The Brandt Report

08/05/2007

The Brandt Report

In 1977, Robert McNamara (the president of the World Bank) calls upon Willy Brandt to be the head of the “independent Commission for international development issues.” Brandt accepted this assignment. He assembled a group of international statesmen and leaders to take a close look at the failure of the global economy and the problems plaguing developing nations, the north-south commission. The Brandt Commission made a set of recommendations to governments, international agencies, and the global public. It proposed a restructuring of the global economy, along with a new approach to the problems of development, including an emergency program to eliminate poverty in developing nations. The report over two years to compile. On February 12, 1980 the Commission presents its "North-South Report" to the Secretary-General of the United Nations in New York. The Brandt Commission offered the international community a vision for balancing the creation of wealth with the provision of public services, anticipating new foundations for the future of civilization.

The Brand Report wanted a balance in developmental policies and demands that the countries of the South be integrated into the global Economic system. They expected this will bring about needed improvements in economic and social conditions in disadvantaged countries. They also wanted rich industrial countries of the North to share their means and power with the countries of the South. The Report contains a number of proposals for the reform and transformation of the world economic system. The Brandt Reports also called for prompt and urgent action for the poorest nations. The Brandt Commission proposed an international action program to provide for adequate housing, health and medical care, eradication of disease, increased availability of credit, support of industrialization, transportation and infrastructure. In addition, the Brandt Reports called for a massive 'transfer of resources' to poor nations, including food, aid, energy and technology.

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"This Report is based on the most simple of common interests. Humanity wants to survive and, one can add, it has the moral duty to survive. This raises not only classical questions of war and peace, but also the questions how can one defeat hunger in the world, overcome mass misery, and meet the challenge of the inequality in living conditions between rich and poor. To express it in a few words: This report is about peace." WILLY BRANDT

The Brandt Report offered a strategy for resolving the present crisis of the financial system. One of its main ...

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The Brandt Report offered a strategy for resolving the present crisis of the financial system. One of its main concerns is the increasing inability of Third World countries to meet their debts to private banks. This situation is seen as grave because it creates further crises when individual governments are unable to maintain consistent import policies, thus affecting their own development strategies and causing chaos in the system of world trade.

"Few people in the North have any detailed conception of the extent of poverty in the Third World or the forms that it takes. Many hundreds of millions of people in the poorer countries are preoccupied solely with survival and elementary needs. For them work is frequently not available or, when it is, pay is very low and conditions often barely tolerable. Homes are constructed of impermanent materials and have neither piped water nor sanitation. Electricity is a luxury. Health services are thinly spread and in rural areas only rarely within walking distance. Primary schools, where they exist, may be free and not too far away, but children are needed for work and cannot easily be spared for schooling. Health care, social development and economic progress must advance interdependently if we are to attain our objectives for the year 2000."WILLY BRANDT

When North-South was published, there were 500-600 million malnourished and hungry people on the planet. They were children, women, and men destined to die for lack of food or to suffer physical impairment from malnutrition.

"It is an intolerable situation," pleaded Brandt. "The idea of a community of neighbours has little meaning if that situation is allowed to continue, if hunger is regarded as a marginal problem which humanity can live with" WILLY BRANDT

The Brandt Reports called for an emergency food assistance program and increased food reserves at a global level. Developing countries are highly dependent on food imports. Building up the assets of the poor through food programs and land reform is the beginning of economic opportunity and economic growth. Additionally, a safety net was required to ensure that poor nations do not suffer from shortfalls when their internal food production is inadequate. The commission proposed food stockpiling and financial measures to enhance international food supplies and prices

"It is a matter of humanity to conquer hunger and disease on our way to the next millennium, to prove wrong those forecasters who say we will have to face the distress of hundreds of millions of people suffering from starvation and preventable diseases at the turn of the twenty-first century" WILLY BRANDT

The Brandt Report additionally called for fair treatment of migrant workers, and greater international cooperation on emigration and immigration policies. Brandt also proposed that nations strengthen the right of asylum and legal protection for refugees, and expand international commitments for the resettlement of refugees.

Here are a few points from the Brandt’s report:

Hunger- Mobilize immediate supplies of food and clean water for

developing nations through the creation of a global clearinghouse for

food storage and distribution.

Poverty- Provide basic necessities in poor regions of the world,

including stable supplies of food, water, and energy; health and

medical care, including preventable disease control, basic housing

and sanitation

Aid- Expand financial assistance to poor nations by increasing

contributions from developed nations to 0.7% GNP, and eventually to

1% GNP; ending political and commercial entailments on aid by

developed nations.

Debt- Begin partial or unconditional debt forgiveness for

developing nations, linking debt relief to effective domestic policy reform

Environmental Protection- Cleaning up the environment, expanding reforestation projects, reducing industrial emissions, slowing climate change, conserving energy and resources, reducing dependence on fossil fuels, and developing clean and renewable energy sources

Fair Trade- Expand world trade by redirecting its focus from

international export markets to the domestic markets of emerging

economies, stabilizing international commodity prices, restructuring the World Trade Organization to allow proportional representation, establishing a new code of conduct for international corporations and broadening trade agreements to improve working conditions, as well as environmental, wage, and labour standards

Regulation of the Global Economy- Redirecting investment from international capital markets into the domestic markets of emerging economies, encouraging stable Currencies, stimulating balanced economic growth and maintaining environmental sustainability

Two decades later, the international community has not responded to these proposals in any meaningful way. Although the Brandt Reports were widely read and discussed, developed nations have focused more on their own interests. In these two decades, poverty has more than doubled. One billion people are uneducated. One billion lack safe shelter. Nearly three billion lack adequate sanitation. In all, 1.8 billion people now live in absolute poverty - according to the UN Development Program's standard of minimum human requirements. Despite an overall increase in political freedom around the world, the international community has not embraced the human rights of poor people in any meaningful way:

Instead of promoting accessible, balanced exports of goods and resources between rich and poor nations to build cooperation and enlarge international markets, trade has been hampered by local subsidies and protectionist barriers, driving down the export prices of developing nations
Rather than making global economic rules and institutions equitable for every nation, restoring confidence and trust throughout the world, money and finance remain unregulated at the global level, resulting in currency instability, recession, and financial risk in developing nations

The report contains little real substance, a collection of 'well intentioned' formulas but a bit over ambitious. The report has made little difference, yet still are good points which the future generation must think about.