PhilMUN 2009
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All of the causes of poverty are interconnected, which makes poverty difficult to overcome. The majority of people only have access to low paying jobs because they have not received a sufficient education or because they work for new privately owned corporations that do not pay adequate wages. Healthcare is also inaccessible because the people are not earning enough money to pay for it. Social inequalities exist because most of the population is working low paying jobs in the city or working as farmers in rural areas, and the other small percentage of the population is in control of the majority of the states wealth. Many of these things are also connected to the breakdown of Soviet Union and the changes that occurred as a result. While under communist rule, inequality in society was “theoretically” not an issue and everyone had equal access to housing, education, healthcare, and work. However, once the USSR fell, all of the issues of inequality became problems that could not longer be ignored. The outcome of Eastern Europe’s transition was an immediate overall decline in the quality of life, which remains a problem to this day.
Projections and Implications In 2008, the United Nations General Assembly came together to discuss the progress that had been made on the Millennium Development Goals at the half way mark. The findings of the research show that much adversity still stands in the way of halving poverty by 2015. It was noted that factors such as “income growth, climate change, high food and energy prices, [and] globalization and urbanization” all influence the lives of the poor.44 All of these factors led to the projection that by the year 2015, the global poverty will be 721 million, not nearly half the amount of the current 1.2 billion. 45 Also, according to the 2008 United Nations World Economic Situation and Prospects, economic growth rates are extremely important in reaching its goals; also, poorer 44
“Recognizing the Achievements, addressing the challenges and getting back on track to achieve the MDGs by 2015,” General Assembly Thematic Debate on the Millennium Development Goals, April 1, 2008. <http://www.un.org/ga/president/62/letters/bckgpoverty.pdf> 45
Ibid. 3