[Make Poverty History] Activists say world leaders broke vows on fighting poverty

From The Taipei Times

THE OBSERVER , LONDON
Monday, Nov 28, 2005,Page 6

World leaders have broken promises made at the G8 summit last summer, according to a leading member of the "Make Poverty History" campaign.
A report by Save the Children says that governments have failed to "listen hard enough to their public" and concluded that "the leap forward demanded by Make Poverty History campaigners has not been delivered."

Matt Phillips, author of Did World Leaders Make Child Poverty History? and head of public affairs at Save the Children, said: "Make Poverty History was unequivocal in what it was demanding; long-run eradication of poverty. But we have a generation of leaders who aren't willing to [deliver] that."

He said the campaign saw 10 million people wearing the white band, 250,000 taking to the streets of Edinburgh and 540 organizations coming together to push for an end to world poverty: "The politicians had a mandate to do much more than they did."

All the efforts were focused on persuading the heads of the world's richest countries to give more aid, slash debt and promote fairer trade for the world's poorest. Bob Geldof pronounced G8 the most important summit Africa had ever seen.

"On aid, 10 out of 10. On debt, eight out of 10," he claimed.

Phillips criticized governments for failing to use two key opportunities in September -- the UN Millennium Summit and the annual meeting of the World Bank and IMF -- to make the "rhetoric" of G8 a reality.

The report highlights progress, such as a clear timetable for EU countries towards giving 0.7 percent of national income in aid and debt cancellation for 18 countries by the World Bank, IMF and Africa Development Bank. But it says there were more than 60 countries needing debt cancellation and the agreement to remove "damaging economic policies" as a condition for debt cancellation and aid had not been followed through.

Phillips said the UK led many of the agreements and was the strongest advocate of change at G8. However, it had been too quiet in subsequent meetings. John Hilary, director of campaigns for War on Want, said G8 delivered two out of 10 on aid and one out of 10 on debt.

"We feel we have been deceived by the government," Hilary said.

The prime minister's office at Number 10 Downing Street, said it was too soon to expect major changes and insisted the prime minister was working tirelessly to turn the words into reality.

One of Prime Minister Tony Blair's advisers said: "He asks almost every day where we have got to in taking the G8 commitments forward. He is focused on delivering promises."

Film director Richard Curtis, one of the main organizers of Live8, said critics should not ignore the successes of this year.

"Make Poverty History did make people aware that this was a political issue, not just a charitable one," Curtis said.