Deprived of childhood
At least 80 per cent of humanity lives on less than US$10 a day in countries where income level and urban-rural gap discrepancies are forever widening. According to Unicef, each year 22,000 children die due to poverty and malnutrition. One in three youthf
With global military expenditures exceeding $1 trillion annually, reducing such spending in poor developing countries as well as overdeveloped rich ones can and must be a central component of the battle to eradicate extreme poverty, alleviate hunger, improve education opportunities and enhance child survival.
Renewable energy is essential to modern society. The freshwater crisis, sanitation and conservation represent the planet’s major environmental challenges. The overreach of industrialisation and the destruction of valuable natural resources are other shared concerns to be mutually addressed.
The rich powers must stop denying the planet’s poorest and most vulnerable inhabitants their legitimate rights to brighter prospects for future generations, seeking to ensure human security that reaches beyond military might.
Charles Frederickson
Bangkok
