As this year's G8 Summit came to a close on July 17, economic justice advocates were not impressed by the grouping's progress report on last year's pledges, although they acknowledge that there was some progress. The 2005 Summit focused on measures to reduce poverty and support sustainable development in the world's poorest continent. This year the agenda was global energy security, the fight against infectious diseases and education. All these focus areas have implications for the realization of women's rights, although the G8's primary objectives may not have much to do with the universal realization of human rights. 

Oxfam International had this to say about the communiqué from St. Petersburg:
"There has been progress on Africa in the last year but it is far from substantial, despite what the G8 leaders said today. We're pleased that they've agreed to regular performance reviews on Africa and we hope they can give the world a performance to be proud of in Germany next year." [1] Although last year's Summit paid special attention to Africa, it is not only the poor in Africa who are adversely affected by many of the economic policies shaped by the world's richest group of nations and enforced by the international finance institutions. The economic gap between rich and poor nations continues to grow and the feminization of poverty continues to be evident.

G8 pledges for 2006
In St. Petersburg this year, the G8 made several pledges [2] , among them to:

- enhance global energy security by making efforts to 'increase transparency, predictability and stability of the global energy markets, improve the investment climate in the energy sector, promote energy efficiency and energy saving, diversify energy mix, ensure physical safety of critical energy infrastructure, reduce energy poverty and address climate change and sustainable development;

- co-operate with development partners and stakeholders to achieve high quality basic education, literacy and gender equality in accordance with the Millennium Development Goals and to facilitate the wider use of ICTs;

- seek to enhance international capacities to monitor and respond to outbreaks of infectious diseases;

- work further with other donors to mobilize resources for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and to continuing to pursue as closely as possible to universal access to HIV/AIDS treatment for those who need it by 2010' and to further develop the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise; and

- improve the effectiveness of international response to emergencies and of action to mitigate health consequences of natural and man-made disasters, including through effective use of rapid response teams.

What about debt cancellation, fair trade and aid?
Although the statements and pledges made by the G8 leaders seem to attempt to portray the Group's policies as being aimed at fostering balanced global economic growth and prosperity, economic justice advocates think otherwise.
They call for total cancellation of debt for poor countries and for the G8 to stop counting debt-cancellation as aid. [3] They say that aid should be viewed as justice, not charity, and call for a qualitative and quantitative increase in aid. The repayment by poor countries of their debts owed to G8 countries, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank force these countries to cut down on public spending on healthcare, education, water and other basic services. Women end up having to take on the burden that their governments should be bearing, as they fill the gaps and provide basic services to their families and the society by extension. [4] Without providing total debt cancellation, G8 pledges on infectious diseases, education and energy security will not amount to much.  The way that aid is currently disbursed to poor countries fails to make significant differences in the lives of poor people and also tends to perpetuate gender inequalities.

The current international trade regime is another area that is considered to further impoverish the poor. While the St. Petersburg Summit was pushing for a conclusion to the Doha round of the World Trade Organization negotiations, many welcomed its collapse as they considered that the talks were likely to push poor nations into accepting adverse trade conditions, with women inevitably bearing the brunt. In many countries, hunger and poverty are being perpetuated by the insistence that cash crops are grown instead of the crucial food crops needed for daily sustenance and food security. For instance, as MADRE reports, increasingly, G8 corporations, rather than African women, control Africa's food supply. US-based Monsanto, for example, controls 52 percent of South Africa's maize seed, the country's staple food. [5]

Last year in Gleneagles, the G8 set itself some concrete goals aimed at reducing poverty in Africa, a continent where women form the majority of the poorest of the poor. Although some pledges were fulfilled to an extent, overall there were many promises broken. This year in St. Petersburg, the G8 set fewer concrete goals for itself and focused less on poverty alleviation. In doing so, however, for women's rights advocates, the group of wealthy nations has shattered no illusions. 

Source:
Resource Net Friday File
Issue 285
Friday, July 28, 2006
The Association for Women's Rights in Development ©
Web: www.awid.org

[1] http://www.oxfam.org/en/news/pressreleases2006/pr060717_g8_africa.

[2]   See official website of the G8 presidency of the Russian Federation in 2006. http://en.g8russia.ru

[3] Ibid. 1.

[4] See Susskind, Yifat. 'Make G8 Policy History,' MADRE, 2005. http://www.madre.org/index.html

[5] Ibid.