LDC Watch EU

LDC Watch - an alliance of regional and national civil society organizations (CSOs) and networks based in the LDCs and supported by civil society from development partner countries - primarily monitors the implementation of the Brussels Program of Action through its lobbying, networking and policy advocacy at national, regional and international levels pressing LDC governments and their development partners to uphold their commitments.

Through her European Coordination Office in Brussels, LDC Watch engages with the European Parliament, The European Commission and the EU member states to ensure the effective implementation of the BPoA at all levels with all stakeholders.

750 million people live in 50 Least Developed Countries (LDCs), which are the world's poorest countries, where over half the population lives on less than US$1 a day. Adult literacy In the LDCs is 49% as compared to 81% in other developing countries; maternal mortality remains the highest (890 deaths per 100,000 live births); under five mortality rate is 160 deaths per 1000 live births compared to 86 in the rest of the world; the rate of new HIV/AIDS cases (3.2%) remains the highest; 42% of the population has no access to improved water; and nearly 140 million people live in poor housing conditions. These vulnerable economies continue to be threatened with increased debt burdens, economic shocks, hunger, environmental degradation and gender injustice, negatively impacting the quality of life in the LDCs.

In 1971, the United Nations (UN) identified 24 countries as LDCs, recognizing them as the most vulnerable of the world and deciding on LDC-targeted special measures in the global development strategies. Yet, after three decades of supposed special attention (with three UN LDC conferences and three specific Programmes of Action for the LDCs), the number of LDCs has increased to 50. This indicates the failure of aid and development policies and practices to reverse the deterioration of socio-economic conditions in these vulnerable countries.

The Third UN Conference on the LDCs (UN LDC III) was hosted by the European Union (EU) in Brussels in 2001 adopting the Brussels Programme of Action (BPoA) for the LDCs for the Decade 2001-2010 which provides "a framework for a strong global partnership to accelerate sustained economic growth and sustainable development in LDCs, to end marginalization by eradicating poverty, inequality and deprivation in these countries, and to enable them to integrate beneficially into the global economy".