Troubling signs: can the G8 be trusted to deliver on their promises?

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.

-Josh Lozman

In Ethiopia, only enough food for the “hungriest”

The food crisis has taken its harshest toll on the poorest countries, Ethiopia being one of the hardest hit.

From the Christian Science Monitor :

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.

The UN estimates that 4.6 million Ethiopians are suffering from “severe malnutrition,”, but the lack of food is so severe that foreign and domestic aid-workers need to “prioritize” who is the most needy. Some have take to weighing children on wooden scales and providing food rations to the most malnourished.

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.”

-Betsy Avila

ONE Trails Obama, Clinton to Unity, NH

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.

-Matthew Bartlett

Mugabe Sworn In

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.

-Edith Jibunoh, ONE policy staff

Affleck On The Congo

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.

In short, I want to listen before speaking and learn before taking action. The “Nightline” segment airing Thursday June, 26 is an attempt to take the viewer along with me in that process.

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…)

Affleck Raises Profile of DRC on Nightline

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.”

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

-Virginia Simmons

Take Action: Keep the G8 to their Word

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.

-Weldon Kennedy

Fighting Cuts to the MCC

At the end of May the Senate passed a bill to provide emergency aid for
Jordan, Burma, and food security - urgent humanitarian needs that our
government needs to address.

The problem:

The Senate funded the assistance by proposing to cut the budget of the Millenium Challenge Corporation (MCC), which invests in long-term poverty reduction, by 1/3. The U.S. has already promised MCC funding to several very poor countries, including the African nation of Burkina Faso, scheduled to sign a compact with the MCC in July.  Since the news, the NGO community has been advocating hard against the proposed cuts.

The result:

Last week the proposed cuts were reduced from $525 million to $58 million by a conference of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Senate approved the bill last night and it is now up to the President to approve.

This month, I had the privilege of traveling to Burkina Faso, one of the poorest countries in the world. 80% of the population is rural, subsistence farmers. The women I met in Burkina Faso rely on small vegetable plots to feed their families and send their children to school. The MCC’s programs would help women have access to land, help girls go to school, and improve rural roads - key strategies for reducing poverty and increasing food security. I also met with (more…)

PEPFAR Fails To Pass - For Now

I have the unfortunate job of sharing some disappointing news about global AIDS funding this morning.

We needed “Unanimous Consent” (or “UC”) to keep PEPFAR reauthorization moving in a timely and bi-partisan fashion. This means that every member on the Senate floor had to agree to the proposed legislation.

Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid asked for UC for PEPFAR twice this morning: Once with no amendments, and a second time with 4 amendments (2 from the Republican side and 2 from the Democratic side.) Both attempts failed to pass.

This means we now have no choice but to look to push for PEPFAR reauthorization after Congress’s scheduled recess.

This legislation is critical to millions of lives, and this means that President Bush will have a more difficult time pressuring other wealthy countries to follow the U.S.’s leadership and give more to global AIDS when he attends the July G8 summit in Japan.

Earlier in the week we were hopeful after Sen. Reid set a deadline for the completion of negotiations, with the intent of calling for UC and a vote on this important legislation. We do know that the major differences with Sen. Coburn have been addressed and that he has lifted his hold on the bill. Unfortunately not all the senators have come to an agreement yet – 3 in particular have maintained their holds and a 4th objected on the floor.

We are hopeful that negotiations will continue through the July 4th recess and that the momentum we built through the last few weeks will continue, culminating in a vote soon after the Senate comes back into session.

We will keep you updated with more analysis and plans. As ONE members, we have to be prepared to take action the next chance we get. The people who need this funding don’t have a voice in America’s legislative system - but we do.

-Virginia Simmons

Turning Pain at the Pump into African Prosperity

With gas prices rising to record levels and showing no signs of slowing, energy security is quickly becoming the number one election year issue. Yesterday alone there were at least three press conferences on Capitol Hill from party leaders on the issue of high energy costs. But amid the finger-pointing and searching for quick fixes, there’s a quiet effort underway in Congress to promote US energy security while also fostering stable, long-term relationships with resource rich African countries. Few people realize that 22 percent of US crude imports came from Africa in 2006. That’s slightly more than we imported from the Middle East in the same year.

Yesterday morning I attended a hearing by the House Financial Services committee, chaired by Congressman Barney Frank, on the Extractive Industries Transparency Disclosure Act (EITD), a bill that would require oil, gas and mining companies to disclose their payments to foreign governments. It’s an important first step in promoting transparency and accountability in resource rich countries, many of which are the poorest and worst governed countries in the world. Mandatory disclosure of payments has several benefits:

1. It promotes US interests by combating corruption and improving the stability of US investments abroad through improved governance in oil producing countries.
2. It’s an important poverty reduction tool, enabling oil revenues to be managed in a more accountable manner. Citizens in poor countries will be able to hold their recalcitrant governments accountable for the revenues they received from public concessions.
3. It helps investors assess the risks of their investments in what are often high-risk operating environments (in fact, the Financial Services Committee heard from an investment industry spokesman who endorsed the bill wholeheartedly).
4. It protects companies from false or unfair accusations and blame shifting by host governments. Citizens will be able to clearly see how much companies are paying and how little benefit they are receiving.
5. Finally, for all the pain we’re experiencing at the pump, we shouldn’t forget that soaring commodity prices represent a tremendous opportunity for African governments to convert natural resource wealth into poverty-fighting investments for their people. Transparent disclosure of extractive payments can encourage this kind of responsible use of revenues.

Since the bill requires all oil, gas and mining companies listed on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to disclose payments, it includes more than just US companies. In fact, fourteen out of the fifteen oil and gas companies that are publicly traded would be covered by the bill, including all three major Chinese oil companies that are active internationally. Since a vast majority of internationally competitive companies would have to report payments, US companies would not be put at a competitive disadvantage.

The bill has a long way to go before becoming law, but judging by its positive response this morning, it appears to be off to a good start. For more information and to keep track of the bill’s progress, check out www.openthebooks.org.

-Ben Hubbard