Brussels - Rich countries have largely failed to back their roaring lip service to combating global poverty by doing more to help.
The Washington-based Center for Global Development said that while two-third of rich countries had improved their policies towards poorer nations in the last three years, seven had gone backwards.
The Netherlands does more than other rich nations to improve lives in developing countries, and it is followed by Denmark and Sweden.
The Netherlands topped the list because the amount of aid it gives in proportion to the size of its economy is high, the quality of its foreign aid is high, and its foreign development policies are productive in terms of helping poorer countries.
The same is true for Scandinavian countries. Both give a healthy amount of aid in proportion to their economies.
Among the European Union member states included, Greece, Italy and France feature at the bottom of the table.
Japan comes in last on the list due to its low aid donations and high barriers to imports and migrants from poorer countries.
The United Kingdom, one of the loudest supporters of the pro-development agenda in 2005 - is number12 on the annual index, followed by the United States in 13th place.
Even though the United Kingdom has the best environmental record in dealing with developing countries and a healthy track record for investment in poor countries, it loses points for its sale of arms to undemocratic countries and because its borders are relatively closed to immigrants from poor countries.
The United States was particularly criticised, as, although it donates the largest amount in absolute terms, it is the smallest amount in relation to the size of its economy.
Part of the United States aid is also contingent on the purchase of the U.S. goods, notes the report.
The United States was also criticised for its handling of aid in Iraq, with the Center for Global Developments (CGD) claiming that 90 Cents in every dollar was lost to violence and corruption.
On the other hand, the United States and three other non-European countries - New Zealand, Australia and Canada - feature as the best in terms of trade as their barriers to export from developing countries are not as high as those from some European Union, member states evaluated in the Commitment to Development Index.
The United States comes last on the environment component of the scoring because its low taxes on gas promote consumption and its per-capita greenhouse gases released comes second only to Australia.
In a related matter, speaking at the 16th International Aids Conference in Toronto, Canada, Stephen Lewis, UN Special Envoy on Aids, said that President George Bush's $15-billion Emergency Plan for HIV/Aids was too focused on promoting abstinence, and added that abstinence programmes had been shown not to work.
Mr. Lewis said that the United States was practicing "incipient neo-colonialism" by telling African nations how to fight the disease.
"You do not provide money on the condition that they reflect your ideological priorities."
Sub-Saharan Africa remains the epicenter of the AIDS pandemic, with two thirds of all people living with HIV coming from the region. Mr. Lewis accused the West of failing to deliver on funding commitments they had made to fight the disease.
Israel Rafalovich
Please also see:
Aid Effectiveness http://www.cgdev.org/section/topics/aid_effectiveness
Center for Global Development http://www.cgdev.org
The Washington-based Center for Global Development said that while two-third of rich countries had improved their policies towards poorer nations in the last three years, seven had gone backwards.
The Netherlands does more than other rich nations to improve lives in developing countries, and it is followed by Denmark and Sweden.
The Netherlands topped the list because the amount of aid it gives in proportion to the size of its economy is high, the quality of its foreign aid is high, and its foreign development policies are productive in terms of helping poorer countries.
The same is true for Scandinavian countries. Both give a healthy amount of aid in proportion to their economies.
Among the European Union member states included, Greece, Italy and France feature at the bottom of the table.
Japan comes in last on the list due to its low aid donations and high barriers to imports and migrants from poorer countries.
The United Kingdom, one of the loudest supporters of the pro-development agenda in 2005 - is number12 on the annual index, followed by the United States in 13th place.
Even though the United Kingdom has the best environmental record in dealing with developing countries and a healthy track record for investment in poor countries, it loses points for its sale of arms to undemocratic countries and because its borders are relatively closed to immigrants from poor countries.
The United States was particularly criticised, as, although it donates the largest amount in absolute terms, it is the smallest amount in relation to the size of its economy.
Part of the United States aid is also contingent on the purchase of the U.S. goods, notes the report.
The United States was also criticised for its handling of aid in Iraq, with the Center for Global Developments (CGD) claiming that 90 Cents in every dollar was lost to violence and corruption.
On the other hand, the United States and three other non-European countries - New Zealand, Australia and Canada - feature as the best in terms of trade as their barriers to export from developing countries are not as high as those from some European Union, member states evaluated in the Commitment to Development Index.
The United States comes last on the environment component of the scoring because its low taxes on gas promote consumption and its per-capita greenhouse gases released comes second only to Australia.
In a related matter, speaking at the 16th International Aids Conference in Toronto, Canada, Stephen Lewis, UN Special Envoy on Aids, said that President George Bush's $15-billion Emergency Plan for HIV/Aids was too focused on promoting abstinence, and added that abstinence programmes had been shown not to work.
Mr. Lewis said that the United States was practicing "incipient neo-colonialism" by telling African nations how to fight the disease.
"You do not provide money on the condition that they reflect your ideological priorities."
Sub-Saharan Africa remains the epicenter of the AIDS pandemic, with two thirds of all people living with HIV coming from the region. Mr. Lewis accused the West of failing to deliver on funding commitments they had made to fight the disease.
Israel Rafalovich
Please also see:
Aid Effectiveness http://www.cgdev.org/section/topics/aid_effectiveness
Center for Global Development http://www.cgdev.org