MISSISSAUGA, ON— World Vision welcomes the increased focus on the protection of civilians in conflict that was agreed to by world leaders at the UN Summit this week. However, the international development agency says much work still remains to eliminate the chronic poverty that claims the lives of 30,000 children worldwide every day.

"We are encouraged by the progress made this week, and Canada's role in it," said Dave Toycen, president of World Vision. At the UN summit, Canada persuaded fellow member states to endorse a new policy called "responsibility to protect." It calls on the United Nations to intervene to protect threatened populations in cases of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. "If these leaders take seriously their responsibility to protect civilians from these atrocities, it will be good news for children in places such as northern Uganda, Darfur, and Chechnya who live in constant danger and fear," said Toycen.

Toycen lauded this resolution but expressed concern that the development aspects of conflict prevention—such as access to water and land reform—were not adequately addressed. "These critical issues need to be solved if we are ever going to see collective peace in this decade. This week leaders discussed eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to end poverty by 2015. But now we need to see their plan to put legs to those targets in terms of funding and action."

Toycen urged Prime Minister Paul Martin to take advantage of the strong public will to combat poverty that was created during " Make Poverty History "—a national campaign supported by thousands of Canadians and more than 250 organizations, including World Vision. The political will for change is also growing. In June, a resolution was passed by all parties of the House of Commons calling on Canada to increase its foreign aid to 0.7% of the national income.

"It would be a major step toward making the MDGs a reality if Canada announced on Friday that, no matter what other nations do, we are going to keep our long-standing commitment to allocate 0.7% to help the poorest of the poor," said Toycen. "Millions of children living in poverty worldwide who don't have even the basics—sufficient food and water, access to education—are still counting on Canadians to act. Will we continue to let them down?"

World Vision is an international Christian relief and development organization working in more than 90 countries, providing help to more than 85 million people annually.