (UEN) to the Council

(8 October 2003)

Subject: Tackling hunger in the world

Will the Council state what its priorities are during the Italian Presidency to tackle continuing and high levels of hunger and poverty in the world and to eradicate disease among young people?

Reply

(8 March 2004)

The Council shares the concerns of the Honourable Member as regards development cooperation with the main objective of reducing poverty with a view to its eventual eradication. The Council confirms its commitment to pursue this objective in the coming months and years, particularly by supporting sustainable economic, social and environmental development and by gradually integrating developing countries into the world economy. The Council recalls, on this occasion the importance of food security and sustainable rural development as one of the six priority areas of the European Community's development assistance activities.

The fight against poverty is one of the development objectives defined in the Millennium Declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2000, which aimed to halve by 2015 poverty, hunger and diseases linked with poverty such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. Community development cooperation policy is therefore closely linked to commitments made at international level.

The Council recalls that it approved the conclusions of the United Nations Conference in Monterrey. At the Barcelona European Council in March 2002 the Member States committed themselves collectively to increase their official development aid, which should reach 0,39 % of the GNP of the Member States by 2006, which would be a first significant step on the road to achieving the United Nations target of devoting 0,7 % of GNP to official development aid. It should be noted that the European Union and its Member States already finance more than 50 % of total development aid.

In the Council conclusions of May 2002, the European Union agreed that a substantial share of this increase in the volume of ODA (official development aid) should go to support social development in developing countries, with special emphasis on improving health and education, including the three major transmissible diseases.

Finally, in the third Committee of UNGA 58 which started on 6 October 2003, the EU had prepared a resolution on the rights of the child which addressed the issues of child poverty and child health.

In the current draft resolution the EU recognises that strengthened availability and effective allocation of resources are required in order to ensure that all the development and poverty reduction goals as set out in the United Nations Millennium Declaration, are realised within their time framework, and to promote the enjoyment of the rights of the child.

The EU is also seeking in this text to promote the realisation of the highest attainable standard of health through, ‘inter alia’, the development of sustainable health systems and social services paying particular attention to the prevention of disease, malnutrition, disability and infant and child mortality, to prenatal and post-natal health care, to the special needs of adolescents, to reproductive and sexual health and to threats from substance abuse and violence, and ensuring access to such systems and services. Mention is also made of the need to ensure the effective prevention of HIV infections, providing support and rehabilitation to children and their families affected by HIV/AIDS and protecting children affected by HIV/AIDS from all forms of discrimination, stigma, abuse and neglect.