Have the G8 kept their promises on making poverty history? by Oxfam / The Independent 10:19am 27th Jun, 2006   June 30, 2006    Have the G8 kept their promises? (Oxfam International)    As the 2006 G8 Summit in St Petersburg approaches, Oxfam Campaigns Director Adrian Lovett examines whether G8 leaders have kept the promises they made one year ago in Gleneagles, and whether we are any closer to making poverty history.      What did the G8 in Gleneagles achieve?    It’s no secret that the G8 fell well short of what we asked for, but if the G8 keep the promises they made in Gleneagles, millions of lives could still be saved. Some of the decisions taken last year are already making a difference in some of the world’s poorest countries, and that’s a direct result of the millions of people around the world who spoke out last year and demanded action from world leaders to make poverty history.    What exactly did the G8 promise?    "If the G8 kep the promises they made in Gleneagles, millions of lives could still be saved."    The G8 agreed to cancel the debt owed by 35 of the world’s poorest countries to the World Bank, IMF and African Development Fund. They also promised to increase aid to poor countries by $50 billion annually by 2010, with half of this going to Africa. They promised increases in humanitarian aid and support to peacekeeping and arms control, and they indicated their desire to see a world trade deal that favours poor countries. Finally they agreed to take some steps in tackling climate change.    All of that adds up to some significant steps forward – though we believe they could and should have done more. Much more is still needed. In the past year alone, 11 million children have lost their lives because of poverty and preventable disease. That’s a child every three seconds.    Where have these promises already made a difference?    In Zambia, The deal on debt cancellation is already having a positive impact on peoples’ lives - the resources freed up are being used to recruit and pay thousands more health workers and teachers.    In Tanzania, the government is using the money saved to import vital food supplies for those affected by drought.    Governments are also developing poverty plans and clear methods for spending the money saved to help poor people, instead of allowing it to be wasted through corruption.    And on aid, although the money promised represents only half of the target that rich countries signed up to more than 30 years ago, it could still make a massive difference in the fight against poverty.    How much of a difference could the extra aid make?    "The extra aid could pay for every child in the world to go to school. It could provide life-saving treatment for millions of people living with HIV/AIDS."    It could pay for every child in the world to go to school. It could deliver free health care to the 500,000 women who die each year in pregnancy or childbirth. It could provide life-saving treatment for millions of people living with HIV/AIDS. It could train and pay for the two million additional teachers and four million health workers needed to provide adequate health and education for all.    Why could? A promise is a promise, what"s the catch?    For this promise to really work, aid must be flexible, long-term, without harmful strings attached, and go directly to the countries that need it.    Oxfam figures show that in 2005, G8 countries gave an additional $5 billion in “real” aid. The G8 themselves claim a much higher figure of $21 billion, but in reality, $16 billion of this is the result of debt cancellation deals done for Nigeria and Iraq. Debt cancellation is really important – but if rich countries continue to use their aid budgets to pay for debt cancellation then much less new money is available to poor countries to spend on fighting poverty.    What are the knock-on effects for poor people?    This shortfall in G8 funding undermines important global initiatives set up to fight poverty – initiatives like the Education Fast Track Initiative, the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria and the new UN Central Emergencies Response Fund. These all remain shockingly underfunded.    A key victory at Gleneagles was the commitment to achieving universal access to HIV treatment by 2010. In 2005, 630,000 people with HIV/AIDS got treatment, a great achievement. Yet this is far from enough to get on track for the 2010 target, and still leaves six million people with no access to medicines that can keep them alive. Rich countries need to get much more money into the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria, the key mechanism for fighting these three diseases.    That’s why we need to keep putting pressure on the G8 to keep the promises made at Gleneagles and to challenge them to go further.    Will there be the chance to challenge the G8 on these issues at this year’s summit?    On the table in St Petersburg is progress since last year, and the Russian government has put education, health and Africa on the agenda of the G8 summit in St Petersburg in July. However all the signs are of a desire by many G8 countries to return to more low-key and understated G8 meetings focused mainly on the global economy. That’s not what we want to see. There must be no return to business as usual.    What is Oxfam doing to keep poverty on the agenda in St Petersburg?    With our colleagues in the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) in other G8 countries and across the world, we’re planning an array of actions designed to exert maximum pressure on finance ministers. This includes targeting G8 embassies in rich and poor countries.    We are also working with GCAP campaigners in Russia to make sure they have a voice in the G8 process and to ensure that their demands of fair access to health, education, jobs and adequate housing are met. The GCAP coalition is planning two high profile events in St Petersburg itself: a concert on 7 July, and a festival that will introduce the work of GCAP to the public, decision makers and journalists.    So what can ordinary people do to get the G8 to keep its promises?    The UK government deserves credit for pressuring other leaders to do more on education in recent months, calling on rich countries to deliver the long-term commitments of $10 billion annually needed to get every child into school.    That’s why we are targeting Tony Blair. We want everyone who wants to be part of the fight to end poverty to say “I’m in!” and join Oxfam in getting Mr Blair to keep the promises he made at Gleneagles and to work hard to get other G8 leaders to do the same.    Last year millions of people around the world demonstrated that they would not tolerate poverty any longer. They won’t tolerate leaders who forget their promises.    June 30, 2006    Geldof says Richest Countries" pledge to End Poverty in Africa still not Honoured, by Philip Thornton. (The Independent/UK)    The world"s richest countries have failed to live up to promises they gave at the Gleneagles summit a year ago to end extreme poverty in Africa, Bob Geldof said yesterday.    Mr Geldof called on the Group of Eight (G8) rich nations to do more to meet the commitments they made in July 2005 in Scotland in the wake of the worldwide "Make Poverty History" campaign and the Live8 concert in London. He said that while G8 countries had honoured pledges to cancel some poor countries debts, commitments on aid were falling behind. A fair deal on world trade was also as distant a prospect as it was a year ago, he said.    Geldof said the performance on debt relief was good, aid "OK", but trade "ugly". He told a news conference: "Summing it up, there"s the good, the OK and there is the seemingly ugly.    "A parent makes a promise to a child and if that promise is broken cynicism and a lack of trust set in. The promise from the economically powerful to the economically weak is more important because if we break that promise, we kill them."    Nelson Mandela, the former South African president, addressed the London meeting via a videolink. He said: "We can be the great generation that makes poverty history but to make poverty history we must now make promises happen one by one. Don"t give up now, let your politicians know you are watching every step they take."    Mr Mandela and Geldof were speaking at the launch of a report by the campaign group DATA, headed by the U2 frontman and Africa campaigner Bono, to mark the first anniversary of the summit. DATA - which stands for Debt, Aid, Trade, Africa - said progress so far had been "painfully slow, proceeding at best at half-pace".    Last year, the G8 promised $50bn (£27bn) with more aid every year by 2010, half of that going to Africa; comprehensive Aids treatment by 2010; debt cancellation for 38 of the world"s poorest countries; primary education for all children by 2010 and a trade deal benefiting Africa.    Jamie Drummond, the executive director of DATA, said: "The G8 strode forward down the promised path of debt, but have shuffled with a halting half-pace on aid, while falling backwards on trade. The campaigners around the world who got the G8 closer to the right path in the first place must now encourage them to accelerate down it."    Campaign groups are building up for protests around the world in the run-up the summit of the heads of state of the G8 in St Petersburg next month.    Out of the G8 countries - Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, Britain and US -DATA gave top marks to France as the only country on track for the 2010 aid target. It singled out Britain for praise for Gordon Brown"s campaign to launch a multibillion-pound initiative to front-load cash to fund vaccinations against killer diseases, and for its "leadership" on debt and the fight against Aids. It reserved its main criticism for Germany, whose aid budget fell last year, and Italy, which it said was "way off track" on the 2010 commitments.    The UK Government said its official aid budget would continue to rise, hitting the global benchmark of 0.7 per cent of national income by 2013, two years ahead of the EU"s target of 2015.    DATA did not assess Russia as it still grappling with development issues of its own.    Meanwhile hopes of a deal to open up agricultural markets to Africa by cutting tariffs and subsidies in the US and Europe were fading. Ministers from 60 countries were meeting yesterday at the headquarters of the World Trade Organisation in Geneva in a last-ditch attempt to get a deal. Celso Amorim, the Brazilian Foreign Minister, said: "I have the impression that the gaps have actually widened or at least have become more rigid."    June 26, 2006    Failure to Deliver on G8 Pledges Has Left Millions to Die, Says Charity Report, by Maxine Frith and Nigel Morris. (The Independent / UK)    The huge pledges of aid, debt relief and trade reforms that were promised at last year"s G8 conference at Gleneagles have not been delivered, according to a report by Action Aid.    Next week sees the first anniversary of the summit, which coincided with the Make Poverty History campaign and Live8 concerts.    Tony Blair claimed a moral and political victory in the negotiations, which led to the cancelling of debt for the 18 poorest countries in the world, as well as a doubling of the aid budget, better access to HIV drugs and fundamental reform of the US and EU subsidy systems.    Writing in The Independent today, the Prime Minister insists there has been a "great deal of progress in many areas" over the past 12 months, but acknowledges there have been "disappointments", particularly the failure to reach a global trade deal. And in a speech tonight, he will hail the agreement reached at Gleneagles.    But detailed analysis by the charity Action Aid strikes a more pessimistic note, concluding that many of the much-lauded commitments from the world"s most powerful leaders have not been met.    Its report, entitled Mission Unaccomplished and seen by The Independent, says millions of lives are still being lost in Africa and the rest of the developing world by the failure of Western countries to live up to the favourable headlines generated by the summit. The charity is calling for the millions of people who supported the Make Poverty History campaign to use the first anniversary to increase pressure on the Government over the failed pledges.    The report says: "At present, a mixture of backsliding, buck-passing and half measures by rich countries risk undoing much of the progress. One year on, the world"s richest countries are moving too slowly, or not moving at all, on most of their key commitments to tackle poverty.    "Unless they take urgent action now to meet their pledges on aid, trade and HIV and Aids, the prospect of progress towards ending poverty will be jeopardised."    More than one billion people still live on less than a dollar a day. Seven million children die every year from poverty-related diseases and Africa is not yet on track to meet any of the eight Millennium Development Goals for 2015.    The G8 countries promised to double aid to Africa by 2010 as part of a $50bn (£27.5bn) increase in funding. But, despite increases promised by Gordon Brown, aid from the UK has fallen in the past year once debt relief and funding to Iraq is excluded.    Britain is still not on track to meet the target of giving 0.56 per cent of national income in aid, excluding debt relief. And the countries that need to increase their contributions the most - the US, Germany and Italy - are "dragging their heels".    World leaders agreed to cut subsidies and open their markets to the poorest countries, who cannot compete in world markets. But the report found that the US and the EU are still spending more than $100bn a year on subsidy payments to their own farmers, while continuing to dump cheap exports in developing countries so local producers cannot sell their goods in their own markets.    Forthcoming talks at the World Trade Organisation look set to end in deadlock, with France refusing to accept any outcome that implies reform of the Common Agricultural Policy.    While the world"s 18 poorest countries have had their debts cancelled, campaigners say another 40 nations need a similar deal. There are also concerns that, despite promises, conditions are being attached to debt cancellation, such as forcing developing countries to open their markets to richer nations.    A promise of universal access to HIV treatments is also not on track to be met, because donors such as the US have failed to contribute sufficient money. The funding gap is currently more than $10bn a year.
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