GMW: G8 - a disaster for the world's poor

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GMW: G8 - a disaster for the world's poor

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Fri, 8 Jul 2005 23:21:24 +0100

 

 

 

 

 

GM WATCH daily

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1.G8 - a disaster for the world's poor

2.G8 SUMMIT: Africa Offered a Little - At a Price

 

COMMENTS

 

" When the moment came to act, the G8 turned their back on the world's

poor. " - John Hilary, War on Want

 

" The final communique is an insult to the hundreds of thousands of

campaigners who listened in good faith to the world leaders' claim that

they were willing to seriously address poverty in Africa. More

importantly

it is a disaster for the world's poor. The agreements on trade, debt,

aid and climate change are nowhere near sufficient to tackle the global

poverty and environmental crisis we face. " - Peter Hardstaff, the World

Development Movement

 

" The people who will most immediately pay the price for this failure

will be the poor people in Africa whose lives are already being damaged

by climate

change and the increased droughts, floods and hunger it brings. " -

Stephen Tindale, Greenpeace

 

" A lot of what has been announced [on aid] has been announced and

promised before. " - Claire Melamed, Christian Aid.

 

" The G8's approach on trade seems to be 'Ask not what we can do for the

poor, but what the poor can do for us,' " - Peter Hardstaff, the World

Development Movement

 

" not a word about the agricultural subsidies in the European Union and

the United States that make competition so tough they are crippling

African farmers and their produce in their own land. " - Sunjay Sury,

Inter

Press Service (item 2)

 

" The G8 Summit was widely seen as Blair's last chance to rescue his

credibility. As details of the deal on Africa and climate change

emerge it

is

becoming clear that we have been totally betrayed. The worst outcome

would be for him to get away with it. We have a unique opportunity now

for NGOs and the Make Poverty History organisers and the Live8 concert

organisers to

demand Blair's immediate resignation. Will they have the courage to

demand this? " - Robert Vint, Genetic Food Alert

 

" Tony Blair is a liar and a warmonger " - Iain Banks, famed Scottish

novelist and supporter of the parliamentary campaign to have Blair

impeached

http://www.impeachblair.org/article23.shtml

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1.G8 condemn Africa to miss Millennium Development Goals

Press release, Friday 8 July 2005

 

Responding to the outcome of the G8 summit, World Development Movement

(WDM) Head of Policy, Peter Hardstaff said:

 

" The final communique is an insult to the hundreds of thousands of

campaigners who listened in good faith to the world leaders' claim that

they were willing to seriously address poverty in Africa. More

importantly

it is a disaster for the world's poor. The agreements on trade, debt,

aid and climate change are nowhere near sufficient to tackle the global

poverty and environmental crisis we face.

 

" We are furious, but not surprised. Calling on the G8 to Make Poverty

History this year was always a brave attempt to put aside 30 years of

knowledge of G8 failures and suspend our disbelief at the notion that the

countries responsible for causing so much poverty could become the

solution.

 

" A historic breakthrough was promised, instead we saw a tiny step. The

deals on debt and aid fall way short of what is needed to achieve

global poverty reduction targets and on trade it's business as usual

as the

G8 attempt to bulldoze more liberalisation out of the poor. These tiny

sums of money are nothing more than a sticking plaster over the deep

wounds the G8 are inflicting by forcing failed economic policies such as

privatisation, free trade and corporate deregulation, on Africa.

 

" Add the lack of anything meaningful on climate change and this once

again proves that the G8 is not a legitimate body to be tackling these

urgent global problems, this should be the last G8. The minor moves on

aid and debt need to be taken forward in other institutions such as the

UN where the G8 can't backtrack on them.

 

" The campaign to secure justice for the world's poor is far from over. "

 

On trade

 

The G8 countries made no significant unilateral commitments to change

their damaging trade policies sending a clear message that they will

only consider taking action if poor countries liberalise in return.

The G8

push to get poor countries to liberalise has even extended as far as

offering 'aid for trade' bribes - giving poor countries some extra aid

money in return for liberalisation.

 

This is despite the fact that UN research demonstrates that the

liberalisation forced on least developed countries during the 1990s was

associated with rising poverty, with the countries worst affected

being those

that had liberalised most - even though these countries received

substantial aid during the same period.

 

Peter Hardstaff said, " The G8's approach on trade seems to be 'Ask not

what we can do for the poor, but what the poor can do for us'. "

 

On aid

 

The modest increases to be delivered by 2010 will be too little too

late – and far from the $50 billion a year the UN say is needed to reach

the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Thanks to pressure from Germany

and France, it looks like Gordon Brown's International Finance Facility

may be financed through air ticket taxes rather than aid budgets. While

this may address the gaping flaw in Brown's IFF – the likely drop in

aid budgets once repayments kick-in – the money will not be new and the

tax will not be raised to a level that could reduce greenhouse gas

emissions.

 

On debt

 

The re-announced cancellation initiative is a step forward but it is

woefully inadequate. Only 18 countries currently qualify (with a possible

further 20) when over 60 have been identified as needing immediate debt

cancellation to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Therefore the

amount of money on offer can only address about 10 per cent of the

multilateral debt problem.

 

A potential crumb of comfort on aid and debt is a statement from the G8

recognising that poor countries should be free to determine their own

economic policies. However, George Bush has made it very clear that the

US only supports giving money to countries that are pursuing free

market policies, this calls into question his willingness to abide by

this

promise.

 

The key test will be whether the G8 countries make good on this action

by abolishing the economic policy conditions attached to bilateral aid,

debt relief and World Bank and IMF loans.

 

On climate change

 

The G8 failed to take any significant steps to address the greatest

environmental crisis facing human kind. The poorest people in the world

will be the ones who suffer most from this inaction.

 

ENDS

 

Notes:

 

WDM Contacts at the G8

Jo Kuper – Press Officer 07711 875 345

Peter Hardstaff – Head of Policy 07740 867 295

 

UNCTAD. (2002). Least Developed Countries Report 2002: Escaping the

Poverty Trap. Geneva. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

 

See WDM report The International Finance Facility: Boon or burden for

the poor?

http://www.wdm.org.uk/resources/briefings/general/iff.pdf

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2.G8 SUMMIT:

Africa Is Offered a Little - At a Price

Analysis by Sanjay Suri

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=29424

 

GLENEAGLES, Scotland, Jul 8 (IPS) - The G8 leaders offered Africa a

little with one hand, but that offer cloaked intent to take back more --

and with many more hands.

 

There were numbers around to satisfy rock stars turned anti-poverty

campaigners. U2 frontman Bono had said on day one of the Group of Eight

summit, " We could get to 50. " So if you add statements of an additional

25 billion dollars in aid to statements of 25 billion dollars in aid at

present, you have that magic figure of 50.

 

On the ground in Africa that figure may not appear so magical. The

leaders announced that " the commitments of G8 countries and other donors

will lead to an increase in official development assistance to Africa of

25 billion dollars a year by 2010, more than doubling aid to Africa

compared to 2004. " So only " commitments " -- and those by 2010.

 

" That is some increase in aid, but not as much as has been hyped up, "

Claire Melamed from Christian Aid told IPS. " And a lot of what has been

announced has been announced and promised before. "

 

Still, that was something to show here at the Gleneagles golf resort,

after host Britain had made Africa one of the two priorities (along with

climate change) of the summit of the heads of government of the G8 most

powerful industrialised countries (United States, Canada, France,

Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and Britain).

 

But delayed, or even partly denied donations are not Africa's problem.

The G8 pushed the privatisation principle strongly in its communique,

in the face of a host of studies, several of them accepted even by the

World Bank, that rapid and unfettered privatisation had ruined the

economies of several strong and struggling nations alike.

 

" Private enterprise is a prime engine of growth and development, " the

leaders said in the communique that marked the end of the July 6-8

summit. " African countries need to build a much stronger investment

climate:

we will continue to help them do so. " Within Africa " partnership

between the public and private sectors is crucial. "

 

The G8 offered help in building " the physical, human and institutional

capacity to trade, including trade facilitation measures. " But not a

word about the agricultural subsidies in the European Union and the

United States that make competition so tough they are crippling African

farmers and their produce in their own land.

 

And who will take more advantage of privatisation in Africa than

companies from the United States and the European Union? " The G8's

approach

on trade seems to be 'Ask not what we can do for the poor, but what the

poor can do for us,' " said Peter Hardstaff from the World Development

Movement (WDM), an independent non-governmental organisation.

 

" Trade is the main issue here. Trade is the thing the thing that has to

change, " Melamed said. And some of the wording needs to be " decoded " ,

she said. " When they speak of an ambitious Doha round of trade

negotiations, we think they mean lots of liberalisation, and when they

speak of

balance here, we think they mean they want everyone to liberalise,

including poor countries. "

 

The so-called Doha Development Agenda arose from the World Trade

Organisation's ministerial meet in the Qatari capital in 2001, but

several

issues, including agricultural subsidies and market access, have been

sticking points.

 

The G8 leaders said they will call on the international finance

institutions to consider " additional assistance to countries to

develop their

capacity to trade and ease adjustment in their economies. " The shadow

of the infamous " structural adjustment " programmes that pushed countries

to liberalise their economies at an unsustainable pace has not quite

lifted.

 

The G8 offered to support initiatives like the Enhanced Private Sector

Assistance with the Africa Development Bank and to " encourage best

practice in responsible investment through African private sector

networks. "

 

The G8 countries " sent a clear message that they will only consider

taking action if poor countries liberalise in return, " the WDM said in a

statement. " The G8 push to get poor countries to liberalise has even

extended as far as offering 'aid for trade' bribes -- giving poor

countries some extra aid money in return for liberalisation. "

 

A sign of hope in the communique is an acknowledgement that " it is up

to developing countries themselves and their governments to take the

lead on development. " The text adds: " They need to decide, plan and

sequence their economic policies to fit with their own development

strategies, for which they should be accountable to all their people. "

 

But that note is heavily countered with a particular push to

privatisation throughout the document. The contradictory messages were

some

indication of the haste with which the summit's communique was finally

agreed.

 

But Christian Aid said this was no more than a " nugget of good sense "

in the communique. " Millions of campaigners all over the world have been

led to the top of the mountain, shown the view and now we are being

frog-marched down again. "

 

The WDM said the communique is a disaster for the world's poor. " We are

furious but not surprised, " said Hardstaff. The tiny sums offered by

way of more aid " are nothing more than a sticking plaster over the deep

wounds the G8 are inflicting by forcing failed economic policies such as

privatisation, free trade and corporate deregulation on Africa. "

 

The G8 had in fact hardened its stance on trade, said John Hilary from

the group War on Want, " forcing more countries to open their markets,

and threatening millions with the misery of poverty. When the moment

came to act, the G8 turned their back on the world's poor. "

 

The communique did set out specific commitments on supporting education

in Africa, a programme that has been backed strongly by U.S. President

George W. Bush. The G8 leaders agreed to support an " education-for-all "

agenda.

 

The leaders committed themselves also to the aim of an AIDS-free

generation in Africa and of " as close as possible to universal access to

treatment for all those who need it by 2010. "

 

But as with climate change, NGOs saw Africa also as an opportunity

missed at the Gleneagles G8. And on what little was promised, " we will

monitor developments very closely to see that these things actually

happen, " Melamed said.

 

(END/2005)

 

 

 

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