- The dust has settled since rich nations met in Gleneagles, Scotland, to hammer out pledges for billions of dollars in new aid and debt relief.
G8 leaders decided to double aid for Africa to ${esc.dollar}50 billion by 2010, having agreed earlier to write off the debt of 14 African states. Leaders also pledged to end farm-export subsidies blamed for keeping farmers in poor countries in grinding poverty, although no timetable was set.
Did the outcomes meet the hopes of millions inspired by the global Make Poverty history campaign and massive Live 8 rock concerts? &${esc.hash}39;A great justice has been done,&${esc.hash}39; said Live 8 organiser bob Geldof.
But do aid workers agree? AlertNet asked key players in the humanitarian community for their views on the historic G8 summit at Gleneagles.
GENERAL REACTION&${esc.hash}39;The G8 have recognized today that this is the beginning, not the end, of their efforts to overcome poverty. The world&${esc.hash}39;s richest nations have delivered welcome progress for the world&${esc.hash}39;s poorest people, but the outcome here in Gleneagles has fallen short of the hopes of the millions around the world campaigning for a momentous breakthrough.
&${esc.hash}39;The G8&${esc.hash}39;s aid increase could save the lives of five million children by 2010 &${esc.hash}39; but 50 million children&${esc.hash}39;s lives will still be lost because the G8 didn&${esc.hash}39;t go as far as they should have done. If the ${esc.dollar}50 billion increase had kicked in immediately, it could have lifted 300 million people out of poverty in the next five years.&${esc.hash}39; Jo Leadbeater, Head of Policy, Oxfam International
***
&${esc.hash}39;The people have roared but the G8 has whispered.&${esc.hash}39; Kumi Naidoo, chair of the Global Call to Action against Poverty
***
&${esc.hash}39;The pledges made at the G8 summit were a good first step toward alleviating global poverty, but it&${esc.hash}39;s important to remember that much more is needed. We will work with Congress and the American public to ensure that the commitments President Bush made become reality, and we will hold this administration accountable for its promises. The proof of the pudding will be how much aid actually reaches the people who need it the most.&${esc.hash}39; Mohammad Akhter, president and CEO, InterAction
***
&${esc.hash}39;What Africa needed from the G8 was a giant leap forward. All it got was tiny steps. The deal that has been announced falls way short of our demands. We have some aid, but not enough, some debt relief but not enough and virtually nothing on trade. Once again Africa&${esc.hash}39;s people have been short-changed.&${esc.hash}39; Caroline Sande Mukulira, ActionAid&${esc.hash}39;s Southern Africa programme
***
With new commitments toward helping Africa strengthen economically, increase agricultural production and provide health and educational opportunities, we will advance toward our goal of reducing extreme poverty. Combined with the recent agreement on 100 percent multilateral debt relief for many developing countries and the promise of trade reform, this is a significant step forward in the fight to end extreme poverty, hunger and disease. Susan Farnsworth, senior vice president of programmes, CARE USA
***
&${esc.hash}39;The final communiqu&${esc.hash}39; is an insult to the hundreds of thousands of campaigners who listened in good faith to the world leaders&${esc.hash}39; claim that they were willing to seriously address poverty in Africa. More importantly it is a disaster for the world&${esc.hash}39;s poor. The agreements on trade, debt, aid and climate change are nowhere near sufficient to tackle the global poverty and environmental crisis we face.
&${esc.hash}39;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.&${esc.hash}39; Peter Hardstaff, head of policy, World Development Movement
***
ON TRADE&${esc.hash}39;The G8 have completely failed to deliver trade justice. Bush and the EU have played a cynical game of bluff. The US has no intention of giving up or lowering the massive subsidies it gives its cotton farmers that are forcing 10 million farmers in West Africa out of business. Poor countries should take this as a warning that they will have a hard fight in the up-coming trade talks at the WTO.&${esc.hash}39; Adriano Campolina Soares, head of ActionAid&${esc.hash}39;s Americas programme
***
&${esc.hash}39;In dressing up this announcement on export subsidies as some movement in the right direction (G8 leaders are not being honest). It is no different from what was announced a year ago at the previous set of WTO negotiations. We feel that apart from the acknowledgement in the communiqu&${esc.hash}39;, which we think was largely thanks to the UK government&${esc.hash}39;s efforts about poor countries needing flexibility to get the pace of their reforms on trade correct, we were largely discouraged on trade. Andrew Pendleton, senior policy officer on trade and private sector, Christian Aid
***
&${esc.hash}39;Despite constant calls from people worldwide for trade justice it is desperately disappointing that G8 leaders failed to act properly on this issue. The debt deal announced is a small belated step in the right direction.&${esc.hash}39; Kumi Naidoo, chair of the Global Call to Action against Poverty
***
ON DEBT RELIEFThe G8 has done no more than confirm the proposed deal by the G8 Finance Ministers, cancelling some of the debt owed by some countries. The principle of cancelling 100 per cent of the debt owed to multilateral institutions is a positive step, and a tribute to the unceasing efforts of Make Poverty History campaigners and campaigners worldwide; but this debt deal is a small step compared to the giant leap that was called for.
While an important contribution, the G8 debt deal will provide less than ${esc.dollar}1 billion this year - the equivalent of no more than one dollar per person in the countries that are due to benefit. It is an inadequate response to the global debt crisis, which needs an estimated ${esc.dollar}10 billion a year of debt cancellation to eradicate extreme poverty.
Major issues on debt remain unresolved - the damaging economic policy conditions attached to debt relief, the many indebted countries not on the list, debts not covered by the deal. Official Response from the Make Poverty History campaign
***
ON HIV/AIDS&${esc.hash}39;The G8&${esc.hash}39;s promise of Aids treatment for all who need them by 2010 is welcome. However, the means to deliver this target need to be put in place. It needs ${esc.dollar}18 billion new money in the next three years. We need fair trade rules that allow countries to buy and produce cheaper drugs. Without these changes the G8&${esc.hash}39;s target is meaningless.&${esc.hash}39; Simon Wright, head of ActionAid UK&${esc.hash}39;s HIV and Aids campaign
***
&${esc.hash}39;On the aids issue and getting medicines for AIDS, I have to say I don&${esc.hash}39;t believe that this (the G8&${esc.hash}39;s target) can happen because I don&${esc.hash}39;t believe that we have the health systems in place to deliver treatment to people on that scale. We are not even reaching the three million people with ARV&${esc.hash}39;s this year in Africa, and if we think that somehow or other we are going to get to thirty million by 2010, I just don&${esc.hash}39;t believe that.&${esc.hash}39; Tom Arnold, CEO, Concern
ON BOB GELDOF&${esc.hash}39;Bob Geldof&${esc.hash}39;s response to the G8 communiqu&${esc.hash}39; is misleading and inaccurate. By offering such unwarranted praise for the dismal deal signed by world leaders he has done a disservice to the hundreds of thousands of people who marched in Edinburgh at the weekend. His comments do not reflect the collective conclusions of the development campaigns that make up Make Poverty History. Mr. Geldof has become too close the decision makers to take an objective view of what has been achieved at this summit.&${esc.hash}39; Peter Hardstaff, head of policy, World Development Movement
***
&${esc.hash}39;Bob Geldof may be content with crumbs from the table of his rich political friends. But we did not come to Gleneagles as beggars. We came to demand justice for the world&${esc.hash}39;s poor. We have no problem with Geldof celebrating the successes of the Gleneagles summit and the 10 million lives he feels will be saved as a result of this deal. But what about the other 2 billion people driven into poverty by the policies of the G8? Did the leaders of the rich world have nothing for them?" John Hilary, director of policy and campaigns, War on Want
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
