G8 countries seriously off track in meeting promises, says DATA Report 2007 / Call for emergency session at Heiligendamm
Africa advocacy organisation, DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa), today released a report that shows aid is working in poor countries, but that most G8 nations are seriously off track in delivering on the historic promises to Africa they made in 2005. The DATA Report 2007 finds that the G8 increased aid by less than half the sum needed from 2004-2006 to meet their 2010 goals. Estimates of forthcoming aid flows in 2007 show that the G8 are planning to do only about one third of what's needed to get back on track. “The G8 are sleep walking into a crisis of credibility. I know the DATA report will feel like a cold shower, but I hope it will wake us all up. These are cold facts, but I know they will stir up some very hot arguments. These statistics are not just numbers on a page, they are people begging for their lives, for two pills a day, a mother begging to immunize her children, a child begging not to become a mother at age 12,” said Bono, U2 lead singer and DATA co-founder.
The DATA Report 2007 demonstrates that aid is effective in poor countries and improving the lives of millions of people. Because of assistance to global health programs, every day 1,450 Africans living with AIDS are put on life-saving medications. Due in part to debt cancellation and increased aid, 20 million more African children are going to school for the first time in their lives. This good news, however, only makes the bad news worse. The G8 are not increasing aid substantially enough to meet their commitments and are in serious danger of breaking these historic promises. President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia, Africa’s first woman president, says in the foreword to the report, “Even as we have tangible proof that aid is working and that our governments are becoming more accountable, the G8’s commitment to Africa seems to be faltering.”
Today in Berlin, Bono, Bob Geldof, German musician and activist Herbert Grönemeyer and former Nigerian Finance Minister Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala called for an emergency session on the G8’s Africa commitments at the Summit in Heilegendamm next month. – DATA also looked at predicted funding for Africa for 2008. DATA’s analysis shows that next year the G8 are set to increase by approximately $1.7-2.3bn – about a third of the $6.2bn dollar increase they need to be on track to keep their commitments.
Earlier this month, other reports such as Oxfam's The World Is Still Waiting and CONCORD's Hold the Applause! came to similar conclusions.
