The first full-scale audit of how the G8 group of leading industrialised nations has performed on its promises to the world’s poor since last year’s Gleneagles summit has revealed that rich countries are failing to meet almost all the targets they set themselves.
A year after billions watched Live 8 concerts, the report, published by Data (Debt, Aids, Trade, Africa) — the organisation set up by Bob Geldof and U2’s Bono — said the industrialised countries had delivered on only one of their three priorities, debt relief.
They were ”completely off track” on trade and were doing less than half of what was needed on aid. On current trends, more than 1,5million people would be deprived of treatment for HIV/Aids by 2010.
Launching the report last week, Geldof demanded the countries of the G8 make good their promises in full amid this evidence of backsliding since last year’s summit.
”The full promises must be implemented and nothing else will do,” he said at a press conference. ”To the people who are backsliding, I say this: we are not going to give up.”
The Gleneagles summit was the high point of Britain’s presidency of the G8 last year and — after strong pressure from British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Finance Minister Gordon Brown — the meeting agreed to cancel debts owed by the poorest countries to the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the African Development Bank; to increase aid by $50-billion a year; and to agree a trade deal that would help African nations to export.
The government has been pressing other G8 nations to keep their promi-ses, and last week Blair set up a moni-toring group chaired by Kofi Annan, the United Nations Secretary General, to ensure the momentum is maintained.
France, the lobby group said, was the only G8 country that had met its aid commitment. The United Kingdom, however, using debt relief granted to Nigeria to swell its develop-ment assistance, was one of the countries told by Data that it needs to do better on meeting the Gleneagles agenda. Nigeria paid $11billion to Western creditors to rid itself of debt, including $3billion to Britain — the equivalent of the UK’s entire aid budget for sub-Saharan Africa. Once Nigerian debt relief was stripped out, UK aid had increased by only $211million last year, less than was needed to meet the Gleneagles goal. ”In order to keep its commitment, the UK must increase aid to Africa in 2006 by not less than $778million.
Hilary Benn, the UK International Development Secretary, said: ”The UK’s aid budget is rising and will continue to do so. Last year, our assistance to Africa increased by £140million — and we have tripled aid to Africa since 1997. The department exceeded its target to spend £1billion in Africa this year and this will rise to £1,25billion in 2007/08. We’re the first government in British history to commit to a date to achieve the UN target of providing 0,7% of national income as aid. We’ve set a timetable to reach 0,7% by 2013, two years ahead of the European Union target of 2015.”
Data said that, given UK leadership and ”its strong ownership of the overall Gleneagles pledge”, the pledge should be brought forward to 2010.
In a foreword to the report, Nelson Mandela urged the millions of campaigners from last year to keep up the pressure. ”Because you came together and acted as one, world leaders made promises that have the potential to help millions escape the prison of poverty. That is a great achievement.
”But now we face the difficult task of making our governments turn their promises into the actions that will save millions of lives. Don’t give up now; let your politicians know you are watching every step they take. They made promises, now they must make them good.”
In a keynote speech this week, Blair accepted that much of the $25billion increase in aid last year had been the result of debt relief to Nigeria and Iraq. ”We know that this means, for some, that there is a real challenge to ensure aid figures don’t fall again in 2007 or 2008. But we are facing up to that challenge. The truth is we have done a lot. But we have got to do even more.”
Jamie Drummond, Data’s executive director, said the report showed that recent increases in effective aid were already saving lives. ”What’s also clear is that the G8 are not yet doing enough — or what they promised — to build on this proven success. The G8 are completely off track on their trade promise to Africa, and rates of increase are less than half what was promised on development assistance and the fight against HIV/Aids. Thankfully, they have kept their debt promise.
”The challenge now is clear: to get back on track, the G8 must aggressively pick up the pace and offer not less than a $4billion increase in development assistance to Africa this year and each year through to 2010. They also must demonstrate a far greater sense of ambition, urgency and focus on Africa in world trade talks.”
Delivering on the G8 promises would mean that by 2010 four million Africans with HIV/Aids and in urgent need of life-saving treatment would have access to anti-retrovirals, 600 000 children’s lives would be saved from malaria and 30million more children would go to school. — Â