The UN Millennium Campaign welcomes the G-8’s promise of $20 billion to address the much neglected issues of hunger, poverty and food security with a strong focus on agriculture. But the Campaign stresses that this must be additional funding, support the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals —including the needs and rights of the poorest – and be in line with national priorities and systems.
Rome, July 7, 2009: On the eve of the G-8 Summit, the United Nations Millennium Campaign and Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) in Italy organized a stunt in Piazza del Popolo in Rome in order to grab the attention of G-8 leaders. The stunt was part of the “Press the 8” campaign which encourages citizens to pressure G-8 leaders to deliver on their promises at this week’s summit.
The United Nations Millennium Campaign is warning that the ongoing economic crisis is likely to bring the economies of many developing countries to the brink of collapse and threatens the very survival of their citizens. According to the African Development Bank, countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya could run out of foreign reserves to purchase goods necessary for survival in a matter of weeks. At the same time, countries including Laos, Senegal, Uganda, Cape Verde and Sudan are cutting expenditures on poverty alleviation for desperately poor citizens.
GCAP representatives of ten countries present in Hokkaido are deeply concern at how out of touch with reality the G8 seemed to be on the main issues related to ending poverty.
As the leaders of the Group of Eight (G-8) countries gathered in Hokkaido, Japan, today for their summit meeting, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reiterated his call for urgent action to tackle three key challenges the world is currently grappling with.
Efforts to address the food crisis, climate change and the slow progress towards reaching the anti-poverty Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by their target date of 2015 “so far have been too divided, too sporadic, and too little,” Mr. Ban told a joint news conference with World Bank President Robert Zoellick.
