Bangladesh contributes more money to UN World Food Program than all the OPEC countries.
In a damning indictment of the major oil producing nations of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), internal UN World Food Program (WFP) documents show that OPEC gives almost nothing to the WFP, even as OPEC oil revenues swell due to skyrocketing oil prices. The burden of feeding the world’s starving remains with the United States and a small group of predominately Western nations. US donations amount to $1.16 billion annually, more than five times as much as the next biggest donor, the European Commission. As an example of the deplorable state of participation by OPEC nations Saudi Arabia, with oil revenues last year of $164 billion, has contributed nothing at all. OPEC nations have contributed a grand total of $1.5 million. That is the equivalent of one minute and 10 seconds worth of OPEC’s estimated $674 billion in annual oil revenues in 2007. To further emphasize the magnitude of OPEC’s lack off charity, the poverty-stricken African republic of Burkina Faso has donated more that $600,000, and Bangladesh, home of many of the world’s hungriest people, donated nearly $5.8 million. Once again the Western world shows that it has compassion for the suffering of the world’s poor while some of the richest countries of the Middle East show that they are only concerned about acquiring more expensive cars and luxury homes for their own citizens.
