ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 17, 1995 TAG: 9512150077
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: F-2 EDITION: METRO
DEVELOPMENT aid to other countries is an easy target when budgets get tight. Even many taxpayers who support social spending at home will readily draw the line at the nation's borders.
Why should we send money overseas, the question is asked, when we have people in our own country who need help?
Would it seem more than worth the investment, though, if money spent on development now prevented a Somalia later? A Rwanda? A Bosnia?
Civil wars and ethnic conflicts throughout the world are displacing so many millions of people that humanitarian aid can't keep pace with the draining demand. J. Brian Atwood, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, says the number of international refugees has mushroomed from 2 million in 1960 to 17 million today - plus 27 million displaced within their own countries.
It is becoming increasingly apparent to international humanitarian organizations that more, not less, money must be invested on development, or the escalating need for relief will grow out of all manageable proportions.
Most of the world's refugees are displaced by civil conflict or the collapse of public authority. And what do the nations where this is occurring have in common? Weak, corrupt government; unsustainable population growth; deteriorating environments; insufficient food; cruel poverty. Development aid can help fight all of these.
A lot has been learned about aid in recent decades to make it more cost-effective: the value, for example, of supporting women's and small entrepreneurial opportunities, as opposed to big government projects. The value of aid in developing potential markets for U.S. exports also has become more widely recognized.
But, more fundamentally, the world's wealthy nations can put money into preventing the collapse of nations, or spend much more on repairing it.
There is a third choice, of course. When the needs become overwhelming, the more affluent countries can decide to look the other way. They won't be able to ignore vast global inequities for long, however. These are the miseries that set loose war.
LENGTH: Short : 45 linesby CNB