Geneva, Switzerland — Former President Jimmy Carter today accused the Reagan administration of doing too little to help needy countries, especially in the area of population control programs.
Carter, in Geneva for an international workshop on poverty and famine, said the American public “reacted very well” to appeals for aid to Ethiopia, Sudan and other African countries.
“But the developed countries are not doing nearly enough and the United States is behind others,” Carter said at a news conference.
While many developing countries are trying to control their populations, Carter said, the Reagan administration “has an aversion” to such programs and is failing to provide funds.
He also criticized efforts to link humanitarian aid to the political systems in needy nations.
However, Carter emphasized the developing countries “can’t depend forever” on the richer nations and must learn to help themselves “all the way down from prime ministers to individual farmers.”
He said India and Pakistan had been successful in developing their own national agricultural programs.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Norman Borlaug said between 70 percent and 85 percent of all people in developing countries are subsistence farmers whose lives depend on selling whatever produce they do not need for their own families.
“If they are left behind there is no hope for development and for economic and political stability,” he said.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 12, 1985
