The British charity Save
the Children said yesterday that increased involvement by the private sector
in supplying basic services would lead to price rises that would harm the world's
poorest children.
In a report released before the Earth Summit opens in Johannesburg on Monday,
Save the Children UK pointed to the negative effects of opening up to multinationals
the ownership of public services such as water distribution in poor countries.
The British Government is enthusiastically backing the policy of extending private
capital into countries where water systems do not reach the poor, which will be
a central plank of the summit. But the problem was that the companies were not
charities, said John Hilary, the trade policy adviser of Save the Children UK.
"They don't go into the countries with thoughts of doing the poor a good turn."
Water privatization typically leads to an increase in rates. Such price increases
force many people to collect water from untreated sources, exposing their children
to water-borne diseases, which already kill more than two million children a year,
the report says.
Mr Hilary said the privatization by the French-owned company Vivendi of the
water supply in Argentina had led to a rate increase of 100 per cent. Anglian
Water increased water tariffs by 100 per cent in the Czech Republic between 1994
and 1997, and by a further 40 per cent in 1999.
Charges for health care and education, as laid down by the private sector,
"threaten to exclude the poorest children from access to those basic services,
or drive families into poverty through having to meet the extra costs", the report
says.
The formation of private-public partnerships to promote sustainable development,
including clean water, education and health, is to be a focus of the summit, which
runs to 4 September. The British Government is advocating the use of private capital
in water facilities because the industry is dominated by firms from the European
Union.
Mr Hilary said the summit was rushing to involve the private sector in development.
"Where multinationals are involved, they must be carefully regulated to ensure
social and environmental benefits are realized. There may well also be circumstances
in which private-sector engagement is simply not the best option in the first
place," he said.
© 2002 lndependent Digital (UK) Ltd
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