Oxfam Urges G7 to Use Fraction of Military Spending to Fix Global Hunger, Debt Crises

•Says 3% of G7’s $1.2tn military spending in 2023 enough to address hunger

Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja

 Oxfam International has urged the Group of Seven (G7) countries to redirect a fraction of their military spending toward solving world hunger and relieving poor countries’ sovereign debts as the leaders prepare to meet in Italy.

The G7 nations include the United States of America, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Oxfam is a global organisation that fights inequality to end poverty and injustice.

In a new analysis, the non-profit organisation found that just three per cent of the seven countries’ annual military spending in 2023 totalling $1.2 trillion, would be enough to “help end world hunger and solve the debt crisis in the Global South”. 

Global South broadly comprises Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia (excluding Israel, Japan, and South Korea), and Oceania (excluding Australia and New Zealand).

According to the data, which Oxfam used, the US alone committed $916 billion to military spending out of the $1.2 trillion.

Oxfam, in a statement, quoted its International head of inequality,

Max Lawson, as saying, “Governments are finding their pockets run deep to fund war today, but when it comes to stopping starvation, they are suddenly broke.

“We’re talking about a small commitment with the potential for huge impact. Imagine a world where no one goes to bed hungry and where countries in the Global South can put money into public schools and hospitals instead of debt interest payments.

“The G7 not only has the means, but the moral and strategic imperative to make this happen.”

Oxfam found that eradicating world hunger, both acute and chronic, would cost $31.7 billion per year – most of the proposed three per cent redirection in funds.

More than 281 million people face severe hunger and malnutrition globally, Oxfam said.

It cited Somalia, Guatemala, Yemen, and Kenya as places where hunger was on the rise, and added that G7 was complicit in the ongoing suffering and starvation in Gaza.

Oxfam stated, “The G7’s collective failure has basically given the Israeli military a free pass to commit terrible atrocities against Palestinian people.

 “G7 leaders must do everything in their power to make sure there is an immediate and permanent cease-fire to stop the death and destruction.

“They also need to ensure full and permanent access of humanitarian aid through all ground crossings, and the release of all hostages and unlawfully detained Palestinian prisoners.

“Low- and middle-income countries are now spending nearly a third of their budgets on servicing debts as much as on public education, healthcare, and social protection combined.”

Oxfam also recommended redirecting a relatively small amount of military spending toward sovereign debt relief.

Currently, Global South countries collectively are asked to pay $291 million a day in total debt payments, including interest.

The Oxfam statement said, “Low- and middle-income countries are now spending nearly a third of their budgets on servicing debts as much as on public education, healthcare, and social protection combined.”

Poor countries currently owe about $4 billion to G7 governments, based on World Bank and International Monetary Fund data.

But G7 countries do not pay what they owe in social and climate aid – $15 trillion, according to Oxfam.

An Oxfam analysis last year found the figure was above $13 trillion.

Oxfam International’s interim Executive Director, Amitabh Behar, told Al Jazeera last year, “It’s really the G7, which owes a debt to the low- and middle-income countries. It’s not the other way around. We need to shift that gaze.”

Oxfam also called for G7 countries to follow up on a recent G20 effort to tax the super-rich.

In April, top G20 ministers—from Brazil, Germany, Spain, and South Africa—called for a two per cent wealth tax on billionaires “to invest in public goods, such as health, education, the environment, and infrastructure”.

Following preliminary meetings, G7 ministers pledged to “increase our efforts aimed at progressive and fair taxation of individuals” and work with Brazil, which currently holds the G20 presidency, led by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva”.