Global poverty can be looked at as the result of an injustice, but is it really? A person cannot help who or what circumstance they are born into this world. Not all people have the same access to education, job opportunities or higher social order. Poverty has been with the human race since the beginning of the Stone Age. Poverty usually is generational since parents and grandparents have also been in poverty for all their lives. That is the only way they know how to live or have ever lived.
Again, this can be traced back to lack of education and opportunities to advance in society. There are programs that help people in poverty but most only help them survive and not better their situation. People that are in poverty may be afraid to ask for help, do not understand how to get help or lack the education to fill out paperwork that can get them the help they need. They know were a free clinic is for health care, where to go when they need food but otherwise they do not know the proper channels to try and break the poverty they are in.
Most rich nations do not want to see poverty eradicated form the world because this would reduce a segment of the population that the wealthy rely on for goods and products both to be consumed and to be sold. Wealthy countries say they are seeking to correct the injustices that the poor are burdened with but by providing aid, which also allows the wealthy nations the avenue to introduce their products to a segment that is captivated. The real injustice is the fact that wealthy nations do not want this global segment to disappear.
In reality they are allowing the poor to stay in poverty and rely on hand outs instead of trying to better themselves.. Until the world puts everyone on the same level plane, with the same access to services for everyone, then there will always be global poverty just like there will always be different social hierarchies. Countries have been providing aid to poverty stricken areas of the world for years. Whether in the form of money, training or education.
One of the problems wealth nations have with providing aid is it may not get distribute to the people that really need it the most These global governments do not want an educated population for fear of the masses realizing what has been happening to them all their lives. Wealthy nations like to feel like what they are giving is making a difference, but in truth the poor do not see this money. The saying “the rich get richer while the poor get poorer” is an ominous cloud for the poor and it is starting to filter in to the middle class of society.
The reality is wealthy countries do not want everyone to be on the same social or economically footing. This would disrupt the hierarchies that have been built up over the decades and the beginning of man. Most aid that is provide by wealthy countries comes with stipulations on how the aid is distributed, what it can be used for and who gets the aid. Again, depending on what a countries motives are will determine what aid will be giving. Is this an injustice to the poor?
Of course it is but this is how societies have been viewed upon since the beginning. There are many ways that nations can help the poor without giving more money. Institute trade guidelines that are on a more level plane for all involved. This would allow the poorer nations to sell their goods for better prices thus slowly lifting themselves out of the global poverty that they have been accustomed to for most of their lives. Everybody in the world wants to help their neighbors whether it is in their housing edition or half way around the world.
There are abundant forms of aid, from emergency assistance, nutritional aid, and military support. Development support has long been recognized as crucial to help foster poor nations the opportunity to grow out of poverty. (Shah, 2014) It does not seem to matter how much funding is provided, some in the throes of poverty want to stay there. They do not want to change as they are afraid of what is on the other side of the curtain. This has been their way of life, living in poverty, accepting the next hand out.
The other problem with providing more money to these poverty stricken areas is the price the people end up having to pay for this aid. This could be in the form of overpriced goods and services, embezzlement to the fact that aid will not get to the poorest of the poor. Anything that is giving usually has strings attached. The other issue is that wealthy nations do not always provide the monetary amount that was agreed upon. (Shah, 2014)
