The millions of people who campaigned for action on poverty at the G8 summit – and who have won some gains at Gleneagles - must now intensify pressure on world leaders for faster and deeper progress in the push to make poverty history, says Christian relief and development agency Tearfund.
“There has been progress this week in addressing the awful and pervasive poverty in our world thanks to ordinary people demanding that politicians take action, but there is still a significant gap between what we are asking for and what the G8 have delivered this week,” commented Andy Atkins, Advocacy Director of Tearfund.
He added: “The G8 themselves acknowledge that the results from Gleneagles were not all that everyone wanted, but that the steps taken will save many lives. We must push the politicians in what remains of 2005 and beyond to take bigger steps forward.”
Over the three days of meetings the G8 agreed to boost aid by nearly $50 billion a year from 2010, five years short of what Make Poverty History is asking for. “Overall it is too little aid being delivered too slowly,” says Laura Webster, Tearfund’s aid policy advisor. “Even the United Nations says that this increase in aid will not be enough to meet the Millennium Development Goals of halving poverty by 2015.” There were also warm words from the world leaders about improving the effectiveness of aid, but little in terms of concrete commitments to ensure aid reaches the poorest people in the poorest countries.
On international debt relief, the decision by the G8 confirmed a recent announcement by G7 finance ministers for debt cancellation to be deepened for 18 countries. “Many lives will be saved due to the debt relief decisions, but major issues still remain. The issue of economic policy conditions attached to debt relief must be addressed. And there are also many countries not on the list to receive debt relief,” says Andy Atkins. “We have not seen any good news for those countries this week.”
On issues of trade, Tearfund cautiously welcomed indications from the G8 leaders that poor countries will be given more say over their economic policies, but said further concrete progress was essential in the coming months. The lack of a hoped-for announcement about a date for the ending of damaging agricultural export subsidies from the west was ‘disappointing.’
One of the most encouraging outcomes of the Summit related to HIV/AIDS. World leaders set as a goal universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS by the year 2010, with an action plan to achieve it. Richard Weaver, Tearfund’s HIV/AIDS policy officer said: “This is a success and we are encouraged by such an important commitment which also highlighted the plight of orphans and vulnerable children. HIV/AIDS is undermining development across the globe. The G8 have this week begun to restore hope to the 40 million people currently living with HIV/AIDS.”
Richard added: “One of the challenges now facing the G8 countries is to produce the money required to ensure that everyone living with HIV/AIDS is able to receive the treatment they need.”
Less encouraging for campaigners reading the small print of the G8 communiqué was the lack of progress on the crucial issue of access to clean water and adequate sanitation, which blights the lives of more than two billion people. While the G8 leaders acknowledged the need to increase and improve aid in the area of water and sanitation, there were no specific targets, such as doubling the amount of water and sanitation aid to Africa by 2008, which Tearfund and others had hoped for.
Commented Joanne Green, senior policy advisor at Tearfund: “We appreciate the lead the UK government has shown with its own policies on water and sanitation, but it is very disappointing that most of the G8 leaders have failed to follow their lead at this Summit.”
Andy Atkins concluded: “The G8 has taken another step towards dealing with poverty. Thanks to the campaigning of churches, the public and other groups, Make Poverty History is having a powerful impact. We would ask everyone who has given the campaign such momentum to continue so that governments are pushed take further steps during the UK’s Presidency of the European Union and at other major summits this year.”