Children, farmers, factory workers: They remain invisible at WEF

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WEF attendees enjoy fine dining while discussing the world’s dire situation in the comfortable and welcoming Davos Convention Centre. At the same time, 800 million people in the world go to bed hungry every day. Children flee their homes from wars and sleep in unheated tent cities. 14-year-old girls leave school and get married.

The gap between rich and poor is widening: the charity Oxfam expects the first trillionaires to emerge in the next decade, as well as many more billionaires.

not visible at WEF

“Billionaires are taking over,” criticized Oxfam interim boss Amitabh Behar at the WEF. “You have tremendous power.” Seven of the world’s ten largest companies are run or majority-owned by billionaires. The profits of big companies already go into the pockets of the richest people. In her interview with Blick, Behar asked rhetorically, “Where are the farmers who brought the harvest at the WEF?” he asks. “Where are the factory workers? Where are the small retailers?”

Children are now even more invisible at WEF. After all, they make up 30 percent of the world’s population. While the rich and powerful (mostly men, mostly middle-aged) decide the future of the world at the convention center, Carla Haddad Mardini wants to make sure they don’t forget the children. Mardini is director of fundraising and partnerships at Unicef, the UN children’s fund.

“The world is not a very good place for children right now,” he says worriedly in an interview with Blick. And don’t just think about Ukraine and Gaza. “I also think about the crises that have been completely overlooked: Sudan, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of Congo.” All conflicts lasting 20 years or more, sometimes more, sometimes less violent. And it will have lasting consequences for children.

Private sector wants nothing to do with Gaza

According to Unicef, 460 million children worldwide are affected by conflict. Another 43 million people will be victims of floods, storms and other devastating weather events, and these are increasing with climate change.

Mardini has been lobbying both public and private donors to secure support for the WEF. The private sector has never provided as much aid as it did at the beginning of the pandemic and war in Ukraine. “It was a tectonic shift,” the Unicef ​​woman praises. But in the Middle East, the private sector is more reluctant to provide aid. Nobody wants to burn their fingers on the Palestine-Israel issue. Those who suffer in vain in the Gaza Strip are those who are waiting for aid supplies. Mardini: “Humanitarian aid should not be politicized!” says.

But there is also reason for hope – also thanks to Switzerland: He is particularly pleased with Unicef’s “Giga Initiative”. It aims to connect every school worldwide to the internet. The initiative is co-financed by the Swiss government. “The most logical investment you can make to lift children out of poverty is education,” says Mardini. Did your message reach those in power at the convention center?

Source :Blick