NGO's have reacted mostly disappointment to the Deauville Declaration with its lack of commitments, specifics and wierd inclusion of two sets of numbers on the progress on their pledges. Overall, the NGO community found the Deauville Declaration, vague, confused and lacking any sort of concrete advances on the main issues. Indeed, a number of NGOs stressed the confusion of the G8 in its reporting. However, some NGOs were pleased with the G8 and its renewed commitments on health.
Development
Leading the voices of disappointment was Oxfam which saw the communique as the yesno summit. Emma Seery said of the Summit "Everything in Deauville, where yes means no, mandatory is voluntary, 19 can equal 1.26 and where broken promises are still worthy of praise". The organisation said the G8 had not come to terms with the reality of the OECD verdict on their aid figures and used both their massaged figures and the OECD figures alongside each other.
The Global Campaign for Education was very disappointed that the G8 did not even discuss the issue of education which, according to the report written by Gordon Brown and presented to the G8 presidency, which stated every $1 invested in education generates $10 to $15 as a result of the education growth premium.
Actionaid was concerned that the G8 is not making fast enough progress on its food commitments. Actionaid spokesman, Luca de Fraia commented "With the world one failed harvest away from a food crisis, it's outrageous that the G8 has failed to use this year's summit as an opportunity to initiate a response." Actionaid called on the French presidency to put hunger at the top of the 2011 G20 Summit agenda.
Interaction expressed concern with the vague nature of the final declaration. Interaction CEO, Sam Worthington, commented "When it comes to giving basic, practical milestones, G8 leaders have once again fallen short. We need specifics." The organisation was especially critical of the US which is says has only dispursed $74 million in 2010 of the $1.385 billion they committed in 2009.
The lack of action on commitments was a key concern for World Vision which commented "If Deauville is remembered at all - which is doubtful - it will be remembered as the summit that promised little and delivered even less. World leaders have got the words right, but until action is delivered, their dither and delay will continue to cost lives." This sentiment was echoed by ATD Fourth Monde which thought the G8's commtiments for the values and freedom and democracy will remain half-baked while extreme poverty continues to persist in all corners of the globe. The organisation was particularly concerned that the G8's focus on job creation and growth fails to recognise tackling poverty and this risks the most vulnerable people being left out of the economic policies and widening inequalities.
The ONE Campaign thought the G8 Summit failed to to deliver for Africans working hard to build a stronger continent. The organisation felt the G8 was too busy chasing headlines on the Arab Spring "to ensure that the poorest people in the world get the help they need to pull themselves out of poverty." ONE did see one glimmer of light in the G8's agreement on transparency in the extractive industries. ONE CEO Jamie Drummond commented "“This is the first time the G8 has supported laws promoting transparency in the extractive sector – a fantastic achievement."
Health groups were much more pleased by the Deauville Declaration. Save the Children was was pleased the G8 endorsed the forthcoming GAVI conference and recommitments to maternal and child health. The Global Health Coucil welcomed the communique which reaffirmed the G8's commitment to global health but cautioned that the G8 needed to implement their commitments in "a fully transparent manner".
Climate
NGOs working on climate were not impressed by the collective efforts of the G8. WWF called the statement, G8 myopia. The organisation was critical of the lack of specific information on proposed new indicators and was disappointed that there was no mention of fossil fuels.
Greenpeace was just thought the G8 failed to meet the challenges of climate change and world energy security. Greenpeace CEO, Kumi Naidoo commented that "The G8 came to Deauville in search of identity and purpose, but were blinded by their fossil fuel addictions and failed to take us towards a safe and secure energy future... For next year's meeting, the G8 leaders should meet at a rehab clinic instead of a French gambling resort."
Arab Spring
Mostly the NGO community welcomed the G8's attention on the Arab uprisings and new era. However, they cautioned that these were new commitments and the track record of the G8 on such pledges was a poor future for the Arab countries.
Oxfam welcomed the Deauville Partnership between the G8 and the Middle East and North Africa but said any partnership needed to be grounded in "mutual respect for fundamental human rights, and political freedoms that will support a peaceful transition to democracy." Save the Children also warned that aid pledges by G8 countries still had to be met and warned "We don't want the Arab Spring to be followed by an African winter."
Transparency International welcomed the G8's call to fight against corruption in the Arab Spring countries but stressed that this must be followed by concrete action to ensure recovery of stolen assets and prevention of their flights in future. Specifically, the G8 must address the opacity of the financial system and multinational companies operations in these countries.
The wordle.net below is the press releases of Oxfam, Word Vision, Interaction, Save the Children, Transparency International, Global Campaign for Education, Greenpeace, WWF, ATD Fourth Monde, Actionaid, Global Health Council.
