Stopping Foreign Aid Is Inhumane

It is hard to watch the news and see that there are children suffering from hunger or disease all over the world. But it is even worse to know that there is more our government and individuals can do to help but, we still find reasons to allocate our resources elsewhere. Foreign aid is one of the best mechanisms to make the world a better place, and that’s why countries like the U.S. should take it more seriously. One of the primary aims of foreign aid aims to eradicate extreme hunger, poverty, and disease from the world and this money made available to help various states speed up their economic and humanitarian needs. In recent years, while the U.S.’s intentions on foreign aid have been good, their actions have not been impressive. The U.S. has a negative reputation from many in the world due to its excessive spending on wars and defense and there is a growing perception that it only cares about itself. The United States should assert its position as the leading world power by reallocating a significant percent of its massive military budget toward the Millennium Development Goals, increasing its donations to reliable channels and increasing private aid.

There are many actors that are involved and held responsible for the distribution of foreign aid to countries in need. The Millennium Declaration was written and established by the United Nations in 2002, and was joined by the U.S., which pledged to cut extreme poverty in half within the next 20 years. The Monterrey Consensus laid out goals to achieve the promises laid out by the Millennium Declaration by promoting the private sector in developing countries, opening trade with them and increasing official development assistance (ODA). The World Bank is charged with making loans ...

... middle of paper ...

...money for their own purposes. The biologist Garrett Hardin rejects any initiative to help the global poor. He stated that “the less provident will and able will multiply at the expense of the abler and more provident, bringing eventual ruin upon all.” This makes sense if you looked at the world as if it were a spaceship. There is also the argument that foreign aid would actually contribute to the problems it was meant to alleviate.

World poverty is very real and I believe that every individual has a moral obligation to do something about it. Although foreign aid may have problems attached to it, it doesn’t make sense to simply stop aid completely, it isn’t humane. We are all humans and all have a right to be on this planet. Scenes like those we see today in countries like Sudan and India make the question of how to solve the problem of poverty impossible to ignore.