Today, the Financial Times published an article based on a draft G8 communiqué obtained by the newspaper . The draft communiqué for the Hokkaido Summit mentions the development assistance goals for Africa made in Gleneagles in 2005, but drops mention of the specific target, approximately $25 billion. The communiqué recommits the G8 to working towards the goal of universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care, but drops mention of doing so by the original promised date of 2010.
ONE just published its 2008 DATA Report that monitors G8 commitments to Africa from Gleneagles. One of our headline findings is that the G8 have only delivered 14% of their promised development assistance increases. The G8 committed to $21.8 billion (the $25b was an approximation that was made before clarifications by the countries), but now, half way to the 2010 target date, they have only collectively delivered $3 billion of this promise. On AIDS: despite great progress (nearly 30% of Africans in need of HIV/AIDS treatment now are receiving them), there are still nearly 5 million people on the continent that are in need of treatment in order to stay alive.
No wonder then that the G8 wants to hide from their earlier promises. This is hard work. Their slow delivery until now has made the road to delivering the promises a bit steeper, but these are the wealthiest and most powerful nations in the world’s history. The G8 as a whole is spending 0.07% of their GNI on development assistance to sub-Saharan Africa. This is NOT a big budget item. If the G8 want to honor their commitment to Africa, they can. The road to doing so is shown here in this.
We can’t hide the numbers of people waiting for life-saving HIV medications and we can’t hide the millions of children waiting for the opportunity to go to school. The G8 shouldn’t hide the commitments they made in 2005 and recommitted to in 2006 in Russia and in 2007 in Germany.
The G8 will be tackling a host of issues critical to all of us: a global financial crisis, climate change, the food crisis, an economic downturn, and the role the G8 will play in the growth of Africa. On all these issues, the G8’s ability to keep their promises will determine whether they will be a relevant and trustworthy body in the 21st century.
The FT reported that what they obtained is a draft communiqué. Rather than backtracking, the G8 must at the very least include a recommitment to their promises to Africa. What they should be doing is taking a step forward by setting annual timetables for meeting their overall development assistance commitments and specifying a timetable for meeting their health commitments from the Heiligendamm Summit. One week from today, the G8 Summit starts in Japan. We will find out shortly if the G8 will stand by their word.
In this African nation, about 10 million people, more than 12 percent of the population, are now in need of emergency food aid after a drought wiped out harvests. But because grain is now twice as expensive as a year ago – if it is available at all – there is not enough food in Ethiopia to feed everyone in need.
UNICEF has made an appeal for $49 million to go towards “immediate intervention” in Ethiopia. UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Hilde F. Johnson emphasized the severity of the situation:
“We talked to mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers and all actors in the field. This picture was confirmed by all of them and a clear message was conveyed: there is no food. The assistance needs to be taken to scale and it has to happen urgently.”
On Friday, Sen. Obama returned to the Granite State to campaign for President with Sen. Clinton. Some ONE members and I made it out to the event as early as possible to try and reach the two senators and make sure that the world’s poorest people were not forgotten in Unity, NH.
Waiting in the crowd, I was amazed by the number of ONE bands I saw on people everywhere! As New Hampshire Rep. Paul Hodes made his way to the stage, ONE member Tucker Jadczak was able to reach out to him and offer him a ONE band, which he immediately put on.
Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama finally made their way down to the stage and even through the large crowd, we were able to slip them ONE bands to remind them of the world’s bottom people.
You can see us with Sen. Clinton here:
And with Sen. Obama here, when Tucker thanks him for his efforts to fight AIDS and poverty in Africa:
In much of the media coverage and in many newspapers in New Hampshire and across the nation, you could prominently see Sen. Clinton’s ONE band on her left wrist!
As we move forward in the general election it can be tougher and tougher to have direct engagement with the candidates – but ONE members everywhere are helping to advocate for the world’s poorest people by wearing a ONE shirt, passing a ONE band to a candidate, and finding ways to make our voices heard like writing letters to the editor, and calling their own congressional representatives.
Zimbabwe’s run-off elections took place as scheduled last Friday, despite mounting protests from the African and international community and calls for a postponement. Standing unopposed, Mugabe announced himself victorious in the sham elections.
The few African observers who were present immediately called for the elections to be held again, stating that those who did vote did so only out of fear and intimidation. Many people were beaten for not voting or being able to prove that they voted. The official results showed that the 84-year old president won all ten provinces with 85.5% of the vote.
Archbishop Tutu called on African leaders to refuse to recognize Mugabe as president, US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice urged China, Russia and South Africa to back action against him. The US plans to toughen its sanctions against Zimbabwe and is urging the Security Council to do the same. Echoing Tsvanigirai’s earlier call for peacekeeping intervention, Tutu and Prime Minister of Kenya Raila Odinga called on the African Union to send troops to intervene in Zimbabwe.
Despite these outcries, Mugabe was sworn in on Sunday, stating in his speech that he hoped to form a unity government.
The African Union will meet today in Sharm El Shiekh and Zimbabwe will be on the agenda. Tsvangirai is expected to attend and appeal to African leaders not to recognize the re-election. Mugabe is also scheduled to be there and he will likely come under a lot of pressure at the AU meeting, after his own peers in the SADC have rejected the election. If African leaders do not unite on this issue, with a firm stand against Mugabe and non-recognition of him as a democratically elected President, the continent will no doubt have several more governance crises to contend with.
Over the last year, I have been traveling to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in an effort to learn more about the country.
I view this as a long and ongoing learning experience to educate myself before making any attempt to advocate or “speak out.” My plan has been to explore, watch, listen and find those doing the best work with and on behalf of the people of the DRC, in an effort to give exposure to voices which might not otherwise be heard.
It makes sense to be skeptical about celebrity activism. There is always the suspicion that involvement with a cause may be doing more good for the spokesman than he or she is doing for the cause.
I welcome any questions about me and my involvement, but I hope you can separate whatever reservations you may have from what is unimpeachably important about this segment: the plight of eastern Congo.
Anyone familiar with the Congo has heard the mind-numbing statistics: more than four million dead since 1998 (and many more before then), the most killed in any conflict since the Second World War. 1,200 people a day are still dying from conflict and conflict-related causes such as starvation and preventable disease.
The country languished as the second worst on the list of failed states until last year, when it bumped up a few notches (though it still ranks below Iraq and Afghanistan on many indices). (more…)
ABC Nightline followed Ben Affleck to the Democratic Republic of Congo where he shared his experience learning about the most savage war since WWI.
Below we have the full story, as broadcast on ABC last night, broken up into 4 clips.
More than 4 million have died in the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the fighting continues today. As Ben explains, it’s a place where atrocities happen every day, but most people don’t even know.
Ben:
“This is my third visit to the region this year. I’ve been coming here to learn about the Congo because I don’t want to involve myself without first understanding what I’m getting involved in. Learning here means meeting with war lords (some accused of atrocities) spending time in refugee camps, talking with aid workers, meeting with those whose everyday is a struggle to survive. I’m not affiliated with any aid agency. I’m not any kind kind of ambassador. I’m not going to give you a history lesson. Among other reasons, I wouldn’t be qualified. I simply want to share what I’ve seen.”
The G8 – a group of the world’s most powerful countries consisting of the US, UK, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, and Russia – are meeting in a couple of weeks for their annual summit.
Having this many leaders in one place at one time always gives us a great chance to pressure them to do more for the world’s poorest people, especially when you consider that most of these countries are not keeping promises they have already made to increase development assistance.
This year, we’re working to remind these leaders that fighting poverty works. Thanks to global efforts so far, 2 million people are receiving lifesaving AIDS medications and 29 million African children, once denied a basic education, are now in school. The problem is that over 72 million children are still out of school, and in 2007 AIDS killed 2.1 million people.
Please take a moment to sign our petition to the G8 and ask them to continue to the global success against poverty by delivering on their commitments to the world’s poor.
We’ll be delivering our petition along with some of our allies in Japan just head of the G8, and will make sure to bring you coverage of the deliver when it happens.
ONE is campaigning to ensure that the Congressional budget does not cut foreign assistance programs like Feed the Future that help people break the cycle of poverty and hunger.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. More than 11 million people, mostly nomadic pastoralists and farmers in south-central Somalia, north-eastern Kenya, and south-eastern Ethiopia, are severely lacking access to food.
2011 marks 30 years since the first cases of AIDS were documented. Take a closer look at the specific, achievable goals we must hit by 2015 to make this year the beginning of the end of AIDS.
As aid agencies warn more than 9 million people could be affected by a food crisis in East Africa, world leaders are failing to keep their 2009 promises to tackle the causes of chronic hunger and support farmers in the world's poorest countries.
