[stop-imf] G8 responses - Jubilee USA, Make Poverty History

[robert weissman]

Jubilee USA Network * <http://www.jubileeusa.org/>www.jubileeusa.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, July 08, 2005

Contact:  Debayani Kar, 202-783-0215, 202-246-8143
                 Neil Watkins (in Edinburgh, Scotland), +44 7903 944737

G-8 Debt Agreement A Step Forward, but Analysis Finds Deal Falls Short of
What Is Needed to Address Global Crisis

Jubilee USA Calls on Leaders to Cancel Debts to All Impoverished Counties;
Cut Economic Conditions

WASHINGTON =AD As (Group of 8) G-8 leaders concluded their Summit today in
Gleneagles, Scotland, Jubilee USA Network, the US arm of the global Jubilee
movement, characterized the G-8 deal on debt cancellation as an important
and precedent-setting first step, but one that falls short of what is
needed to conclusively address the crisis of debt faced by the world=B9s
impoverished nations.

The G-8 Summit, marred by the terrorist attacks Thursday in London,
nonetheless produced statements on debt cancellation, increased aid, and
climate change. There were no surprises in the agreement on debt announced
today; G-8 leaders endorsed the plan their Finance Ministers agreed to in
London on June 11. The leaders met amid growing global dialogue and
pressure from rock stars, civil society groups, and protestors, all
demanding that the G-8 leaders must do much more to address the crisis of
poverty in Africa and elsewhere.

   =B3While the G-8 agreement is a step forward and sets an important
precedent we have long advocated of 100% cancellation of debt to
multilateral creditors, our campaign for freedom from debt for impoverished
nations has only just begun,=B2 said Neil Watkins, National Coordinator of
Jubilee USA Network. =B3We will continue to build pressure on G-8 nations t=
o
cancel debt for all impoverished countries and countries in crisis, without
devastating economic conditions.=B2

Jubilee USA Network is concerned about statements by some governments
indicating that the G-8 debt deal would effectively end the debt crisis
faced by impoverished nations. While the debt agreement adopted by the G-8
this week in Gleneagles would cancel 100% of 18 impoverished countries=B9
debts to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and African
Development Bank, it excludes other impoverished nations and debt to other
significant creditors such as the Inter-American Development Bank, does not
address odious and illegitimate debt, and preserves economic conditionality=
.

Jubilee USA Network has produced a 14-page analysis of the G-8 debt
agreement, entitled =B3First Step on A Long Journey: Putting the G-8 Deal o=
n
Debt into Perspective.=B2 The report highlights the benefits of the G-8 deb=
t
agreement, while detailing its limitations, and provides recommendations of
next steps. The report and executive summary are available at
<http://www.jubileeusa.org/>www.jubileeusa.org.

Some of the key findings of the Jubilee USA analysis:
     * Debt Cancellation Will Save Lives. The agreement, in addition to
setting the important precedent of 100% debt cancellation for some nations
to some creditors, will release close to $1 billion annually in resources
poor nations can use for development. Already the Zambian government has
said it will use debt relief proceeds to provide Anti-Retroviral drugs to
100,000 HIV/AIDS patients;
     * The G-8 Plan Includes Too Few Countries. The 18 countries that
qualify immediately represent less than a third of countries (at least 62)
that need full cancellation to meet the internationally agreed Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), which seek to halve extreme poverty by 2015. The
$40 billion to be cancelled by this agreement represents less than 10% of
debt cancellation required for nations to meet the MDGs. The plan does not
include middle-income countries that are heavily indebted and impoverished.
The African Union called earlier this week for all African nations to
receive debt cancellation; the G-8 agreement applies to only 14.
     * The G-8 Plan Contains Onerous Conditions. The economic policies
mandated by the HIPC Initiative will continue under the G-8 debt agreement,
including privatization of government-run services and industries,
increased trade liberalization, and budgetary spending restrictions. These
policies have not been proven to increase per capita income growth or
reduce poverty as documented by both World Bank and civil society
economists. Jubilee USA and social movements call for these conditions and
policies to be abandoned.
Jubilee USA Network notes that the G-8 debt agreement is an important first
step towards the Jubilee vision of a world where external debt no longer
diverts resources from impoverished people or constrains policy choices.
But building on the agreement, Jubilee USA Network will expand its campaign
in the years ahead to work for debt cancellation for more countries (such
as impoverished countries not included in this deal, middle income
countries with large impoverished populations and those with
odious/illegitimate debts) and creditors (such as the Inter-American
Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, bilateral, and private creditors)
not included in this year's initiative.

Jubilee USA Network is the US arm of the international movement working for
debt cancellation for impoverished nations. Jubilee USA is a network of
over 70 religious denominations, labor groups, environmental organizations,
and community and advocacy groups working for freedom from debt for
countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

###


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Make Poverty History Press Release - 08 July 2005

Detailed statement in response to G8 communique

Make Poverty History has become an unprecedented movement of passion, energ=
y
and solidarity. Never before have so many people in the world come together=
,
fully united in demanding action to end poverty, with a roar for justice
that they felt was impossible to ignore. Today the G8 have chosen not to do
all that campaigners insist is necessary to free people trapped in the
prison of poverty. Important steps have been taken - steps that will bring
hope to millions.

But more action is urgently needed if they are to play their role in
bringing about real change for the world's poorest people and consigning
extreme poverty to the history books.

To secure a deserved place in history, the G8 must go a lot further and
secure real change by working with other world leaders at the UN summit on
the Millennium Development Goals and talks around the World Trade
Organisation. The people of the world are already on the road to justice.
They expect their leaders to be with them. Today's announcement has shown
that the G8 need to run much faster to catch up.



TRADE

The G8 have not met the challenge of trade justice as clearly set out by
Make Poverty History. There is language in the communiqu=E9 on letting Afri=
can
countries set their own trade policies. Yet at the World Trade Organisation
(WTO) they continue to force open developing country markets.

What we have asked for is action not words.

G8 leaders decided not to set a date for ending the export subsidies that
destroy livelihoods of poor countries around the world. By forcing free
trade on poor countries, dumping agricultural products and not regulating
multinational companies they have chosen not to take the necessary decision=
s
to make poverty history.

The challenge of trade justice remains. The governments of the G8 must now
urgently take these steps at the WTO and in other trade negotiations as wel=
l
as through the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Rich countries
are the obstacles to trade justice. This must stop if trade is to benefit
the poor rather than keep them in poverty.



DEBT

The G8 has done no more than confirm the proposed deal by the G8 Finance
Ministers, cancelling some of the debt owed by some countries. The principl=
e
of cancelling 100 per cent of the debt owed to multilateral institutions is
a positive step, and a tribute to the unceasing efforts of Make Poverty
History campaigners and campaigners worldwide; but this debt deal is a smal=
l
step compared to the giant leap that was called for.

While an important contribution, the G8 debt deal will provide less than
$1billion this year - the equivalent of no more than one dollar per person
in the countries that are due to benefit. It is an inadequate response to
the global debt crisis, which needs an estimated $10 billion a year of debt
cancellation to eradicate extreme poverty.

Major issues on debt remain unresolved - the damaging economic policy
conditions attached to debt relief, the many indebted countries not on the
list, debts not covered by the deal.

So there is much more work to be done - the deal is yet to be ratified and
then it needs to be delivered. Our campaigners expect more and will be
continuing to seek significant improvements and advances during the rest of
the year.



AID

While this aid increase is a step forward, it is far from the historic deal
that millions around the world have been demanding.

There is no doubt that this aid increase will save lives and Make Poverty
History campaigners can be really proud of the role they have played in
securing it. But this aid will still arrive five years too late and falls
far short of the scale of aid that is needed to end poverty in the world's
poorest countries. In real terms, much of the pledged funds are a
restatement of recent aid announcements.

For most of the 50 million children who will die of poverty over the next
five years, the G8 leaders have offered too little, too late. By 2010, we
will still see the awful inequity whereby a child dies every 3.5 seconds,
just because they are poor.

The G8's promise of US$48 billion boost to aid in five years is mostly made
up of money already pledged. MPH calculates that only around US$20 billion
is new money. Some of this money is also likely to be raised through
borrowing from future aid budgets, rather than new contributions.

Make Poverty History welcomes the G8's recognition that poor countries
should be free to decide their own economic policies. These words must now
be turned into actions by putting an end to the damaging conditions that th=
e
World Bank and IMF push on impoverished countries.

If the G8 are really serious about reducing poverty, they should be doing
much more to improve the quality of their aid, including untying aid from
donors' goods and services and ensuring that aid is focused on the poorest.

On both areas, they have offered warm words, but little in terms of concret=
e
commitments.



HIV/AIDS

G8 leaders have produced one of the summit's successes by responding
courageously to the scale of the AIDS emergency. In pledging AIDS treatment
to everyone who requires it by 2010, the G8 have started to restore hope to
the 40 million people currently living- and dying- with HIV.

However, insufficient new aid will undermine the target's delivery. The
additional aid announced today is not sufficient or fast enough to truly
make AIDS history.

Positive people will now be looking to donors to deliver full AIDS funding
at the Global Fund Replenishment conference this September. Without adequat=
e
financing, this bold and visionary target could become another of the broke=
n
promises that litter the history of the pandemic.



UK GOVERNMENT

In the last 20 years the G8 has repeatedly failed to take the action it
could to eradicate poverty. This has been an unprecedented year in which
millions of people have campaigned to make poverty history and the UK
government have responded by placing Africa on the agenda as a priority for
the G8.

They have worked hard with European Union and G8 colleagues to deliver
significant steps towards debt cancellation and more and better aid.
Throughout this summit, the UK government have demonstrated leadership on
these vital issues.

The G8 choosing not to deliver all that campaigners feel is necessary will
disappoint the millions of campaigners in the UK but we will judge the UK
government by its contribution to the delivery of all our campaign demands
for trade justice not free trade, more and better aid and debt cancellation
for all developing countries.



CLIMATE CHANGE

The G8 has missed the opportunity to make progress on climate change, the
impacts of which are already affecting poor countries and will seriously
undermine efforts to eliminate poverty in the long term. We now look to the
UK's Presidency of the EU for effective action to rectify this lack of
progress.