At the G20: To be Vulnerable is More than to be Poor and Hungry

Protestors and politicians are converging on London for tomorrow's meeting of the G20, and dire forecasts of global economic meltdown are bouncing around the newswires and blogosphere like bidding war for the honor of World's Worst Prediction Come True. The cause for alarm is, sadly, valid.

Among the topics of discussion presented on the London Summit's nifty, participant-friendly website is the need to protect particularly vulnerable populations --- namely, though the creation of a pooled "Vulnerability Fund" to support safety-net programs in hard-hit developing countries. The need for a global solution to a global crisis, as World Bank President Robert Zoellick says, critical --- and besides, if the Heritage Foundation hates it, then there's a pretty good chance that it's actually a good thing for the world.

But the world's most vulnerable are in need of far more than traditional poverty alleviation. The ripple effects of the global economic crisis threaten to deepen on-going violent conflict and push tenuous societies over the same precipice --- the political instability created by economic meltdown could, in some places, open the door to an unmitigated parade of human rights abuses and a buffet menu of atrocities committed against unshielded civilians.

The world's most vulnerable are not only threatened by declining employment rates and rising food prices, but stand to lose the most basic right of all: The right to exist. Meanwhile, as suffering stands to increase exponentially, humanitarian agencies and human rights organizations are all taking serious hits their budgets.

The risk of increased violent conflict needs to be on the agenda of the G20. The main focus of the summit tomorrow is on economic policy, but no issue exists in a silo --- economics, foreign policy, human rights, conflict resolution, and more all overlap in intricate and complex ways.

Interestingly, the Obama Administration announced today that it will seek a seat at the UN Human Rights Council, offering that "human rights are an essential element of American global foreign policy." The promotion of human rights --- which I consider as a necessary part of civilian protection and conflict prevention/resolution (not everyone does) --- is not just a matter of foreign policy. Rather, a human rights-based foreign policy must be an integral factor to a responsible global economic policy, and vice versa, that sees the protection of those most vulnerable to abuse not just as a moral imperative, but as necessary to mitigate fallout and move towards global stability.

To be vulnerable to the economic meltdown is not just to be poor and hungry --- it's also to be beaten and abused. Now is the time to anticipate and prevent. This needs to be a part of the conversation.

(PS - Change.org's own Michael Kleinman is in London, blogging for G20 Voices. Check it out.)

[Photo: Three-year-old Agustin covers his face with a net "against mosquitoes" at the Kituku camp for the displaced in Goma, eastern Congo, Monday, Nov. 10, 2008. Augustin came with over 200 families of park rangers from the Virunga National Park one month ago, fleeing fighting between rebels and government forces that has left tens of thousands of refugees desperate for international aid.
(Jerome Delay/AP Photo)]