Southern groups, like GCAP, and development groups working on a wide range of issues were not happy with the G8 communique. Oxfam, Make Poverty History, and Actionaid were all extremely disappointed by the lack of leadership and ambition in the G8 Declaration. Here is a Wordle (worldle.net) depiction of the responses of the NGOs.
Great Summit Result
Save the Children welcomed the child and maternal health initiative stating it would save 1.3 million children over the next five years. The agency also welcomed the G8's wording on Afghanistan adding that given the level of child and maternal deaths in the country, it is right that the international community is rising to the challenge. The agency also welcomed the positive progress on the 2009 G8 pledges on food and nutriction noting there had been significant progress. Save did say that the absence of the Gleneagles commitments from the final communique was a major omission.
Women Deliver said the Canadian Prime Minister should be proud of his efforts to lead and champion child and maternal health saying Canada was definitely in the lead and wishing the other G8 leaders were not so far behind.
The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH) focused solely on the Muskoka Initiative. According to their press release, they were delighted with the money for child and maternal health in the G8 communique. It welcomed the Muskaka Initiative as an important step in the dream of better health for women and children but the G8 now needed to walk the talk.
Click here to access the release.
Global Health Council welcomed the Muskoka Initiative saying it was an important step closer to the $30 billion needed to achieve the MDGs. The Council hoped that the G8 will catalyze other pledges and — more importantly — transform them into the collective action needed to save millions of lives.
Click here to access the response.
World Vision thought the final communique from the G8 would be hailed for the launch of the Muskoka Initiative. The group was disappointed by the low promises and expectations but were pleased the G8 leaders took the issue seriously. The agency also weclomed the G8 accountability report stating that it was an important first step.
Click here to access the press release.
UNICEF welcomed the Muskoka Initiative and its emphasis on strengthening health systems to improve maternal and child health. The agency said that the G8 have renewed their commitment to maternal and child health and added that we all must hold ourselves accountable to achieving greater progeess on this challenge.
Click here to see the statement.
Not a Great Summit Result
WWF did not see much vision in the final G8 communique. While there was good news that climate change is still on the agenda, and there was no back-tracking from last year, there was no actual new commitment to do what was needed.
CARE expressed disappointment with the G8 summit. The organisation commended the Canadian government for making child and maternal health its signature initiative but was disheartened by the total commitment of only $5 billion. CARE concluded its press release with a plea to G8 governments to fill the remaining gap when the world meets in New York for the UN MDG+10 Review summit.
Click here to see the press release.
The ONE Campaign thought the G8's work on child and maternal health was "an honest promise" but added "honestly, it's also a weak promise". The group added that the Gleneagles commitment deadlines were quickly approaching and those pledges must not be forgotten.
ONE Founder, Bono, issued a statement on the G8 outcome, in which he said the Muskoka Initiative as 'not everything' but a start of the job of tackling child and maternal health. The singer and activist looked to further action on the issue at the September MDG summit
Disappointing Summit Result
GCAP was disappointed with the G8 communique stating that the G8 suffered from amnesia as the declaration failed to make any reference to the 2005 Gleneagles commitments. GCAP Italy said it was "a huge step back because the G8 does not recognise that the countries are behind the schedule they set for themselves." Kumi Naidoo, co-chair of GCAP, compared the amounts pledged at the Summit for child and maternal health with the cost of security: "It is rather telling that the amount of money the Canadian government has spent for security and hosting a three day summit is more than they could come up with to address maternal health globally over five years."
Click here to access the release.
The Global Campaign for Education said the G8 should be given the yellow card by the 72 million children who have no access to education for the G8's failure to address this issue. The group underlined the importance of education in addressing child and maternal health and felt the G8 had dropped the ball on not including support to education in its deliberations.
Click here to access the release.
Plan said that women and children were let down and short-changed by the G8 in Muskoka. While Canada set the best example with their $1.1 billion commitment, the G8, collectively, failed to step up to its fair share of the $24 billion needed globally to stop child and maternal mortality.
Click here to see the press release.
Make Poverty History saw little in the final outcome document to justify the existence of the G8 and the costs it took to hold the meeting. The campaign commented "Our worst fears are being realized. Donor governments, struggling with deficits are cutting the world's poor loose."
Click here to access the release.
Oxfam concluded that the G8 had failed to deliver on their promises and tried to divert attention by cobbling together a small initiative for maternal and child health. The organisation commented that 'No maple leaf is big enough to hide the shame of Canada's summit of broken promises. The G8's failure will leave a sad legacy of kids out of school, denied medicines for the sick and no food for the hungry."
Actionaid focused on the failure of the G8 to meet its Gleneagles promises in their press release. The agency asked how poor countries can believe the G8 on its new pledges given it has just wiped the Gleneagle's commitments of its record books?
CAFOD was disappointed by the outcome of the G8. CAFOD welcomed the Muksoka Initiative but said the Initiative means little if aid funding does not come through for other critical issues facing the poor.
Click here to see the statement.
Greenpeace gave the G8 poor overall grades on the G8 Summit. According to Greenpeace, the summit failed to commit to greenhouse gas emission reductions; they gave the G8 an incomplete on their work on phasing out fossil fuels subsidies and on climate financing; and another fail on building a green energy future.
The Climate Action Network said that the G8 leaders had hid their failure to fully deliver on their Gleneagles commitments and instead confirmed that they would raid what is left to pay for climate change. The Suzuki Foundation thought the G8's reiteration of the 2 degrees commitment was meaningless without action. Equiterre saw the Canadian government stalling G8 action on climate change.
The ITUC was deeply disappointed at the G8's failure to set a clear timetable for increasing aid to reach the MDGs. The union was worried that each commitment on aid was 'subject to budgetary process' giving governments an alibi for their lack of real action. On climate, the ITUC said the G8 leaders had not stepped up to the plate with the financial commitments and the targets required to tackle climate change.
