WDM is an outstanding organisation - independent, clever in its campaigning, meticulous in its research, and angry. Its important work deserves our support.
John Pilger, author and activist
Sign
up to E-NewsWDM verdict on G8 action on trade justice, debt cancellation, more and better aid
The Make Poverty History Campaign set a range of challenges to the G8 on aid, debt and trade. What follows is an analysis of G8 commitments on all of these demands.
Aid
Make Poverty History demand: Fully finance the Millennium Development Goals by providing at least $50bn more in aid each year from 2005 onwards.
Outcome of G8 2005: The G8 has committed to providing $50 billion more in aid by 2010. Only $15 billion of this is 'new money' (ie, new commitments made in 2005). The rest is made up of existing commitments The UN has estimated that $50 billion extra is needed every year starting now in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. $50 billion by 2010 is simply too little, too late and sets a course for failure.
Make Poverty History demand: Reach the internationally agreed target of 0.7% of gross national income by 2010 at the latest.
Outcome of G8 2005: The G8 statement reiterates the timetables set by various G7 countries to reach the 0.7% target: France by 2012, UK by 2013 and Italy and Germany by 2015. There is no mention of a timetable for Japan, Canada and the USA. Again, these are small steps (or no steps) when giant leaps are needed.
Make Poverty History demand: Develop innovative sources of financing for development, including a Currency Transaction Tax and an Aviation Tax, while at the same time ensuring that any such mechanisms are additional to our commitment to reach the 0.7% target.
Outcome of G8 2005: The G8 statement says that "A group of the [G8] countries … firmly believe that innovative financing mechanisms can help deliver and bring forward the financing needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals." These countries commit to "continuing to consider the International Financing Facility (IFF), a pilot IFF for immunization and a solidarity contribution on plane tickets to finance development projects, in particular in the health sector, and to finance the IFF. A working group will consider the implementation of these mechanisms." While the development of new funding streams such as an air ticket tax to fund the IFF could address one of its fundamental flaws, the drop in aid levels when it is time to repay the IFF loans, the idea of a voluntary ('solidarity') payment is weak and, in any case, the European G8 countries that support the idea have only agreed to further 'consider' it.
Make Poverty History demand: Commit to ensuring universal access to AIDS treatment for all who need it by 2010.
Outcome of G8 2005: The G8 committed to "the aim of as close as possible to universal access to treatment for all those who need it by 2010". The G8 also committed to "work to meet the financing needs for HIV/AIDS". This may well be positive if the G8 countries can overcome their long-standing habit of failing to live up to the fine words of their communiqués.
Make Poverty History demand: Provide the $2 billion needed to fund treatment for 3 million people by the end of 2005.
Outcome of G8 2005:The G8 communiqué makes no specific reference to this.
Make Poverty History demand: Commit to ensuring that 70% of G8 aid goes to the poorest countries and that all aid is used explicitly for the purposes of poverty reduction.
Outcome of G8 2005: The G8 committed to implementing commitments already made in the Paris Declaration on aid effectiveness. The Paris declaration makes no commitments on increasing the proportion of aid going to the poorest countries. Neither does it explicitly state that all aid should be used for the purposes of poverty reduction.[1]
Make Poverty History demand: Work with other donors and the international financial institutions to ensure that all economic policy conditionality, such as privatisation, deregulation and trade liberalisation, is ended.
Outcome of G8 2005: The G8 state that, "It is up to developing countries themselves and their governments to take the lead on development. 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." If the G8 countries really mean what they say, they will abolish all economic policy conditions attached to their own bilateral aid programmes and vote for abolishing all economic policy conditions attached to World Bank and IMF loans, grants and debt relief.
WDM remains to be convinced given that the G8 countries will do so. At his joint press conference with Tony Blair in June, George Bush said, "We're really not interested in supporting a government that doesn't have open economies and open markets. We expect there to be, you know, reciprocation."[2]
Make Poverty History demand: Fully untie all aid including food aid and technical assistance.
Outcome of G8 2005: The G8 commited to implementing commitments already made in the Paris Declaration on aid effectiveness. The Paris declaration states that donors will make progress on the 2001 OECD recommendation on untying aid.[3]
This declaration only applies to the Least Developed Countries, and explicitly excludes food aid and technical assistance from being untied.[4]
Make Poverty History demand: Ensuring that the Rome Declaration on Harmonisation and Alignment of aid is fully implemented.
Outcome of G8 2005: The G8 committed to implementing commitments already made in the Paris Declaration on aid effectiveness, which is a framework for implementing the Rome declaration, with targets set for 2010. It is to be seen whether another commitment to implement commitments will mean that they are actually implemented. There was no mention from the G8 of doing so before 2010.
Notes:
[1] High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness. (2005). Paris declaration on aid effectiveness: Ownership, harmonisation, alignment, results and mutual accountability. OECD. Paris. 28 February - 2 March 2005.
[2] Transcript: Joint Press Conference with President Bush and Prime Minister Blair, Tuesday, June 7, 2005; 4:20 PM. Washington Post.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/07/
AR2005060701118.html
[3] High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness. (2005). Paris declaration on aid effectiveness: Ownership, harmonisation, alignment, results and mutual accountability. OECD. Paris. 28 February - 2 March 2005.
[4] OECD. (2001). DAC recommendation on untying official development assistance to the least developed countries. OECD. Paris.
Print
this page
