Evian G8 : Time to Declare a War on Poverty in Africa by Oxfam 2:42pm 21st May, 2003   20.5.2003    Time to declare a War on Poverty in Africa    Last year, leaders of the world’s richest countries used their G8 summit to unveil a plan of action to tackle poverty in Africa. While ambitious in its rhetoric, the plan produced little new aid or debt relief for Africa, and no reform of unfair terms of trade. As the same leaders prepare for this year’s G8 summit in Evian, France, from June 1-3, action on African poverty is more vital than ever. And yet the danger is that the meeting will be dominated by Iraq. Oxfam is calling on G8 leaders also to focus their attention on Africa and to launch an all-out War Against Poverty.    Executive Summary    ’The state of Africa is a scar on the conscience of the world. But if the world as a community focused on it, we could heal it. And if we don't, it will become deeper and angrier.’ - Tony Blair, British Prime Minister, 2001.    ’In recent years we have not been attentive enough to Africa’s real economic and trade needs ... even though Africa’s position has never been so weak.’- Jacques Chirac, French President, 2003.    ’This growing divide between wealth and poverty, between opportunity and misery, is both a challenge to our compassion and a source of instability. We must confront it.’- George W. Bush, US President, 2002.    ’When it comes to trade, we are totally forgotten. They talk about eliminating poverty, but why then must they subsidise their farmers?’ - Soloba Mady Keita, Cotton Farmer, Mali, 2003.    Last year, leaders of the world’s richest countries used their G8 summit to unveil a plan of action for poverty reduction in Africa. While ambitious in its rhetoric, the plan was by any standards a timid offering. It produced little new aid or debt relief, and no reform of unfair trade. As the same leaders prepare for this year’s G8 summit in Evian, France, from June 1-3, real action is more vital than ever. Across Africa, millions of people are fighting their own war against poverty every day. The danger is that the G8 leaders will fail to play their part because they are distracted by the continuing diplomatic fall-out from the war against Iraq.    The campaign of ’shock and awe’ may be over in Iraq, but Africa’s challenges are truly shocking:    More than half of sub-Saharan Africa’s 600 million people still live on less than US$1 a day.    More than 28 million Africans are living with HIV/AIDS.    Forty per cent of children never go to school in Africa – the only region in the world where the numbers of children out of school are rising.    The Iraq crisis has demonstrated that vast financial resources can be rapidly mobilised when rich countries believe they have a strategic interest at stake. Around $70bn was scrambled by the coalition combatants in a matter of weeks to fight the war. This is more than five times the aid provided to Africa last year, and more than twice the annual amount of aid Africa needs to meet the Millennium Development Goals, the internationally agreed targets aimed at halving world poverty by 2015. World leaders have shown that when they really want to make something happen, they can and do. Oxfam is calling on G8 leaders at Evian to focus their attention on sub-Saharan Africa, to form a new coalition and to launch an all-out war on poverty.    The key battlefields in the war on poverty are:    Trade: the summit must address the enormous harm being done by the subsidies rich Western countries pay their farm sectors to produce a glut of cheap food which is dumped on world markets, undercutting African farmers and robbing millions of their livelihoods.    Aid: the G8 must deliver on the promise made at last year’s summit to devote an extra $6bn a year in aid to Africa, and agree a timetable towards reaching the $25-35bn a year which the UN estimates Africa will need if it is to meet the Millennium Goals. This should include delivering $5bn annually for basic education, and fully funding the $10bn Global Fund for HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.    Debt: the G8 must cancel the debts of African countries struggling to make repayments at the expense of their health and education systems, including delivering the full $1bn top-up required for the HIPC trust fund used to cover the costs of granting debt relief. Visit the related web page
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