Appropriate Humanitarian Foreign Aid

Appropriate Humanitarian Foreign Aid

The United Nations recommends that nations contribute .7% of their gross domestic product as foreign aid. The contributions of The Netherlands, Denmark and Norway exceed this amount.

The United States provides .17% of its GDP in foreign aid. Of the twenty-one most industrialized nations in the world, the United States ranks twenty-first—dead last—in foreign aid contributions. Much of this aid has been disbursed in the form of military hardware, perpetuating regional arms races.

For about 25% of the United States military budget, relationships of compassion and gratitude could be built with people in the impoverished world. Relationships of respect would make people in the United States and around the world more secure.

Money that pays for war could instead greatly benefit the domestic needs of nations. In the United States, for example, poverty, hunger and crime are on the rise; there are many more people who are jobless and have no health insurance; the quality of public education is falling; and our infrastructure is crumbling. Military money could be shifted into programs at the state and national level to address these problems that so negatively affect the quality of life.

Marshall Plan

But taking care of people in the United States is not enough, because we all need to live in a world where people have hope and can meet their basic needs. World security depends upon that, Foreign Aid models like the Marshall Plan that rebuilt Japan and Germany after World War II and laid the foundation for beneficial trading partnerships with those countries for fifty years is an example of good investment in peace and economic prosperity. This model, and others such as the Peace Corps, the Heifer Project and the Central Asia Project, call out as examples of what we ought to be doing more of.

US military spending has been about $585.5 billion per year (not including the costs of the war with Iraq.) With NATO allies, the United States spends more than six times that of every conceivable enemy combined, including Russia and China.

For much less than the cost of destroying the infrastructure of countries and killing both soldiers and citizens, long lasting, constructive relationships could be built which would move us beyond war. Non-governmental organizations (NGO's) provide excellent examples of how appropriate foreign aid can be provided to make important progress with limited funds. For example:

Heifer International

This non-governmental agency gives a heifer calf to someone in an impoverished country. The first calf from that heifer is given to a neighbor, and when that calf grows to a cow and has a calf, that calf is given to a neighbor. The same is done with chickens, goats, llamas, hives of bees, and other animals all over the world. These kinds of gifts can make a huge difference in a poor family's well-being -- and citizens of villages all over the world can regard the donors of these life enhancing animals as valued friends.

United States Peace Corps

Beyond expressing compassion, appropriate foreign aid can help construct a world beyond war. The US Peace Corps volunteers -- citizens who work in NGO's [Non-Governmental Organizations] that provide medical care and food -- and appropriate foreign aid can build the human relationships, gratitude, and cooperation necessary for the functioning of international law.