Increasing overseas development assistance

43. For the second development decade, UNCTAD set the target for aid to the developing countries at 0.7% of GNP of the industrialised countries. This target has only been achieved by a few countries(⁶⁵) but it was recently redefined at the Copenhagen summit(⁶⁶). On average, aid to developing countries currently stands at 0.33%, which is not even one-half of the target!

The fact that some countries achieve the target and others do not clearly shows that solidarity depends upon the determination of peoples and governments, and not on any automatic technical mechanisms. A greater share of this aid should also be set aside to finance projects in which the poor themselves have a role in the design. Since political leaders of democratic countries depend on public opinion at home, they must seek to broadly enlist public support to make it more clearly aware of the issues and stakes involved in the development assistance budget. "We all share responsibility for the fact that populations are undernourished. [Therefore], it is necessary to arouse a sense of responsibility in individuals and generally, especially among those more blessed with this world's goods(⁶⁷)."

Government aid raises many ethical problems, both to the donor countries and the beneficiaries. The moralisation of fresh money circuits is a difficult problem everywhere, and the ethical shortcomings may benefit interest groups or lobbies, official or otherwise, in exporting countries. In this way, situations of power which could be described in terms of "structures of sin" become firmly "locked in", fostering patronage on all sides.

Powerful mechanisms hold back genuine reform and the development of the common good. These can have formidable consequences, such as local unrest and inter-tribal strife in countries that are vulnerable in this respect.

Combating these "structures of sin" is a source of great hope for the most deprived countries.