The global economy is leaving millions of people in poverty, according to a recent report. In Rigged Rules and Double Standards, the human rights group Oxfam reports that the rules of the global economy favor the rich.
In the introduction the report states, “Trade is one of the most powerful forces linking our lives, and a source of unprecedented wealth. Yet millions of the world’s poorest people are being left behind. Increased prosperity has gone hand in hand with mass poverty. Already obscene inequalities between rich and poor are widening.”
The report argues for reform in trade and not that poverty is a problem of a system, requiring systemic changes. Oxfam’s Make Trade Fair campaign “aims to change world trade rules so that trade can make a real difference in the fight against global poverty.”
The report states, though, “reform of world trade is only one of the requirements for ending the deep social injustices that pervade globalization. Action is also needed to reduce inequalities in health, education, and the distribution of income and opportunity, including those inequalities that exist between women and men. However, world trade rules are a key part of the poverty problem; fundamental reforms are needed to make them part of the solution.”
It calls for removing tariff barriers that prevent poor countries from exporting goods to richer nations and an end to World Bank and International Monetary Fund policies that force devastating changes such as privatization.
It contains a wealth of research on economics and trade figures, especially in agriculture. For copies of the report, visit www.maketradefair.com.
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