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 As leaders met for the biggest ever G8 Summit in Japan, civil society organisations were vocal in their criticism of the process and its outcomes for key issues such as development, climate change and the global food and oil crisis. Participants in the International Solidarity Days of the G8 Action Network issued a statement entitled "Make the Hokkaido Summit the Last Summit of the G8!"
The statement opens: "The G8 Summit opened in Hokkaido yesterday with the usual rhetoric of concern about conditions in Africa. These are statements that few people in Africa and the rest of the world take seriously, given how far the G8 governments are from raising the $20 billion they pledged for Africa at the Gleneagles Summit in 2005." It goes on to argue that the G8 have "failed miserably" to deliver on previous pledges concerning debt cancellation, raising aid levels to 0.7 per cent of the GDP, promoting development through trade, and tackling climate change. The statement strongly criticises the G8 nations for spearheading the structural adjustment policies of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund and the trade liberalisation agenda of the World Trade Organization. Dian Kartika of Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) Indonesia has commented: "Tragically, market-driven development, one of the principal causes of the present food crisis, appears to be the solution offered by the present G8 leaders. This is appalling." Read the full statement here: http://www.just-international.org/article.cfm?newsid=20002753 Sources: |
