Freeze Pakistan's debt: UN summit

1 Sep 2010, 3:52 pm   -   Source: AAP
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Charities from around the world have used a Melbourne conference to call for a freeze on Pakistan's national debt, to help millions of flood victims.

Charities from around the world have used a Melbourne conference to call for a freeze on Pakistan's national debt, to help millions of flood victims.

Tim Costello, the chief executive of World Vision Australia, interrupted proceedings at the UN health conference to raise the issue.

He said for every $1 Pakistan spent on health, it spent $3 servicing its debt.

Doctors say children are dying from eye infections and diarrhoea because they can't get treatment in the wake of devastating floods which have affected 20 million people.

"This has been a compassion blind spot for the world," Rev Costello told the conference.

World Vision says Pakistan carries a debt of $US50 billion ($A56.2 billion), most of it owed to bodies like the World Bank and the IMF, while the country's health budget equates to $US7 per person per year.

Rev Costello proposed debt repayments be frozen for two years, with no interest accrued, "to allow Pakistan to have the resources to assist those displaced by the floods".

His proposal received a standing ovation from most delegates and will be taken to UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon.

Rev Costello later told AAP the Australian government should take the lead in lobbying for Pakistan's debt to be frozen, because the conference took place in Australia and because Pakistan is in "our region".

A doctor who came from the flood region to attend the conference said the push to help Pakistan had given him something to smile about.

"I felt so happy, we were beginning to think that people had just left us, discarded these people," Dr Razi Muhammad told AAP.

Dr Muhammad, who is with Imamia Medics International (IMI) and returns to Pakistan on Monday, said he had been feeling sad watching the death toll mount.

"You remember the face of the little girl from last week and she's not there any more ... she's dead," he said.

Every child he saw had an eye or ear infection caused by dirty water, and skin diseases, gastro and food poisoning were rife.

People were covered with mosquito bites because of the stagnant water, and doctors were racing to prevent a malaria epidemic but did not have enough insect repellent or vaccines.

There were not enough drugs, staff or transport to treat everyone.

Dr Muhammad said the international response to the floods was "very insufficient", and people felt they were being punished for the small number of Pakistani terrorists who had caused problems.

Rev Costello echoed this, saying it had been hard for World Vision to raise funds because of accusations of terrorism and the sense in western countries of "why do these people hate us?"

IMI, which has more than 350 medical staff in Pakistan, has supported the push to freeze Pakistan's debt.

The three-day health conference wrapped up on Wednesday at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. It was the largest UN event held in Australia, and was for charities who work with the UN.

It focused on how to meet the Millenium Development Goals, ambitious targets to alleviate poverty.

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