ABSTRACT
Year (1975) 503 32.3 Consciousness-raising on environmental problems 512 32.4 The UN Conference on the Human Environment and the creation of
UNEP (1972) 515 32.5 Protection of the natural and human environment through international
conventions 517
Figure 32.1 International statements on women’s equality within the UN system 504 Figure 32.2 The UN Convention on Discrimination against Women (1979) 507 Figure 32.3 International conventions on the environment 1946-79 520
Privately organized development aid in the 1960s
Development in the rest of the world caught the imagination of the inhabitants of more developed states early on. In the 1950s this often found expression in church-organized aid for the construction of a school and for money for food in places where there was famine or where a natural disaster had struck. The recent experiences of war in Europe reinforced the sense of willingness to help others. As the prosperity of industrialized states increased during the 1960s, this feeling of wanting to help poor states persisted. The governments of rich states set aside budgets for development aid, which stimulated their industries to export to poor states and at the same time met the UN’s call on its member states to help. The assumption in the 1960s, named the UN Development Decade, was that any aid which stimulated economic growth was a contribution to development. This was also the doctrine of the first volunteer workers, such as those who followed in the footsteps of the US Peace Corps and were posted to Third World states to assist with projects. Between 1960 and 1965 Oxfam raised 7 million pounds in the UK for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) through its Freedom from Hunger collection. The Oxfam and FAO campaign aimed to combat food shortages, but also to ensure that
people did not remain dependent on food aid and were able to become self-sufficient. In 1965 there was a campaign for providing village water supplies in India. Out of the UNCTAD Conference of 1968 the idea was born of UNCTAD, or Third World, shops selling Third World-produced goods bought in at fair prices. The number of projects in the Third World increased sharply, as did the number of people working there for NGOs. The UN’s recommendation that one per cent of GNP should be devoted to support development (see §31.1) was backed by the supporters of NGO aid, who were prepared to contribute financially to NGO activities.
